WALT WHITMAN - The Walt Whitman Archive

286 Pages·2006·17.64 MB·English

CONSTRUCTING THE GERMAN
WALT WHITMAN

CONSTRUCTING THE GERMAN
Walt Whitman
BY WALTER GRUNZWEIG
1!11
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS IOWA CITY
University oflowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 1995 by the University of Iowa Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Richard Hendel
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gri.inzweig, Walter.
Constructing the German Walt Whitman I
by Walter Gri.inzweig.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-87745-481-7 (cloth), ISBN 0-87745-482-5 (paper)
1. Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892-Appreciation-Europe,
German-speaking. 2. Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892-
Criticism and interpretation-History. 3. Criticism
Europe, German-speaking-History. I. Title.
PS3238.G78 1994 94-30024
8n' .3-dc2o CIP
01 00 99 98 97 96 95 c 5 4 3 2 1
01 00 99 98 97 96 95 p 5 4 3 2 1
To
my brother
WERNER,
another
Whitmanite

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments, ix
Abbreviations, xi
Introduction, 1
TRANSLATIONS
1. Ferdinand Freiligrath, Adolf Strodtmann, and Ernst Otto Hopp, 11
2. Karl Knortz and Thomas William Rolleston, 20
3· Johannes Schlaf, 32
4· Karl Federn and Wilhelm Scholermann, 43
5· Franz Blei, 50
6. Gustav Landauer, 52
7· Max Hayek, 57
8. Hans Reisiger, 63
9. Translations after World War II, 69
CREATIVE RECEPTION
10. Whitman in German Literature, 77
11. Naturalism, 79
12. Between Naturalism and Expressionism, 104
13. Expressionism, 108
14. Beyond Expressionism, 141
POLITICS
15. Whitman and the Marxists, 151
16. The Anarchist Whitman, 161
17. Whitman on the Right, 166
18. The German Sixties, 181
SEXUAL POLITICS
19. Homosexuality, 187
20. Wandervogel and Nudists, 199
Conclusion: A German "Whitmann," 203
Notes, 209
Index, 269

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the support of many colleagues,
friends, and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. The extent and quality of
this support prove that there really is a Whitman community on which individual
Whitman researchers can and must depend.
Early assistance and encouragement came from Gay Wilson Allen, the father
of modern Whitman research, and Hans Galinsky, one of the great researchers in
German-American studies of our century. Throughout my many years of re
search, I drew on the expertise and friendship of Betsy Erkkila (Philadelphia), Ed
Folsom (Iowa City), and Hans-Joachim Lang (Hamburg) for aid in collecting,
assembling, and analyzing my material and for the critical evaluation of my
manuscript. For effective help with the manuscript, I would also like to thank
James E. Knowlton (Sherman, Texas), Anne Ulmer (Northfield, Minnesota), and
especially my copy editor, Kathy Lewis.
Philip G. Furia (Minneapolis), Arthur Golden (New York/ Ljubljana), Dietmar
Goltschnigg (Graz), Larry Meredith (Stockton), Christopher Muller (Berlin),
Marianne Muller (Berlin), Paul Raabe (Wolfenbiittel), Gerhard Rothbauer (Leip
zig/Bamberg), James R. Thompson (Athens, Ohio), Frank Trommler (Philadel
phia), and Larry D. Wells (Binghamton) have given me important advice and help
on individual questions relating to my research.
Financial support for my research was generously given by the American
Council of Learned Societies, the Austrian-American Educational Commission
(Fulbright Commission), and the German Humboldt Foundation.
A large number of libraries and archives have allowed me access to much
hitherto-unexplored material. In Germany, special thanks go to the Deutsche
Literaturarchiv, Marbach, especially Winfried Feifel and Ingrid GrOninger; the
Staatsbibliothek PreuBischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin); and the Johannes Schlaf Ar
chive in Querfurt, especially Ingolf Schnittka and Joachim Hartmann. In the
United States, I would like to express special appreciation to the University of
Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library, above all the Special Collections staff; Christa
Sammons of Beinecke Library, New Haven; and Charles Kelly and Michael Mc
Elderry at the Library of Congress.
For intellectual inspiration, I am especially obliged to my colleagues in the
Department of American Studies at Karl-Franzens-Universitat Graz, especially
Jiirgen Peper, long-term chair and my principal advisor, and my friend Roberta
Maierhofer. Special thanks for covering my prolonged absences are due to de-
lX
X ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
partmental manager Sonja Hanauer and its present chair, Arno Heller. Several
generations of students, on both sides of the Atlantic, have also significantly con
tributed to the character of the book.
Much of the book's substance has emerged from long-term professional dia
logues and collaboration with Margaret Cotroneo (Philadelphia), whose theo
logically based humanism has provided me with new perspectives required for an
understanding of many of the Whitmanites discussed in this book, and Eva
Manske (Freiburg), whose enthusiasm for the avant-garde has taught me new
ways to read and appreciate literature.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge more indirect but decisive impacts on my
work. My parents, Franz and Elfriede Griinzweig, have provided the background
for my definition of and devotion to cultural studies; my German-American
wife, Brunhild Folsch, has shaped my intercultural perspective; and my brother
Werner, a musicologist in Berlin, has helped me to take a comprehensive view of
cultural processes.