THE SINS OF THE FATHERS: LEONARD FORSTER'S REPLY TO AN EARLY CRITIC OF <i>THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GERMAN VERSE</i> ¹

This essay follows-up on a reminiscence written by Leonard Forster for GLL in 1988. was the editor of The Penguin Book German Verse, first published 1957. anthology intended post-war British readership, particularly schools, that seemed, despite everything, to have preserved an affectionate admiration poetry. Forster's selections often appear served as deliberate correctives ideological preferences previous generation's National Socialist critics, some which had also resonated with several Germanists. Shortly after publication, received letter from ‘Bernward Michaelsen’, who objected at great (though courteous) length many anthology's inclusions. and fellow scholar S. H. Steinberg judged writer be elderly schoolteacher whose conservative literary taste been formed World War I. equally courteous detailed response Michaelsen's criticisms no answer. What they did not know (although came close guessing) Michaelsen actually Bernward Vesper, eighteen-year-old son Will notorious poet. Bernward's political trajectory extreme right left his father's death unique generation but, unknown 1988, long since ended tragedy. Dieser Aufsatz bezieht sich auf einen 1988 veröffentlichten Beitrag von Forster. war Herausgeber des das erstmals 1957 erschien. Die Sammlung für eine Nachkriegsleserschaft, besonders Schulklassen, bestimmt, die deutsche Dichtung trotzdem noch herzlich verehrte. Forsters Auswahl kann als bewusstes Korrektiv zu den ideologischen Vorlieben nationalsozialistischer Literaturkritiker betrachtet werden, Vorlieben, auch manche englischsprachigen Germanisten zum Teil wiederspiegelten. Kurz nach der Veröffentlichung erhielt Brief höflichen Einspruch gegen viele Einbeziehungen erhob. und sein Kollege, Geschichtswissenschaftler Steinberg, hielten Verfasser Briefes älteren Schulmeister, dessen konservative Ansichten Zeit dem Ersten Weltkrieg geprägt worden waren. gleichermaßen höfliche ausführliche Antwort aber keine Antwort. wussten damals nicht (obwohl es annähernd vermutet hatte), dass bei Wirklichkeit um achtzehnjährigen Sohn Vespers, ein berüchtigter Verleger Dichter, handelte. Der politische Werdegang Vespers Tod seines Vaters, wenn einzigartig seine Generation, hatte schon längst tragisches Ende gefunden, davon unwissend seinen Artikel schrieb. It might proposed poem foreign language culture only truly begins its reception history point inclusion used schools. fortunes then depend erudition or ignorance teacher, is turn mercy study hours allocated curriculum. Unless student very remarkable goes off-piste voyage discovery, probable fate ignored forgotten. A few poems eventually become part canon (also, admittedly, few), either through examination system, music. Then, finally, will reach into world beyond classroom, survive perhaps generations more. book seems us extraordinarily delightful. From Walter Vogelweide onwards, there are here all we cherished schooldays. earlier almost like breviary. how near heart these old lie scriptures. We do question examine them. Our education built them.2 certainly could said even humble Lawrence's childhood ‘Land ohne Musik’,3 Oscar Schmitz polemicised 1904, success Fiedler's testament fact much nineteenth-century musical Britain embedded widespread love lyric. First would shake – but uproot teaching poetry literature English classroom. young officers (for educational exposure then, it has now largely again, accident class) were called up 1939 distinguished their pleasure Schiller, Goethe Heine schooldays Socialism so deplored editors forewords 1930s school anthologies. These Jewish refugees Germany Austria: among them Karl Heinz Spalt, Abraham Weiner, Fritz Gross Ella Speiro, channelled sorrow trauma exile passing beloved cultural heritage younger, generation. After 1945, should define this acute inter-generational sensitivity, her partition East West. new battlefront probably recognised Communist authorities greater urgency than Western Allied zones prize claimed utilised idealism young. prose increasingly supplanted America, what regarded black politically oppressed voices, introductions new, state-sanctioned anthologies providing careful steering. Such turmoil greatly disturb possibly felt acutely classroom England, take twelve years produce authoritative anthology.4 Although primarily editor, Forster, hoped taken quickly teachers adopted reading lists. As article show, evident weight responsibility, he saw it, recalibrate poetic warped Germany's ‘linientreue’ historians during which, extent, influenced surveys (especially Methuen) onwards. Of particular note Jethro Bithell's An Anthology Poetry, 1880–1940 (London 1941), building compilations following where off. reprinted (if revised) included syllabus Higher Certificate exam boards 1940s 50s. title indicates, collection started around 1880 poets personal friends, Richard Dehmel, reputation achieved height decades century whom Bithell dedicated 1909 contemporary translations verse. Eine große Dichterin schenkt uns Ost-Preußen Agnes Miegel […] Lulu Strauß Torney ist ihren im Westfälischen beheimateten Dichtungen mit besonderer Vorliebe Schicksalen nachgegangen, Menschen ihrer Heimat aus Glaubensspaltung ergeben haben […]. Dem Sauerland Josefa Berens-Totenohl entstanden, wir ruhig neben unseren besten Kräften stellen dürfen Blick Gesamte deutschen Lebens Ina Seidel ihre dichterische Aufgabe herangekommen.5 Prussia, Westphalia Helene Voigt-Diederichs belongs Heimatkunst she lovingly describes life landed gentry farmers native Schleswig-Holstein North sweep horizon hard obstinacy character, too, novels present-day criticism given high rank.6 Two other inclusions Hitler Youth ‘hymnists’, described Introduction: Heinrich Anacker Baldur Schirach. Their reputations reached before and, admits, gainsaying support regime. met objection head-on defended sake balance, suggesting aware controversial been. Both survived two further reprints until dropped 1951 edition. nevertheless about edition 1941 highly reflection being having recently 1940. Never never poetry, let alone one school-age readers, tacked winds prevailing Germany. Verse (1957) side-stepped difficult artistic versus evaluation Socialism. self-admitted arbitrary solution include born 1900. Out bathwater went Jewish, Communist, exiled ‘Blut Boden’ last fifty-five years, result out well over 300 1945. selection soon challenged instance critic took pains hide identity. anonymous critic's encapsulated struggles re-emerge politically, artistically morally overshadowing past. pity Herr M. does disclose age. I am inclined think post-Avenarius generation, i.e., people longer brought Hausbuch deutscher Lyrik, Vesper's Ernte shows too clearly ‘Entseelung’ ‘Verflachung’ progress Avenarius Vesper entailed (and led Nazi Langenbucher etc). kind parallel found ‘progress’ Fiedler Bithell!9 Trakl decadent ten time, Baudelairean nausea Heym Rimbaud-like. heightened hearing vision madman; sense save senseless Trakl's range limited really theme tints odours decay decomposition […]12 There place refinement decay. leaders demanded manly inspiration rising youth country, something fire mind hope greatness come, depress recollection outlived.13 With reference Ernte, closer matter ever realised. He solved mystery was, because latter closed request giving address. comments: ‘Will Vesper: Now can speak authority, him intimately when lived Meissen. M., according address, next-door neighbour may explain something!’14 And fact, explained everything. early pseudonym Will. story tortuous progression keeper flame ultimately catastrophic attempt coming terms toxic inheritance discussed press.15 Less light, however, shone critical starting-point, revealed anthology. immediately grasped significance omissions father presided influentially twenty before. Here, realised, prestigious widely read throughout English-speaking Commonwealth. represented death-knell fervent emphasis heralding pure German, spiritual nationalist unity. Suddenly, forced focus threat. loyalty trained it. His long, pervaded desperation, if appeal chance set record straight. One argue reveals cracks loyalties appeared. Far middle-aged, initially supposed, eighteen wrote still school. tortured relationship father, later tried analyse exhausting detail unfinished posthumously memoir-novel, Reise (1977): ‘“Ich werde Buch schreiben” sage ich Burton, “The ‘hate’. Ich hasse Deutschland. meinen Vater. alle, mich zur Sau gemacht haben.”’16 platform Neue Literatur launch invective against rivals, including Hermann Hesse. Other favourite targets any works supposedly un-German authors, malign influence Freudian psychoanalysis. embarrassment joke shades opinion: Thomas Mann ‘immer einer ärgsten nationalistischen Narren’;17 intemperate denunciations targeted favourites ‘Reichskulturkammer’, retire wife's estate Lower Saxony, Gut Triangel, continued missiles journal. household steeped ‘Nationalsozialismus, Rassismus aufs paranoideste zugespitztem Antisemitismus’, reflect bitterly, cats Triangel safe: ‘Katzen sind fremde unberechenbare Rasse. Sie passen uns. Deutschen lieben Hunde.’18 end went, daily hardly missed beat: ‘Die sei einfach ausgesperrt worden, Radio abgeschafft, Jauche Kollektivschuld über ausgoß.’19 1947 1962, active Bertelsmann right-wing discussion circles hosted historian Hans Grimm. Doch muss immer wieder gesagt diese Anthologie gesammten englischsprechenden Welt Dichter ersten Mal einfuehrt, Auflage Reinheit Sammlungen, moeglich, gesteigert werden muss, bis eben wirklich Besten unsere Nachbarvoelker gelangt.21 makes plea just adopt those consolidated Fischer Insel Verlag publications,22 show independence he, Michaelsen, personally admired considered fashionable appropriate Germany: such Weinheber, Leifhelm space cold course undervalued neither nor worth including. Laß Traum Leben dich umwimmern hier unterging starres Graun! Ist denn herrlich, Trümmern In Weltgeschichte einzubaun?26 Though Tiedge ‘Elegie’ 1803, infer purpose poem, inevitable ‘Untergang’ tyrannies terrible human cost deliberate. Thebe welkt Athen; rauschen Waffen mehr Olympia, goldnen Wagen Kampfspiels, Und bekränzen nimmer Schiffe Korinths? Warum schweigen sie, alten heil'gen Theater? freuet geweihete Tanz?27 famously presages Theodor W. Adorno's declaration Auschwitz poetry: ‘Wozu dürftiger Zeit?’28 concludes meditation peaceful resolution between indifferent gods lost civilisation Christian God, herald serene hopeful future, German-speaking peoples mankind. elegy, Hölderlin's most sublime achievements, frequently revised poet remained Norbert Hellingrath's Hölderlin 1895. illuminate rather complicated regard. To Rilke (regarded heir) mediated Stefan George circle, Herbert Read, Edwin Muir, Stephen Spender T. Eliot. enthused shading meditations ‘Brot Wein’, preferring own version George-centric mysticism, hailed prophetic seer destiny ‘Volk’. mounting wave popularity zenith 1943, centenary celebration Hölderin's birth. Especially popular extracts Hyperion, idylls Vaterländische Gesänge,29 venerated visionary patriotic appellations people. late elegies Wein’ ‘Patmos’ more uncertain defied easy interpretation. example hierarchy regard exemplified Ernte. became re-purposed critics representing ‘Geist’ purest form, 1944 second number Goethe. ingenuity trammelled party line included. fanned flame: 1940 least five different editions ‘Feldpost Ausgaben’. print runs numbered hundreds thousands fragile paperbacks, carried knapsacks soldiers, fortify spiritually deadly confrontation Bolsheviks Slavs, believing without worthy consideration. difficulty interpretation meant 1940s, interest aroused partly consequence comparative neglect anthologists. translated Michael Hamburger's self-admittedly rough 1943. At time nineteen same age poem's fourteen later. himself immigrant nine, Hamburger encountered Westminster School Luther Liliencron (1915), extremely successful adaptation use schools delighted Lawrence. turn, broader known Michaelsen. Bristol-based Germanist August Closs encouraged first, small translations.30 Closs's already courageously Duckworth mid-war, 1942, introduced audience time.31 Amid clamour must across channel, poignantly foreword: ‘To verse remains incitement message amidst tribulations spirit.’32 This, historical context cautious decision exclude Gesänge anthology, favour handful shorter pastoral elegies. Equally unsurprisingly, wished fore. yearningly cites opening lines ‘Der fürs Vaterland’: ‘Du kommst, O Schlacht! wogen Jünglinge/ Hinab Hügeln, hinab ins Tal’ though anticipates counters reason done so: ‘nicht etwa, wie könnten, weil er nationale Gefühle entfacht, sondern Sehnsucht reinsten ausgedrückt wird’.33 For little had, dismissing merely charakteristisch’. Obwohl es, sehr richtig bemerken, kein politisches Gedicht ist, habe solchen Erwägung [sic] heraus Hölderlins ‘O helig Herz Völker’ aufgenommen; missbraucht ausserdem Ausdrücke reiner sonst gerade selten.34 mulling observed now, surveys: ‘I your statement you chosen “Patmos” preferred “Brot Wein”ʼ. precisely influential circle ‘Georginen’ cared least. Even latest Briefe (1952), Ludwig Geiger, perfunctory ‘“Brot Wein” none thirty-page Nachwort’.35 Wunderbare, einfache Liebesgedichte: Einmal, wehre Traenen, wiederkehren, diesem nächsten Sommer Liebestunden lassen erneuern. Oder Gedicht: scheiden, die, Freund Bruno Frank sagte, alle echt-lyrische haben, Analyse entzieht. Er wohl derjenigen, Tradition Luthers, durch Geschlechter verwandt fortsetzt, Sicht Bauern, Menschen, Burns seiner Jugend hinter Pflug gestanden hat.36 Meine Väter Mütter alters beteten heiligen Christ nun tausend Jahre lang. Es ihnen manchmal bitter schwer, alles Bauernwesen rang Wie meine bet’ Kind Kindeskind ihm, verwachsen umflutet Meer Heiliger du bist meinem Volk Land Heiland heilig dein Namen sowie bisher Ewigkeit: Amen!37 drily responded: ‘Vesper feinsinniger Anthologist Seine eigenen weit sehen kann, nichts Ursprüngliches verdienten aufgenommen werden.’38 Hesse, Nobelpreistraeger frühe erste, unter bekannten Erscheinungen vermisse. Mag Prosa vielleicht geglueckt sein, gehört doch Lyrik zweifellos Grossen unseres Jahrhunderts, nur Volkes.39 curious unaware deep animosity 1935 Hesse correspondent Swedish periodical, Bonniers Literära Magazin, shortly contract abruptly cancelled rampantly anti-Semitic submission. declared paying attention writers exile, praised Franz Kafka, Ernst Bloch Zweig, while remaining conspicuously silent pool Blut Boden showcase. triggered tirade furious abuse pulpit Literatur: ‘Er beschimpft ganze neue verdächtigt Herman übernimmt volksverrätische Rolle judischen Kritik gestern’.40 vehemence antipathies embarrassing, general commentaries nonetheless cool, mentioned all. By 1943 Hesse's books ‘Schwarze Liste’, Unterm Rad, searing account brutal system childhood, 1906 republished again 1951. war, dramatically revived, abroad England) Germany, Josef Mileck suggests rose younger moral chaos: ‘troubled drawn troubled writer.’41 1946 awarded Frankfurt Preis, Sweden's Nobel Prize followed year. enthusiasm gathered pace decade, Wilhelm-Raabe-Preis (1950) Friedenspreis Buchhandels (1955). interesting speculate whether responded Rad shock recognition. England America tainted suspicion acquiescence dictatorship, generally disdainful psychoanalytic themes completely, warm public Strauss's setting ‘Frühling’, ‘September’ ‘Schlafengehen’ premiere Four Last Songs Royal Albert Hall 1950.42 Only three bemused reviews. 1923 Demian dismissed ‘the crazed dream paranoic’; Steppenwolf ‘an unappetising conglomeration fantasy, philosophy moist eroticism’.43 changed matters far concerned, although make translation Prodigy text 1985 occasionally translation. ‘Hessemania’ off ‘Beat Generation’ 1960s. When seem once shared reservations. concede reply, ‘Hesse hat manches schöne geschrieben, schätze’.44 obviously Michaelsen's, laments exclusion Gottfried Benn (who renounced former shocking subsequently banned ‘degenerate’ Expressionism ‘Reichsschrifttumskammer’ 1938). Did discovery trigger beginning realignment reassessment universe, held thrall long? reply him. 1962 dead, identifying abandoned project republish girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin. Ensslin moved Berlin began move Gruppe 47. Ennslin, especially, radicalised Andreas Baader, founded ‘Rote Armee Fraktion’. 1970, loyal enterprise carry forward name unbound bookblocks collected mouldering damp cellars lain years. They hauled burned son, reflected irony: ‘Eine Bücherverbrennung Werken Vespers! sie ahnen gar nicht, schlecht feuchte Bücher brennen!’ So ‘den vertrottelten vom Tausendjährigen Reich’45 long. year later, unstable him, perhaps, faded away protests nationalism stirred Verse. Yet sensed feared pass, way imagined desired. consoling wasteland reviving classical past equalled England. Siegbert Prawer's Seventeen Modern Poets (1971) onto lists 1970s 80s, apart 1973, knowledge silenced country's filtering existence completely examiners ‘die Wende’. correspondence thick policies curriculum reforms. Despite best pedagogical intentions, witness apogee, decline finally total elimination engagement A-level examinations Welsh predictable consequences wider enrichment today palette form short plays, films, (with notable exceptions Mutter Courage Verwandlung) produced abundant availability online synopses guides drip-feed required selected film work gives intercultural liaison maintained. this, numbers taking continue drop steeply European language. Those universities retain departments valiant efforts repair loss students, majority ab initio. celebrated medium language, raw beginners, terrifying territory examiners, students alike. indeed, 1995. Heine's Lieder made appearance 1999, offered timidly AQA awarding body 2018. Was anyone willing able teach poetry? not: 2022, gone again.46