Leonore Krenzlin: Hermann Kant

GDR Bulletin
Volume 8
Issue 2 Spring
Article 10
1982
Leonore Krenzlin: Hermann Kant
Kenneth Hughes
Clark University
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Recommended Citation
Hughes, Kenneth (1982) "Leonore Krenzlin: Hermann Kant," GDR Bulletin: Vol. 8: Iss. 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.4148/gdrb.v8i2.617
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Hughes: Leonore Krenzlin: Hermann Kant
8
GDR
^DNITOR
Issue No. 5 ( S p r i n g , 1981) of the GDR Monitor i s somewhat
uneven i n the q u a l i t y of i t s short a r t i c l e s . Three stand
out as p a r t i c u l a r l y u s e f u l : Derek Fogg's "Riddles and
R e a l i t y i n Hermann Kant's Novel Die Aula" (p. 27-33) unravels
"a treasure trove of a l l u s i o n s -- puns, symbols, and images"
which seem to have escaped most c r i t i c s of Kant's work.
Fogg's astute readings of s e v e r a l f i g u r e s and f o r m u l a t i o n s ,
and p a r t i c u l a r l y h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of Quasi Riek, were confirmed by Hermann Kant h i m s e l f , thus making them p a r t i c u l a r l y
valuable to readers who have been m y s t i f i e d by some aspects
of the n o v e l . C h r i s t i n e Cosentino's " L i t e r a r y C o r r e l a t i o n s
between Sarah K i r s c h ' s Poem 'Der Rest des Fadens' and E l k e
Erb's volume Der Faden der Geduld"
(p. 52-56) convincingly e s t a b l i s h e s connections between Erb's essay " Z u f ä l l e und
Geduld," the events surrounding the expulsion of Wolf B i e r ntann, and K i r s c h ' s poem. F i n a l l y , J e n n i f e r T a y l o r deals
with a number of g e n e r a l l y unknown popular plays i n "Immortal fascism? The r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the Federal Republic
i n some minor dramatic wor'cs o f the GDR."
(p. 34-42)
Although her a n a l y s i s does not appreciably change c r i t i c a l
consensus on the d e p i c t i o n of f a s c i s m , her a t t e n t i o n to
stage works a c c e s s i b l e only i n manuscript form i l l u m i n a t e s
an important facet of GDR h i s t o r y .
DEUTSCHE B Ü C H E R
The f i r s t 1981 issue of Deutsche B ü c h e r ( V o l . X I , No. 1)
contains a lengthy " G e s p r ä c h " with A d o l f E n d l e r , p r o v i d i n g
useful and provocative i n s i g h t s i n t o the work of t h i s often
d i f f i c u l t poet. The c o l l o q u y , which began as an interview
of Endler by Gregor Laschen and Ton Naaijkens i n November,
1980, was subsequently edited and enlarged by E n d l e r . As
a r e s u l t , i t elaborates much more e x t e n s i v e l y on s i g n i f i c a n t
points than the more spontaneous i n t e r v i e w . Of p a r t i c u l a r
i n t e r e s t i s the anger with which Endler r e g i s t e r s the lack
of resonance h i s work has had i n the GDR (none of h i s three
volumes of poetry was ever reviewed i n any of tha major
l i t e r a r y j o u r n a l s there) . D e s c r i b i n g h i s w r i t i n g as " e i n
stetes Anschreiben gegen Festgeschriebenes," Endler analyzes
the "grotesken Widarspruch . . . zwischen H ö h e des t h e o r e t i schen Anspruchs und der eventuellen N i c h t i g k e i t dessen, W3s
ihn b e g r ü n d e n s o l l , (das G e d i c h t ) " which lad him to turn to
prose w r i t i n g . The Endler feature concludes with a prep u b l i c a t i o n excerpt from h i s novel Nebbich, which confirms
his own astimata of i t as prose, "welche d i e i n dar DDR
geltenden Konventionen i n bezug auf a r z ä h l a n d e L i t e r a t u r
weit h i n t e r s i c h läB':."
The "Gesprach mit J u r i j B r e z a i (p. 85-94) i n Heft 2 of
the same year i s a product of an interview with M a r i e l u i s e
de Waijer-Wilke at the L e i p z i g book f a i r i n spring 1981 and
focuses on Brezan's s e l f - p r e c e p t i o n as a Sorbian w r i t e r and
the discrepancy between advances i n technology and the continuing m o r a l - e t h i c a l backwardness of mankind which l e d him
to write Krabat oder Die Verwandlung der Welt: "Wie v i e l f r e i l i c h die Kunst beitragen kann, diesen heute bedrohlichen,
morgen t ö d l i c h e n Zustand zum Guten zu v e r ä n d e r n , w e i ß i c h
n i c h t . Manchmal i s t mir, a l s s e i h i e r die Kunst wie e i n
S t e i n z e i t s p e e r g e g e n ü b e r einem Panzer."
An excerpt from h i s
current work-in-progress, Der A l t e Mann und der Tod (working
t i t l e ) concludes the Bre'zan f e a t u r e .
BOOK REVIEWS
Hermann Kant. By Leonore K r e n z l i n . S c h r i f t s t e l l e r der
Gegenwart 7. B e r l i n : Volk und Wissen, 1981.
264 pp.
DDR 4.20 M.
T h i s i s a useful and q u i t e competent book, although, since
i t i s an ambitious monograph on one of the GDR's best w r i t e r s , one wishes that i t would have been more i n c i s i v e i n
s e v e r a l important ways.
I have l i t t l e q u a r r e l with any of Krenzlin's- analyses o f
s p e c i f i c works; these seem to me to be i n s i g h t f u l , j u d i cious and s e n s i t i v e , and the accents are set c o r r e c t l y .
The readings center on K r e n z l i n ' s e f f o r t s to l o c a t e the
s p e c i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f Kant's work i n h i s r e f l e c t i o n of
the structure of the Bildungsroman i n favor of a r e t r o s p e c t i v e i l l u m i n a t i o n of the f a s c i s t d i c t a t o r s h i p and the earl y years of the GDR.
Thus Die A u l a "hob den L e s e r n , wie
vorher wohl noch k e i n anderes Buch, ins Bewusstsein, dass
der s o z i a l i s t i s c h e Staat der Gegenwart b e r e i t s auf eine
Vergangenheit z u r ü c k b l i c k e n konnte." (62) And i t d i d t h i s
by means of a p a r t i c u l a r l y d i d a c t i c s t r u c t u r e i n which the
episodes "enthalten meist keine z u s ä t z l i c h e , der Deutung
s i c h e r s t a l l m ä h l i c h ö f f n e n d e S c h i c h t . Der Leser i s t v i e l mehr eingeladen, die gedankliche Auseinandersetzung mit
der Vergangenheit auf Iswallsche Weise m i t z u v o l l z i e h e n . "
(73) This i s true even of Der A u f e n t h a l t ; K r e n z l i n i s
keenly s e n s i t i v e toward that novel's very important aspect
of development, but she simultaneously sees i t as an anal y s i s of an "Umschlagspunkt (; . .) i n Grossaufnahme." (164)
Not everything i n these readings i s completely s a t i s f a c t o r y .
For one t h i n g , she i s g e n e r a l l y too r e l u c t a n t to express
negative c r i t i c i s m , except i n the most inescapable cases
And when she does r e g i s t e r a major o b j e c t i o n , such as to
many of the s t o r i e s i n Eine Ü b e r t r e t u n g , which evidences
"deutliche S c h w ä c h e n der Durchformung," she too q u i c k l y
dismisses her own c r i t i c i s m by designating the e n t i r e c o l l e c t i o n " e i n Zwischenspiel," (141) d i s r e g a r d i n g the f a c t
that t h i s i s one of only f i v e volumes of n a r r a t i v e prose
that Kant has p u b l i s h e d .
Although K r e n z l i n has made a g e n e r a l l y s u c c e s s f u l attempt
to locate the i n d i v i d u a l woks w i t h i n the development of
GDR l i t e r a t u r e and has devoted a s p e c i a l chapter to Kant's
a e s t h e t i c p o s i t i o n i n that development, the c a t e g o r i e s of
her a n a l y s i s are not always the most c o n v i n c i n g . To say,
f o r i n s t a n c e , that the merit of Das Impressum was to have
posed the question "Which concrete circumstances are benef i c i a l to the development o f the i n d i v i d u a l and which det r i m e n t a l ? " with respect to the s o c i a l stratum of the dec i s i o n makers i n the GDR (113) i s to avoid the question of
the novel's formal achievements and of i t s r e l a t i o n to
Kant's previous work. Given K r e n z l i n ' s s e n s i t i v i t y to the
theme of development of the GDR, i t i s curious that her
monograph's g r e a t e s t weakness should l i e p r e c i s e l y i n i t s
r e l a t i v e i n a t t e n t i o n to the development of Kant's own
work. I t i s not enough merely to say, f o r example,
"Kant a l s E r z ä h l e r weitgehend a b s t r e i f t im V e r l a u f der
ersten J a h r e , i s t eine f l a c h - d i d a k t i s c h e E r z ä h l h a l t u n g "
(171 f.) — a good deal more comment was i n order here.
In a s e c t i o n of documentation, K r e n z l i n has r e p r i n t e d
some of Kant's e a r l y p o l i t i c a l j o u r n a l i s m and s e v e r a l
contemporary c r i t i c a l d i s c u s s i o n s , which communicate some
idea of the i n i t i a l r e c e p t i o n . As Kant i s now presumably
somewhere i n mid-career, i t i s good to have t h i s m a t e r i a l
and altogether u s e f u l to have t h i s informative and
competent i n t e r i m r e t r o s p e c t i v e , even though i t does not
have the "bUschen was E x t r a s " i t might have had.
Kenneth Hughes
Clark University
Published by New Prairie Press, 1982
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