Gripsholm Castle A translation of Schloss Gripsholm by Kurt Tucholsky by alfred wilke ADVISbRS

178 Pages·2011·6.65 MB·English

Gripsholm Castle
A translation of Schloss Gripsholm
by Kurt Tucholsky
by
alfred wilke
ADVISbRS:
Dr. Hardy Fuchs
German Department
Ms. Barbara Traister
English Department
A paper submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts at
Kalamazoo College
1973
I wou1.d like very much to thank Ingeborg Thiele for
all of her help with this translation.Wi:tIt"out her I would
not know what to do; the project probably never would have
been finished and most certainly never started. This book
is sincerely dedicated to her.
Besten Dank auch an did ganze Familie Thiele fUr ihr
und ihre Hilfe.
Verst~ndnis
In addition my thanks go to Dr. Hardy Fuchs for his
translation suggestions and to Ms. Barbara Traister for her
help in polishing up the work.
"If you really thought the original
was like tbat., what h.ave
~,.yo-q.
." :_ :_.~ '. l. ;,;' , .:. ~ . •. '., -.- ;.' 0, ' .:, • •. ~ ",
seen in it to make you think it
was worth translating?"
Robert Bridges
ii
The era of the Weimar Republic was one of which it
could be said that the sword proved mightier than the pen,
for the best German writers of that period were unquestion
ably among the liberals and leftists. Some of these, like
Bertold Brecht, Erich K!stner and Erich Marie Remarque, sur
vived the years and became well known in English speaking
countries, particularly after World War II. Probably the
most colorful of those whose voices were stilled was Kurt
Tucholsky, also known under the pen names Peter Panter, Theo
1
bald Tiger, Kasper Hauser and Ignaz Wrobel.
Kurt Tucholsky (~ronounced approximately too-KHOL-skee)
was' virtually Wlknown in the United States until about fif'
teen ago, when an anthology of his prose writings ap
ye~rs
peared in an English by Harry Zohn, under the
~~8D8].ation
title The World Is Comedy. Long before, his writings had
~
once again become popular in German-speaking countries, in-
cluding both East and West Germany, and he is the subject ..
of innumerable quotations and discussions. Only the barrier
of language has so far prevented the rest of the world from
learning more about this spokesman for a Germany that might
2
have been.
Tucholsky was born in 1890 in Berlin, the son of a
well-to-do Jewish merchant. At the age of nine he began
r;- Harry Zohn and Karl F. Ross. What If --? Satirical Writ
ings 2! ~ Tucholsky. Page iIi."' - -
2. ibid. Page xii.
iii
attending the French Gymnasium there, a Huguenot-founded
institution which instilled in him an abiding love of France;
his linguistic prowess, clear reasoning and lucid style de
rive from this education.' In 1908 Tucholsky entered the
University of Berlin; he also studied in Geneva and earned
a doctor of laws degree from the University of Jena in 1915.
Oonscripted into the German Army in 1915, he spent three and
a half years of war service on Germany's eastern front and
became an ardent pacifist. He was married two times, for
short periods, the second time to Mary-Gerold Tucholsky, who
today, as his literary executrix, administers the Tucholsky
Archives in the Bavarian resort town of Rottach-Egern. Dur
ing most of his later years, from 1924 to his suicide in
1935, Tucholsky lived outside Germany, mainly in France,
Switzerland and Sweden.
Tucholsky's literary career, interrupted only by his
military service, extended over the two decades from 1912
to 1932, ranging from his first published work (a satirical
sally against Kaiser Wilhelm in the form of a fable) to his
last diary entry (a drawing of a ladder with three ascend
ing steps labeled "Speech-Writing-Silence"). His first book,
=
Rheinsberg A Picture for Lovers, appeared in 1912.
~
In 1913 Tucholsky became associated with the SchaubUhne,
~ibid. Page xii.
iv
later called the WeltbUhne (world stage), which became one
of the most aggresive and best-known satirical-political
periodicals of the time. Although he freely contributed to
other publications, the WeltbUhne remained the principal
vehicle for his poems (a number of which were written in the
Berlin dialect), his anecdotes and aPhorisms, his philosoph
ical essays and critical attacks upon the foibles of his
society and the resurgent German militarism. Many of Tu
cholsky's lyrics were set to music, some of them by "Theo
bald Tiger" himself, and were widely sung at union meetings
as well as on the cabaret stage. When the editor of the
WeltbUhne died unexpectedly in 1926, Tucholsky briefly took
over the management of that publication; he was succeeded
in this task by Carl von Ossietzky, another staunch anti
militarist, who was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1935
while languishing in a Nazi concentration camp.
Collections of Tucholsky's writings appeared in book
form from the year 1927 on. The first of these books -
.2
whose title Mit PS could mean either "With Five Horsepower"
or "Under Five Pseudonyms" - lifts the veil off the "gay
schizophrenia,,4 and reveals the many facets of this prolific
writer. Although Tucholsky today is chiefly remembered as
a satirist, his last book, Gripsholm Castle, is not exactly
~ibid. Page xiv.
v
a satirical work but rather, like his first one, Rheinsberg,
blends the melancholy charm of the nineteenth century with
the brash wit prevalent among Berlin society in the early
years of this century and between the Tucholsky, the
wars~.
travel-book writer, is seen to good advantage in A Book
About the Pyrenees (1927).
Some of Tucholsky's writings, intended for publication
in a militant periodical, were necessarily of an ephemeral
character and are of little interest to readers three or
four decades and a continent removed. But many sf his art
icles and nearly all his poems have these qualities which
mark them as enduring pieces of good literature, to say noth
ing of the inSights they give into the cross-currents of an
era about which serious scholars still ask: How could it
have happened? This is true even though, in a few instances,
obscure passages have to be clarified in translation or omit
ted completely.5
The thrusts of Tucholsky's typewriter were sharp and
well aimed, but he himself imposed certain restrictions on
the range of his targets. In 1929 he wrote: "Satire has a
limit at the top; Buddha is above it. It also has a limit
at the bottom: The Fascist forces in Germany. It doesn't
pay - one can't shoot that 10w.,,6 And so, Tucholsky -- an
implacable foe of National Socialism and everything it stood
~ibid. Page xiv.
6. ibid. Page xvi.
vi
for -- was less vocal in his attacks on the Hitler movement
than he might have been if he had not, like so many others,
underestimated its virulence. He was less restrained in
his criticism of the German Social Democrats for their vac
illation, compromises, and alleged betrayal of the 1918 rev
olution. This endeared him to the Communists, but Tucholsky
never joined their party or any other, except for a brief
affil11ation with a Socialist splinter group in the early
1920s. He opposed organized religion, but referred
r~rely
to God in an irreverant manner - especially in his later
writings - and evidently did not consider it reactionary to
invoke His assistance.
When the National Socialists came to power in Germany,
Tucholsky was safe in Sweden; only his books were burned
publicly after the Nazi takeover, an honor he shared with
many other prominent German writers. There are no obvious
answers to the question of why, on a December day in 1935,
Tucholsky ended his life by taking poison, leaving only a
request not to be disturbed. There were no overt, direct
military developements in 1935 that, could have been respon
sible for his suicide. The remilitarizationof the Rhine
land, the annexation of Austria and the dismemberment of
Czechoslovakia still lay in the future. True, Tucholsky had
been cut off from his German readership, but from his Swedish
vii
sanctuary he might still have published his writings in
Switzerland and, to a more limited extent, in Austria;
while the original WeltbUhne had been silenced in Germany,
a successor entitled WeltbUhne had been started in
~
Prague by German emigrants eager for contributions from
Tucholsky. Yet little more was heard of him until that
day the newspapers throughout Europe shocked their readers
with the announcement of his voluntary death.
Kurt Tucholsky cannot be brought back, although the
world sorely needs his wit, his humor, his searching reve
lations and his lashing tongue. It is to be hoped, however,
that through translation some of these assets can be re
called.
viii
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to Tucholsky biography
Schulz, Klaus-Peter. Kurt Tucholsky In Selbstzeugnissen
Bilddokumentation.
~
Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1959.
If
Zohn, Harry and Karl F. Ross. What --7 Satirical Writ
ings of Kurt Tucholsky.
New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967.
ix
We can also blow the trumpets
And blare throughout the .land;
But we'd rather stride through the days of May,
When the primroses bloom and the thrushes sing,
Quietly musing on the banks of the brook.
Storm