Juergen Kleist
Der neue Trick
Juergen Kleist, born in Fürstenberg (Havel) in 1949,
teaches German at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh,
but lives in Burlington, VT. Apart from scholarly contributions,
he has published poetry and prose in various magazines and
anthologies; his much acclaimed novella Nietzsche in Turin
appeared in Karlsruhe in 1992. Kleist is now preparing his first
novel, Der Zauberer von Wien, for publication. His "Der
neue Trick" is printed here for the first time. (RG) (In German)
Eric Denton
Satyr at Play: Goethe's Satyros
In Satyros, the early Goethe reinvented satyr play,
complete with the all the iconography and all the sexual and
marital anxieties that accompany this mythological figure.
The satyr is the counterpart to Prometheus and the hermit, two
other figures that haunt Goethe's early works. The satyr is
also the most flamboyant of Goethe's comic figures, simultaneous
with his interest in Hanswurst and anticipating Mephistopheles.
In satyr play, Goethe practices a healthy sense of self-parody and
deflates his own "testicular" sentimentality. In terms of
interreferentiality, Goethe borrows from Euripides, Apuleius. Aesop,
Hans Sachs, Gessner, and Moli‚re: no anxiety of influence here.
This essay concentrates on issues of satyric appearance, of diet,
of agon, and of the abuse of hospitality. In the end,
that abuse becomes a matter of desecration (the rejection of
Christianity) and of cultural misrepresentation (the
misappropriation of Greek antiquity). In Goethe's hands,
pre-nuptial rites become anti-nuptial farces. (ED)
Edward T. Larkin
Christian August Vulpius' Rinaldo Rinaldini: Beyond Trivial Pursuit
The novel Rinaldo Rinaldini by Christian August Vulpius, Goethe's
largely-forgotten brother-in-law and author of over 140 works,
was one of the most successful novels of its time. But its
popularity does not preclude an instructive intention. Through a
careful analysis of the issues treated in the novel, this essay
demonstrates that an ethical approach to literature, typically
reserved for canonical writers and works, can be productively
applied to works of popular literature. In the case of
Rinaldo Rinaldini the communicated ethic is one which
is sympathetic to the developmental possibilities of the
individual but which in the last analysis insists on the
necessity of the individual's integration into society. (ETL)
Klaus L. Berghahn
Weimarer Klassik + Jenaer Romantik == Europaeische Romantik?
In recent years, Weimar Classicism has again become the centerpiece of
the canon in Germany. Its singularity, normativity, and timelessness are stressed, and
classical Weimar seems to be used once more to constitute a German identity or even
legitimize German reunification. This trend has led to criticism and has reopened the
question whether Weimar Classicism and Jena Romanticism should be considered as one
period which stretches from 1789 to 1815 and is located in the broader context of a European
Romanticism, as comparatists have done for decades. After all, both share basic aesthetic and
poetic concepts, and works of both periods fulfill the expectations of European Romanticism.
But at the end of this short-lived debate, Weimar Classicism prevailed in splendid isolation.
Perhaps it would be wiser to move away from these schematic and homogeneous
representations of literary history and rediscover the complexity, heterogeneity, and
uncertainty of history as reflected in literature. (KLB) (In German)
Peter Morris-Keitel
Nicht auf bessere Zeiten warten: Zu Robert Havemanns Vision eines Oekosozialismus
The article analyzes Robert Havemann's (1910-82) work Morgen. Die Industriegesellschaft
am Scheideweg. Kritik und reale Utopie (1982) from an ecological
perspective, specifically within the context of eco-socialism. Havemann's critique in the
1960s and 1970s of the consumerist and exploitative character of both market economy in the
West and socialist economy in the East, as well as the report by the "Club of Rome," The
Limits to Growth (1972), must be understood as the basis for his ecological insights and
his development of feasible alternatives to the impending ecological crisis. The article
outlines Havemann's contributions to the ecological movement in Germany and also discusses
the validity of his concepts for the 1990s and beyond. (PMK) (In German)