.!

-t

GOTTFRIED BENN: THE ARTIST

ANp Pol,rrrcs (1910-1934)

Thesis presented by Reinhard Otto Alter

for the degree of Doctor of philosophy
in the University of Adelaide.

R.. O. Alter
B.A. Hons. (aaer. Lg69)
Ade Ia ide/trtunich
April 1974.
 coTTFRrEp BENN. THE ARTTST ANp pOLrrrCS (1410-1434)

Summary page i
Statement IV

Acknowledgements v

Preface VJ-

PART r: THE ARTTST (1910-1932)

Chapter 1: Disestablishment and the Norm. Bennrs

early Prose and Poet.ry 1

Chapter 2: Bennr s Artistic Ttreory (L92O-J-932) 46

PART TI: THE ARTIST AND Polrrrcs (rg2o-L934)

Ctrapter 3: The Artist and polit,ics (L92o - March 1933 ) ZA

chapter 4: Be.nn and National Socialísm (1933/34)

(1) History and Creativeness IIT
(2) Arr and rhe state r42
(3) Artistic Autonomy and National
Socialism r59

Biblioqraphv 19T
 J-

Summary

Pärt I: The Àrtist ( rqro-lq3e )

Bennrs a::tistic theory in the rtwenties and early

Ithirties is indissoluble from his cultural criticism;
striving for artistic serf-determination or autonomy is
invariably accompanied by an assaurt on the empiricar world
from which the mind seeks release. This rerationship
between culturar criticism and art had been prefigured in
Bennrs early prose works; as a resul-t of their incompat-
ibility with the intellectual and social norm (representecl
by the personality-type of the "Herr" ), the protagonists of
Bennrs early work calr up an imaginative "Gegenglückt' in
which they reconstitute the empirical world according to the
dictates of an autonomous imagination.
The attainment of a level of consciousness which
grants release from the strictures of the here and now is
the object of Bennts antirationar t'Gegenvorstellung" and a
precondition for its ultimate aim: artistic creativeness.
Antirationalism is only the point of departure for Bennrs
cultural criticism and arti-stic theory, however; his
creative "Gegenvorstelrung" is opposed to a far broader
spectrum than rationalism alone: art is subject to no
extraneous empiri-ca1, social or poriticar determinants of
any kind. The sociar and political world is relegated to
an insignificant position in the scale of values in favour
of the "primaryrr quarity of creative irrationarism.
Artistic creativeness is expressed in terms of a denial- of
the meaningfulness of history.

PATI II:

The unequivocar quality of Bennrs cultural criticism

contains a strong tendency to think antithetj_carry and to
posit a rerationship of mutual exclusiveness between
political engagement and art. Bennrs serf-differentiation
from the political world during the weimar Republic is
accompanied by a refusar to differentiate between its
individual components; these components are rel_ated
 l_ l-

associatively and the complex whol-e they make up is rejected

en k'Ioc. Benn sv/eeps the politieal grain away with the
chaff" The dangers of his uncifferentiated approach to
political realities become especíarIy evident in his
position in the Prussian Academy during the early weeks of
Nazi rulc j he sees himself as the "purerr artist opposing
the (anti-Nazi ) activists in the literary world the
types, he berieves, who wor¡ld submerge the artisti-c aims of
the Academy in political ones. By late February 1933 Benn
had begun to sympathise with National soci-alism as a form
of cultural criticism of j-ts l-eft and left-liberal opponents.
Bennrs "autonomous" principle and its tendency to
adapt the empirical world to its own requirements facilitated
the intellectr:aI short circuit which prevented him fronr see-
ing historj-ca1 realities for what they were. He tried to
see the historical movement of Nationar social_ism in Lhe
same terms as other creati-ve (non-political_ and non-
historicar ) events and associated the individuar aspects of
his artistic theory the disjunctive nature of development,
creative irrationalism, the "constructive" force invorved
in artistic creativeness - with the Nazi movement. He found
a curturo-critical common denomi_nator between his own vi_ew
of art and National Soci_a1ism"
But the same cultural criticism that allowed Benn to
associate himself with the }Jazis is indissoluble from a
principle of artistic self-determi-nation which militated
against such an association" During t933/34 he repeatedly
makes distinctions between hÍs own i_rrationalism, includ_
ing the "constructive" or "formar" principle, and National
social-ist conceptions about the nature of creativeness.
Furthermorë r he does not comply with Nazi ideas about "volk-
haftigkeit" and the artist as representative of the idears
of state and "volk". His effort to take National sociarism
on his own terms involves him in self-contradi-ctoriness; it
also involves a contradi-ction of Nati_onal socialism itself,
particularly a contradiction of Nazj_ "curture " and its
pretensions tc intellectc.¿a-r a*,J spiritual hegemony"
Benn associated his own artistic theory and the
cultural criticism it embodied with National socialism; but
 r_ rl_

he was also moved to defend the continuity he saw between

his thinking before 1933 and during f%3/34 aqainst the
Naz j- rág.ime.
frls thesLa aonËafns Eû natert el nþ1eb hes basa ecøcptcil
for th* ar*rdl of, ang othcr elegrsa er tltp1on¿ fu wr¡r eühcr
tnl:rtrctÐ, te tbo bcst of Ðy lnnol¡{[,cdl.ga antl Þc].l.cf,r lt eou-
tafna rre na,tarlal pravf,oucþ puÞILar}tcû sr trr'iften by a¡sotb¡r
Irürson* cxcapü *hclr dluo rafÊrsn€t f.s saüs fn thç tcxË'

laide/'tunich
A'de

april L9T4
 V

Acknowledgements

f wish Lo express my appreciatåveness to Pnofessor

Brian Coghlan of Li:e Department of, German in the UniversS"ty
of Adelaide for his furtherance of my project and for his
valuable counsel and patient encouragement. In equal
measure I am grateful to him for his stimulation during my
undergraduate years. I thank Dr. Dushan Stankovich of the
sême department for readj-nq the early drafts and plans for
the dissertation and for his com¡nents and criticisms.
Professor Walter ¡,tül-ler*Seidet of the Universíty of Munich
very kindly gave of his valuabl-c time in l9T2 to read
chapter 1 and the outiine-sunmary for the final draft"
Dr. Walther Huder of the Akademie der Künste in
Berlin was most cooperative when I visited the Academy in
f969 j-n order to read the records of the literary section
of the Preußische Akademie der Kunste" I am also grateful
to the Deutsches Literaturarch iv at Marbach for allowing
me to quote from Bennrs Nachlaß"
Thanks are due to the University of Adelaide for the
university Research Grant which enabred me to spend 1969 in
Germany and to the Australian Commonwealth for supporting
me in Adelaide during fgTo/Tf with a Comrnonwealth post-
graduate Award. I am Enateful to the German Fedcral
Republic for granting mc a scholarship of the Deuts cher
Akademischer Austar:,schdienst and making it possibre for me
to spend f972/73 in Munich"
Finally, r thank the staff of the rnter-Library Loans
Department in the University of Adelaiders Barr-Smith
Library for thein prompt and friendly help.
 vl-

Preface

"Verhalten und Außerungen Benris von 1933 und 1934

\^iaren ejndeuLig", writes Klaus Vond'unq j-n a book just to
hand.'lr)' Cent-ainly, it is an indi-spui"abl-e fact that for
a year and a half Gottfried Benn openly l_ent hís hand to
the National Soe ialist causc. But Vondungrs elaim (in his
otherwise cornpetent book ) tfrat Bennrs clemeanour and his
utterances during L933,/34 \Mere unequivocal j"s demonstrably
farse. To demonstrate the ambivalence of Bennts posiLion
under National- Socialism during f933/34 is one of the aims
of this disscrtation"
Another and related aim is to explore Bennrs artisÊ-ie
theory from its points of departi-rre in Expressionism until_
1933 and thereby to indi-cate thar his pre-1933 Lhinking
contains impulscs which would just as readily suggest
antipathy towards National- social- j-sm as sympathy with it:
the ambivalence and even contradictoriness of Bennrs utter-
ances in f9T/34 becornes apparent in the fact that he
continues to profess his pre-1933 artistic theory during
these years, whil-e at Lhe same time attempting to reconcire
it with a politicatr- and cultural scene with which it is at
variance.
Thê detai.l-s c¡f Bennîs antistic theory and its complex
relationship to the political world in thc late weimar
Republic and during 1933//34 wil] be reserved f,or treatment
in the main Lext. However, a word is cafted fon on the
organisation and structure of the argument. rf Bennrs
positi-on urnder National sociarism is to be treated in the
light of his pre-1933 thinkinq, then the latter must
obviously be discussed in sornc detair" This is the fr¡nctj_on
of Part I e where Bennrs artistic theory is treated as
objectively as possible; detailed inferences about its
ideologicar procl-ivities are reserved for part rr " part r
attempts above a1l- to establish the interrelationship

(1) Klar-rs vondunE: e

List Tasche nbucher der
Geschichte ; Dokument und
Forschung Å6n (uünchen, IgT 3), p.l-42.
 v l_1,

between Bennrs artistic theory and his culLuraI criticism.

Part TI examines the functioning of what claims to be an
autonomousr politieally imperviou.s artistic standpoint in
the concrete politicai- context of. the Vüeimar Republic and
the initial years of Nazi rule "

The author is av¡are of the difficulties raised by

the f.i-near, chronological Lrcatment he has chosen" He has
attempted to off,set. this weakness, partially at least, by
the use of cross_ref,erences in order to clarify thematic
and chronological interconnexions fon the reader. It is
hoped that the surnmary provided on p.i-iii above will be
of some help.
Bennrs "innere Emigrationrr after 1934 anci the
circumstances of his withdrawal from public life are not
treated. However, the question of his post-194þ retrospect-
ir¡e view of 1933/34 (especj-aIly in Doppelleben) i" raised
briefly. It, too¡ belongs to the literature on Bennts
National Socialist interlude " His self-interpretaLi,on
quite understandably is lacking in objectivity; it also
falls short in the matter of critical self-evaluation. But
the studentrs task is not to compensate for Bennrs o\^/n
errors of judgement by polemicar and affectir¡e broadsides
such as have characterised much of, the secondary literature.
The facts as they exist are indispensable if justice is to
be done and insights gained with nespect to Benn and the
very ticklish and fundamental problems which his case
raises concerníng the ideological location of art" The
author makes no pretensions to total success in either; but
it. is hoped that he has at least succeedcd in asking some
of the right questions "

unless ot,trerwise stated in the footnotes, the sources

for a1l quotat.ions from Gottfried Benn are the four-volume
edition of the cesammel-te l^Ierke edited by Dieter werlers-
hoff and the volume Ausqev/äh-IlLe Br:i-efe edited by Max Rychner
(see bibliography). euotations f:rom bo'r--h soll,rcÐs alre
acknowledgeci r-n the text" rn the case of the Gesammei.i:e
Werke, Roman numerals denote the vol_" no. and Arabic
numerals the page no. The abbreviation rBr.t refers to
 v l_ l-J_

Lhe Ausqewählte Briefe"

Where the author has added emphases to qurotations
from Benn or the secondary literature, a not.e to this
effect is provided in parenLheses.
 PART I

THE ARTIST ( 1910-1932 )

 CHAPTER 1

Disestablishment and the Norm.

gennts earlv prose and poetrv (19IO-l_92O)
ï
In Gottfr j-ed Bennrs f irst work of pr,ose f iction
Nocturno (1913) are suggested some of the characteristie
attributes of a personaliLy-type which trecurs throughout
Bennrs work;
Ein Trupp junger Männer kam" Froh, Iaut, voll
beruflichen A,nsehens, denen wenig fehlschlug,
Sie lachten und waren vorbei" (rr 8)
This is the personarity-type which is soon to be designat,ed
simply as the "Herr". The "Herr" is an "insider", part. of
a social group. He is an extrovert and basically an
optimist. He is definable in terms of the role in the
above example the professíonar role - he prays in society,
and he feels secure in this rol-e. He is "established'r not
only in a professional- and social sense, however, but arso
in a psychological sense" He is a "Hertr" abor¡e arr- ín his
masterv of the world in which he lives; he is equipped to
avoid ma jor crj-ses, is in control;
ganz persönlich gehen diese HerrenJ Bewaffnet
mit allen Erfordernissen, die Zusammenhänge z\ eT--
spähen, das ist unlogisch, rufen sie im Tón des
Vorwurfs und sind sarrberl_ich und prompt. (f I 6T )
He appears to have conquered the world by means of his
brain and the scientific methods it has evol-ved, in which
he places his faith;
Wir stehen über die welt verteilt: ein Heer:
Köpfe, die bcherrschen, Hirne, die erobefnr-(rI 2gg)
declares the Professor of pathorogy in Bennrs carly dramatic
work rthaka (1914)" The "Herr" is at home j-n the world of
causality, according to the principles of which he also
directs his own personarity; his existence has an aim and
a method: so that hjs tomorrows follow logically from his
yesterdays and his life progresses confidently in an
unbroken line; Ìre has a "continuous" psychology which is
furly compatible with the "kategorialer Raum" in which he
lives:
Da trat ein Herr auf ihn z\1, und ha ha, und schön
wetter ging es hin und herr vcrgangenheit r¡nd zu-
kunft eine I,{eile im kategorial-en Raum" (f I 34)
 -2^

The above quotation j-s taken from the novella Die

_Bejlqq (f9f6); it. descrj-bes a meeh..ing hetween Rönne" rhe
protagonist of the novella, and a "Herr"; it contj_nues;
A,ls er [the rHerrr ] fort war j taumelte Rönne.
Rönners situaLion is similar to that of the sub-iect of
Bennrs f.irst novella Nocturno" Here too the Herren" app,ear
rr

to mor¡e in another worrd, whích tets itself be seen and heard

but quickly flashes by;
Sie lacht.en und waren vorbei. (f r B)
such separateness from, as wel-r as incornpatibiriry with Lhe
"Herr" and his world is characteristic of the prot.agonists of
Benn's early prose work. Rönne, in the novella-cycre cehirne
(tgt5/t6), is definabte substantiaJ-ry in terms of his po-ì-ariry
to the "Herr " j the latter is everything whieh Rönne j_s not"
unlike the "Herr", Rönneras the noverra Gehirne indicates,
feels insecure in his professional existence; this is due
above all to the critical state of his cogniLive faculties:
he feels that his brain has forsaken him and hence that he is
impotent to make sense of reality, 1et alone to influence it;
Es schwächt mich etwas von oben" reh habe keinen
Halt mehr hinter den Augen. Der Raurn wogt so end-
los; einst floß er doch auf eine stelle zerfar*
1en ist die Rinde, die mj.ch trug" (rr 16)"
Rönne's psychology is poles apart from thc profound self-
confÍdence of the "Herr", "der verwurzert.e, der unersehüt{:;er*
lj-cher'. (rr 34) Benn characterises hj-m Ín ret-rospect in
his Lebensweq eines fntellektualisten (fç:+),
Wir erblicken al_so hier einen Mann., der ej-ne kon*
tinuierliche psychorogie nícht mehr in sich trägt"
seine Exi-sLenz innerharb und außerhalb des Kasiños
ist zwar e ine ein.zige wunde von verlangen nach
dieser kont_inuierlichen psychologie, " ;. aber er
findet aus konstitutionell-én crüñden ni_cht nnehr
zurück. (rv 36)
rn his desperate efforts to l_ive on the terms of the
world of the "Herr", to integrate himself i_nto the "kate-
gorialer Raum" of the laLter and to achieve his "continuous',
psychology, Rönne is in striking contr:ast to the "Doppel-
reben" of the later Benn, whom we know as unequivocarry
antagon.istic to the kind of existence for which Rönne is
"eine einzige wunde von verlangen" " Gottfried Benn was any-
thing but "one of the boysrr, which is the role in which Rönne
 -3-

imagines himself in the following passage from the n,ovel_l_a

Ire_Erc¡e-ryqs (rgr5):
Nun wurde er gar ein Jäger, eine starke, g.eschlossen,e
Gestalt" Er scheute sich..nieht, durch grüne Joppe
und Hornknöpfe Aufschtuß über sein ceweibe jedem
vorübergeheñden zu. geben Er erzahrte in einem
qrößeren Kreise von dem Sechserbock, wie er den
Drilling an die Backe nahm er nickte bedäehtig,
schütterte mit dem Kopf und sprach sLarken ALems
die rauhe Morgenluft, kurz., €r war der geachtete in
Mann, d9* im,.umfang seines Faches verLrauen, zukam,
eine bodenstândige Natur, feste:n sehritLes und auf*
rechÈer Arr. (rr 25)
The protagonist.s of Bennrs early prose work, however, i-n their
efforts to exist on the terms of the worl_d of tire "Herr",
reveal the extent and nature of their incompatibility wi-Lh it";
this in turn illuminates the early developmenL of Bennrs
later "Doppelleben" - his doctrine that a modern artistrs
exi-stence as an artist must be based on a refusar- to exist. on
the terms of the "established" world of the "Herr"; a
doctrine which is clearly prefigured in Bennrs prose weirk,
around L92o where, in essayistic form, expression is gi_ven to
what might be considered the upshot of the experiences of the
protagoni-sts in the earry novell_as, to whom we shalr now
turrr
our attention in more detail_.

II
rn Die Eroberuns (1915) nönne makes hj_s rnost sustained
effort at" integrating himself inLo the worl-d of the
',Hetrn',;
he actually casts himself as a "Herr". But- fi-rst he must_
practise himself in the clarity of perceptíon whích is basi-c
to the latter's self-confj-dence. He spends some time in a
cafd, whieh is described i-n terms which emphasise t"he
unambiguous¡ sêlf-evident quality of the objects i_n it:
e"g.
the tables, the chairs, the picture on the warr" The cafd
represents the "kategoriater Raum" i-n whi-ch the "Herr', ås at
home. Here Rönne for o'ce managÉrs to survive, even t.o fec]
secure:
er fühl.te, wie er wuchs und still ward¡ so
küh1 umstanden von lauter Dingen, die geschahen
(rr 2r)
This is a rare feat for Rönne and, on leavJ_ng the café, he
 4-

does not suffer from the feering of "unterr,vürfj_gkej_trr which

is so charact-eri-stic of him - as for exarnple in a e,cmparabJ_e
episode from Der ce rt staq (1916), where he is .Ieaving a
tar¡ern:
Er bezahlt,e rasch und erhob siah. Aber an der
Tür nahm er den Bl-.i-ek noch einmak"r"ãt an, das
Dunkel der Taverne, an die Tí.sehe und Stühte,
ar¡, denen er so qeti-tLen hatLe untl .i.rnmer wieder
leiden würde" (ir óo)
Tn Dre Er þerunq Rönne leaves thc eafd wit-]l a e,ortain feel_j_nq
of tniumph; he feels that he has "conquered" his e:nvirelnrn€nt,
that he has as it were taken possession of it, as the repeatrld
possessive adjeetj_ve indieat.es :
Sein waren díe Gassen, für seine cänge, ohne
nemütigung vernahm er se:iner sehrit_te widerhal-l_.
(rr 22)
rn su^¡ívíng the "kategoriarer Raum" of the cafeí, Rönne has
survÍved the sphere in wh.iah the "conti-r:.uous " psychorogy of
the "Herr" is at ho¡ne" He feels pnepared Lo take a parti-eÍpat._
ory role in the ratLerrs worrd, to adjust hi¡nself to the ternpo
and style of the rrestabl-ished" personaliLv" He feels
"erinqe*
ebnet" and performs the fi::st of a seric¡s,!)f aati-ons whi.eh
suggest at. ön,ee a purposeful exi-s.benee and a s€tLs.i that_ th..i.s
existence for¡ns part- of a rnore general scheme whÍeh rnot-ir,,ates
and legitimizes the actions of the indi-vidual:
eingeebnet rüntte er si-eh in das schr_enkenn der
Arme eines rvrannes, der hash-i.g über die straße schritt,
sehürnr von einem ziet" -(li-zâj'
This ¡narks the beginning of Rönners "part:-cipatory,, rc¡re
as a "Herr"" But who is thc man "dör hast.ì_q über die straße
sehrittrr? Tt is no{: spereified whethr¡r: j.u j-s Rönne¡ or"
another manj or both" why the use of an apparentry extraneous
figure? - Rönne j-s either imi-taf ing the aeLions of a real-
person or he is eonjurj-ng up such a per-son:rLn his mind.
Either
wây, he feels i't necessary to objeetify Lhe personarj_ty-type
with which he wants to identify himself ; he needs to provJ-de
himself with a model, rear or irnagi^ed. His aeLions, in .i-*hcr
words, do not spring from hi-s own psycholog-,, j he direehs his
ì:rody i^ accor<1a.n,ce r¡¡:i-.bir a prototype wh."!-ch is forei_gri
to hi_s
own nat.ure. This can be seen also in the descript.ion
of his
 -5-
raeial expressions-" whi-eh he eonseiousJ_y con,b.rors;
*r _"_. . gtättete seín.e Zrige ¡ ürlt s j.c= geJ-egent:
l:-eh offer:l.bar aufz*eken zltr l_ãsser, lir 22
auLhor's emphasås )
"Offen]:ar" i-ndicates, too, thaL Rönne Is of l:is pubti.,e,
ar/¿a-re
that he ís, quj-be rit-eratry, .aeting. Riir:.ne ean never be a
"Herr", he can onry pretend j and e\.,er this causes hj-¡n
difficuity there is a sense of strain i_n his ef,fort to pass
himserf of f as sornething as banar as a winerow-shoppen:
weich und mahlend bewättigt.e er dåe sehaufenster
durch Gedanken über cegenõtände., i" d¿;. iäã;;; "

stand herum prüfendetr Brickes,

er ein.zukaufen, ging weiter " ". als beabsiehtíqe
(rr Z?_)- ----"'-:
The polar-ity beLween Rö:nne and the prot,ctype of Lhe r:est.abrished,,
personatity on whieh he tries i--o rnodel himsel_f is further
suggested in the kinctie tenel:gf ¡ .f-s i-t werel, vzith v¡hieh he
f li-ngs h.i-mself into the exi-stent-i.:- (1) ¡nour-cl e¡f the r_atter:
Hart herap an Gangart 'uad Gesichtsausdruek von
anderen Mà:-,n*rn trat €r¡ schroß sich dcm an :"".
(¡¡ to\
\rr.¿ )
Rönne, in his crit.j-car awareness of -bhe l_aek of, a psych.oloq:j-cal
and wel-tansahêllich frannework, i-n his feelinE of arnorphousncss
(tfre name "Rönne ", with j-ts assoe ia.Li,ons of ,,rinï.].en,,, j-s
itself suggest.ive of the "zerfl-ícß1¡-cÌ:ke:-l-,1r fnom whieh Rö^n.:
suf,fers in Gehirne ) throws himsetrf at. the reeognizable
ou.bwarcl
forms of Lhe "Herr" and. i",opes thaL he wiil adhere.
Rönne, ån,
ef,feet, type*casLs himsel-f,"
But there is an ironic eorrtrast r=retwee¡l t_he "irlner,, rnatrl,,
t'he real- Rönne, and the pers,cnaJ-ity-bype j-yr "¡lr1ose :eor-e
Ï¡e i.¿as
cast hi-rnself " He perforrns the part r:f a for:getfut eitizen;
Ei-nen betebten großen pratz vor]ends nahm er wah_r,
urn plötzr-iich stéhenzubleíbenj erschrocken mit
Harrd an die sti-rn zu. fassen und den Kopf zv der
teln; nein, zu ärgerlichJ .nun hatLe er etwas =.rrül-
ver'geissen; entfar-len war ihm eLwas, das za tun
ihm obtag (rr 23)
The gesture "erschrocken mi-t. der Hand an d"te st.irn. zu
fassen,,,

(1) rloes not .refer to a

i-t. is used irr t-he
re "l-at:,.i_l"e :ö t-1re
II; po.l_it j_;aI.) envix.,r-,-
 -6-
made by the "Herr" Rönne as a conventional s-i,gnal eif a.nnoy--
ance at his forgeLfulncss, is ironic when we reealr Rö:iners
critical colìcern with "Gehirne" t,hroughout the nov€lla*eyele
of t-his name - as for example his broodíng ín the novel_la
Gehirne;
Es schwächt mich etwas von oben Zerfallen i-st
die Rinde, die mi-ch Lrug (rr 16, ef. p"z abãve)
or his questioning:
wenn die Geburtszange hier ein bißchen tief,er i_n
die schtäfe gedrücki. trätte
immer über eine bestimmte st.elre des Kopfe=
schlagen hätte ? was ist es denn måt den.;;--
Gehirnenf (rr :_Br" )
rn contrast, the "Herr" j-s unaware of any possibre disLrinbanee
i-n the functioning of his brain and cer-ltral nervous syst.cnn _
he does not suffer from the rrzentrale zerstörur.,,g, whiah Bcrr:¿l
later attributes to Rönne (rv 3o)" He puts his hand to hi-s
head merely as a neflex action¡ äs an indication of his
annoy_
ance at a momentary aberration - he could equally have slapped
his thigh. The "Herr" is fundamentally intact - not onry
intellectually, but socially as well j he earries withj-n hirn*
self a set of priorities according to whicli. he makes deeisj_ons
and avoids major crises. "pflicht" heads the rist of
tϡ.erscr
priorit.i-es, and it calrs fort-h deeisi-ve acLron:
ein vc:rsäumnis vor, das t-rc¡b-z a.rrer bevc¡r*
stehenden Verabredungen
'ag des Abends -r;å;i;;ä.-h;;
nachzuholen ihm die prricr't ger"[. ";";;;ü;r;;h
erübrigte sich. Es hieß l"tz|,-d¿r umkehr i.ns
Auge sehen und vor-rbringeñ, *"å er-nmar- af,s rechb
erkannr. (rr 23)
In his imagination Rönne has made the pri.orities of
ther
"Herr " his own. Else Buddeberq sees in thjs a contrast
with
Rönne in the novel_l_a Gehirne" She wrj_tes:
Unleugbar zwar lie gt Vergessen vor - aber wer ver-
gißt und sj_ch er innert, der beweis.b Kontinuität
nicht nur; sondern umkehrend, sj_eh bekenn.end
dem, was man sich vorgenommen haLte , betätigt" zu man
Ordnung, ganz im Gegensatz zu dem sieh auflösenden
Pf l-ichtenk reis des Rönne in Geh ne
" (2)

(2) Else Buddeberg : GgËffrf_eg Be4n (Stuttga::t, l96t

p. 14" ),
 -7*
Btrt the contrast is not be'tween Rönr:e in GeÀi,riL_q and Rönnr: in
Q.!5--Ðroberunq. The contrast is hetwcen Rönne and L.he ::orer in
whic,h he has casL him-self ; between Rör,rne and the ,'Herr,,.,
This contrast j-s central .i-*o
the novet]a; it wj-l1 be of great
ímpontance when eonsideri-nq Bennrs orúi.:. posi_tion
in rel_at.j¡_cr¡,
to the "Herr" (of " p'11-14 below) and to the int"_e.tl_ee.t.ual
¿rnd soeia] "norm" he relpï:esents. rn GehireË
Ràrnne \^/as unak;rl,::
to earr'' 0u' his role as a doctor j-n reality; ín D_ig_Er<É.sË,r;tq
he can aef ou+¡ for a t.Íme an i-magined ro.re as a ,,Herr,,pr*-_
cise ly )")ecauise t-here is no "pflicht.er:kr.eis,,
wt.btrr whieh he¡ has
t'o contend ín realíty. Rönne ir.as not f,orgott.ern
ary._h'riq, a.r:d
there are no appointments for the erzenS-ngj ttre
el-årnax of
decisj-on "der Umkehr ins Auge i=,r] sehen und v,ollbringenr hj-sr
eÍ'mar als rechL É:rkaRnL", of the almost bureauerat.ieaJ-tr_y was
expressed musings ofr "pf licht, ( , das zu tun i_hrn oblag
u.rlvcrzuLElich nachzuholen ihm die pflieht
gekroL. Weit.rtrq(::jheî.
erübrigbe sich " ) and of the hi-gh-so'nding pnecep.s
wh.'err
he puts into the mouths of the people he
innagines o.bserving,
him ("j" ja, so ist das Leben - man erzieht sich
se,lbst _ man
muß manches opfern - aber nur den Kopf
nicht si_nken r_assen
erhebt die Herzen sursum corda - der gestirnte
Hinune' - clas
dienende c1ied") the climax¡ oï. raLher: the anti-e.rimax of
ai-1 this a'd of Rönners excited tur^ing baek
Lo fur_fil his
"duty" is:
Er bog .i_n e in Friseurgesahäft und unte Ezaq j_ch
den pflege" (rr 2j) s

rn reLrospect, Rönne as ä "Herr" takes on a

sornewhat
aspeet. The worlcl-víew of the "Herr", as re._r,rr=al-eicl fare:-caî
precepts or er-ichás - whieh Rönne puLs in th.
into the rnouLh.s .rf;
t'he cib'izcns around him, these I'Begri-ffe
aus denn Lebeiisl¡/eg
eines Herrn" (ll 2B') , to borro\^¡ an expressie¡r¡
from Rörine in
Di-e R€ise.j are revealed as profoundly
i_nrerevant for Ronners
own beharzi_our "

rn thre ,arber*shop nönne c'ontinues his inner

rnono'-ogu,r"
He consoridat-es in his mind "die
d.r vernun t.,,,
i"e' Lhe inbelleet.ual foundaùions',virkungsweise
of the ,,Her-tr,,,
.ìpon wh:[-c!:. d
"contj-nuous " psyehology j.s built,:
Man ,nuß Tlit-¡: an alles, \^/âs
_vermogen, es mit fnütrreren
bringen und es unter allge
das ist die Wirkungsweise
 -B-
But again we ar€ reminded that thi-s way o.E thinkj-ng is not
natural to Rönne j it beÌongs tr: anoilre:r worJ_d, wh:_el1 hre; rnus,L
recall;
desscn entsi_nne ich mi_ch.
Ronners existence in the world of the "Hertr" is artifi-cia]"
A certain I'artificiaJ-ity" in r.lation to the evenyday
world of the "Hern" is evidenL also j-n the "Doppel_]eben,' of
the later BuÊnr" rt is, however, not the dinect resul_t of the
fail.lre of an at"tempt to make effectivc-- contact wi-th this
world¡ às in the case of Rönne¡ in Di_e Eirobe: rung. The later
Benn advocates the voh-lntary "acti-ns out" of a role in
errder
to avoid bej-ng defined in terms of, the. intellcctual- and socåal
mi-lieu into which nönne stnove to åntegrate hi_rnself ExLern_,
"
a1ly Benn accomodates himsclf to this world - but only i_n
order to lÇEave thte "inncr man" free to exist on his own tc.îrms,
in the manner of the narrato:: J-n nhar: s Wolf (r-e37 ) ;
we_l ¡

of fne deåne Bricke nu,r der Nacht n de,.s Tags enhcbe

das Glas auf das Wohl- den Hernen.o nespriöh mit den
Damen die zur Diskussion stehenden thãmen und
raß
Brumenmädchen nicht vorbeå-" entnin*n ihm stnäuße"
9::
(rr 151)
Here B'ênn (rite Norr.ri=¡(3) expresses bhe private sphere
of, .t.hc,
"innen" man and everyday.relality tn te¡:ms of night and da1.r
f,espect5-vely" rn ¡-ie e.ro¡erürg, too, Rön-ners role,. as a ,,Hetr,a,,
takes place bcfonte darkness has set _tn. sr_r.dclenry,
dt night*
fall-, he drops this trol-^ and enters a woz:ld of ,,Rau,seh,,,
whose "causality" is more in the natuLre of drcam
than of, v¡ak-.t=nq
consciousness " Rönne no l0nger models himself on a given,
external pattern of behaviour; he exists on his own terms,
as
the nanrator in WeinhAus Wolf adrz6s¿lss But unlike the
" _t-atte:r,
Rönne has spent the last hours before dark_ness
trying to s€rÉ)
and experj-ence the world entircly on the tre¿"ms
of the ,'He,rtr,,.
Arso unlike the nar:rator in weinhar.is v{q.r:[, Rðnne se€is
in the.r
"81'umenfrau" and her watres an opportunj-ty to make soreÉ.ì
kind esl.
contact with the-- everyday rife they ::epresent_; he m<editat_es
on the orchi-d, sceing it in its sociat and r¿ti_litarian
asp<__,ct.
and pridi-ng hi-mself on his ability to elassify it,
to assi.gn a
category ro it:

(3) Furrher to Benn and Romanticism see Edgar Lohner;

und Inte 1 kt.. Di-e Lyrik Gott fried Benns (ueuwied
l-96 1). pp.214, 242.t "
 -9-
Die Orchidee, lachte er selbstgefäffi-g, die e1üte
des heißen Afrika, der Liebling der Sammler, der
Gegenstand so mancher Ausstetlungen des In- und
Auslandes, jawohl, ich weiß Bescheid, jawohl, ich
bin nicht unkundig, selbst zu einem Fachmann fände
ich Beziehungen. (rr 24)
But, ironicall.y, the flowers themselves, "brau wie stücke der
Nacht, mit orchideenbündeIn, weichen Zusammenfl-usses aus HeIl-
blau und orange", are described in terms which refer to the
unconscious or I'night" side of Rönners existence, where the
colour blue plays a prominent part (cf. p.24f.. below). Rönne
and the "Herr" are combined under the apparently victorious
banner of the ratter, since Rönners ,private, world of dream
and "Rausch" are presented in an overtly social and empirical
context. But, as we know, this t'victory" is illusory it
takes place only in the melodrama which Rönne is acting out.
The real "Eroberung" takes place during the night, the onset
of which, signifi-cantly, is described as 'rwirkl_ich" (."
opposed to Rönnets daylight role as a "Herr", in the shape of
the I'starke, geschrossene Gestaltt of a hunter):
Arrmählich aber war die Nacht tiefer geworden und
schloß ihn ein. Nun schwolr wirkl-ich um ihn--der
ward. (rr 25)
rmages of fertility - breasts, sexuar- intercourse, pregnancy
predominate:
Er aber spürte den Drang, sich abzuflachen auf
die Erde, die Zuckungen, daÃ- Zusammen"ti8*."-""a
den Aufwuchs, und ptötztich stand vor ihm die
schwangere : breites, schweres Fleisch, triãiena
von säiren aus Brusr und Leib ... - (il-'äOt-t--"
Ttrese images are in obvious contrast to "Herr" Rönne,s
efforts
to fit himself into the pattern of the bourgeois personarity
as he sees it.
Finally comes the morning, "rot und siegreich". The
titre "Die Eroberung", in other wordsr does not signify
Rönnef s apparent mastery of the world of the ,,Herr,,
; and stirr
less does it signify the conquest of Brussels by the German
army of r,vhich nönne (and Benn in 1915) is a member in
worl-d war r. rn Die Eroberunqr ês throughout Bennrs
work ("f .
chapters 2 and 3), nationalism ranks low on the scale of values.
The satirical dramatic work Etappe (F'eb., LgI5, the same
year
as Die Eroberunq), for example, is singularly lacking in
patriotic fervour on Bennrs part. The action takes prace ,,in
 -l_o_

e l_ner eroberten provinzr' (rr 3o4);

through Privy Councillor
Prof. Dr. med. Paschen Benn makes his ironic comment on the
virtues of military victory:
Etappensi"g, gewonnene Sch1acht, eine Kulturtat
al-lerersten Ranges: Die nröffnung der ersten deut-
schen Strumpffabrik, (rr 305)
rn the same work Prince vichy is an even more eloquent witness
to the gulf separating Benn from the more representative senti-
ments expressed by Thomas Mann in 1914, who praises "diesen
große In], grundanständigen, ja feierlichen vol-kskrieg''. (4) o"
against this, Bennrs prince Vichy:
Gut geschlafen, ausgeschnaubt und Ine syrische
Zigarette in der Schnauze--es geht noch immer
In Schlacht ist auch nicht ohne. (rr 3r5)
Rönnets "Eroberung", then, is a "conquest" nej-ther in an
intellectual, nor a social, nor a miritary sense; it sig-
nifies the victory of the unconscious over the empiricar kind
of consciousness which rej_gns in the "kategorial_er Raum" of
the "Herr " Rönne celebrates the victory of "blood" over
.

"brain" - an impression which is reinforced by the redness of

the dawn and the emphasis on the \^romanrs body as opposed to
her "magerer, verarmter schädel" (rr 26). Ronnels "Erobe rungr
"
is akin to what his namesake advocates nine years r_ater in
Ale anderzu qe mitte s !{a11 en (tgZ+) where, having categor-
ically rejected the worrd of the "Herr", he enjoins:
auf , wir wollen die lt7elt erobern, Alexander-
züge mittels Wallungen
Even a cursory reading of the final pages of Die
Eroberunq, where Rönnefs "warlungen" find expression,
wil]_
reveal not only a psychorogicar and ,existential" devi-ation
from the real, empiricar worId, but also an artistic one:
not
onry does Rönne cease to modet himself al_ong the psychorogical
lines of the "Herr", but the language in which the experiences
of the "new" Rönne are described represents a departure from
the logical and syntactical patterns of conventionar ì_anguage.
we will- return to this question presently and note
some
aspects of Bennrs early prose as "expressi-ve" rather than
"representationalt' writing. But first we wirl continue the
discussion of the protagonists of Bennrs earry prose work
and

(4) Erika .Utann, ed. : Th s lvla nn. Brie fe 1BB9-1 936 (¡'rank-
furt, 196r) , p.112
 - 11-

their deviation from the established prototype of the "Herr"

- beginning with some observations of a more general nature
on Die Eroberunq and then referring to the novella Dies ter-
\des (1918 ) and Bennrs essayistic work around I92O.
III
The absence of anything which could be interpreted as
authorial comment may partly account for the diametricarry
opposed interpretations of Die Eroberunq by Else Buddeberg
and Dieter werlershoff. Buddeberg, writing on the "Rönne"-
cycle as a whole, asks herself:
hat Benn schon hier eine erfundene Gestalt
dazu benutztr ürrì an deren höchst skuril Isic]
gezeichneten Erhaschen-Wo1len von'Wirklich-
keitenr banalster Art das Schemenhafte des
gängigen wirklichkeitsbegriffs zrt ironisieren
- und damit ganz generell die Wirklichkeit der
bürgerlichen welr in Frage zn sretleni iti
This, she continues, would mean "Annahme von rronie als stir-
mittel : Brechung Benn-Rönne". (6) she discounts this
possibility:
Die rronie ars stilmittel wird man nicht anzusetzen
haben. rhre Handhabung verlangt eine gewisse ü¡erl
legenheit auch..gegenüb9r eigenen zentrãren anliegen.
Davon kann zunachst kein: Rede sein. Das existen-
tierle Betroffensein dessen, der hier schreibt,
wird durch seine rerfundener Figur hindurch geiadezu
penetrant tütrt¡ar. (T) "
The "Rönne"-novellas, in other words, are "eine mehr oder
weniger direhte
/O\
Darstellung der Not Rönnes . , die die Not
Benns istr'. \o; on this basis Buddeberg proceeds to discuss
Die Eroberunq. Dieter wellershoff, on the other hand,
writes of the same novel_la:
Benn benutzt Rönne zu ei-ner ironischen Demonstration,
rär¿t ihn die welr des Herren neu ;;;-il;Höã"-""a
abtasLenr urTl ihre phantomhaftigkeit sichtbaí zv
machen. Der Anschlußversuch réstätigt das nntl
fremdungserrebnis; denn was Rönne géwinnt, ist nur
eine Anhaufung sinnroser Tatsachen, durch auriiige
Begriffe gebündelt und verknüpft, ist die
welt des Empirismus. Als eine gestal_trosetote Fakten_
ninöde

(5) Buddeberg: Gottfrie d Benn t op. cj_t., p.lO.

(6) rbid.
ft) Ibid. , p. I1.
(B) Ibid., 'p.10.
 -12-
erscheint sie, behaust von Gespenstern, die
geschäftig Einzelheiten mj-teinãnder verbinden,
Herren, die auf die lftrr blicken und irgendwohin
mussen.
Hier setzt Benns Kulturkritik an, sein protest
gegen die Profanierung der Welt durch den Auf-
klarungsprozeQ (9 )
I¡IellershofEr--no doubt because he onry mentions Die
Eroberunq in passirg, restricts himsel-f to general remarks and
does not substantiate his claims. Buddeberg arrives at her
conclusion before analysing the novellas and relies too heavily
on Bennrs comments on Ftönne in 1934 in Lebensweq eines ïntel_
lektua listen. Certainly, Bennrs early work substantiates
Buddeberqrs claim as to his "existentielleIs] Betroffensein",
i.e. his criticar awareness of the rerativity of all things,
his sense of spiritual and intellectual impotence, his inabil-
ity to identify himself with the prevailing Wel-tanschauunq of
his time. Rönne suffers from si_milar mal_adies.
unlike Fönne, though, Benn himsel-f nowhere expresses the
desire to identify with this prevailing trlel-tanschauuns. on the
contrary, he exposes its optimism as shallow, its "progress" as
illusory and its foundations as serf-decej_t e.g. in such
poems as I¡Iir gerieten in ein Mohnfeld (1913), the five Nacht_
café poems (I7IZ-I914), per Arzr (publ. fgfT) or in rhe
dramatic work rthaka (1914), where the professor of pathology,
one of those "Köpfe, die beherrschen, Hirne, die erobern" (.f.
p.1 above), is physicalry attacked in the best traditions of
Expressionist drama and hj-s materialistic world-view rejected
in favour of the unconscious of "Traum", "Rausch"_, Dionysos
(rr 3o3). - And in I9L5 Etappe castigates the val-ues of those
same "ekerhaft geschäftige Mitterstände" (rr 3lJ) which Rönne
(not BennJ ) emulates in Die Eroberunq. The question which Dr.
orf , the "hero" of Etappe, asks of the ',Herren, with respect
to their confidence in materiaJ_ progress;
wor-It ihr noch kaltes Land erobern? (rr 32o)
gives an indication of Bennrs atÈitude to Rönners efforts at
playing the part of a "Herr" in Die Eroberunq. The various
ironic contrasts poj-nted out above between Rönne and the ',Herr,,

(9 ) Dieter wellershoff: l_e t ser

Ei die en SE We
Ullstei n Bucher Frankfurt Ber1in, 19 t p.t9f
 -13-
whose rore he was trying to pray further suggest the wrongness
of unreservedly equating Rönne with Benn. wal_ter sokelrs
statement, for example, that "phil-istinism appears as un_
attainabre br-iss to Benn-Rönr.""(1o) is mj-sreading in that it
admits the interpretation that philistinism appears as un_
attainabre briss to Benn hi-mself . rf the formur_ation "Benn_
Rönne" is to have any meaning at all, it must be restri_cted
to the Rönne at the end of Die Eroberung - to the Rönne who
exists on his o\¡/n terms, independently of the "categoricar_,,
and social world of the "Herr". sokerrs formul_ation is not
valid for "Herr" Rönne the impersonator.
The "continuous" psychology of the "Herr,,, the con-
sequentiality of hi-s existence as Benn presents it through
the eyes of Rönne, his seÌf-evident, determi_nate relationship
to the empirical world are reveared as totalry foreign to
Rönnels nature. This incompatibility is not reveared through
the medium of an objective observer; there is no authorial
commentary or anarysis. Benn eschews the psychol0gical
and
sociological mechanisms of Naturalism and, indeed, the con_
ventions of the more traditionally "realistic" narrati_ve
forms. such treatment would presuppose a degree of faith
on
the authorrs part that man and the world are explainabre
in
empirical terms. Benn was not of this opinion. Arthough
he
utilises the empirical, sociar world of the ,,Herr,,, he
does
not do so on the terms of or according to the principles
of
the l-atter j the artistrs approach according to Benn is,
in a
broad sense, critical - he deforms, stylizes or creates
ne\^/
combi-nations. He does not "represent" or rrrefr_ect,,
what is
given.
fn Die Erobe runcl Benn is not represented by Rönne
alone, but by the situation expressed in the novella as
a
whole - by the "innere Grundlage' of the work, to borrow
a
formulation of Bennrs included in some remarks he made
in
l-937 on the work of Thomas wolfe. They are remarks
which
throw at least as much light on Rönne's situation
as do
Bennrs oft-quoted comrnents in b e te
,!_en. As is frequently the case wj_th Bennrs comrnents on
othêr
(fo) walter H. sokel:
t T a , McGraw- 11
Paper cks New York oronto 1964) , p.89.
t
 -14-

\^/riters, they are as much a self-commentary as a commentary

on the subject under discussion:
die Lagerung ist meistens so: erstens etwas
Bestehendes, ein Milieu, etwas schon Allgemeines,
sozial und individuell_ Typisches, geschichtlich
Angelagertes und zweitens das andere, das noch
Lucken und Schwachen hat, auch noch Kindlich-
keiten, das noch erlebt. Dies wird nicht zrt Kon-
flikten verarbeitet, problemen, Entwicklungsab-
Iäufen und ähnlichen Buchvorwänaen, sonderñ aie
Kontraste ergeben sich aus dem Ausdruck der
inneren Grundlage, aus dem Stil. (fv 266)
It is the "innere Grundlagerr of Die Eroberunq which we
have been consldering: Rönners incompatibility with the
world of the "Herr", the farcicality of his efforts to exist
on the psychological terms of the latter or to pass himself
off convincingly as a member of a communj_ty to integrate
himself into "etwas schon Allgemeines, sozial und individuel-1
Typischesrr . Rönne, in his ef forts to be "typica] ", is
reveared in his polarity to the "typical". - And (to antici_
pate some of our remarks in chapter 3 ) this porarity which
runs through Bennts early prose works prefigures his own
position in the actuar world of the late weimar Repubric,
where the interl-ectual, social and political world j_s treated
to a similar I'typifi-cation" - or reduction to a "norm" - as is
the "Herr" in Die Eroberunq. when Benn poremici-ses against
inte1lectua1, social or historical realj_ties, it is invariably
from the standpoint of the individual, creative "Geist"; he
rejects the former as an adequate model for the latter¡ oÍr
whose autonomy or "Eigengesetzrichkej_t" he insists. The
novel-Ia Diesterweq (r9rg) represents a further step in this
direction.

rn Diesterweq the farcicality of any attempt to walk in

the shoes of the "Herr" is more manifest than in Die Eroberunq
and results in Diesterweg himself explicitly rejecting the
type of the "Herr" he had sought to emulate. rn this he can
be seen as the mouthpiece for Bennrs own attitudes; the
novella takes on something of the essayistic character of
Bennrs prose work after r9zo, although the removal from
Diest erwec[ of almost six pages of the more reftective passages
 -15-
for the publication of Bennrs Gesammel_te prosa in 1928
restored to the work something of its compressed "noveIlen-
artig" qr.lity.
Like nönne, Diesterweg suffers from a sense of cri-sis
with regard to his own personality, from a feeling that he j_s
not definable by any pafticular qualities:
Diesterweg sah an sich herunter. längst wol1te
er etwas an sich haben. (rt 65)
As a result he longs to be "reelr beeigenschaftet" (rl 65) -
like the "Herr". rn its utter absurdity the "sorution"
Diesterweg desperately dreams up only demonstrates the complete
estrangement between his own personality and that of the "Herr"
to whom he wants to adjust - Diesterh'eg as a "personality" in
the accepted sense would be whotly arLificial:
vielleicht ginge es mi-t einem Tick, etwa einer
bestimmten Bewegung mit der Hand; etwa ein kurzes,
rasches wischen mit dem zeigefinger an
ein nervöses hlischen ¡awoñt, dãs war der es:
Backe,
ein
nervoses wischen, unterbewußt, in Gedanken ver-
sunken, eine Art Naturzwang, höchst persönlich;
niemand könnte ihm das..eigéntümriche bestreiten
i.edenfarrs stark würdé es an ihm hervortreten,
es wurde Diesterwegisch sein, ein
mit dem Zeigefinger an der Backe. nervöses wischen
(r, 6ti.j---
The farcical nature of ttris proposed solution to Diesterwegrs
problem arready indicates that the question: "!,Iomit
Ig"-
schehn]?" which he had asked himself in response to his
desire:
ich wil1 wieder heißen, und Diesterweg sol_l
mit geschehn (rr 64),
must remain unanswered. The generally accepted patterns of
thought and behaviour of the "Herr" are unthinkable as objects
of sel_f-identification for Diesterweg, and he is thrown back
upon h j-s own devices.
Diesterwegrs incompatibility with the "Herr" breaks out
into hostility. Those qualities of the "Herr" and his worl_d
for which Rönne had been "eine einzige wunde von verrangen,,
are both i-ronised by Benn and directly inveighed against by
Diesterweg. The self-confidence of the "Herren" is ironized:
ganz persönlich gehen diese Herren,! Bewaffnet
mit arlen Erforderniisen, die zusammenträ"f,.."ä,i
spähen, das ist unl0gisch, ruren-"ie im Ton des er_
vorwurfs und sind säuberrich und prompt. -
see also p.l ) iri-oz -
 -rb-
Their belief in social progress and its driving whee1,
materialism, is rejected as "schwinder, der gar.ze Auftrj_ebJ'
(rr 6T) Diesterwegts verdict on the civilisation which this
materialism has brought about is:
zermatscht, verschmiert muß eine Menschheit
werden, die in Maschinen denkt. (rr 46o) (11)
The comforts and sentiments of bourgeois family life are
contrasted with the brutal realities which this same bourgeois
\^ray of life has helped bring into existence:
Lebenserinnerungen, Enkelgeschwätz, Boudoir_
geschmuse-z aber die Blinden, die Xrüppe1, die
aus den Schlachten kommen - heran zu mii, wir
wollen den Herrn zerfeLzen, der das Hauptwort
handhabt wie ein Messer, mit dem er Fisãhe
frißr. (rr 67f. )
Diesterweg suffers in a similar way as had Rönne in the
novella ¡ie lnsel (1916): from "anarytischen phänomenen,
Empirien, zielstrebigen Gesten, dem ganzen Grauen bejahter
wirkrichkeitenrr. (rr 46) Like Rönne, Diesterweg embraces a
subjective reality which is by nature diametrically opposed
to the empirical reality on whose terms he cannot exist. This
"new" reality of Diesterwegrs is opposed to empiricism in that
it is "ein Land , das der Kamera entsehtrr. (rr 68) unlike
Ronne in Die Eroberunq, however, Diesterweg goes through an
aggressive intermediary stage. His "indivi_dual_ism" is more
aggressive and more self-conscious than Rönners; not only
does he display a predirection for the irrational, but
more in the vein of the Rönne in rthaka (cf. p. 12 above _
)
he adopts an emphatically anti-rational stance.
Bennrs prose work around rgzo is predominantly essay-
(:.2\/
r-sEr-c.' Here Benn speaks directly, and his opposition to
rationalism is expressed from wider terms of reference than
in Diesterweq or in his prose and dramatic work around rgr5.
Like nönne, Benn suffers from an inability to identify himself

(11) The quotation is part of a section which Benn removed

from the novella in I92B for the publicatj_on of his
Ges lte Prosa.
(l-2) Including Das 1etzte rch , which editor Dieter We 1lers-
hoÉf classifies as prose fiction for vol. II of the
Gesammelte I,ferke. Cf. aLso p.B7 below.
 -r7-

with the intellectuar and sociar rearities surrounding him;

but untike Rönne he does not make the attempt:
unmöglich, noch in einer Gemeinschaft zv existieren,
unmogrich, sich auf sie zu beziehen in Leben oder
Beruf t z\t durchsichtig die..wrackigkeit ihrer anti-
thetischen struktur: zD verächtrich dieser ewig
koitale Kompr:omiß embonpointaler Antinomien . . - "
(rv ro) '
he writes in L92L in the npirog to his Gesammerte schriften.
Benn sees modern man as conditioned by his o\^/n intel_-
lectual progress; the spectrum ranges from societyrs smalrest
ce1I, the individual, through to the whole of western civiris-
ation as for example in Das 1etzte lch (t9Zt) z

die Menschenlehre Europas, ars Fiktion indivi-

duelr existenter subjekte, hat nur noch einen
kommerziellen Hintergrund. Der als persönlichkeit
bezeichneten räumtich betonten stelre im wesent-
lichen öst.lich von creenwich wird als waffentråger
und Arbeitnehmer die vorsterlung der Einkörperung
des universalgeistes in ihre somatische cegèbenheit
mit den, handlungsbestimmenden Hauptworten
wortrichkeit und Eigengesetzlichkèit durcháer verant-
eine üË;
d?" ganze Land verteilte Macht der Erziehung, Ein-
richtungen und öffentrichen Meinung inflatiéit unter
besonderer Betonung des unersetzliõhen wertes der
einzelnen Leiblichkeit für den Falr politischer
Malencontres. Das Eigenleben, bezogen aus den
schofelsten p'ressephrasen, verklebt mit Zitaten
aus den oeuvres von virlenbesitzern, deren rnner-
lichkeit nach Ausdruck ringt in den Kategorien der
Popularität und der Tantieñe, stetrt sich dar ar_s
parthenogenesis innerhalb des industrietl_en unter_
nehmens, das die moderne Nation bedeutet, mit Divi-
denden nach Rentabirität der Frucht, ars der Mutter-
kuchen, bei dem beide Kontrahenten partizipieren
nach Maßgabe des Kurses der geltendèn rdolè ,
(rr 9Tr.¡
Bennrs remarks indicate a simirar view of the rerationship
between individualism and conformism in the consumer society
as Max Horkheimerts and Theodor w. Adornors verdict:
Den Menschen wurde ihr Selbst a1s je eigenes, von
aIlen anderen verschiedenes geschenkt,
desto sicherer zum gleichen rierde. (lj) ãamit-es
-
Benn (r. can note here for future reference) uses the concept
"individualism, in two distinct senses: in the sense of
"liberal" individuarism - which he consi-ders to be a sham

(13) Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno:

kla ncr. Phi osophis e Fra nte ( Frankfurt, 19 9 t
p. 19
 -18-

individualism, only another kind of conformism and commercial--

1y manipurated and in the sense of spiritual self-determj_n_
ation: a kind of individualism, that is, which is remarkable
for its unconditionar rejection of socio-economj-c determinants
and thus antagonistic to the "personality"-type he diagnoses
in the passage from Das letzte rch quoted above. Bennrs
"unconditional" indivi-duarism i-s the position from which he
exercises his culturar criticism and from which he develops
his artistic theory - an artistic theory, it might be added, ,

which is indissoruble from curturar criticism (cf.

chapter
2).
Bennafter the first I,{ar does not bemoan and pity
the
human lot in the manner of the "o Mensch',
and ',verbrüderungs_
pathos " common among his contemporaries.
urtimately he makes
rittr-e distinction between the socio-economi_c,,manipurators,,
and the manipurated. He castigates the ,,masses,,
in termin_
ology similar to Nietzschers, who had seen.his
contemporaries
in terms of "Behagen und Dummheit - Mitte"(f4)
.rra
his sarcastic attacks on "das clück der meisten,,, who, with
was cJ_early
rhe uril_irarianism of rhe ',Flachkopf ,, rohn
::::.tiÊi
rvrJ-rr-. 'rn terms similar to Nietzschers compJ_aint
sruarr
about
the ascendancy of the norm or "Mitte Benn
" --.." writes
vvrruEÞ rr¡
in Das
moderne rch (r9zo) : (r0)
-
nsch, das kteine Format,
agens: der Barrabas_
re leben will_r ëtuf den
n säue, die =ú"i¡""ã""
r grofJe Kunde des
talters Maß und ZíeI.

(14) Friedrich Nietzsche : 1e ur

Umwe tun V S
r_ne al We te Kroners Taschenausgabe
7 St uttgart, 19
(15 'P.94-
)

(16 )
 -'r o-

Bennrs "anti-rationalismrr can thus be seen in its wider

perspective as opposition to that anthropocentricity which he
saw as having been handed down to his generation by the nine-
teenth century and accepted without reservation. Here, too,
Benn follows in the spirit of Nietzsche and his gibes at "die
hvperbolis che uaivität des Meñschen: sich sel-bst als Sinn und
wertmaß der Dinge anzusetzen". (rZ) Benn sees the "individual-
ism" of the "Herr" - his self-confidence and optimism, the
"continuity" of his personality refl-ected also in a generaJ_
crj-mate of optimism in bourgeois circles, in a feering that,
like the indivj-dual personality, history also marches forward
confidently in an unbroken line towards the best of arl-
possible worlds, towards a materialistic paradise which manrs
rational faculties have the capacity to realize. This critical
view, of course, is neither original nor peculiar to Benn; it
informs the work of many writers in the first decades of this
century and, as we have noted, had been emphaticarry expressed
by Nietzsche in the latter decades of the nineteenth century.
Empiricj-sm, rerying on the evidence of the five senses,
not onry found Rönne wanting, but was itself found wanting by
Benn. By I92I it is clearer than ever that for Benn cmpiricisnr
itself and the materialistic wel-tanschauunq which in his opinio.
accompanies j-t are unthinkable as objects of self-identj-fication.
Diesterweg' s question : "womit [geschehn]? " remains unanswered,
and in his Epiloq of rgzr Benn draws his conclusion:
wie soII man da teben? Man soll ja auch nicht. (rv 11)
This, arrd Bennrs cognisance - also in the Epiloq - of "die
tiefe, schrankenlose, mythenarte Fremdheit zwischen dem
Menschen und der welt" (rv 9), augurs his insistence that the
artist, if he is to function at all, must necessarily do so
independentry, entirery on his own terms. This is arready
implicit in Rönners situation in the early novel_las, and in
his essayj-stic work around Lgzo Benn adopts the more aggressive_
ly individuaLi-stic stance which cul-minates in his insistence
that the artist, if he is to express himsel_f in relation to the
realities of his â9€_, must not permit himself to be defined in

(17 ) Nietzsche : Der l,{ille zur Macht r op. cit. , p. 16.

 -20-

terms of these realities:

wer mit der ZeiL mitlauft, wird von ihr
uberrannt ... (f 428),
he says in 1931 in his radio-talk Die neue I terarische
saison - with unconscious irony, if one calls to mind Bennrs
career in Nazi Germany.
Bennrs remark of 1937 in weinhaus wolf - that "verwirk-
lichung von Geist im Leben ist nicht mehr" (lr r45) - can be
appried in reverse to Benn the artist: "Leben" is not to be
realized in the works of "Geist" - the artist does not imitate
reality as it is seen by the empiricar eye, but reconstitutes
it according to the raws of what in ouerschnitt (r9r8) i_s
cal-Ied "eines tieferen Auges Traum". (rr TT) This view of the
artist in effect fulfils Diesterwegrs desire to enter " ...
ein Land , dàs der Kamera entqeht', (cf.. p.16 above).
Photography generally considered to be a predominantry
"representational" activity - was rejected by charles
Baudelaire. Hugo Friedrich, in his discussion of this fact,
makes some important observations on the nature of modern art
in general observations which are valid for t].e early Bennrs
"Land das der Kamera entgeht" and for much of his r_ater
work as we1l. Friedrichrs remarks are worth quoting at some
length:
Es schei-nt, dafð in dem Augenbr-ick, ars die ruoderne
ihr rechnisches Können, iñ cestatÉ aer phot;;;;phie,
auf das Abbilden des vtirklichen anwandte, diðses
positive, begrenzte lvirkriche sich um so schnerrer
verbrauchte und die künstlerischen xräfte-=ìtrr-'*
energischer auf die nichtgegenständliche welt der "o
phantasie hinlenkten. Daõ wäre analog zu
der Reaktion,
die der wissenschaftliche positivismuã hervorgerufen
hat. BAUDELA]RES verurteilung der photographíe steht
auf einer Ebene mit seiner veiurteilung á.i'ñ.i"r_
wissenschaften. Die wissenschaftliche wertauicrl_
dringung wird vom künstrerischen sinn ar_s w.il"ur-
engung und a1s verlust des Geheimnisses empfunden,
daher mit extremer Machtausweitung der phantasie
beantwortet
Dieser in BAUDELATRE sich abspier-ende vorgang ist
von unabsehba-rer Bedeutung bis e.g.nwart. fn
: I rch -*ö;;;;' .oË9.-
.-i"-.T cespräch sa gre eeu¡ÉLerRe =ü,
farbte wiesen, blaugefärbte Bäume.' RTMBAUD wird von
solchen wiesen dichten, Künstler des 20. Jahrhunderts
werden sie ma1en. BAUDELAIRES Bezeichnung
der kreativen phantasie entsprungene runst ;ü;-;i;;"'
r_autet:
-sgrnaturarisme. Gemeint ist-einõ Kunst: w€r_che die
-eu'u"g.,ngen,
Dinge entdinglicht zv Linien, farben,
 -2l--
selbstgtändig werdenden Akzidentien und die das i'
rmagische Licht' über sie wirft, das ihre Realität
im Geheimnis vernichtet (IB)
Many theorists do not share Friedrich's approval of this
development. Walter Benjamin, for example, had a quite
different opinion about photography's relationship to art; he
saw the potentialities rather than the possible hindrances of
technorogicar innovations. (19) tor" recent theorists have
adapted Benjaminrs ideas and refer to "autonomous" art in
terms of a "reaktionären Tendenz der Kunsa". (2o) How and
indeed whether such a judgement is applicable to Benn wirl
concern us in chapters 3 and 4. rn anticipation, it shourd be
mentioned here that we do not pran to use artistic "autonomy"
as a formula to tar with the same political- brush all artists
in the tradition described by Hugo Friedrich. "Autonomy", if
it means a refusal to give empirical and historical- realities
their due, can without doubt have dubious consequences politic-
aIIy. But there is a "non-representative" impulse in Bennrs
artistic theory (and clearly prefigured in his Expressionist
phàse ) which is not unambiguousry "reactionary". rndeed - as
v/e sharl see in chapter 4 Bennrs ideas carry a palliative
force acting against the so-catled reactionary tendency of
"pure" art; his artistic "autonomy" i-s an ambivalent phe-
nomenon.
In 1916 Bennrs novella Die r nse I describes the anti-
empirical, "riberated' world of the imagination as Rönners

(18) Hugo Friedrich: u rne

der Mitte eunzehnten zut t CS l_ sten
Jahrhunderts, rowohlts deutsche enzyklopadie 25, 2nd
ed. (ttamburg, 196T), p.56f .
(19 ) See lrlalter Benjamin: rk ta l_ne
en Re rke St ur
sozl_o loqie t edition suhrkamp 2 (Frankfurt, 19 J cf
also p.I55f . below.
(ZO) Michael Scharang: e
Samml ung Luchterhand 27 (Xeuwi ed r1in, J-97l-) , p.IZ
More recently: Michael Mu1Ier, Horst Bredekamp, Berthold
Hínz, Franz-Joachim' Verspohl, Jurgen Fredel, Ursul_a
Apitzsch: Aut ie der Kunst. Zur Gene se und Kritik
q j-ner burqerlichen Kateqorie, edition suhrkamp Ão2
(Frankfurt, 1972).
 -22-

"cegenglück" (rr 42). This is an early example of numerous

words in Bennrs work prefixed by "Gegen-t'(2l-) .rra referring
,to the essent-ially "oppositional" role of the artist and his
work e.g. "Gegenvorsterlung" (t 4o), "Gegenkomplex", "Gegen-
wert " (t r2o), "cegen z1rg" (r 414 ) , "cegenkunst " (r 253). The
latter formuration ( "Gegenkunst" ) is contained in the essay on
Expressionism which Benn wrote in 1933, i.e. during his
"politicaI" phase under National Socialism. The essay is a
confession of faith in Bennrs own Expressionist past, where
the idea of art as "Gegenkunst" has its origins in his work.
rt is an idea which will play a central, rore in our consider-
ation of Bennrs ideas fro¡n his Éxpressionist years up to and
includins 1933/34.
In the fÍrst decade of his work (19lo-192o) Benn had
not yet developed a -clearl-y defined artistic theory. However,
most of the fundamentals of the theory he was to formulate in
the late 'twenties and earry 'thirties are impricit in his
early work. This is, true not onry of his conception of Lhe
artist as a "non-representative" typ.. - The "existential"
guestion of incompatibility with the world of the "Herr" is
j-nseparable from the problem of language in Bennrs prose and
poetry: the "non-representativeness " of the psychological
"anti-type " - his inability to identify himsel-f with or
"represent" the intellectual and social norm - inctudes al_so
a "non-representationar" use of language on Bennrs part. This
language has j-n common with the protagonists of Benn's earry
prose work that it does not function on the terms of a given
prototype. As such it anticipates many of Bennrs ideas in
the 'twenties and earry 'thirties about the function of the
artist and of art.

(21) The source of such formulations prefixed by "gegen- "

is in all probability as Reinhold Grimm ha s suggested
Nietzschers definition of art as "die Ge ge nbewegung".
See Reinhold Grimm: Kritis e Erqanzunqen r Benn-
Lj-teratur, in R. Grimm: t k ut-
schen Literatur (cö ttingen, 19 ), p.298. cf . arso
Nietzsche: op...cit., pp.4,533,
577 and Die , Kroners Taschenaus-
gabe 7O (Stuttgart, 19 ), P. 7. The pre f j-x "gegen- " t
it should be added, has its antithesis in another
concept which figures prominently in Bennrs work: the
"norm" or the "Durchschnitt" (seê p.BZ below).
 _23_

IV

Many of the qualities characteristic of the "cegen-

gIück" which the protagonj-sts of Bennrs earJ_y prose works
embrace as a result of their perenniat incompatibility with
the empirical, "categorical" world of the "Herr" are contaj-ned
in the following extracts from the final pages of Die Eroberunq )
they will serve as an initial point of reference for our
discussion of the early prefigurations of Bennrs "Gegenkunst,,:
Er [nönne ] sank auf Moos unter stern und stirlen
Lauten. Blau stand zwischen gäumen, Tier und Dorf
und i-m schauer seiner Haut, im sprunge seiner Glieder,
im Trunk.der Augen, in seines ohies Rausch: er, als der
e1üten eine: er, .í" der Tiere Beischlaf
Da tanzte eine hinter schleiern, die Brüste gebunden
Er aber spürte den Drang, sich abzuflachen
auf die Erde, die Zuckungen, daõ-zusammàn"irã*."
den Aufwuchs, und ptötztlch stand vor ihm die ""a
sçhwangere: breites, schvueres Freisch, triefend von
saften aus Brust und Leib; ein magerer, verarmter
schäder über feuchtem BlaÉtw;;r,-'î¡.,
schaft aus Btut, über schwellunqe; ausei-ner Land_
tierischen
Geweben, hervorgerufen durch eiñe unz\^Teifelhafte
Beruhrung.
_4r, der Einsame; blauer H imme I , s chwe j_ge nde s Licht.
Uber ihm die weilJe Wolke: die sanftgekappten Rande,
das schweifende Vergehen.
rch worlte eine stadt erobern, nun streicht ein pa]men_
blatt ü¡er mich hin.
nr wühlte sich in das Moos (rr z5_ZT).
As opposed to his role as a "Herr", to hi_s efforts
to
recall "die lvirkungsweise der vernunft", Rönne exists
here in
what the namer-ess protagonist of Bennrs earlier prose
work
l-nr n ct (1913) rraa cal1ed "den Ausweg aus
ml_r tn Siedelungen aus meinem BLutr'. (rr
9) Rönne in Die
Eroberun g exists not only in an unconscious, rnstinctual
state
of "Rausch" and sexuality, however, but, as "der glüten eine",
r-n a pre-conscious conditi_on which finds expression
also in
Bennrs early poetry - as in the well-known 1ines
from Gesänqe
(1913 ) :
O daß wi-r unsere Ururahnen
wären.
nin xlümpchen Schleim in-äinem \,{armen Moor. (rrr 25)
In similar terms, in be e s te t Benn
describes Rönners situation in Die Eroberuncr:
Also nach der zentral_en Zerstorung das Vegeta-
bitrische. (rv 3o)
 -24-

This opposition of the unconscious and preconscious (b1ood,

the vegetative) to consciousness (brain) finds analogous
expression in the last lines of our extract from Die Er-
oberung:
Ich wollte eine Stadt erobern, nun streicht ein
Palmenblatt über mich hin.
The "Palmenblatt" is one of the many images in the realm of
"Süden" which, throughout Bennts work, is opposed to the
conscious world of the north to the "kategorialer Raum"
which harbours "das Nördlich-Diskursive" (rr 9r) and which
is seen as barren in contrast to the south, as in Die Insel:
Jetzt aber, schien es ihm, wanderte er dahin
zuruck, wo es unabsehbare lnlasser gab im süden
und im Norden brackige Flut ( rr 4o).
In Der Geburtstaq the table s and chairs from which Rönne suffers
are seen both in relationship to the "Herr" and to the north:
Stühle, cegenstände für Herren, die bei nach vorn
geÞogenen Knien einen stützpunkt unter der Hinter-
flache der Beine haben worltenr..trockneten dumpf
und nördlich. Tische für cespiäcfre wie diese:
Nâ, wie geht's, schelmisch und männlich (rr iT)
of the words whích belong in Bennrs rearm of "süden"
("palme", "Meer", "olive", "Möwe" etc. ), "blau" is the most
frequent; Benn calls it "das südwort schlechthin". (rv 13)
rn their opposition to the "kategorj_arer Raum" of the north,
both "blau" and "süden" can be seen¡ âs Reinhord Grimm has
pointed out, as belonging together to another centrar el_ement
of Bennts early work that of dream . (22 ) A further conf j_rm-
ation of the centrarity of btue and its relationship to dream
is the following extract from Ouers irr , where blue is
integrar to that level of awareness which lies beneath the
empirical surface - where things are seen according to "eines
tieferen Auges Traum":
Blau: sie: rn rhrer wiege aus Moos, zwischen den
Asten einer palme, blau: ich: auf meinem Lagunen-
riff und weidend die Koralre, blau, wir: geñeitert
aus fernen Festen, und bl-au die Hand, die sie jeLzL
schneidet: aus eines tieferen Auges Traum itt TT).

(22) Reinhold Grimm: G t Be f e e

in der Dichtunq, Erlanger Bei trage zur Sprach- und
Kunstwissenschaft I, 2nd ed. (uürnberg, ]-962), p.49
 -25-

"Blau" j-s for Benn "vonlenormem rwallungswertr, das

Hauptmittel zur I zusammenhangsdurchstoßung"'. (rv 13 ) That
ís, Iike dream, it serves as an agent by means of which the
causality of the empirical world is abrogated thus freeing
the ego from the necessity of existing on empirical terms,
on the terms of the "Herr". rn this "new" level of
consciousness (oiesterweg calls it "das andere Leben", rr
61 ) the subject is invariably "der Einsame ", as in our
extract from Die Eroberunq. This does not necessarily mean
that he is alone, for frequently he is with a woman; but he
stands in no interpersonal relationship to her - his inter-
course wÍth her is not of a social kind but, like dream,
"süden" and "blau" (in Die Reise "kam eine Frau und roch
blau", rr 34), it is "von enormem Trlatlungswert" and is
another means of attaining to the condition which Benn in
hj-s Schöpferische Konfession (L9I9) calts "das Außersich
des Rausches oder des vergehens" (tv lB9)j it is succinctry
expressed in Rönners intercourse with edmée in Der rtstacr:
es entsank fleischlich sein Ich. (rr 5D)
In Heinrich Mann. Ein Untergang the female body is used
metaphorically to express descent into the south:
immer tiefer in den Süden: von Lippen ü¡er
Brüste in den Schoß. (rr 11)
sexuar "Rausch" and "süden" are aspects of the same experience:
an extinction or "untergang" of empirical a\^/areness, a "zrr-
sammenhangsdurchstoßung" of what Benn considers the sterile
norms of given, I'established" patterns of thought and
behaviour.
The "categorical", empirical and sociar world of the
"Herr" on the one hand; and the subjectrs prj-vate, acausal,
dream-like "Gegenglück" on the other: this antithesis can be
expressed in its simplest terms as an antithesis between the
objective world and the subject, i.e. between "Außenwelt" and
"Innenwe1t", as the following image from Das mode rne Ich most
vividly illustt'ates; Benn is giving an imagj_nary l_ecture to
a group of medical students:
Man hängt lhnen Röhren in die Ohren, die Umwelt
zu erlauscþen, aber hinter den Augen schweigt der
rraum. (r B)
"Außenwe1t" and "rnnenwelt", then, can be seen al_so as
empirical reality and dream. rmplicit in this is another
 -26-

antithesis: that between the scientist or philosopher and the

early Bennrs idea of the artist. - In rten v Ies
(r92o), for example, Benn opposes the art of van Gogh to the
rationar ontology of Kant, expre?:lîg this opposition in terrms
of north and south respec,tively. \¿Jl ln this prose work
Rönners cry in Die fnsel:
schöpferischer MenschJ Neuformung des Entwj-cklungs-
gedankens aus dem Mathematischen ins Tntuitive
(rr 46)
finds its echo. Its implications lead beyond we1 anscha ulich
questions, beyond the existential estrangement of the
individuar from reality, to the aesthetic implications of this
estrangement.
Just as Bennrs early prose shows the individuar as in-
capable of acting in accordance with the g iven weltan schau-
Ij-ch or sociar pattern of things, of considering himsel_f j.n
any way "representative" of the prototype of the "Herr", so
the language of the "Gegenglück" he embraces is not ',represent-
ational" language; it does not attempt to depict realj-ty as
it is, on its o\^/n terms. Benn is not alone i_n this refusal
to approach reality artistically on its own terms. Art, said
the Expressionist theorist Kasimir Edschmid in r9r8, should
be "ohne gewohnte psychologie" and should not be "von bekann-
ten Kausalitäten geIenkt".(24) *."tity was not to be
expressed in terms of the psychological theories which were
products of the same positivistic method that had gone hand in
hand with the formation of the very world-view which the
Expressionists (with Benn in the vanguard) had rejected. There
v/as a widespread reaction against the riterary movement of
Naturalism Benn himself was later (i., 1934) to refer to "die
stupide psychologie des Naturalj_smus', . (r 479) Edschmid
shows where, to his mind, Expressionism departs from the
theories of Naturalism:

(23 ) Cf. Pa u1 Requadt: tf a 1i

Wort " , l_n Neophiloloqus, 19 2 t p.5
(24) Kasimir Edschmid : e
Jugend, in K. Edschmid: F Man f chen
des Expressi_onismus (Hamburg, 1957 t p.35.
 -27-

Logisch entwickelt der Geist sich nicht, tieferen

Kraften nach steht er auf und braust oder schweigt.
Wir fühten ihn nur. Zusammenhänge laufen nicht
geradlinig, mehr unter aIs in der sichtbaren
zeíL. (25)
To create in accordance with the given realities of "der s icht-
baren zeiL", be thelz intellectual, social or political, would
mean an accomodation of the artist to these realities - but
this, according to Benn and many Expressionists, is inimical
to the task of the arti-st. In this context Kurt Pinthus
writes in :-.9l-9
z

Die Geisteswissenschaften des ersterbenden 19. Jahr-

hunderts - verantwortungslos die Gesetze der Natur-
wissenschaften auf geistiges Geschehen übertragend
begnügten sich, in der Kunst nach entwicklungs-
geschichtlichen Prinzipien und Beeinflussungen nur
das Nacheinander, das Aufeinander schematisch zv
konstatieren; man sah kausal, vertikal. (.26)
Pinthus gets to the heart of the matter, summarj-zing much of
the substance of our discussion so far and pointing forward
also to aesthetj-c considerations, when he writes:
man füntte immer deutlicher die Unmöglichkeit
einer Menschheit, die sich ganz und..gar abhängig
gemacht hatte von ihrer eigenen Schôpfung, von
ihrer Wissenschaf t, von Technik, Statistik, Handel_
und Industrie, von einer erstarrten Gemeinschafts-
ordnungr' bourgeoisen und konventionell-en Bräuchen.
Diese Erkenntnis bedeutet zugJ_eich den Beginn des
Kampfes gegen die Zeit und gegen ihre Realität.
Mann begann, die Um-Wirklichkeit zrtr Un-WirkIich-
keit aufzulösen, durch die Erscheinungen zum Wesen
vorzudringen (27)
The early Benn belongs firmly in a riterary-historicar
background, some of the problems of which had been prophesied
in some detail by Hugo von Hofmannsthal in Ein Brief (trre
"chandos" letter) of r9o1. Benn is not alone when he sees
that, just as the rerationship between the individuar and
empirical rearity is no longer self-evidentr so this indi-
vidual (i... the artist) cannot rely on traditional devices
to express himserf in reration to it. For Benn this means
dissatisfaction with the grammar and syntax, indeed with the
very vocabulary of conventional language. He expresses this

(25) rbid.
(26 ) Kurt PinLhus, ed.: E
des Expressionismus (Hamburg, ]959 , p.22. (Original
edition: Berlin, l-920).
(27) rbid., p ¿o.
 -28-
dissatisfaction in a letter of 2J.6.r92r to Elsa Fl.eischmann-
Fleming. It is a letter which at the same time demonstrates
the inextricabitity of these specifically ringuistic
questions from their weltanschaulich background :
Mir räIrt es nämIich unendlich schwer eine derar-
tige, überhaupt noch eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit
zu machen. rch kann diese syntax, diese roderr und
rdennsr u. ttrotzdemr nicht mehr schrei-ben u. ich
bezweifle den satz von der Kausalität zv. sehr¡ ürr
noch nach Gründen und Folgerungen z\ fragen; ich
habe mir diese Art zu denken übergedacht, ict
graube weder an wissenschaft noch an Erkenntnis,
insonderheit halte ich die Naturwissenschaften i",
Komparserie bei allen ernsteren Fragen u zum
schluß glaube ich weder an Entwicklung noch an
Fortschritt weder des einzelnen noch áer cesamt-
heit (ar. r4)
we remember that Rönners existence as a ',Herr", on the
terms of the ratter's "wirkungsweise der vernunft", h/as
artifici-a1. comparably ranguage geared to the causatity of
the world of the "Herr" becomes, for Benn, inadequate as a
meèns of self-expression. rn the place of conventionar grammar
and syntax to represent a given, external reality, language
functions as association and evocati_on, as the expression of
an "inner" experience. This "inner" experience can be trans-
ferred to the external, so-cal1ed "objective" worl_d¡ âs for
example shortry after the opening of Die Eroberunq, where
we
meet Rönne prior to his role as a "Herr"; he describes the
city: or rather he expresses his experience of it:
- Er schritt aus; schon brühte um ihn die stadt.
Sie wogte auf ihn zus s.ie erhob sich von den
Hüse1n, schlus erückén ü;";-ä;; ìr,setn, i_hre
Krone rauschte. über plätze, vor Jahrhunderten
lie.gengebrieben und von keinám Fuß-;e;ü;;r,- --
drangten alle Straßen hernieder in ein tali
es war ein_Abstieg in der Stadt, sie liet. Ái.f,
sinken in die Ebene, sie entsteínte ihr e.Ãå=,rã,
einem weinberg zv. (rr Zo)
Rönners emotions are transferred to the city, which
takes on
a life of its own; the city appears to be moving towards
nönne; the normal rer-ationship between subject and object
is reversed not unrike the rerationship between Herr
Mi-chael Fischer and the trees in elfred oö¡tinrs Ermorduns
einer Butterblume (f9f: ) :
 -2Q-

Die gäume schritten rasch an ihm vorbei (;:ii)

rn their apparent interchangeability, both subject and object
lose their character as fixed, objectivery definable entities,
and in Die Eroberung the object, the city, is not fixed and
held by the camera-eye of empiricism or "consequential_r'
Natural-ism, but is used as an "objective correl_ative" (t.S.
Eliot) to express a subjective experience. The verbs used
in reference to the city ("blühen", "wogen", "sich erheben",
"überschlagen"r "rauschen"r "drängen") reinforce this
impression in their dynamism they emphasise the independent
life of the city; used in the main intransitively and refrex-
ively¡ they do not describe a crearry definable relationship
between or a vis-å-vis of subject and object.
In his Schopferische Konfession Benn illuminates this
"expressive" (-" opposed to "representational") use of
language and its avoidance of logicat and grammatical connec-
tions coincidental with the causarity operating in the empir-
ical world:
Wie ich es einmal versucht habe darzustellen in
der Novelle Der Geburtstaq (Cetrirne ); da schrieb
ich: rda geschah ihm die Olivet, nicht: da stand
vor ihm die Olive, nicht: da fiel sein Bfick auf
eine Olive, sondern: da geschah sie ihm, wobei
arrerdings der Arti-ker noch besser unterbriebe.
A1so, da geschah ihm rOliver und hinströmt die i_n
Frage stehende struktur über der Früchte silber,
ihre leisen WäIder, ihre Ernte und ihr Kelter-
fest. (rv 1BB)
The linguistic elements which hypostatize a vis-à-vis of
subject and object having been removed, the object remains
essentially as a cipherr cärling up a range of associationsr
the individual elements of which are not necessarily connected
by spatiar, chronological or other causal raws. The imagin-
ation is given free playr äs is illustrated by Rönners
associati-ons in Der Geburtstaq:
Noch hingegeben der Befriedigung: so ausgiebig zn
assoziieren, stieß er auf ein Glasschild mit aér Auf-
schrift: Cigarette Maita, beleuchtet von einem

(28 ) Cf. Albert Soergel, Curt Hoh off: Dicht ung und Dichter
der Zeit (lüsseldorf, 1964), vol. 2, Vom Natural_ismus
bffi-cêqenwart, p. rB3 .áá Hel-mut Liede: Stilte enzen
ressl_ l_ sa. uchun e I
von 1f Carl l_m Eds
Geors Hevm und Gottf ried Benn Diss., Freiburg, 19 o),P.9.
 -3o-
Sonnenstrahl. Und nun vollzog sich über Maita
Malta Strände leuchtend f'ähre - Hafen
Muschelfresser - Verkommenheiten - der he1l,e
klingende Ton einer leisen ?ersplitterung, und
Ronne schwankte in einem c1ück. (rr 50)
rn connection with this associative and evocative quality of
Bennrs use of languager âs opposed to a discursive, descript-
ive or anarytic trea!:nent of empirical reality, Reinhord
Grimm has pointed to the use of corours as ciphers:
die Farbe kann einen weiten Komplex von Vor-
ste der in den Kern
der dichterischen I^Ie1t BENNS t wie ein
Geheimzeichen ausdrücken Auf der Kraft i.hrer
zeichenhaften Aussa 9ê, die es dem Dichter ermö 9-
IÍcht, einen kompli zierten Vorga ng in einem W ort
zusanìmenzu fassen, beru hr die poetische Funktion
der Farbe. (29)
How the extreme compression into one word or idea of what Grimm
calls "einen komplizierten vorgang" functions when it is
extruded from the sphere of riterary creativeness and applied
i-n the form of cultural criticism to the socio-economic and
politicar sphere, wirl concern us in chapters 3 and 4 when we
dj-scuss the complex problem of the connections between art and
politics in Bennrs work. For the present, the most important
conclusion to be drawn is that Benn reconstitutes empirical
reality according to the raws of an autonomous imagination;
he creates a world which is not only "ein Land ..., das der
Kamera entgeht", but arso a worrd in which the possibility
"mit worten [r,r] lügen" (rr 15) appears to have been removed:
because of its independence of verisimiritude with empirical
reality it is, in a sense, rrabsolute"; it. could be li-kened
to hallucination, which for Benn in his Epiroq of ]Ig2l is the
only valid "categoryt' - he opposes it to space and time:
wir erfanden den Raum, um die zeíL totzuschragen,
und die zeiLr u*r unsere Lebensdauer zu motivieren;
es wird nichts und es entwickert si_ch
Kategorie, in der der Kosmos offenba*i;ãr-i"t
"i;ht;,-ãiu ai.
Kategorie der Halluzination. (fv B1
Similarly, for the philosophy lecturer in Der Garten von Arl_es,
final truths lie beyond empirical reality:
das Absolute ist der Traum. (rt BB)

(29) Reinhold Grimm: 1 ch de

Dichtunq, op. cit., p. o
 -3r-
Dream and hallucination have in common that their images and
their "truth" do not depend on the causality to which the
categories of time and space are subject. The same is true
of what Benn was to call "absolute Prosa", which he character-
ises in f949 as:
prosa außerharb von Raum und ze!t, ins
gebaut, ins Momentane, Flächige gelegi, ihr rmagi_näre
spiel isr psychologie und evolutlon.-(iv ßZ)Gegen_
The correspondence between this statement and Bennrs
theory and practice of thirty years previously is more than
coincidental. rn his rater work Benn opposes the use of a
realistic, psychologi-ca1 framework, just as Rönne and
Diesterweg must be defined essentially in terms of their
polarity to such a "normal" framework. 'rAbsolute" prose a,ims
beyond the categories of space and time and what they imply
/,
(scr-entr-fic, social, historicar and political realities) ;
in this it is an outcome of the early Bennrs rearization of
the inadequacy of these reaÌities as moders for his artistic
endeavours. rt is also (and this is a point we wilr- be
emphasising throughout ) an outcome of Bennrs conviction
that
the artist can "represent" nothing and no-one but himsetf
a conviction not only of the early Benn, but also of the
"Ptolemäer" in r94Tz
Die Lage war nicht so¡ daß man noch für andere
sprechen konnte t zn anderen sprach, kaum d;;¿;
ein Zimmer drangen die sentenäe",
arlein rrieb man die Gebirde tor. fur-"î.t*-"^'
(ii á4r')
Thus bothrrabsolute'prose and the writer of this prose,
both
art and artist, claim to be non-representative of rearity.
similarly, in Bennrs early prose, Rönne and Diesterweg are
atypical of their intellectuar and sociar environment, in
spite of their efforts to identify with it; artistically
the
result is a language largely independent of the 10gica1 and
Ii-nguistic laws prevailing in this environment.
The I'absoluteness" of this language, however, does
not
necessarily mean an exclusion of reality. - Benn actually
uses
the categories of space and time as material for his ,,absorute,,
writing. The poem Verlorenes rch (1943), for exampJ-e,
uses
these categories as subject matter: not, however, to
"represent" them, but to express the positj_on of the ser_f in
relation to them - and not to express its identity with
them,
but its estrangement from them. A similar principÌe,
as we
 -32-

shaII see, operates in Bennts method of "summarisches Über-

blicken" ("lready practised by him long before he first uses
the formulation in 1944.; cf . p.6Tf. below). Here, too,
facts usually historical- and geographical ones - are
mentioned in plenty: not to affirm them, but as self-
differentiation on the part of the artist. For him, empirical
reality provides the subject matter but not the criteria.
The artist as non-representative and his art as non-
representational: this, in general terms, determines Bennrs
conception of the artist as an "anti-type" to everyday reality.
It is a conception whj-ch recurs throughout his work and can be
traced back to the protagonistsr incompatibility with the world
of the "Herr" in his early novelras, to their inability to
model themsel-ves upon the given intel-lectuar and sociar
patterns - to be "with it". The "Gegenglück" which the
protagonj-sts carl up in response to their incompatibility
with the "Herr" suggests that Bennrs "Gegenkunst", his artistic
theory and practice, is inseparable from the existential
question of estrangement from real-ity. Art for Benn means the
inability and unwillingness to speak with or for socially and
intellectually established realities; artistic "Geist", if
it is to function at all, must do so on its own terms.

Bennr s remarks in his feris Konfe s s of I9I9

do not give comprehensive picture of his early work:
a
so ist es im Grunde diese fdie Bewußtheit ],
gegen die ich mich wehre, mit der südl_ichen Zer_
malmung, und sie, die ich abzuleiten trachte in
ligurische Komplexe bis zur überhöhung oder bis
zum verl0schen im Außersich des Rausches oder
des vergehens. (rv 189)
of course repeated attempts to escape consciousness pre-
suppose the persistence of consciousness. rt woul_d be mis-
leading to define Bennrs earry work excl_usively in terms of
the dreamrike "cegenglück" which tönne embraces in Die rnseJ.
Much of Bennrs writing before rgzo - as we have arready noted
with reference ro rrhaka (r9r4) and Erappe (1915) (cf . p.t2
above) - revears an aggressive, even (in the case of rthaka)
violent confrontation with the here and noriv. rn rthaka this
 -33-

confrontation is followed by a cry for the "Gegenglück" of

"Traum", "Rausch" and Dionysos.
In many of Bennrs early poems, however, consciousness
does not give way to the "Gegenglück" which Rönne had embraced
or to the "Außersich des Rausches oder des Vergehens " mentioned
in schöpferische Konféssióir. Bébide early poems such as ce-
sänqe (1913), unterqrundbahn (1913), Karvatide (1916), o Nacht
(1916), Kokain (l-9I7), whose range of words and images ("blau",
"Traum", "süden", "olive", "strömen", "vergehen", etc. ) and
v¿hose associative and evocative effects are in aIl essentials
the same as in Rönners and Diesterwegrs "Gegengrück" in the
early prose, there stand other poems - poems which effect an
artistic confrontation with contemporary reality and the
traditions infruencing it. These poems reveal an aggressive
aesthetic. nmpirical reality, the experiences of the doctor,
conventional language are aIl utilized - but not as "natural-
isticarly" as it may at first sight appear. Bennrs artistic
aim is still a deviation from prevailing val-ues and the
ranguage which expresses them. rn spite of the great differ-
ence in tone and styre, these poems have in common with
Rönners "Gegengrück" that they execute a "zusammenhangsdurch-
stoßung" of given patterns of existence represented by the
world of the "Herr" - but it is not a "Durchstoßung" via
"Rausch" and most certainly not via the unconscious. A
discussion of the second of Bennrs Morgue poems - schöne
Juqend (l9lZ ) - *.y help to clarify thj-s:
SCHöNE JUGEND
Der Mund eines Mädchens, das lange im schilf gelegen hatte,
sah so angeknabbert aus.
Als man die Brust auflcrach, war die Speiseröhre so l-öche-
schließlich in einer Laube unter dem Zwerchfel_l lrig.
fand man ein Nest von jungen Ratten.
Ej-n kleines Schwesterchen 1ag tot.
Die andern lebten von Leber und Niere,
tranken das kalte Blut und hatten
hier eine schöne Jugend verlebt.
Und schon und schnell kam auch ihr Tod:
Man warf sie allesamt ins lrrasser.
Ach, wie die kleinen schnauzen quietschtenJ (rrr B)
' The title of the poem evokes a stock response in the
reader "schöne Jugend" carries all the associations of the
conventj-onalry "romantic" : health, radiance, vitality, rosy
cheeks, rosy lips, etc. The first image ("Der Mund eines
t"tädchens") begins to confirm the reader's initial_ response
 -34-

a response which for most readers of poetry in I9I2 would

have been little short of a conditioned reflex. But the
'second half of the first line ( ". . . das lange im Schitf
gelegen hatte" ) already throws doubt on the response
evoked by the title and the first image. rn the context of
the latterr \h/ê would not expect the girt to be rying in the
"schilf" "wiese" and "Blumen" would have seemed a more
approprj-ate setting. And how long has the girl been lying
in the rushes? The long first line, which gave us pause to
question, is followed by the terse "sah so angeknabbert
aus" with reference to the girlrs mouth, the I'romantic"
associations of which are thus abruptly invalidated and,
with them, the expectations of the reader, who now awakens.
"Angeknabbert" suggests an inanimate object - a thing whj-ch
has been lying around for too long, which shourd have been
thrown out with the rubbish long ago rrangeknabbert" and
the "lange" of line I reinforce one another.
Line 3 brings futr confirmation of the doubts raised
by the second half of line 1 and by line z the girl is
indeed an inanimate object. she is a corpse, and the set-
ting is a post-mortem at the morgue. The first word "al_s"
strikes the note of an objective report, and the impersonal
"man" reinforces this objective tone, which is diametrically
opposed to the sentimentar idealization of youth and beauty
which we had been 1ed to expect. Analagous to the destruc-
tion of the romantic image "Der Mund eines Mädchens" in
Iine 1 is the treatment of "Brust" in line 3. "Auflcrach",
in reference to "Brust" and its associati_ons of softness
and warmth, effects a brutal contrast not only through
the literal meanings of the words, but onomatopoeical_ty as
weII, through the harshness of the rrrrr and rrch, in "brach".
hle now have an inside view of "schöne .fugend". Despite
the ugly image (trre oesophagus furl of holes ), conventionally
"poetic" words echoi-ng the "romantic" overtones of the title,
the girlrs lips and her breast are retained ( "Laube " ). rn
the bower under the girl's midriff is found the nest of young
rats. The ugly is - quite literarly contained in the
traditionally "poetict'. rn retrospectr \^/ê find that the
"angeknabbert" of rine 2 had already suggested the possibir-
 -35-

Íty of rats or some such animals. But only in the poemrs

centrar image in line 5 is the whore cumulative force fett
of the discordances in the earlier part of the poem
( "schilf", "angeknabbert" ). The suggestion is that the rats
entered the girr by way of her mouth, fed on her oesophagus
in transit and finally settred in the region of her
diaphragm. Line 5, however, not only refers us back to the
beginning of the poem, but arso points forward the fact
that the rats are young is the fj.rst suggestion that the
titre does not refer only to the young girl, but to the rats
as we11.
Line 6, in- its use of the doubre diminutive "kl_eines
Schwesterchen",
(30)
corrtirrues the pattern of words and images
with senti-mental associations placed in the context of the
indifference of nature in thi-s case the fact of death.
"Kleines schwesterchen", in its associations of "cute', and
"pretty", further reinforces the connection of the rats to
the title of the poem. rn addition, the double diminutive
carries overtones of compassion for the dead rat overtones
which were absent in the clinícal references to the dead girl_.
The other rats are feeding on the girl's liver and kid_
neys and drinking her "kaltes Blut'r. "Kal-t" in reference to
"Blut" is a reversal of the more customary "\nrarmes B1ut,,, or
even "heißes Blut" as appried, for example, to the "Lebens-
1ust" of youth. The girlrs brood is simply food for the
rats the "Lebensrust" is arl theirs. Line 9 sums up the
lives of tÏ¡e rats: "eine schöne Jugend". "Schön" here
connotes pleasant, comfortable, secure, "gemütIich" - the
ratsÌ youth has been "schön" in the sense of the old cliché
"a carefree youthr', as expressed in the following Volk s lied
which walrher Killy (31 ) quotes as a contrast to Schone
Juqend and as a typical example of a popurar, sentimentar_
(and clichetic) treatment of "Vergänglichkeitr' :

(3o¡ Wolfgang Heybey: Der Ivrensch vor der Zukunft Eine ver-
ich tr V l_ l-e
Bertolt Brechts, in Padacro qische Provinz t 15, 19 l-,
p. 339 .
(31) Walther Ki11 v: ( cöt-
tingen, l-956 ), p.1 Cf. al so Astrid Claes: Per
r G (tiss.
, Ko1n,
195 ¡P
 -36-

Schon ist die Jugend bei frohen Ze iten

schön i-st die Jugend, sie kommt nicht mehrJ
Drum sag ichs noch einmal: Schön s j-nd die Jugend jahr;
schon ist die Jugend, sie kommt nicht mehr.
Vergangne Zeiten kommrn niemals wieder,
verschwunden ist das junge Blut.
Drum sag ich q. . etc.
Man liebt die Madchen bei frohen Zeiten,
man liebt die ¡qädchen zum Ze itvertre ib.
Drum sag ich etc.
The destruction of such literary clichés and the dis-
appointmenÇ of accustomed emotional responses characterizes
not only the individual images of Benn's schöne Juqend, but
typifies the conceit of the poem as a whole: the titre is
more meaningful when applied to the young rats rather than
to the young girr. she is the means to the "schöne Jugend"
of the former. They die of drowning, and the poem suggests
that the girr had died in the same \^ray the "schöne Jugend"
of the young girl and that of the young rats share a common
fate: both die. Dead, they are on exactry the same l_evel -
of matter. This "Kreislauf" theme recurs in other poems of
the early Benn e.g. in Kreislauf (tgtz), which immedi_ately
follows schöne Juqend in the Morque cycler or in Mann und
Frau gehn durch die Krebsbarack e (r9r2).
Benn is not concerned simply to remind us of the fact
of death - he wants us to view it from an unaccustomed
perspective. Nature is indifferent to human beautyr âs it
is to human sentiments; the clichés traditionatly used to
express these sentiments are placed in the context of the
cold1y, clinically presented real_ities of nature. Thus Benn
causes us to question the rightness both of human sentiment_
ality and of tradj-tion. He produces a "verfremdungseffektr.
rndirectly, however, and probably without Benn intending it,
Ëhe poem poses the question: how is man to transcend his
own relative position within the universe? How is he to over-
come his dependence on the purely material aspects of reality?
Such questions are behind much of Bennrs artistic theory and
practice the artist, in his rejection of purely "natural--
istic" guide-lines, is a I'metaphysical" type. This means he
stands against the materialism which he sees merely as a
development of the empirical or "natura1" world and against
 -37-

"nàturalistic" riterature and art which reproduce or

t'represent" this world. rf he uses elements
of the phys-
icar world in his work, the artist rearranges them on his
o\^/n terms - he refuses to be determined by them or by what
he considers to be traditionar responses to them. such
reconstitution of the "given" is characteristic of Bennrs
work and is already evident in his use of tradition in
Schöne Juqend.
The rast line of the poem, with the pathetic "Ach" and
the diminutive "die kleinen schnauzen", continues the tone
of sentimental regard for the rats. They, not the girl, are
celebrated in a conventionally "poetic" (here elegaic)
manner. This reinforces the "verfremdungseffektr, preventing
the reader from reacting according to his accustomed views,
forcing him for a moment to review from a strange perspective
the reality he has taken for granted.
Thus wolfgang Heybeyrs view on the sentimental and
elegaic tone in schöne Juqend needs correction:
Hören wir nicht unter den zynisghen obertönen
einen elegischenr..ja sentimèntal_en Klang? Die
unbewußten Nebentöne verraten das Gefuhí, d;;-
rAch I z.B. ,
rkleinenoder der doppel_te Diminutiv
von dem Schwestercñèn'. (J2)
ltlhat Heybey cites as examples of unconscious "Nebentöne" arer
on the contrary, quite consciously utilized elements of
literary tradition, with the express purpose of invalidating
this tradition. Not through an unconscious appropriation
of, but through a deriberate confrontation with tradition,
does the poem achieve its effects.
Nor is one justified in the generarisation that Bennrs
early poetry is "alles mehr schrei als Gedicht". (33) ,., the
better of his early poems, such as Schöne Ju qend t Bennrs
emotional responses and his personar experience as a doctor
do not escape the rigours of the conscious mind. The invor_ve_
ment of the criticar- faculties in the process of artisti_c
creation is emphasised again and again in Bennrs later

(32) Wolfgang Heybey, op. cit., p.3j9.

(3: ¡ Gunther Klemm: fr e n DJ-chtung und Deut.rng 6
(wuppertal-/øa rmen, I95 ,P Ã On the
Klemm admits, without being too specific, other
that
hand
of Bennrs lat er I'Formkrafti can be found in his traces
earJ-y
poetry, roo (ibid. ).
 -38-

theoretical work and is suggested as early as 19IO .l_n

Gespräch:
Du kannst den ganzen Kosmos durch dich fl_uten rünlen
und brauchst doch nur ein schwätzer zu sein. rch
halte mich an Rodins hartes wort, daß es überhaupt
keine Kunst gÍbt, sondern nur ein Handwerk. (rv rB7)
certainly, in many of his early poems of the Morque type
Benn fails to revise and check his subjective responses j
this resurts in poems - e.g. Merkvnirdiq, Dirnen, Finish (arr
1913 ) - which remain bound to the mirieu of the morgue and
the hospital and which lack the qualities of combination and
contrast: peculiar to such poems as Sch one Ju nd. It is
nevertheless understandable how contemporary critics could
generarize of_ Bennl= that it "zn tief im Natu-
"":tT.ll"ary
ralismrrs stecken bleibtrr. \J+l Mann und Frau qehn durch die
Krebsbaracke (r9L2), for example, appears to consist wholIy
of unpleasant physical details enumerated for their own sake;
but in fact the poem has rittle to do with a purely "natural_
istic" depiction of rearity. The very rearism of the guiders
language, of the cool, dispassionate tone of the poem and the
quiet rhythm herp to produce an apocalyptic effect the
details of the cancer-ward courd stand for the whole of
human existence. The transition from the realistic details
to a universar, even metaphysical plane, is made in the
final three lines:
Hier schwillt der Acker schon um jedes Bett.
Fleisch ebnet sich zu Land. Glut-gibt. sich fort.
saft schickt sich an zu rinnen. niae ruft. (rrr 15)
In Schone Juqend too, there is a deceptively "natural_
5

istic" tone of facts objectivery reported. But the images

take on a universar significance. The girl has no namer rro
disti-nguishing features, and in her anonymity she takes on a
certain representativeness. Like alr bodies, living or dead,
she consists of thinqs - her mouthr âs we have seen, appears
as an inanimate object; her organs are pieces of meat and
her blood, from a ratrs-eye view, is a beverage. Beyond the

(34 ) lgrr_wolfgang Martens: Krinische Lvrik, in Die Aktion,

35, r9tz, p.11o/. euoteã-from peter uwe Hohendahl, ed.:

Autoren im Urteil ihrer Kritiker 3 (Frankfurt, IgTI),

p.91.
 -39-

particular young girl and the nest of rats in her body, the
poem expresses the eternal probrem of youth and beauty and
their transience. rt suggests that physical beauty is no
more immune to the laws of nature than other matter an
awäreness which was always to remain with Benn and which
helps to explain his iater insi-stence on the "unnaturar"
(in the sense of "artifice") quality of l_iterature and art,
i. e . on the artistr s I'antinaturalistic I' function , (35 ) o¡
form as opposed to content.
on the one hand, the artistrs refusal to work on the
terms of what is "given", his dissatisfaction with the
logicar and grammaticar l-aws traditionalty inherent in
language, his insistence on the arti-st s subjectivityr o'
his private "vision" and on his right to express it entirery
on his own terms, to create a newr personar J-anguage inde-
pendent of tradition, to write according to "eines tieferen
Auges Traum", as Benn would say; on the other hand, the
artist's insistence on a supra-personaÌ, "objectively" valid
vehicre of expression, his urge to go beyond the recording
of personal impressions and to transcend thè relativity of
his subjective responses - this paradox of artrs private,
autonomous, sometimes esoteric quality and its simul_taneous
claim to "absorute", objective validity, craims particur_ar
attention in the early part of this century. rt is a para-
dox v¡hich is particularry important for an understanding of
much Expressionist úriting and art. ceorg Trakr, for
example, revised many of his "impressionistic" poems in
favour of a poetry of metaphor, which became increasingì_y
idiosyncratic and resulted in a private, autonomous, non-

(35) Bennrs formu la "die antinaturalisti_sche

Geistesrr fir st appears in a private Ärbe Funkti
itshe
on des
ft
1936 (in his Nachlaß in the e
J_n

at Marbach). In a sli ghtly different die anti-

naturalistische Aufga be des Geistesil itformappears in a
letter of IB. 10 . f%6 to Frank Maraun where it refers
to the modern awarene ss of the loss of "Harmoni_e u.
Identitat von Na Èur u . Geist r' . ( Br. T4) This i-s nor a
new awareness of Bennrs gained from
episode in f%3/34, bur can be tracedhisback political
to his early
work both i-n the "non- representational_ " use
language and in the unrepresentative " po"itionof of the
rr

a rtist .
 -4o-

representational world in a poetic universe which dis-

appoints traditional conceptions of "universality" and of
communication. Yet Trak1 can claim for the revised
versions of his poems that they are more "impersonal" and
"universal" than the earlier versions and that they possess
greater communicative pov\¡er; in a letter of I9II to Erhard
Buschbeck concerning the revised version of his poem Krage,
Trakl writes:
Anbei das umgearbeitete Gedicht. Es ist um so
vj-e1 besser als das ursprüngliche, a1s es nun
unpersonlich ist, und zum Bersten vol1 von Bewe-
gung und Gesichten.
Ich bin überzeugt, daß es Dir in dieser univer-
sellen Form und Art mehr sagen und bedeuten wird,
denn in der begrenzt persönlichen des ersten Ent-
wurfes . (36 )

rt is not unusual in Expressionist poets that they see

their work in opposition to the impressionistic tendencies
of the turn of the century. Beside Trakr, Expressionist
writers such as Ernst stadrer and Georg Heym also begin in
an rmpressionist vein - but only as a step on the road to a
more personal sty1e. Thisr âs Harald S teinhagen has pointed
out, is true also of Benn. (37) ,. is e vident in Rauhreif
(r9ro ) and in Herbst (38 ) as wel-J. as l_n lde de se 1i-
sen (f9fo) which, however, already contains simil_arities to
Schone Juqend. (3e )
clearly Benn's unzeitqemäß quality takes in literary
varues as well as the more general bourgeois varues with
which he was unable to identify himself . His curtura]
criticism and his artistic theory are inseparable, as we

(36 Walther Kil Iy, Hans Sz klenar, eds.: Georq Trakl.

)
Dichtuncren und Briefe (salzburg, 19 , vo1. I, p. 485.
(37 ) Harald Steinhagen: Die s tatischen di chte vôn Gott-
fried V l-le rner
Lyrik , Veroffentli chungen der deutschen Schil-ler-sche
sl_

gesellschaft 28 (s tuttgart, 1969) , p.12.

(38 ) Harald Steinhagen:
Benns, in Paul Raa
nTr
Dokumente, dtv 557 Munchen, 19 ), P.11-1
(39 ) steinhagen: stat edi Be t
op. cit. , p . l-2.
 -4r-

shaII see in more detail in chapter i2. As "unrepresentativeil

of contemporary culture, and as a poet, Benn could not adopt
a passive attitude to language and tovuards literary tradition
His díssatisfaction with both, although first radicalry
expressed in the Morsue poems, is evident also in his
Gespräclì of 19ro, (4o) whictr is the earliest indication of
Bennrs view, whj-ch he was to hord insistently and emphatic-
arly, that the artist is not a passive reflector of rearity,
that he must see the worrd with an eye not habituated to
custom or tradition, with an eye which j-s not dazzled by the
constantly shifting surfaces of empirical rearity but which
is intent on filtering out and extirpating the inessentiar
and the coincidental. For this an unconditioned eye is
necessary it must be "free" before it can be creative. rn
this sense Garten rl-es of I92O describes the artist
van Gogh as "Frei-auge" and Arles as "ort, wo das Auge
schuf". (rr 91)
rn Gespräch "künstrerisch" means "neu" and "eigentüm-
l-ich" (tv rT9); it implies a revitalisation of ranguage:
Meinst du, du könntest irgend etwas anfangen mit
hergeraufenen worten, die br-aß und matt ..rñ¿ mü¿e
zu dir kommen? (rv tB2)
Bennrs early work tries to confront this probrem of the
creative, expressive rather than imitative use of language
sometimes by breaking up the accustomed rogical, syntacticar
and grarnmatical patterns of languager üsing unusual words
with exotic associations, coining new words or, as in the
case of Schöne Juqend, placing the "blaß", "matt", "müde"
and "hergeraufen" ,"/ords (clichés) in a context which reveal_s
them as clichás and, largely because of thi-s, retains them
as viable material for poetry.

The course on which Benn embarked with his Morque poems

of I9tZ does not alter significantly during the next decade

(4O) For an illuminatin g discussion of Bennrs beginnings

and his rel-ationsh ip to the "sprachskepsis" of the
early century, see Horst FríLz:. Gottfri-ed Benns
n Jah ch der Schill-e rqe se 1l-s ft , 12,
4-4o2.
 -42-

or so. The cycle Söhne (1913 ) and other poems of this year,
beside the rebellion against "Hirn" in such poems as Gesänqe,
Untergrundbahn and Das Affenlied (poems which reveat similar-
ities to Rönners "Gegenglück" in the prose), contj-nue the
attack on contemporary varues and on literary tradition
arthough not always with the artistry we observed in schöne
Juqend, as the first poem in the cycle Finj_sh (1913)
indicates:
Das Speiglas - den Ausbrüchen
so großer grüner warmer Flüsse
nicht im entferntesten gewachsen
schlug endlich nieder.
Der Mund fiel hinterher. Hiqg tief. Sog
schluckweis Erbrochenes zurück. Enttäuãchte
jedes Vertrauen. Gab Stein statt Brot
dem atemlosen Blut. (rrr 375)
This poem certainly confirms Ernst stadrerrs judgement of
Bennrs early poetry that it "gründlich mit dem lyrischen
rdear der Blaubrümeleinritter aufräumt"(41) - ¡,r, it offers
littre in the wery of poetry to replace the poetic ideal
wh j-ch it re jects.
The technique of pracing bourgeois (incruding patriotic)
sentiment in the context of the ugfy is continued in the five
Nachtcafé poems (t9tZ-tg14), e.9. in Nach cafe IV (1914):
Das Weserlied erregt die Sau gemüttich.
Die Lippen weinen mit. Den Stiom herunter
das suße Tati Da sitzt sie mit der Laute. (rrr 393)
Or in Nachtcafé v (rgr+):
Der Burgerpfuhl tritt auf dj-e Bänke aus:
Pack, pickel, Ehe, Bärte und Medaill_en:
(rrr 384)
A similar deflatory technique is used in Barl (publ . rgr1);
as in schöne Juqend Benn contrasts the contents of the poem
to the expectations awakened by the titl-e. By novel_ word-
combinations ( "HurenkrewzztJg", "syphilisquadrilr"" ) he
praces a respectable bourgeois convention in a new right:
8a11. Hurenkîe\zzlrg. syphirisquadrirre. (rrr 39o)
By seeing the institutions, traditions and val-ues of
contemporary society under the aspect of the hospitar and
the morgue Benn implicates the whole fabric of this society
in sickness, decay and incipient disintegration. He is of

(41 ) fn Cahiers lsaciens (November, I9f2). euoted from

Hohendahl, op. cit., p.95.
 -43-

course not alone in this : some of Bennrs contemporaries in

Berlin e.g. Georg Heym and Johannes R Becher expressed
. a similar sense of cosmic decline. rn the Austrian region
Georg Trakl achieved a simirar effect by viewing the beauty
and treasures of past traditj-on from the consciousness of a
threatening present. --His predecessor Hugo von HofmannsthaJ_,
in his poem sünde des Lebens, expressed an important theme
of Expressionism before the event:
rch sah den Todeskeim, der aus dem Leben sprießt. (42)
rn the relatively few poems he wrote in the i_mmediate
post-war years some of which were not pubrished until
l-922 in Ðie Gesammelten schriften - Benn continues the
provocative tone of much of his earlier poetry. As in the
essayistic work of these post-war years, he broadens the
range of his criticism. He sees post-war Europe as "die
schäderstätte Abendland'r (in proroq r92o, rrr 395). The
pre-h/ar apocalyptic visi_ons of Georg Heym had become real-ity;
Benn makes a direct connection between the disaster of
Europe and the ideals of soci_al and material progress which
the earJ-y twentieth century had taken over from the l_ate
nineteenth.
All sci-entific, social and political experiments,
beriefs and dogmas are seen as futire to Bennrs mind they
are a mere continuation of nineteenth century thinking.
Hence his attack on the new political order in Russia in the
poem Bolschewik (pub1. r9z2). But Benn does not restrict his
mockery to specific poritical, soci-ar or intellectuar_
phenomena; he sees them as condi-tions of the positivistic
world-view which had encouraged materiarism and helped sub_
ordinate the individuar to a system (be it capitalist or
communist) not of his making or choosing.
Äs in his prose works around r9zo, Bennrs perspective
ranges from the whole of human history right down to the
individual. He depicts the contemporary bourgeois citizen
j-n stock categories : "Auf-lcau, Sitte, Stand (tlI
" 394 ) ,
"Familienglück" (ttt 399), "cesundheitswesen,, (rrr 4oB). To

(42) Herberr Ste*ner, ed.: V l-te

l_ .E;-rn rJ-S
Dramen Stockholm, 19 t p.67.
 -44-

reveàI as trivial the generally accepted conception of an

"individual", he produces mock-heroic word-combinations :
"vorortdämonen" r t'Etagen-Mephistophen" (ltl 397 ) r "Break-
fast-dämon" (rrr 394).
obviously in his poetry of the immediate post-war
years Benn does not see the contemporary scene as an object
of serf-identification. similarly, he feels estranged from
the literary world of his time. He sees it as a lackey of
society, directry representative of it, thinking and writing
entirery on j-ts terms. He caricatures the literary scene in
Proloo zrr einem deuts en Dichter\^re tstreit (pubr . l-922) ,
where he lists a whore range of stock bourgeois customs,
institutions and clichés which compose the world of the
"verlauste schieber" (writers) of his time: "Freibier",
"viIlenwälder " , r'Fortschritt,, , ,,zylinde rglanz,, , ',Kaviar ,, ,
"rmporte", "Gott, wie der Chablis schmeckt", "Die Börsen-
bu11en und die Bänkeljurenr', "kesselr] schrager", r'Hoch der
Familientischi" etc. (rrr 4o6r. ¡
The conviction that the artist must refuse to go atong
with the band-waggon of "mass'r-culture and "mass"-varues is
stated more definitively, indeed programmaticarly, by Benn
in the late rtwenties and early rthirties, where the
satirical intentions of the above examples are appried
directly to the political scene (cf. chapter J). However,
the artistrs "no" to society is explicitly stated as earJ_y
as 1913 in a letter to paul Zednz
Kunst ist eine Sache von þO Leuten, davon 3O nicht
normal sind. !{as große verlage .rerÍegen, i;¿ reine
nill:a-, sondern Arbeit von r,euten, dié iúrer Mitter--
maßigkeit schriftstellerisch gerécht werden.
Nietzsche hat zeiL seines r,ebéns seine Rechnungen
nicht bezahlen können, van Gogh r_ebte von ãB--T"ssen
Kaffee den Tag u. Heinrich rrlañn ist arm,
weiß. Kunst ist rrrsinn und getährdet áiesovier Rasse.
ich
Was Allgemeingut wird, ist aamit gerichtet.
iã..f2¡
In these lines, despite their exaggerated tone, ât l_east
three important aspects of the later Bennrs artisti_c theory
can be distinguished: (r) rris scorn at the "popular"
writer ' (2 ) his idea that the "true' arti_st cannot expect
support or encouragement from the communi_ty (a corol_rary of
the artist's refusal to submit himsel_f to the interests of
the community, to work on its terms) and (3) the "abnormar_-
 _45_

ality" of the artist and his work their self-different-

iatj-on from what is generally considered by the community to
be "natural", "normal", 'rupliftih9", sal-ubrious and generarly
"Allgemeingut": an idea which in 193o Benn develops in some
detail with reference to w. Lange-Eichbaumrs "bionegative"
type (cf . p.62t. below).
The question of the artist and the community - par-
ticularly the political community - will concern us in some
detail in chapters 3 and 4. rn the foregoing discussion of
Bennrs early work we have tried to show how "existential"
questions form the basis of his conception of art as "Gegen-
kunst". fn the next chapter, too, the indissol-uble connecti-on
between Bennrs cultural criticism and his ideas about art wiII
be central. During the rtwenties and early 'thirties he
deveroped a detailed artistic theory, some aspects of which
for the Engrish-speaking reader at least - have the appearance
of being a trifle esoteric. Thus it wirl_ be necessary to try
to transrate some of the fundamentars of this theory into
plain language. And, last but not l-east, such clarification
will be necessary before \^/e can make meaningful statements
about the artist Bennrs position vis-à-vis political realities
in the late Weimar Republic and in f9nß4.
 -46-

CHAPTER 2

Bennr s Artistic Ïtreorv ( I92o-I932\

fn Bennrs predominantry essayistic work after r!2o his

opposition to what we have calIed the worl-d of the "Herr" is
expressed from somewhat wider terms of reference than it had
been in the "Rönne"-novellas (cf. p.16 above). Friedrich
wilhelm wodtke (who had access to Bennrs ribrary) reports
that after 1918 Bennrs range and intensity of reading
increased considerably. (1) This reading, however, does not
change the direction of his thinking, but provides a theo-
retical framework for a world-view which was already inherent
in his early work.
The world of the "Herr", characterised in Bennrs early
work by the "continuous" personality¡ positivism, optimism,
sociar esprit de corps, remains in rgzo-r93zz as the worrd
of the "kausalgenetischeIrJ Denker" (rt l]2) which is
possessed of "eine grundsätzlich optimistische, technisch-
melioristische vlertanschauung" (r 6T) and a "grundsätzlich
pragmatische und positive Einstel1ung" (I 6T). This
intel-lectual and social mirieu has a "Neigung zur Freudig-
keit und Herle, einer überraschenden Bejahung des Lebens,
eines unerwarteten Glaubens an Erkenntnis ". (r 68)
rt adopts the legacy of the nineteenth century, of Darwinism,
of "die aufrechtgehende ufeltvernunft" (I 69) which is remark_
abre above all for its belief in the "Entwicklungsbegriff',
and by its faith in "Fortschrittrr. (r 69)
The "Herr" as Benn describes him in r9z4 is ,eine Art
von Mitglied aus der Gemeinschaft der der gesamte modern-
zivilisatorische Komplex ohne viel Aufhebens entströmte".
(rr loi) But unlike the "Herr", Benn himself does not see
the intell-ectual and material development which characterises
this "civilised" complex as a reason for optimism. on the

(1) Friedrich wilheLm wodtke: Gottfried Benn. samrnlunq

Metzler 26, 2nd ed. (stutt q|õT, p.ZA. - --'--'
 _47_

contrary, he feels, l-ike Oswald Spengler, that it contains

the seeds of its own destruction. In Der Garten v on Arles
(I92o) and in Das let zte Ich (r92L), for example, he places
intel-Iectual processes in the context of death, thus assign-
ing them suicidal qualities; he objects to "jene[m] mör-
derischeln] Drangr s€in Denken zur Fixierung z'tJ resultieren "
(rr BT), to "der Aposteriorisrik töaficnelm] Fanal" (rr 96)
and to "dfer] sinnlosigkeit dieses schlachtfelds um den
sinn". (rr BB) The concrete, historicar "schrachtferd" of
world war r is also one of the fruits of positivism, as was
apparent in Diesterweq (cf. p.16 above), in the "schäde1-
stätte Abendl.andrr of the poem proloq 1a2o (cf . p.43 above)
and in Der Garten von Arres, where the returned soldiers
are described as "verführte und nun geschragene söhne,
Treber essend im toten Landr'. (rr BZ) or, more succinctly,
in the first (I92O ) version of Das moderne lch:
Die aufklärende Arbeit der Naturwissenschaften
als ursache zum weltkrieg, das ist nicht ü¡et.
(r6o6)
An equally sceptical attitude to interlectual and
material progress is evident in Bennrs work throughout the
Itwenties and early tthirties. rn Medizinische Krise
(1926) he looks ironically at his own profession:
Bekannt ist der Ausspruch eines berühmten
Klinikers, eine Lungenentzündung dauere mit
einem guten ArzL drei lrlochen, oúne einen
Arz|- einundzwanzíg. Tage, und mit einem
schlechten Arzt kõnne sie viel länger
dauern. (r 33f. )
And in Fazit der Perspe ktiven (f93o) ft. sees power-poli_tics
resulting in a reversal for the conquerer, as for example l-n
the European colonisation of Asian countries:
noch fünfzig Jahre weiter und das Unauf_
hörliche schwinlt zurück . -.-e"iån kotonisiert
(r 128)
cebührr Carleton ein (tg3Z) telts of the development
nkmal?
of a new variety of wheat in Kansas, of the resur-ting pros-
perity, the fal-l- in the price of wheat and the bankruptcy
of the farmers. The question raised is "die Frage des tech_
nischen Fortschritts überhaupt. Hat die Erleichterunq der
Lebensbedinqunqen den qroßen menschl-i chen Sinn. n das
vercfan gene Jahrhunder t ihr zusprach? " (r 2o9f .
)
 -48-

Bennrs negative view of the "Entwicklungsbegriff" is

evident arso in his theory of "verhirnung" or "progressive
Zerebratj-on" a I'kontinuierfiche schädelvergrößerung in-
folge Überspezialisierung des croßhirnsr' (r 98); here,
too, "development" means setf-destruction, for this "schädel-
vergrößerung" can "aIs Geburtshindernis fragrant werden und
das weiterbestehen der Rasse gefährden". (r gB)(2) rn his
earry worlç, too, Benn had expressed a correl_ation between
the cerebrar world of the t'Herr" and a sense of death,
sterility and desolation - viz. the imagery in He ich
Mann. Ein unterqanq (1913), where the nameless heror ât the
start of his train journey from Germany to rtaty, describes
the northern landscape, the geographical home of the "Herr":
Es kam Frost, harter, unnachgiebiger.
Mittags, a1s die Fahrt begann, wáren ði'p".,
Dinge schwarz: wälder, xiähen, Buschwerk an
Graben laubbraun; das andere weiß. über alr-em
lag das eingefroren, starr, lang hinge_
worfen. !l"h-t:
Blankes, auf das. ich fiel, sah ver_
nichtend aus: nj_cht anrühren, gibt es
Wunden und Schorf "orrÁt
Es stand al1es vernichtet auf einem Ufer,
das unaufhaltsam abfier zu einem toten eisigen
Fruß (rr 10)
And in Die rnsel (rgro) intellectual processes had been
likened to the act of dying: Rönne sees himsel-f "röchelnd
nach der Einheit des Denkensrr. (rr 4l)
During the rtwenties and early 'thi_rties intelrectuar_
deveropment as the determinant of culturar pessimism is
reiterated in many variations by Benn ranging from the
biological theory of "verhirnung" described above to
historical, philosophical, psychologicar and paraeontolog-
ical hypotheses, all suggesting a universar_ correlation
between "Entwicklung" and "untergah9,,, between positivism
and nihilism, inflation and devaruation and pointing to the
modern stage of development as "die zivilisatorische End_
epoche der Menschheitrr . (r 438 ) "Fortschritt ", i_n short,
is "die intellektualistische potenzierung des werdens, die

(2) cf. also the akademie-Rede (tg3z) z "überspezialisierung

des Leitorgan@gangspunkt bei* u"lãr;;;;'
von Artenrr. (r 435)
 -49-

degradative Dezimierung der Genesis und des Seins -, das

bestimmte Integral des nihilismus". (r 192)(3)
Applied to the artistic sphere, Bennrs principle of
what in generar terms we might cal-l the inverse ratio of
quality to quantity means a correlation between the popurar-
isation of ideas and their triviarisation. Benn applies
this principre directly to lyric poetry when, in a l_etter of
22.9.1925, he writes to Carl trrlerckshagen:
vielleicht lassen Sie gelten, daß wo immer
in der Lyrik in unbestimmter Form: rwirr auf-
taucht, der Dilettantismus nicht weiE-ab ist.
Denn wer spricht, ist a1l_ein. (4)
rn Bennrs early work we observed the prefigurations of this
non-compl-iance of the artistrs with the popular forum.
Bennfs non-compliance has a background of cultural criticism
and means a distinction between artistic and "l_iberal"
individuarism (cf. p.rTf. above). The poputarly held con-
ception of an "individuar", Das letzte rch had suggested in
r92r, is a "Fiktion" and "individuarism" only another kind
of conformism - a situation similar to Horkheimerrs and
Adornors diagnosis quoted on p.1Z above.
Also in the context of the correlation he finds between
intellectual "infration" and "devaruation", Benn anticipates
another idea expressed by Horkheimer and Adorno: the idea
that "Aufklärung" tends to degrade into ideology, both in
the cognitive sense of positivistic fact-fetishism and in a

(r) In_his essay Nach dem xihilismus (fgje)

ledges the inrrue.rrce on rris conception ofeenn acknow_
nihirism of
Nietzschers In the same essay he
sees ïvan T Fathers and Sons )- as
the first E ffi,s
nihj_l-j_sm as mus schle.chthin, sondern-
ein fanatis sglaube, ein radikaler
aturwissenschaft und Sozio_
y, Basarov s physiognomy
I
ich for Benn represents
n the biol_ogical domain:
th a broad forehead
His light-brown hair, which was long and thick, failed
to hide the bulging temples of his Éro"a r,".ãli. -i;;;
Turgenev: Fathers_Ènd go{rs (eenguin Classics , 196,,--
transl. Fosemary Edmonds ) , p. 19.
(4) Limes-Lesebuch, 2. Folge (Wiesbaden, ir}DB) p.45.
,
 -5o-

socio-economic and cultural sense. - "Rationalismus, rnduk-

tion, Psychologismus", Benn writes in 193O, have revealed
"ihren charakter a1s standardisierte Mythorogie". (r 126)
And in the same year he complains that "der szientifismus,
in dem die Aufklärung vor unseren Blicken endet, auch nur
ein neues system von Dogmatismus, orthodoxie, scholastik,
Fetischismus ist". (r T6) Bennrs attacks on what he call_s
the social and culturar- "Einheitsidol" (r ].26), his complaint
that the cultural- scene functions "nach Maßgabe des Kurses
der gertenden rdolerr, are símilar in spirit to j_nsights of
Horkheimer and Adorno:
Durch die ungezährten Agenturen der Massenproduktion
und ihrer Kultur werden die genormten verhartens-
weisen dem Einzernen a1s die allein natürlichen: êo_
ständisen, vernünfrisen ."rs.piä;I.- ïtt-----..-'
Benn was no sociologist, and his method of estabLishing the
vuorkings of the "norm" is not an analyticar one. For him,
the process of rational analysis itself belongs to "Auf-
klärung", and he rejects everything "was man sum¡narisch ar_s
Aufkrärung ansieht" (r T4) thus diverging considerabry from
Horkheimerrs and Adornors method when they insist in their
introduction:
die Aufklärung muß sich auf sich serbst besinnen,
wenn die Menschen nicht i¡or-lends verraten werden
sollen. (6)
Benn judges empiricar rearity not by its o\¡/n, but by other
criteria criteria which he insists on determining for him_
self ; this was the substance of our discussion in chapter l_,
and it forms the basis of Bennrs arti-stic theory in the
Itwenties and early LI
'thirties. t 1' 'r-'-'i'

The above very cursory survey of some aspects of

Bennrs world-view during the weimar Republic was intended
only as a background to his artistic theory in the same
period. - Bennrs sense of maraise with contemporary civiris_
ation is not a unique position; he was not arone in his

(5 ) Horkheimer, Adorno : D lektik der fkla rung op. cit.,

p. 35.
(6) rbid., p.5.
 -rr-
cultural pessimism during these years the wide resonance
enjoyed by Spenglerrs Untercrancr de Abendlandes (voI. I
1918, vol-.Z I92?) is itself witness to this. Vlhich is not
to say that intellectual life in the Weimar F.epublic was
homogeneous J one need only point to the chasm separating
a Stefan ceorge (or a Gottfried Benn) from a Johannes R.
Becher. More important for our purposes, however, is the
fact that the distance separating Benn from circles such as
Alfred Rosenbergts Kampfbund fur deu tsche Kultur is equally
great. Bennrs prace within the undulating spj_ritual l-and-
scape of the weimar nepubric is not easy to pinpoint. The
catch-word "irrationalism, which is so often appried both
to the period and to Benn himserf should be treated with
care for irrationarism is capabre of presenting itsel-f in
more fornrs than one.
The particular "irrationalism" represented by Benn is
part and parcel of his artistic theory. rt wirl be necessary
to make some distinctions between his "biologj_cal_" theory of
creativeness and certai-n other ideas about biology and creat-
iveness which were popular in some circles during the weimar
Republic and in the twelve years following it. These
distinctions are symptomatic of a deeper-going principre of
self-differentj-ation in Bennrs work a prj-nciple which: âs
\^/e shall see in chapters J and 4r gives the ]ie to any
mono-causal treatment of the connections between his pre-l9jj
thinking and his position in f9ß/34. The cultural pessimism
and irrationarism which are commonry made responsible for
arti-stsf and intellectualsrattracti-on to fascism, while they
te1l part of the story in Bennrs case, do not tell the whole
story.

If

Das mod ernefch was first pu blished in Tr der

Kunst und der ZeiL (no.12 , L92O), where the two sections of
the essay \^/ere headed "Ekthese" and "Narziß" - thus
i-llustrating an ambivalence characteristic of Bennrs think-
ing: his concern: orr the one hand, to specify his position
in relation to his environment and, on the other hand, hi_s
 -52-

desire to find a sphere independent of empirical reality,

to create a private¡ s€1f-directed, "monological" world
where, Iike Narkissos, he experiences himself as his
"eigenes tyäisches Bild". (r 22) Both impulses - percep-
tion and consequent dismissal of empirical reality on the
one hand, and the embracing of an unconditional, autonomous
sphere on the other are aspects of one and the same
experience. CulturaI criticism and Bennr s anti-empj-rical
asylum are inseparable, just as Rönners "GegengJ-ück" was a
response to his estrangement from the intellectual and
social modalities of the "Herr".
Ronne reappears in A1 exanderzucre mitte ls Wallunqen
(1924). He rejects "die kausalgenetische Methode" (rr roj)
prevailing in the world of the "Herr"; " . . . diese pene-
tranz zur Amalgamisierung, diese Tendenz zum Resurtat, die
so fatal einen Drang nach Sicherung bedeuteter', Benn
reports: "die war es, die er nicht mehr teilen konnte".
(rr 1o4) The same inability to "share" or participate in
the world of the "Herr" had been typicar of the younger
Rönne in the cehirne-novellas; and in Alexanderzüqe mittels
warrunqen Rönne's response to the situation is similar to
that of his namesake eight or nine years previousry: a
search for "harluzinatorische v,Iärme" (rr ro5) through an
abrogation of causar categories: " ... auf , wir wol]en die
wert erobern, Alexanderzüge mittels wallungenr'. (rr 106)
For Benn rationalism and what it implies - deverop-
ment, materialism, devaluation, sterility, nihilism (cf.
pp.46-48 above) - "ruft die cegenvorsterlung hervor" (r
4o), as his essay Medizinische Krise puts it in 1926. rn
all essentiars Bennrs "Gegenvorsterlung" develops the
situation described in his early work. Against the "bürger-
liche Ratio " ( t rT ) and against the "Determinierthe it'r ( r
15) of the individual in contemporary European civi-lisation,
he sets the prerogative of the free, creative individual-
whose world, like the "Rausch", "Traum" and "süden, of his
early work, is diametricarly opposed to empirical and social_
rearity. The creative ego refuses to work on the terms of
the latter.
 -53-

It is not until the l-ate rtwen'ties and early

'thirtj-es, however, that Benn develops his creative "Gegen-
vorstellungl' j-nto a detailed artistic theory. In his
Totenrede für Klabund (1!28) he confronts the present,
"given" stage of civilisation with an other, earlier and
above all more creative stage of development: the pre-
historíc period, in which "eine andere Art Menschheit mit
anderen xräften der seele sich gestartete und wuchs (r 4oB)
and which was "die eigentliche produktive periode des
humanen Geschrechts'r. (r 4oB) But for modern man the pre-
conscious sphere in which the ego can realize its creative
potential is attainable only through a nulrificatj_on or
"Durchstoßung" of the conscious, historical period - of the
"Bewußtseinsepoche" (r 437) which has throttl-ed the creative
imagination. The attainment of such a sphere in which the
ego is freed from the strictures of the here and now is the
object of Bennrs "Gegenvorsterrung" and a precondition for
its ultimate aim: artistic creati_veness.
Benn describes this independent sphere in psycho-
logi-ca1, physiological and biogenetic terms. - Not onty the
contemporary stage of civil-isation, but its biological
equivalent, the "Hirnrinde", calrs forth its "Gegenvor-
stellungrr : the "Hirnstamrn", seat of the prerogicar "pro-
duktive periode des humanen Geschl-echtsr'. Between t92Z and
r93z Benn variously describes this prelogi_car creative
potentiar as I'Erbgut" (r 99, ro4), "Erbmasse" (r 196, 4o9),
"anthropologische substanz" (r 4jB) or - what is common to
them all "produktive substanz aus dem Dunkel des rrra-
tionalen". (r 4T) But the creative raw material contained
in the "Hirnstamm" can only be activated "wenn der rogische
oberbau sich röst" (r 99), i.e. when the "Manter" is
"destruiertr'. (r 99) Ttris situatj-on, where creatj-veness
invorves the abrogation of empiricar consciousness, is
invarj-ab1e in what Benn in his essay I)e r Au f-loarr der Per on-
lich ke it (r93o) calls rhe "Geologie des rch". (l 90-106)
He defines "das geologische prj-nzip" as "der schichtungs-
 -54-

charakter des Psychischen". (r 98) 3) The deepest, creative

"Schichten" or layers of the psyche whj-ch are the object of
Bennrs "geologicaf" principle are marked by their liberation
from empirical- and causal laws, from the categories of time
and space "im frühen Erlebnis des tfuerall und des Ewig-
seins" (t 99); but more significant is the fact that such
liberation is prerequisite for and integral to artistic
creativeness:
Das archaisch erweiterte, hyperämisch sich ent-
ladende Ich, dem scheint das Dichterische ganz
verbunden. (r 81)
Equally significant is the fact that Bennls J_iberated,
"independent" sphere is arrived at via an attack on the
civil-ised world based on empiricism and causality. Bennrs
striving for artistic self-determination is simul_taneously
an act of cultural criticism; it is almost invariabry
accompanied by an assault on the reality from which the ego
seeks release:
Die nealität, von einer zivilisatorischen Mensch-
heit geschaffen und behauptet, keines Blickes,
keines Lächelns wert. rrnmer nur gegen sie angehen,
immer nur sie umbiegen zv einem zug von ¡laskeñ: zrt
einem wurf von Formen, ein spier im Fiebern,
1os und das Ende um jeden Saum. Ach, diese ewige=írrr-
Entwickrutrgr welch ei.re kommerzielle'xonti-nuiltËl
Die Seele hat andere Tendenzen, sie hat eine
schi-chtungs.- und Rückkehrtendenz zv jener Erbmasse,
zv jenen Träumen t zD jenen Tränken aus ihrem arten
Brut: die wirklichkeit und die Entwickrungr die
Kausalität und die Geschichte, al1es nur Masse,
arles nur Ton, darin sie spielend nach cöttern
suchr. (r 4o9)
This extract from Totenrede für Klabund (f928) conrains rhe
fundamentals of the "Geologie des rch" which Benn formul_ated
in more detail two years rater; the situation it describes,
where the "Erbmasse" represents spiritual independence of
"civilised" insti-tutions through the abrogation of the
empirical categories on which these institutions are buiJ_t,
can be verified by an abundance of exampres from Bennrs work

ft) Jung (see r TB) , Freud (g.. r 9B), Edgar Dacque, Erj_ch
Unger and Lucien r,évy-erüh1 are the main sources. See
Dieter Wellershoff: Gottf Benn. not ser
Stunde, op. cit., p. -1
 -55-

in the late rtwenties and early 'thirtie". (B) orai=ai.

creativeness invofves self-differentiation from rational-
ism (rv 222), causality (r 4o9t rr lII), history (r 72,
4o9 ,4Sz¡, empir j-cism (rv 222), materialism (r 73 ,l-5l-,L5B,
I92, rv 235), determinism (r l-5,I5I), civil-isatj-on (r 68,
438), to select only a few examples. Ideology is another
quality against which Bennis artistic irrationalism is
directed; this question will concern us further towards the
end of the present chapter. For the present, it will be
sufficient to indicate that the qualities cited above are
not strictly separable in Bennrs cultural criticism; they
all belong to what in l-924 he had described as "der gesamte
modern-zivilisatorj-sche Komp1ex" ("f . p.46 above ), against
which the creative "Gegenvorstellung" is directed.
As the formidable list suggests to which one could
add qualities such as science, development, progress,
commercialism, utilitarianism, opportunism Benn's attacks
äre directed against a far broader spectrum than rational-ism
and "Aufklärung" alone. His t'irrationalismr', certainly, is
"anti-rationalr'. But it is morej it is fundamental to a
theory of creativeness which craims that art is an uncon-
ditional, autonomous quality and thus not subject to
extraneous empirical, social or (as we sharl_ see ) poritical
determinants. The artist¡ âs Bennrs earry work had already
suggestedt yefuses to accomodate himsel-f to the demands of
"der sichtbaren zeíLtt , to borrow Edschmidrs term (cf . p.zT
above ). The I'sichtbare zeí|-t' , the empj-ricar and social-
sphere, is reregated to a secondary position in favour of
the "primary" q.r.rity of creative irrationalism; the l-atter
is a "genuines Nei.", an unconditional rejection of the
former as for example in the fi-rst stanza of the poem
Grenzenlos (pubI . l-925) ¿

(B) This relationship continue s into Bennrs late work; what

he says in his radio-tal-k Soll d e Dichtuncr da s Leben
bessern? (f955) aetineares the same positS-on as in his
theory almost thirty years previously:
"Die Dichtung ...-fréut aié zeiL rr.rå die Geschichte
auf, ihre Wirkung geht auf die Gene, die Erbmasse,
die substanz. r' (r 593)
 -56-

Blute des Primaren,

genuines Nein
dem Gebrauchs -chimaren,
dem Entwicklungs-sein,
kosmisch akausale
Arbeitsaversion
dämmernd das Totale
einer Vorregion. (rrr 121)

IIÏ

In view of the independence of empirical and social

reality which characterises Bennrs "Geologie des Ich" and
which is the sine gua non of artistic creativeness, one
might enquire what is meant by the "corrective" principle
to which he refers on 2J February 19JI in a letter to
Richard Gabel-:
sie kennen sicher die Literatur über Totemismus und
mystische Partizipation. Aus ihren Resten rekru-
tieren sich alle seelischen fräfte, die sich in den
alogischen Äußerungen (xunst, primäre philosophie,
allen metaphysischen Dràngen, in ihrer el-ementaren
unbrechbaren Macht heute wohl allgemein verkannt)
dokumentieren. Dies ist der korrextive Besitz der
Menschheit, der dauernde, tragende, ökonomische
Prinzipien und materialistische Geschichtsphiro-
sophien überdauernde kollektive Besitz. (ei. 42\
obviously Benn is not referring to the socio-economic
"collective " of Marxist theory. Bennrs I'coll-ective " in fact
represents a reversal- of the Marxist "unterbau-überbau"
scheme; the main point of his "ceologie des rch" is that
artistic consciousness refuses to be conditioned by and
endeavours to free itserf from historicar forces from the
Marxist "unterbau". But, on the other hand, Bennrs concep-
tion of the free, "autonomous" artistic ego cannot be
described in terms of liberar individualismr of the "rndivi-
duaritätsbegriff" which he dj-smisses in the forrowing passage
from Zur Prob lematik des Dich terischen (193o):
der Individualitätsbqgriff, Erbe des aristo-
terischen Zeitalters, Träger des nachmittelalter-
Iichen Denkens, gesellschaftlicher Mittelpunkt
der aufklärerischen Idee, aIs Sieger in den
Schlachten vom Darwinismus mit den Skalpen al-ler
Tiere behängt, das freie rch, das eergsteigerideaJ-
der protestantischen Gl-aubensrichtung, der autoch-
,"(r blille, die aufrechtgehende Wel-tvernunft ...
,rr"thole
69)
 -57-

Liberal individualism means "freedomil within an economic

framework - "Unumschränktheit in Geschäften und Genuß"
(r 445)r âs Benn was to call it in 1933. One should there-
fore distinguish not only between Bennrs rrcollective"
principle and social or political ideas, but also between
his conception of artistic "freedom" and "das freie fchil of
the socio-economic sphere.
The "collective" mentioned by Benn in his letter to
Gabet belongs to the "frühe schicht" (r lr8), to the creative
layers of the "Geologie des rchr' : "Es wird sich keine andere
Perspektive finden lassen", he writes in 1931 in the intro-
duction to his oratorio Das Una u rliche t lt a1s daß
sich das rndividuum wie die ganze menschriche Gemeinschaft
immer wieder des unaufrösbaren mythj-schen Restes ihrer
Rasse erinnert und sich der schöpfung übereignet". (rrr
599f-) As the terminorogy suggests, Bennrs "corrective"
principle owes something to Jungrs "corlective unconscious";
and Jung himserf doubtl-ess belongs to the 'rliteratur über
Totemismus und mystische partizipation" to which Benn refers
in his letter to cabel (cf. also note T, p.54 above).
we must therefore modify our claim about Bennrs con-
ception of the artist as a "non-representative" type. The
artist is a "representative' type after a1r: representative
of the creative, metaphysical material l_ost^in the course of
developing consciousness and civilisation, (9 ) of what Benn
in 1927 calls "historisch und systematisch so verlorene

(9 ) Not unlike Benn, Jung sees the unconscious as a vi ta1,

cre ative principle opposed to rationalism:
The predominantly rationalistic Eu ropean finds
much that is human al_ien to him , and he prides
himself on this without realisi ng that this
rationality is won at the expen se of his vi_tali ty,
and that the primitive part of his personaJ_ity is
consequently condemned to a more or l-ess under-
ground existence. " Aniela Jaf fe, ed. Juncr
eams cti (rrre Fontana Library,
19 T ,trans1.Richard and Clara !{in p.27,3. Juns,
like Bennr usês the conception of Itg,"),
oE.nerness as a
lylonym.fo5 !h. unconscious, vital part of the psyche
(cf. p. ol below, note fZ).
 -58-

weltenr' . (rv l3f . ) But at the same time he is an "anti-

type": non-representative of the empiricar rearity which
manifests itself politically in the organised collective of
modern civirisation. This duar quality of the artistrs
r,vork its "universality" on the one hand and its "autonomy"
or "non-representativeness" on the other - was touched upon
in chapter r with reference to Expressionism: the abroga-
tion of generarly accepted logical and empirical thought
patterns, many Expressionists berieved, leads to a more
truly "universal" expression of truth for ,reriance upon
rogical-empirical patterns would mean a mere refl_ection of
conditionar phenomena subject to the vagaries of the empir-
ical worrd. such reliance wourd mean an absence of the supra-
personal "universelLe Form und Art" to which Trakl refers in
his letter to Erhard Buschbeck (cf. p.39f. above).
rt is in this context of the insufficiency of empirical_
experience as the point of departure for literary creative_
ness that Benn's "Geologie des rch" belongsj it is in this
context, too, that a remark of Bennrs in Der fbau der Per-
sonli-chkeit can be in terpreted: impressions which are
"durch äußere Lebensreize hervorgerufen", he writes, "errnleí-
sen sich als reaktiv entstanden, zufä11ig und variabel".
(r 97) This complaint, to express the matter in very
general termsr r€fers to the "impressionistic" method as
opposed to the rrabsoluteness" of the "expressionistic"
method (cf. p.39f. above), which endeavours to transcend the
categories of time, space ancl causality and the relative,
"begrenzt persönrich" (trak1) q,r.1ity of writing bound to
biographical experience. The creative "rch" for Benn is not
the empirical, day to day, biographical "ïch" (1o), ',Das
Ich", he writes in Lg 3o in zur Prob lematik des ichteris chen
"gehört nicht zu den überwärtigend kraren und primären Tat_
sachen, mit denen die Menschheit begann, es gehört zv den
bedingten Tatsachen, die Geschichte habenr' . (r TB) The
merely "historicar" or biograþhical "rch", in order to reach

(fO) See also Edgar Lohner: G t Be nd Eli

.rn ue deu He fte t 195 , p.1O5 and Beda AIle-
mann: t ried Be Das lem de Geschi te
opuscu la2( Pfullingen,, 19 t p. 5t.
 -59-

the supra-personal, creative unconscious where it is freed

from empirical experience, must undergo a "magische Ichum-
wandlung" (r 99) analagous to the "Durchstoßung" of the
"logischer oberbau" or "Hirnr:Lnde" as described above. only
then is the empirically determined, uncreative "Ich" trans-
formed and rereased from the Kantian categories "im frühen
Erlebnis des Übera11 und des Ewigseins". (t 99) The artistrs
supra-personal, "collective" experience, his "Verankerung im
überindividuellen" (r 436), means autonomy through freedom
from determinism:
Das lch, gelöst vom Zwangr_.im Abbau der Funktionen,
reines rch im Brand d.f Frühe, akausal, erfahrungs-
a-priori, 1rêift rückwärts (r 78)
The "supra-personal" source of creativeness in Bennrs
artistic theory, it shourd be emphasised once again, should
not be confused with servicability to a concrete, empj-rica1
collectj-ve. That Benn himself went part of the way to
associate the "metaphysical" and the empirj-ca1 coll-ectives
lies as much in the method as in the substance of his think-
ing (cf . chapter 4 ¡elow). rn fact Bennrs rrcollective " means
precisery the reverse of an organised col-rective on the
empj-rj-cal prane, let al,one on a national plane. - The "Erb-
masse" and its creative "anthropologische Substanzr', in
transcending the categories of space and time, also transcend
racial and national boundaries;
der crundstock der psyche filtriert ldenti-
täten durch alle Rassen und durch al_Ie Zeiten.
(r TB)
The disquieting ring of terms such as "die arthaften schich-
ten" (r 187) or "a1tes BIut" (.f. p.54 above) in connection
with Bennrs "Erbmasse" shourd therefore be considered with
some care and distinguished from other "collective" - e.g.
"völkisch" ideas about biology and creativeness which were
popular in some circles during weimar cermany. Benn himself,
as \^/e will see in chapter 3r specifically distinguished more
than once in the two years before March I93J between his own
theories about the irrationar origins of creativeness and
"völ-kisch -nationalistic ideas .
rr

on a more obvious leveI, it need hardly be pointed out

that Bennrs thoughts do not move on the l_evel of pan-German
 -6o-

nationalism. During the Weimar Republic, at a time when the

political right was militantly anti-French, Bennrs essays
Paris (1925) and Frankreich und wir (r9:o) express an admir-
ation f or French art and culture. And as Reinhol-d Grimm
reminds us Bennrs creative "Gegenvorstellung" is not an
"Aufstand des Urteutonischen" but takes place in a southern
or Mediterranean context. (11) *or does Bennrs "Erbmasse"
refer to a specific e.g. "Aryan" - race; the quality
underlying the "Erbmasse" or "anthropologische Substanz" is
the "produktive Substanz" (I 47), which refers to artistic
creativeness and not to any Social Darwinist theories of
"Ertüchtigung". Furthermore the creative type, the "Genie",
arises "am häufigsten in Gegenden und Landschaften von Bl-ut-
und Rassenmischung" (t 11o) - a far cry from racial-
idealogues' call for racial purity. Finally Nietzsche, the
epitome of the "cenie" for Bennr wâs "antinational" (r 134),
and the work of the early Heinrich Mann so greatty admired
by Benn is "ohne nationalen Hintergrund" (I 413), whil_e the
mixed blood of the Mann brothers is seen in a positive
relationship to their artistic ability. (r 132)
on occasion, it is truer Benn uses "Erbmasse" in
connection with the idea of "züchtung". In the essay Das
Genieproblem (f93O) tre refers to the intellectuat milieu of
the Lutheran pastor-house and to the high number of original
thj-nkers the latter has produced. (r rogf .) Even here, how-
ever, he delimits his definition of "züchtung":
Man kann also sozusagen und innerhalb einer
gewissen Grenze Genie züchten, aber, um das
gleich hinzuzufügen, vererben kann man es
nie. (r to8)
Thus, whil-e certain intellectual (not racialJ ) groupings may
favour the birth of the "Genie ", the l-atter cannot be
planned or predicted. Nor is genius rel-ated to the physical
or moral hearth of the parents for "Genie ist Krankheit,
Genie ist Entartung". (r 116) The genius appears "wenn die
Familie zv entarten beginnt" (t 1ll), when "nach den
Generationen der Tüchtigkeit der Abstieg beginnt'r. (r Ill)

( 1r ) Feinhold Grimm: che E zvr Be

Literatur r op. cit., p.2 If.
 -6r-
Benn thus uses "züchtung" in a decidedly anti-Darwinistic
sense_; it belongs to the "En.twicklungsbegriff ", to the
sphere of materialism, devaluation, nihilism (cf. p.46ff.
above). Darwin, Benn writes, had seen man as "der dicke
hochgekämpfte Afferr. (r 429) Benn himself prefers to see
man as "ursprüngrich und primär in seinen Erementen ars
metaphysisches wesen angelegt, nicht das Zuchtstier, nicht
der sieghafte, sondern der von Anfang an seiende" (r 429)
as a being, that is, who is not subject to the causal
categories of "development" or to Social Darwinist ideologies
concerni-ng biological, economic or nati_ona1 "fitness".
rt is the task of the arti-st, according to Benn, to
find a way back to the "ursprünglich" and "primär" qrr.tities
of humanity and thus to be a "representative" typ" in the
sense we have already indicated, i.e. to speak for the meta_
physical qualities lost in the process of intell-ectual-j-sation.
The type who wírr transcend the given, historical worl-d is
thus not the type who works on the terms of the given. (12)
This is the essence of Bennrs self-confessed artistic
"radicalism", whose specificarJ-y political implications
will be discussed in the next two chapters. "Eigentlich",
Benn writes i-n Nach dem Nihilismus (1932) , " . . . ist heute
a11er Materialismus reaktionär, sowohl- der der Geschichts_
philosophie wie der in der Gesinnung: näml_ich rückwärts
bl-ickend, rückwärts handelnd, denn vor uns liegt ja schon
ej-n ganz anderer Mensch und ein ganz anderes Zierr'. (r l5B)
The type to overcome nihirism, Benn continues, "wird al_so
doch der übermensch sein". (r $g) But Bennrs "übermensch,'
is the antithesis of the 'rmateriaristic" type who is
"reactionary" because he limits himself to the empirical
surface of things; Bennrs "Übermensch" is "radical" in that
he probes to the metaphysical "root" ("radix") of things: he
is thus marked by his radical serf-differenti-ation from the
"gi-ven" stage of deveropment, from the biological and psycho-
logical norm and this brings us back to Bennr s ',Entwick_

(r2) Benn frequently_ refers to the anti-empirical "Gegen-

_vorstellung" r,,the,,sphere of the unconËcious, non-
biographical "rch"r- as "das .Andere": e-g. r 9 3, l-oj,
2oB,2r4,4og, rr 6t. :
 -62-

rungsbegriff", his rejection of "züchtung" and his anti-

Darwinism. He sees the creative "übermensch" as
allerdings nicht der Typ, den Nietzsche ganz
:.. sinne
im seines neunzehnteñ-,:ahrhunderts schil_dert.
Er schildert ihn a1s neuen
als rassemäßig gesteigerte
züchteris ch kómþletteien,
gerechtfertigteren Typ t êE
positiv, das war Darwinism
die bio¡eqativç,n Werte studiert, Werte, die die
Rasse eher schadigen und sie gefänraen,
zur Differenzierung de.s Geistés gehöreÁ,die die
aber
Kunst,
das Geniale, 9i. Auflösungsmotive des néri_giös";;-'
das Degenerative, kurz alJ-es, was die Attrí¡ütã '
des Produktiven sind. wir setzen den Geist nicht
in die Gesundheit des Bi-orogischen ein, ni-cht
dj-e aufsriegslinie des positivismus . .: ii-ïig in j-'
The "bionegative " typ" , there fore , li_ke the "Genie " ,
is the odd-man-out in his dissociation from the causa]
processes of "Entwicklung"; he does not adapt to but dis_
cards what is generally accepted as the "norm". Benn's
theory about the bionegative type as the creati_ve type
( "Genie ist eine bestimmte Form
reiner Entartung unter Aus_
Iösung von produktivität", r 112) is characterised by the
same antithetical- relationship to contemporary conscious_
ness and civilisation as is the prerogical "Erbgut" of his'
"Geologie des rch". Both belong to his cultural criticism;
they mean an insistençe on the creative typers deviation
from the norm - a fact whose importance Bruno Hir_rebrand
underestimates when he contends: ". . . das Wesen der bio_
negativen Hartung ist Resignati-on angesichts der über-
macht einer geschichtlichen wirkrichkeit, die den ceist
und damit die Kunst in die rsoration abgedrängt hat". (13)
Bennrs "bionegative Haltung" is in fact a conscious protest
aqainst "g"=chichtliche wirklichkeit" - a del-j_berate,
purposive refusal to be defj_ned in its terms; j_n Das
Genie-
problem of 1930 he writes:
Wir sehen Abwärtsgerichi:etes, letale varianten,
und diese bilden die Mischung von Faszinatj_on
und Verfall. Es trennt sich hier ,ro, .rrr="."r,
Augen_ ei-n cegenkomprex von der rdeatität aer
soziologischen und medizinischen u"i*,-e" iã"t

(13) Bruno Hillebrand: ist fr

r.l_ von Be und tzs t samml ung dialog
( Munchen, 19 )' P
 _63_

sich hier als einziger FaII innerhalb der natur-

wissenschaftrich-hygienisch-technischen wert e i-n
Gegenwert und sanìmert aIle skalen vom Genuß bis
zur Unterwürfigkeit, von der Bewunderung bis zum
Grauen. .Der Begriff des BIONEGATIVEN (f,ange_
Eichbaum) entsteht vor uns (r 12O)
Bennrs "bionegative" typ" is diametrically opposed to the
type of the "Herr" described in chapter I above; he is
"entartet", and "Entartung" is "eine Kombination von körper-
licher Minusvariante und einem psychischen Geschehn, das ein
Leben nach dem Mehrzahltyp der Art nicht mehr ermöglicht".
(r 1r2) such inabirity to rive on the terms of the ".[urehr-
zahrtyp" had been prefigured in Rönners relationship to the
worl-d of the "Herr" in Bennrs early work; here, too,
deviation from the norm had preceded Rönners "Gegengrück".

IV

The "Rönne"-novellas also prefigure Bennrs "Entwick-

lungsbegrj-ff r': his idea that creative events are "dis-
continuous" or disjunctive i.e. that they are independent
of a causar chain of deveropment. Rönne was abre to embrace
his ecstatic "cegenglück" only for limited periods before
falling back into fhe awareness of the barren, day to day
world of the "Herr" - a situation expressed in Der Geburts_
taq (t9t6) t

manchmal eine Stunde, da bist du; der Rest

i-st das Geschehen. Manchmar die beiáen Fruten
schlagen hoch zù einem Traum. Manchmar rauscht
es: wenn du zerbrochen bist. (ff D9)
The antithesis between the 'rconti_nuous" personarity_type of
the "Herr"(14) .ra thet'disjunctive,, Rönne is presented very
explicitly in er mt_ S of 1924, where
Ronne abrogates both empirical reality and the principle
of
continuity and causality normally required for its function_
ing:
das Leben \^/ar eine_Angeregenheit von stunden,
von reeren und angefülIt.eÃ, dãs war die ganze-
Psychologie. Der institutionerl stukturíerten,

(14) cr. (tgtl) z "Ein Mungo, wer noctr l_inear

lebt IÍarandagch
". (rr 3To)
 -64-

vom Gedachtnis accouchierten, der sozial-en per-

sönlichkeit, dem empirischen phänotyp mit der
q_usgeglichenen elutfüIte stand der ãnaere gegen_
uber: Stakkatotyp, Ivianometer auf Bruch, at<uté
Hyperämie, . Schwefftyp mit der Simul_tan-Vi"ion,
der Halluzinatorische mit dem schiefen Blick :.
(rr 106)
.

As opposed to "dem empirischen phänotyp" Bennrs

creative rranti-typê ", rike the bionegative type described
above, sees himsel-f as an unconditionar type i.e. inde-
pendently of the "Aufstiegsrinie des positivismus".' This
"unconditional" quarity, clearly, is denied by Darwin when
he writes, for example, that "the innumerabre beings on the
face of the earth struggle with each other, and the
best adapted survive r' . (11) "Ad.ptability,' is anathema
to Bennrs entire theory of creativeness. And so is the idea
of predictability in a chain of development. rn this Benn
acknowredges his indebtedness to the relativery unknown
thinker semi Meyer, whom he had arready mentioned (thougtr
not by name) itt 1916 in pie Reise (rr 45) and again in tgt8
in Diesterwecr (rr Tr). Meyer bel_ieves that deveropment is
unpredictable, independent of causal principles, admittinr¡
of no gradual, step by step growth and defying systematis-
ation or analysis i.e. that_it is "schöpfung, nicht Aus-
bildung gegebener Anlagen". (16) This, in a nutshell, is
the principre underlying Bennrs theory of creativeness and
his idea of "Entwicklung". The latter sets the creative
moment free from the determining factors of causality and of
the need to rely on the previous link in a series of events,
to rely on the empiricalry "given". rt is in this sense
that Benn interprets semi Meyer in rgzo in Das moderne rch;
creatÍveness by definition is a principle divorced from
causal development:

(15 ) charl-es Darwin: The l_n l-e f

Natura 1 Select or The Preservation of Fav oured
F.aces i S for l_va , €d. J.W. Burrow
Pelican Classics, 19
' P.20
(16 ) semi Meyer: t l- e l_s
Die ceistesforme n ( r,e ipz i 9, 1913 ), p. See al_so
Meyerrs remark on Darwin:
"Dj-e prinzipien DARWINS sind sämtlich xräfte der
Entfaltung vorh andener Anlagen, sie versagen vor
jeder schopferi schen Tat. " (tb j_d. , p.T ) .
 -o5-

Mever aber stellt die Intwicklung dar als das

Prinzip, das nicht ablauft oder entfaltet,
sondern auf den vorhandenen Grundlagen schöp-
ferisch das Unberechenbare erbaut. (r 14)
This implicit contrast to Darwin and the nineteenth centuryrs
empiricism has its analogy in Bennrs contrast of van Gogh to
Kant in Der carten von Arles (atso I92O, cf . p.Z5f. above).
Indeed, in his ademie-Rede (f932) eenn specifically refers
to van Gogh, surrealism and Expressionism in the context of
the "Schwelltyp" who forms the basis of what in 193o tre
calls his "hyperämische Theorie des Dichterischen" (r Bz):
Was mit diesem Halluzinatorischen gemeint ist, ist
ja heute jedem be.kannt. Der Expressionismus, der
Surrealismus gehort hierher, van Goghs Formel:
rich rechne nur mit der Erregung gewisser Augen_
blicke' - Violante von Assys Rauschreich wirá für
immer am Anfang stehen - Klee, Kandinsky, féger,
der ganze Sudsee-Einbruch beruht ja nicñt aui
rogisch-empirischen, sondern auf ñal-luzinatorisch-
kongestiven Mechanismen (r 436)
Bennrs disjunctive principle the acausar, spon-
taneous, irrational and, above aIJ-, the creative principle
which is opposed to the conception of a gradual, inevitable,
more or ress predictable and rationally motivated "Entwick-
lung" along causar lj-nes appears consistently in his work
throughout the rtwenties and early 'thirtie=. (f7) ta al_so
appears in a wide range of contexts and is not restricted'
to the creative "rch" of the artist hi-mserf or to the
creative moment : ot "stunde " as Benn frequently calls it
(rr TI,106, rlr TT, TV 14 et aI.). The work of art, too,
is a "dj-sjunctive" phenomenon; it is not an extension of
society, it does not belong in the wider context of "culture"
(eenn distinguishes between the rrKunstträger" and the "Ku1-
turträger", cf. p. 95t. berow). The work of art has no

(,IT ) rn the Epitoq of IgzI "Ha lluzination " means removal_

from the category of "Entwicklung " : rr
es wird
nichts und es entwickelt sich nichts, die Kategorie,
in der der Kosmos offenbar wird, ist die Kategorie
der Hal-luzination ". (rv B, cf. also P.Jo abov e).
Other selec ted examples: I 3e( i-nis rise
1926) ; II 1 11f. ( Urcre icht , rg2g ; IV 2I2 ã
des s l-ler die ir t rg29
TT rPr k des ter n r9Jo);
r432( Akad emie-Rede t 19 a
 -66-

direct pedagogical function; it is i-ndependent of social

cause and ef fect: the artist produces "Autonomien',. (fv
222) The disjunctive principle, furthermore, can be
detected in the smallest unit of the literary artistrs
world: in the individual word or image, which is not
subject to logical or grammatical rures; it does not obey
causarity and possesses an "autonomous" quality in that it
frees itself from syntacticar strictures. (18) As for the
person of the artist himself, the disjunctive principle he
represents is not only an anti-Darwinist principre; it is
not onry the "bionegative " type's dissociation from the
"Aufstiegsrinie des positivismus" - it is evident also in
the artistrs refusal to be "conditioned" by society or to
be defined in its terms. There is no "causal" connection
between the artist and societyr oo effective l-ink or
reciprocity:
nur sage keiner, daß diese Kreise inei-nander-
gingen, daß sie 1ogisch und kausalgenetj_sch auf_
einander wirkten, daß das Genie eiñe postume Recht-
fertigung erhielte im sinne einer historischen
Qualirar (r r21 )
The disjunctive, unconditional- structure of Bennrs
thinking, finalry, manj-fests itserf in a strong tendency to
think antithetically as the frequent use of the prefix
"gegen-" arready suggests. of special ínterest is his habit
of opposing various types of thinkers and artists to one

(lB) See Benn's letter of 25. 9.!g?r- (quor_ed on p..28 above ) ,

where rejection of the Entwicklungsbegrj_ff " is
rr

expressed in terms of a rejection of conventional_

syntax in language. fVri ting j-n 1927, Carl Einstein
saw Be nnrs preference fo r nouns as "Abneigung geg en
die te leologische Dynamik des Entwicklungs- und
Kausal itãtsnepps ". Carl E instein: Gottfried Benns
samme lte tel t ]-n Die neue nr@JBI
1927, p. Quoted from Hohendahl, op. cit., p.124.
See also R. Grimm: Die f
op. cit., p. 5 and Ed gar Lohnerfs inter- r
ê re
pretation of the poem Ein Wort ( 194 1), in Lohner:
Passion und fntellekt, op. cit., p. 68rr
 -6r-
(19
another' -' )
not so much j-n order to reveal something about
the latter as to irlustrate a point of his own, to adapt
them for his own purposes; they appear rather as el_ements
in a personar mythology than as components in a philo-
sophical "system". This reconstitution of the empirical
and historical worrd is a practice conìmon both to Bennrs
"creative" and "theoretical" work.
Bennrs practice of reconstituting the intelrectuaÌ
tradition on his own terms rather than accomodating himself
to it is not strictly separable from the arti-stic method of
"zusammenhangsdurchstoßung' which we observed in his early
work. This "zusammenhangsdurchstoßuñ9", it should be
emphasised once again, means both arti_stic self-determin-
ation and cultural criticism. "Gerädert von Determiniert_
heit", Benn had written in r9zo, "gehetzt von Abrauf,
gesteinigt jeden Tag von neuem von einer v,jirklichkeit, vor
der es kein Entrinnen 9ab, sind wir er1egen". (r 15) The
artist's reacti-on to this situation is an onslaught or: a
"breaking up" of the empirical patterns to form a structure
which has its own, autonomouq validity:
sie dürfen sich erschaffen, sie sind frei. sahen
sie Timurs großen Brand oder Benkals trunkene
vision, sahen sie picassos Geige v¡ie eine Axt
gegen diese üIirklichkeit oder viermehr die
splitter ausgeborstener Kosmen neu verbunden
zu einer Geige aus Blut?'r (r 15)
Bennts "zusammenhangsdurchstoßung", his abrogation of
the given pattern of things, the principle whereby empirical
rearity serves as subject matter for the work of art but not
as the criterion for its structure, underlies his method of
"summarisches überbricken". rt is a method to which he
does not refer by name until 1944 in his n des Pha no-
typ: schon summarisches überblicken"., he writes here,
rr

(19) E.g. Newton and Goethe in the

s cha ften (publ . 1932); Ka nt and van
Na l-s
above ) ; the early work o f. the Mann
Gogh cf . p.2
nineteen th centu ry( r 13If., 411) j broth
Jack
ers and the
Dempsey
göldertin ( "wer hatt e mit dreifói g Jahren mehr and
der Bank ?" rr r14f.); last, but certaj_nl y not auf
J-east, the an tithesis Benn s ees between himsel f
( representing "the artist"
) and politicall
writers i-n the Weimar Republic (cf. chapte yr 3) engaged
 -68-
"schafft einen teichten Rausch". (fr IZI)
manchmal
"summarisches überbricken" means a perspectivistic corrage
of facts and ideas combined associatively; the associati_ons
are called up by a word r(zo) a picture, a page in a book.
rt is a method which has its theoreticar origins at the very
latest in the second (WZf ) p. rtofE nd1 ches
Bei der Lektüre eines, nein zahlloser Bücher
einander, verwirrungen von Ären, eâlâmele vondurch-
stoffen
und Aspekten, Eròffnung weiter typoJ_ogischer schich-
ren (rv rz)
The artist does not participate in the worl_d he recreates
but, tike the "selbsterreger" in the poem of that name
(1925) he is the " . .. Bewußtseinsträger/stumm im Eigen-
'
raum". ( rrr r19 )
rt is not our intention to examine in detail the earJ_y
prefigurations of Bennrs later theory of "summarisches über-
blicken"; of greater concern wirr be the application of
this method in the late rtwenties and early 'thirties to hj-s
polemics relating to the problem of art and politics. rt
shourd be indicated here, however, that an example of "sum-
marisches überbricken" in practice can be found as earry as
r92o in Der Garten von Arres, where the protagoni-st, a
philosophy lecturer, lets the 'rceschi_chte des abendländi_
schen rch" (rr 85) pass in review before hi_m (rr B5f.).
other striking examples are to be found in urqesicht (lgz9,
fI I15f. ), and the whole of Saison and most of Fa ir der
Perspe ktiven (both 1930) can be seen as exercises in
" summarisches überblicken r' . In his Akademie-Rede Benn
expresses this sunìmary \^/ay of looking at history in terms
of
his "hyperamic" theory of artt ,
rAlexa_nderzüge mitter-s wallungenr,
ich dasselbe methodologisch zu formulierenso versuchte
in einer
meiner experimentelr-en studien -: auch die GeschichÇe
nur noch vorhanden a1s kongestive Synthese, als
hpression yon großen Massèn, von Dreadnoughts
- --J-- -- heute
und von weißen Segeln einst. (r 4j3 )
Artistic creativeness is expressed in terms of a deniar of
the meaningfulness of hi-story. And the above mentioned

(Zo) See the I)ZT parr of Ep locr un d lvri sches Ich:

Worte SubstantiveJ Sie brauchen nur die Schwingen "worte,
offnen und Jahrtausende entfallen ihrem r.1ug " . ( rv 13 zv
)
 -69-

examples of "summarisches Überblicken" are all, without

exception, exercises in cultural criticism - saison of the
concrete here and now, of Ber1in in 193O.
The above outline of the unconditional quality of
Bennrs thinking is by no means exhaustive. rts main concern
!,/as to indicate that this quality (inctuding its premiss:
"unconditioned") underries Bennrs artistic theory and is
inseparable from the probrem of artistic autonomy which wilr
be of great importance in chapters 3 and 4 bel_ow. The
"autonomous" principle which finds expression in Benn's "Geo-
logie des rch" and in his theory about the disjunctive
quality of creativeness is an aspect of curturar crj_ticism.
concretely, this means a refusal on Bennrs part to be defined
in the terms of prevailing intellectual, cultural and political
realities. !{hat WilheIm Worringer writes about "Abstraktion"
i.e. about the artistrs treatment of the empirical world
is applicable to the whore spectrum of Bennrs creative
"Gegenvorsterlung", including the person of the artistic
anti-type himserf: it is not the "Nachahmungstrieb" which
motivates the artist, writes hlorringêr, but "das Bestreben,
das einzelne objekt der Aussenwelt, so\4,eit es besonders das
rnteresse erweckt, aus seiner Verbindung und Abhängigkeit
von den anderen Dingen zu erlösen¡ €s dem Lauf des Geschehens
zv entreissen: €S absol-ut zu machen". (Zt)
The same unconditional or 'rabsorute" quality is
central to another aspect of Bennrs artistic theory to
his "Formprinzip" which, rike his "Geologie des rch", can
be seen in its dual function as a form of cultural criticism
and as an expression of artistic self-determination.

Already in Bennrs earliest work there \^/as clear ev j-dence

of artistic serf-awareness and of form-consciousness. The
early Benn did not adopt a passive attitude towards ranguage;
his ces ach of 19IO showed that his non-representative

(2f) WilheIm Worringer: S tion infütr Ein

Be itra zvr Sti-lps locrie th ed. Munchen, l-9I t
p.27 .
 -7o-

stance included the problem of language and literary

tradition. It also included a rejection of cliché, of
"hergelaufenen Vlorten, die blaß und matt und müde z\l dir
kommen" ("f. p.4r above): the Morque collection had
attacked cliché in poetic form.
During the rtwenties Bennrs form-consciousness is
apparent principally in his poetry . (22 ) ,o*" of these
poems give thematic expression to his ideas about form
The first stanza of the poem er Sänqer (publ . l-925), for
T)

example, can be seen as a variation on the method of

"summarisches überblicken" referred to above; the " sänger "
or poet recombines the most heterogeneous realities on his
own terms:
Keime, Begriffsgenesen,
Broadways, Azimut,
Turf- und Nebelwesen
mischt der Sänger im B1ut,
immer in Gestaltung,
immer dem Worte zrt
nach Vergessen der Spaltung
zwischen ich und du. (rrr 59)
A further indication of Bennrs attitude to "Form" and
"Gestartung" during the rtwenties is an essay which is
rarely mentioned in Benn-criticism: his review in 1926 of
Rahel Sanzarars novel Das verlore ne Kind (eerlin, 1926)
Entitled Plaqiat, Bennts review emphasises the primary
importance of organisation of content in a literary work
as opposed to the secondary value of the content itself.
Plac¡ia t clearly prefigures Bennrs post-I93O formula of the
"konstrukt j-ver ceist " . (r r5r,161 ) And here one should
correct Hans-Dieter Barserrs claim that "das Moment des
konstruktiven Geistesrr, insofar as "es auch Benn serbst
subjektiv bewußt \n/ar", is totally absent during the
Itwenties . - Awareness of the I'konstruktiver Geist., craims
Balser, "ist nun eindeutig nicht vor den Essays der drei-

(?2) see Harald steinhagen: Die stati-schen Gedichte von

Gottfried Benn. op. cit., p.2l and rriedrich wittretm
Wodtke: cottfried Bennr op. cit., p.35f.
 -7r-
ßiger Jahre der FaIl". (2J) on the contrary, Bennrs form-
uration in l-926 is armost identical with the one he uses
- after I93o: " das Thematische", he writes of Rahel_
sanzarals novel, "wird aufgelöst j-n den konstruktiven
Àffekt, das Kasuistische des vorgangs in die ordnung eines
transzendent Notwendigen". (rv 191 )
such an assault by the "constructive" principre on
"das Kasuistische des vorgangs", undertaken in order to
attain a "transcendent" prane, follows a course anaragous
to the "magische rchumwandlung, which we noted with refer-
ence to Bennrs "Geologie des rch" (cf. p.5Bf. above), where
the empiricar self is rereased from the "reaktiv ..., zu._
rärrig und variabel" timitations of empi-ricar_ observation.
The "magische rchumwandlung" had had its forerunner in
Bennrs early work in the "Außersich des Rausches oder
des vergehens" (cf. p.25 above), in the release from the
"kategoriarer Raum" of the "Herr" by means of the acausar
real-m of "blau". And "Form, and "brau" are not unrerated;
in his prose work ouerschni-tt of rgr8 Benn associates the
two qualities - both berong to that sphere which exists
independentry of "das Leben", of the day to day, empi_ricar
world of the "Herr";
wenn man aber rehrte, den Reigen sehen und das
Leben formend überwinden, wtirãe da der Tod nicht
sein der Schatten, blau, in dem die Cfücte
srehen?" (rr TT) (24)

(23)
Literaturwissenschaf t 29 , 2nd .a =] l"orrr,,
. Balser is replying to Reinhold ciimm,Á
e_^fi9sr (r96j)-eãitíon of tris ¡oot j_n
(f966, p. tlof : ) Gri_mm agrees with Balser
nstructiveil element doeà not appear as a
fore the early rthirties,
in the form of poetry. if,"but that it
question of
chronology is not raised here foi its own sake ; tor
Benn carries with him into literary/politicar á"¡.1.
the artistrs self-awareness as a resolute opponent of
the "casuj-sric" empiricar linãruui;;-ñìirical) world.
This serf-awareness is intensified Éy'r"t is not a
result of the controversies in which- eãnn was involved
in l-929 and 1931 (cf. chaprer 3).
(24) Das mode{ne rch of r92o contains an almost identicaÌ
passage (r 15).
 -72-

The affinity between the acausal "b1au" and "Form"

finds a correspondence in Bennrs artistic theory in the
earry rthirties - in an interrelationship between the pre-
logical, creative "anthropologische, substanzrr (like "b1au",
integral to that lever of awareness which lies below the
empirical surface) and "Form": the formal principre, Benn
says in his Akademie-Rede, is I'eingebettet in das ursprüng-
lichste der anthropologischen substanzrr. (r 4JB) The
"constructive" side of Bennr s "halluzinatorisch-konstruk-
tiver stir" (r 438) is not an opposite but a comprementary
principle to the "ha1l-ucinatory" qrr.riLy of the "frühe
schicht" or creative raw material of the "Georogie des rch".
The "constructive" side of artistic creativeness represents
the Aporlonian principle which F.w. wodtke has described in
some detair with reference to the i-nfluence of Nietzschers
Die Geburt er Traoödie on Benn .GS) an" Apollonian princ-
iple in Bennrs artistic theory tames and fashions the
Dionysian creative source, the 'rproduktive substanz aus dem
Dunkel des rrrationalen" (t 47, cf. p.53 above). Both
principles have in common the prerequisite for artistic
creativeness in Bennrs theory: self-differentiation from
the empirical and sociar worrd and spiritual serf-determin_
ation. This means, in short, that "nicht mehr die natur_
wissenschaftliche ceneralisierbarkeit des Einzelfarls,
sondern der schöpferi-sche Akt individueller perspektive ars
Kriterium der wahrheit giltl'. (r 39f . ) wi_trr Nietzsche,
Benn denies that the world can be objectively interpreted;
underlying his artistic theory is Nietzschers idea of
cogniti-on:
pl._'!_!se-nz.'¿ die rWesenhej_tr ist etwas perspek_
Ër-vr-scrres und setzt eine vierheit schon .ro..ü".
Zugrunde liegt immer rwas ist das für mich? t¡¡-
G6)
After 1930 i.e. after the theory of the "ceorogie
des fch" had been fulIy developed in Au er son-

(25) See Friedrich Wilhetm Wodtke: .l_e ike e

tfri (wiesbaden, 19 Jf t pp.11 ,:-3,49,
7 ,Ttf . ,7 ,1o4ff
(26) Nietzsche: Der Wille zur Macht t op. cj-t., p.3Bf .
 -7 3-
lichkeit and Zur Prob lematik des Dich erischen (both 1930 )
Bennrs I'konstruktiver Geist" becomes programmaticar; the
"constructive" or "forma1" principle is reiterated again
and again in his theoretical pronouncements during r93r
and 1932. Like the irrational and creative I'anthropolo-
gische substanz" or "Erbmass€", the formal, rraestheticrl
mission of the artist includes transcendence of the empir-
ical world and an uncompromising rejection of it. The
words of Nietzsche often quoted or paraphrased by Benn
after 1930 - "die Kunst ars die eigentliche Aufgabe des
Lebens, die Kunst als dessen metaphysische tätigkeit" (r
4r2, rv 236 et ar.) - do not represent a principle of
lrart pour ltart on Bennrs part; like Nietzschers response
to nihilism in Der will-e zur Macht, they are motivated by
cultural criticism and contain an aggressive impulse. rn
his Rede auf Heinrich Mann (f9:f ) eenn cl_arifies this
relationship between art and nihilismj the allusion to
Nietzsche is unmi_stakable :
Di" Allgemeinheit hatte den Zusammenhang noch
nicht erfütrlt zwischen dem eurofåì""ne., Nihilis-
mus und der dionysischen Gestaltung, der skep_
tischen Relativierung und dem artistischen
Mysterium, zwi-schen ãem verkrärten, versctwärm-
ten, schwammigen des deutschen Geistes und dieser
oberflächlichkeit aus Tiefe, aiesÀm orymp des
scheins (r 413)
Benn refuses to judge art by the standards of day to day,
histori-cal "rife"; in fact he goes a step further and
rejects the latter from the absolute standpoint of the
former - a relationship not unlike that between Dionysos
and social and cultural- reality in Nietzschers oie c eburt
der Traqodie:
alles, v/as wir jetzt Kultur, Bildungr Zivi'i_
sation nennen, wird einmal vor áem untrüglichen
Richter Dionysus erscheinen müssen . (Zft--------
Bennrs "konstruktiver Geist', then, is characterized
by an oppositional stance over agai_nst the empirical and
sociar worrd which represents "das Kasuistische des Vor_
gangs ", to borrow his words from plaqiat. rn Ig3I/32 the
critica 1 impulse inherent in Bennrs "constructive" princ-
iple is expressed in more aggressive terms than before

(27) Nietzsche: Die ceburt der Traqödier op. ci-t., p.16o.

 -74-

1930. - rn Nach dem Nihilismus (tg3z) rr" defines the "kon-

struktiver Geist, as "betontes und bewußtes prinzip weit-
gehender Befreiurig von jedem lvtaterialismus, psychologischer,
deszendenztheoretischer, physikalischer, ganz zu schweigen
soziologischer Art -, konstruktiver Geist ars der eigent-
liche anthropologische Stil " (t I51); and the artist
who implements this constructive principre i_s "der sich
durch Formung an Birdern und Gesichten vom chaos differen-
zierende Mensch". (r 439) Bennrs 'aesthetic" principle is
thus not an escapist one; it means self-differentiátion
through confrontation. rn "der Differenzierung zwischen den
F'ormen und dem Nichtsrr, he says in his speech before the
Prussian Academy in 1932, "sehen wir das produktive sesen
dies naturalistische chaos im tuühen um einen Grund, ein
stein, ein ordnendes Gesicht, stehen wir prötzr_ich vor
einer Art von Gesetz, dem Gesetz von einer formfordernden
Gev/alt des Nichtsrr. "Das Nichts" refers not to a material_
but to a spirituar vacuum - a "Nichts " brought about by the
forces of "development" and materialism which, in Bennrs
opinion, are the causes of nihirism (cf. p.4Br. above).
Thus in Nach dem Ni-hi-lismus "progressive Zerebrati_on" and
nihilism belong to one and the same constellation, and
their antagoni-st is the "konstruktiver Geist":
rhnel t+.:.'progressive Zerebrationr and'Nihilis-
mus' ] wird . . . dér Begriff des il"""truktiven
ceistes gegenübergestéI1t ars aei ausdrrr"x-i,r.
xräfte und-versn.ñ., den rettr"igisierenden strö-
mungen jener entgegenzugehen. (Í I51)
"Aesthetic" and "existentialr probJ_ems, in case we
need reminding, are j_nseparable in Bennrs work. And
so
are cultural criticism and artistic autonomy. The
"anti__
naturalistic" aesthetic to which Benn gives expression in
(rg:f) - where he rejects
"ieden Materi-alismus historischer oder psychologischer Art,
as "unzulänglich für die Erfassung und Darstetlung des
Lebens" (tv 236) - presupposes the "konstruktiver ceist,,
to
be a "betontes und bewußtes prinzip weitgehender Befreluns
(author's emphasis ) from materialism. ïndependence not
only of the cognitive methods of the "Herr", but also free-
dom from the latterrs i-. e. the "norm, s " sociar_ modalities
had characterised Rönne rs "Gegenglück". Comparably Bennrs
 -75-
creative "Gegenvorstelrung", including his "konstruktivcr
Geistr', is directed not only against empir-icism and ',Auf-
krärung", but arso against the standardised attitudes and
behaviour into which they tend to sink (cf. p.49f. above).
Thus the "Befreiung" he insists upon is al-so a release from
ideological strictures: t'Haben wir noch die Kraftr', he
asks in Nach dem Nihilismus, " dem wissenschaftlich
determinierenden weltbild gegenüber ein rch schöpferischer
Freiheit'zu behaupten, haben wir noch die Kraft, nicht aus
ökonomischen chiliasmen und politischen Mythorogemen,
sondern aus der Macht des alten abendländischen Denkens
heraus die materialistisch-mechanische Formwelt zu durch_
stoßen und aus einer sich selbst setzenden rdeatität und i_n
einem si-ch selbst zügelnden Maß die Bilder tieferer werten
zu entwerfen?" (r 151) The "tch schöpferischer Freiheit",
the spiritual self-determination or autonomy of the artist,
is here seen antithetically to ideology, incruding
political ideology; Bennrs artistic "Gegenvorsterlrrngrl
contains a strong "antiideological" impulse and the
emphasis is on the "anti": the "rch schöpferischer Frei_
heit" asserts itself aqainst the empiricaJ-, inctuding the
poritical-, world; this is the sense of "behaulrten" in the
above quotation from Nach dem Nih j_Iismus.
This antitheticar- rerationship between art and
ideology wirl be considered more crosely in the next
chapter when we rook at Bennrs standpoint in the literary
and political world of the weimar Republic, especialry
between rg2g and 1932. But we can note in anticipation
that in Bennrs artistic theory the rejection of atr
ideology is a precondition for creativeness. fn Fanatis mus
zur Transzendenz he suggests a mutual exclusiveness between
art and (i.r this case: religious) dogma; the Ìittle con_
junction "da" exposes the nature of the rer_ationship:
so gewiß ich mich trüh von den problemen des
Dogmas, der Lehre der Glaubensgemeinschaft ãnt_
fernte, da mich nur die proble¡íe der Gestartung,
des wortes, des ¡ichterischen u.ràg|""-.. :-¡il, z35rt
This rer-ationship of mutuar exclusiveness between art and
ideology is more succinctly expressed in Benn's Rede auf
Heinrich Mann, where he associates "ausdruckshaft" with
"antiideologisch"-; he writes of "dem Kampf, den der
 -76-

Deutsche von heute kämpft, dem Kampf um ej-ne antiideolo-

gische weLtanschauung, eine irdische, eine ausdrucks-
hafre". (r 413)
Nach dem ihilismus postulates a simj_1arIy anti-
thetical position of creativeness in relation to ideology
thiç time with reference to the creative, irrationar strata
of Bennrs "Geologie des rch". - "Die letzte arthafte Sub-
stanz will Ausdruck, überspringt arle ideologischen zwí-
schenschaltungen . . . ", (I f 6O). Bennrs 'rantiideological"
standpoint, then, is co¡nmon both to his "constructive"
principre and to the creative "anthropologische substanzrl
or "Erbmasse" from which this principre is indissotubl_e.
"Das archaisch erweiterte, hyperämj-sch sich entradende
Ich", he insists in I93O, means "ein Schritt jensej_ts jeder
rdeologier'. (r Br) rn similar vein he writes in Lgzg that
"schöpferi-sche Akte" have their origin "im rrrationaren, d.as
kein Dogma errei-cht". (w ztz) rr the relati-ve pronoun
"das" is given fulI pray, the formuration takes on an added
dimension one which is varid for the whol_e range of Bennrs
r:reative "irratj-onalism", including his "constructive,'
principre. For Benn considers his irrationalism to be a
very special kind of irrational_ism: i.e. one which is amen_
abl-e to no dogma whatever. Arthough the formulation refers
above all to Marxist doctrine (it is taken from Benn,s
reply to an attack on him by Egon Erwin Kisch and Johannes
R. Becher in Die neue Bücherschau), our extended interpret_
ation can nevertheless serve as a @ pre_
paratory to a question to which we will be returning
frequently namery Bennrs distinction between his o\^in
"creative" irrationarism and irrationalism in the service
of any ideology, party or collective.

The irrational, creative "substanz" latent in the

primary layers of the I'Geologie des rcht and Bennrs ,,con_
structive" principre both contai-n a strong impurse of ser_f-
differentiation from any "Graubensgemeinschaft. at a1J_, be
it religious (as j_n the above examp le from Fa tismus zvr
Transzendenz ) or political. Theoreticarly, Bennr s "har_r_u-
zinatorisch-konstruktiv" principle, because it is not subject
 -77-

to empiricism and the categories of time, space and

causä1ity, cannot be placed in the service of processes
which are subject to these categories, e.g. history and
poritics: the background to art, Benn says in his Akademie-
Rede, is an "antihistorische Tendenz". ( r 432¡ The same
speech (on 5 April 1932 ) represents one of Bennrs last
assertions in public prior to the Nazi takeover that art is
by definition an exclusive, autonomous and "unrepresentative"
phenomenon; he proclaims emphatically that "Produkt ivitat
von vornherein, keìn anes Zi rri I i q t i ons- rrnd Ri 1d ltnafq-
oha n ist. sonder n eine radika extravacrante Nuance e nt-
hàlt und eine unrepräsentative " (t 43I).
The great irony is that the scene of this statement
about the a priori excrusive quatity of creativeness is the
same Prussian Academy which, ereven months later and thanks
to the reading rore played by Benn himserf, was brought into
tine with the Nazi rágime (cf . p.1r4f . berow). Benn, in
other words, appears to have nurrified that radicar "un-
representativenessrr which had always been so vitar to his
whole conception of art. rt is a conception of art which
is outrined by Alfred Anderschrs comment on the nature of
artistic "Abstraktion" in generar; he cal]s it "die in-
stinktive oder bewußte Rea\tion der Kunst auf die Entartung
der ldee z\tr rdeologi.". (28) Bennrs reaction: âs we have
noted with reference to his "constructive" principre, is
highty conscious: "betont" und "bewußt" (p.74 above ). rt
expresses itself in cultural- criticism and in the insistence
on the autonomy of art and of the artist. The same duality
of energetic cultural criticism and of declaration of
independence from the thing criticised characterises the
modus operandi- of the artistic "anti-type " Benn within the
concrete, empiricar, highry "political" world of the weimar
Republic, particurarry during its last four years.

(.28) AIfred Andersch: Die lindhe it des Kuns twerks aÍt

r
e
J- s rk a
ition suhrkamp I Frankfurt, 19
 PART II

rHE ARTrsr AND pol,rrrcs (I92o-I934)

 -78-

CHAPTER 3
The Artist and Politics (T92o rch Ig33 )

The imaginative "cegenglück" in the first decade of

Bennrs work had prefigured in many points his artistic
theory in the rtwenties and earry 'thirties. comparabry,
the ¡rrotagonists in his early work e.g. Rönne, Di-ester-
wê9, the doctor in Ouerschnitt and Das mode rne Ich , the
philosophy lecturer in Das letzte rch - anticipate Bennrs
position as the artistic "anti-type" whose antagonistic
rerationship to the poriticar (and a l_arge section of the
literary ) world becomes especialJ-y marked in the ratter
years of the Weimar Repub1ic.
Already j_n the novella Gehirne (tgtS) ¡r. Rönne had
had great difficulty in carryi-ng out his "Beruf " (cf .
pp. 2, 7 above ). This is a theme which continues into the
'twenties and early 'thirties - into Epj-l-oq (tgzt, rV Btt. ¡,
Alexander züqe mitte Is Wallunqen (1924, tr 106), Medizin ische
Krise (L926\ and lrrat onalismus u moderne dizin (r93rl.
The "mass" culture whose representatj-ve type is the "Herr',,
the "NormgeschmeifJ" (rr ror ) , the "Mitmensch und Mitte r-
mensch, eines zeitalters MatJ und zieL" (r rT), is not an
object of self-identification. Dr. Benn in Lgz6 sees the
world of science from the standpoint of the creative
"Gegenvorstetlung" of the artist:
" ... der verstand a1s solcher und in seinem
lrlesen ist €sr dem die Krise giIt. seinem fra-
chen Milieu., s€inem engen Schema des Denkens,
das alles nur unter dem Verhältnis von Zweek
und Mitter sieht er ruft die Gegenvorstefrung
hervor, dieses Schema kann das r,ebeñ ja nicht
sein. " (r 4o)
The scientist's revort against utiritariani_sm is
taken up again in 1931 by Dr. Rönne in the ',essay"
rrrationalismus und moderne Medi-zin. Dr. Rönne cannot
agree to lend his hand to the preservation of human heal_th
if its onry purpose is to service the estabtished material--
istic system., if it results merely in "pferdekräfte-. Brauch_
barkej-ten, Arbeitskarorien, Kaldaunenrefrexe, Drüsengenuß".
(t r47) "Hätte es überhaupt noch irgendeine historische
 -79-

Bedeutung", Dr. Rönne asks himseIf, "den Abendländer mit

spritzen, salben, B uchbändern und nun auch mit suggestions-
methoden körperlich ztJ sanieren, wenn sein Hintergrund doch
nur dieselbe verrottete rdeologie des uütztictrkeitspositi-
vismus, dieselbe abgetakelte, hilflose, leergelaufene
Hymnc>rogie auf den von der wiege bis zrtr Bahre mit Nasen-
duschen und Nährktistieren hochgepäppelten Fortschritts-
favoriten immer blieb?" (t ].4T) Bennrs rejection of
rationarism and of "Aufkrärung" is, as we have already
noted, only the point of departure for his cultural
criticism; the latter includes a rejection of "mass"
curture and of soci-o-politicar real-ities as a whore.
comparably, Rönne in Bennrs earry work was incompatible
not only with the intelrectual but arso with the sociar
world of the "Herr".
While Dr. Rönne in 1931 objects to scientistsr use of
"verstand" to serve a materiaristic and thus necessarily(r)
anti-creative civilisation, the artist Benn rebers against
writersr use of words to reflect and serve the ideals of
the same civilisation. Both the doctor Rönne and the
artist iSenn judge the world from the standpoint of creative-
ness, to which not only "verstand" but also the 'institut-
ional" and the "popurar" are inimicar. The conclusions
of Dr. Ronne in Irrat onalismus u moderne Medizin are
not without their imprications for Benn the artist i the
doctorrs refusar to serve society is informed by the anti-
thesis we have noted in Bennrs artistic theory between the
empirical- and sociar worrd on the one hand and the primary,
creative layers of the "Georogie des rch" on the other:
Dr. Rönners refusal
würde sich darin,.äußern, darò er aus der
Ge.serlschaft verschwände und auch seine praxis-
raume nicht mehr beträter €s wäre ihm muskulär
r¡ry5islich geworden, den íhm ,r*gebenden mensch-
lichen Typ karitativ zu stützeÃ, unmöglich,
seine Gedanken, seine A: beit dem inaiúiau.ire.,
Drüsenidyll des weißen restaurativ zuzuwenden.
Er verschwande: unbei_rrbar den Blick auf
einen ewigen mythischen Rest unserer Rasse
gerichtet, von dem er glauben gelernt hatte,
daß ihm atlein wir es verdanken, wenn wir z.o

(L) This characteristic logic of Bennrs will be discussed

in more detail later in the present chapter.
 -Bo-
Zeiten herrlich waren und es vielleicht für
Stunden auch noch sind. (r 15O)
Although Dr. Benn never fulfils the implications of Dr.
Rönners conclusions on the position of the doctor in
society, the "other" Benn (cf. p.6t above, footnote IZ),
the artistr go€s some way in this direction; he operates
against the same empirical and sociar reality which he
serves as a scientist and doctor.

IÏ

one shourd make some qualifications, however; Bennls

own tendency to polarj-se the "social" and the "creative"
spheres invites too abstract a treatment of his rel_ation to
his time. rt is true that the separation he postulaÈes
between his existence as a doctor and his work as a writer
does find a far-reaching correspondence in his rife. rn
sumrna summarum (1926) rt. calculates that his writing has
brought him an average of four Marks fifty per month
(rv rr); but he is prepared to go on writ.ing under these
conditions:
nein, ich will weiter meine Tripper
spritzen, zwanzíg Mark in der Tascher-Êeine
Zahnschmerzen, keine ¡tühneraugênr der Rest ist
scho4 Gemeinschaft, und der weiche ich aus.
aber ich zu meinen Trippern und jeden
ein GedichtJ Gedicht ist die unbesoldëte Monat
Arbeit des Geistes, der Fonds perdu, eine Art
Aktion am Sandsack: einseitig, ergebnislos
und ohne partner -z evoöJ (rv 1B)-
This "Doppelleben" of Bennrs (which he practised long
before his work of that name published in r95o) reaves
him - as a writer financially independent of his pubric.
rt would be naive to infer from summa summarum that Benn
would have complained had his writing been more lucrative.
rn the following year (r9zT) his essay Kunst und staar
(originally entitled Neben dem schriftstellerberuf ) carrj-es
an unmistakabre undertone of resentment regarding his
financial position and hi-s difficulty in finding work which
woul-d guarantee him financial security and also leave him
time for writing (r 4zt.¡. There is a distinct tone of
 -8r-
bitterness in his observation that what he considers to be
third-raters ("Intendanten, Regisseure, Tenöre, KapelI-
meister, also Bearbeiter, Vermittler, gêistig-wirtschaft-
lich betrachtet: Ausbeuter, produktive dritter, vierter
Hand", f 46) can make a lucrative profession of their art,
while top-line artists like himse If e ) struggl-e. Kunst
und staat arso revears a degree of pique on Bennrs part at
the conrposition of the prussian staters riterary Academy:
Der Staat beruft eine Akademie z zweí oder
drei Konzessionslose, die unübersehbar sind, aber
dann die Masse der Schieber, die flüssigen Epiker..
die nülpser des Anekdotenschleims, gi" isycnðfo-
gischen Stauer von Mj_ttelstandsvorfällen, Schund
und Schmutz (r 44r. ¡
The reference is to the recent (1926) re-estabrishment of
the literary section of the prussian Academy of Arts, to
which Gerhart Hauptmann, Arno Horzr stefan George, Thomas
Mann and Ludwig Fulda had been nominated as foundj_ng members
and to which Benn himself (without any objections on his
part) was to be nominated in 1932.
There is little doubt, then, that Bennrs sovereign
bearing in relation to the riterary and politicar life of
the weimar nepubric was not undisturbed by j-ntermittent
bouts of irritation. Gordon A. craig's somewhat imprecise
remark in this connection namery that Benn "hated" the
vùeimar Republic "with a deep loathing, in part for quite
serfish'r"."orr="(3) contains a grain of truth when one
considerê Bennrs letter of IB August I93f to Thea Stern-
heim (quoted also by craig, who mistakenly gives the date
as September):
Bin heute wieder von der Steuer mit pfändung
bedroht, wenn ich nicht sofort 5OO M. zahle.
Die Leute sind irre, der Staat muß zertrümmert
werden. Die freien Berufe, die kein festes

(2) Benn modestty cites other peopre's opinions of his

work. See Summa Summarum (rv 16).
(3) Gordon A. craig: Engaqement and Neutraritv in weimar
Germany, in Walter Lacqeur, George L. Mosse, edJ.:
Litera t re and Politics in the Twentiet Centurw
Journal of Con temporary History 5 (mew yorkT'Evan ston.
1967) , p.6r.
 -Bz-

Einkommen, keine Pension, keine Ferien und keine

Bürostunden nach der lJtrr kennen, die müssen wieder
ran, den verkrachten und verlumpten Staat zrt
finanzieren. (er. 47)
But Benn was most certainly noL the only German citizen
to utter such sentiments in 1931; it is unlikely that his
dislike of "the state" is limited to the weimar state: in
his view the artist and the state are incompatible not onty
during Weimar, but always:
sublimierter Kapitalismus ist die Kategorie,
in der der Staat und die von ihm vertretene öffent-
Iichkeit die Kunst empfindet und gelten Iäßt.
Hohenzollern oder Republik, das ist Jacke wie Hose.
Günther, HöIder1in, ireine, Nietzsche, KIeist, Rilke
oder die Lasker-SchüIer der Staat hat nie etwas
für die Kunst getan. Kein Staat. (r 44)
Of the two main factors operating in Bennts attitude
to political authority during the t¡teimar Republic - his
dissatisfaction with the Republic itself, and his
repudiation of "the" poritical worrd as such the latter
predominates. Admittedly Benn dj-d not disengage himself
totarly from the pubric sphere. His public engagement for
a cause, however, was never pro-Establishment; in the
early rtwent j-es, for example, his expertr s rep ort Úber den
Zusammenha von Sexualpatholocrie und Satire helped defend
the Dadaist writers Wieland Herzfelde and Walter Mehring in
a prosecution where anti-militarism and obscenity
constituted the bone of contentiorr. (4) And his review of
Victor Marguerj-tters novel Dein Körr¡er qehort dir ( BerIin,
f92B ) is not only anti-capitalist in theme :
Solange Kapitalismus als Moral und Staat als .
Rustung besteht, werden die Rose und Spi Icharacters
in Margueritters novel ] weiter durch die Jahrhunderte
ziehen und sich ]-lnmer von neuem eLnem Schi-cksa I
cpfern, das die Armen erleiden und die Reichen
umgehen. (r 57)
rt is also a specific attack on an artj-cre of the weimar
Constitution i.e. on paragraph 2rB (prohibiting abortion;
Benn attacks the üIeimar state for its fairure to take

( 4) Friedrich wilhe Im !üodtke : Gottfri ed Benn r op. cit .

p.29. The exact year is not provided. Neither _,

Herzfelde t s nor Mehring t s memoirs contai-n the

necessary information.
 -83-
responsibiri.ty for its ou/n l-aws; he sees it as a state
"der für das keimende : Leben dies riesige Tnteresse
bekundet, das er für das ausgekeimte dann schnerr ver-
riert " . (r 55) $)
Anti-Establishment sentiments, this time with
reference to what he considers to be artrs and riteraturers
lack of freedom from commerciar and poritical manipulation,
are revealed in Bennrs attack on another articre of the
weimar constitution; his objection is simirar in spirit to
passages in Das letzte Ich of l-?ZL (cf. p. 17 above ):
wenn der der deutschen Reichsverfassung
lautet: rDies_142Kunst und die wissenschaft und ihie
Lehre ist frei. Der staat gewährt ihnen schutz
und nimmt an ihrer pfrege teirr - so solrte der
zweite Satz lieber heißen: er gewährt nicht
ihnen Schutz, sondern ihren Suriogaten, da sie
der rndustrie Anregungen und den tqinisúern ihre
Redensarten liefern. (r 46)
Freedom of speech j-n the I¡Ieimar Repubricr âs Hans-Albert
walter has recently documented in some detair, did indeed
fa11 somewhat short of the promise contained in paragraph
r42.' and,the restricti-ons affected mainry leftist
authors ( t / rargely, that is, writers who were associ_ated
with the same literary journals as Benn himserf (¡ie neue
Rundschau, oie weltbühne, Die neue Bücherschau, Die
I ite sche We , Der Ouerschnitt ). The literary circles

$) Contrast Benn in his radio-dialogue Können Dichter

die.wglt ändern? (I93o), where hé .rffi
social engagement is not the provincé of the writer:
rch sehe, daß eine Gruppe von schriftstellern
für abschaffung des $2rB ei-trt.itt,-ðir,. a'aeiã-rü.
Beseitigung der Todeðstrafe. Das ist der Typ von
schriftstelrern, der seit der Aufkrärung
sichtbare stellung in der öffentlichkei[ einnimmt
"eii-re
(rv 2L4)
As we shall see in more detair later in this chapter.,
Bennrs tendency to argue antitheticarry, to see i'p.,i""
art, for example, as diametrically opp-osed to ',err|.gèa"
art, leaves little room for maki"g oiËtinctions
between individual aspects of the empirical world.
rn the above example it means a contradiction of what
he himself had written onry two years previously il-
¡ein Körper qehört dir
(6) See Hans-Albert Walter: Deutsch e ExitIi teratur 193 i-
1950., vol. I, dr o1 l-s
Sammlung Luchterhand T Darmstadt uwied, 1972),
pp.44 ,57 ,60,65.
 -84-

in which Benn moved were most certainry not those close to

the military or industrial Establishment; in the main,
they \^¡ere somewhat left of centre. And some of his o\^/n
publications expressed decidedly anti-capitalist sentiments.
Furthermore and perhaps more relevant in our context
they expressed a strong distaste for interrectual opportun-
ism and for the writer as ferlow-traverler; they insisted
on the autonomy of the artist
But in the same breath the second and more pervasive
aspect of Benn as an oppositionsqeist revears itserf: his
tendency to generarise and extend his oppositional stance
to cover the entire political spectrum, incruding a11
shades of poritically engaged authors. His "criticism" is
informed by that unconditional principle of self-
differentiation which we have noted in his artj_stic theory.
The critical, even "progressive" impulse contained in
Bennrs "autononry" and in his rejection of the srick literary
operator who waits on political and economic interests by
derivering the appropriate, seasonal catch-words tends to
be serf-defeating; it is nullified by a summary rejection
of "the" poritically and socíalry engaged writer as such. -
The unequj-vocar character of Bennrs ctrrtural criticism
contains the danger of working against that very autonomy
which informs it; that is, it contains the danger of
unwittingly lending a herping hand to forces which are
anathema to independent, critical thought. This point wil-r
become clearer later in the present chapter when we consider
the actuar si-tuation of the "autonomous" artist Benn in the
finar years of the weimar Repubric and in the initiar weeks
of lNational socialist rule. preparatory to this, it wirr
be rel-evant to consider the method and content of Bennrs
"political theory, and its rerationship to his j-dea of the
artist as an "anti-type ".

III

Bennrs anti-capitatist bent does not make him a

Marxist. He does not interpret material development read-
ing to an improvement in the means of production in the
Marxist sense i.e. positively, as a process which is
 -Bl-
necessary if capitalism is to be overcome and a communist
utopia established. on the contrary, Benn sees materia.I
development as a prerude to nihilism (cf. pp.46-49 above).
As for communist revorutions themserves, they do not change
the capitalistic basis of a nation but represent a mere
reshuffling of power "bei gleichbleibender imperiaristi_
scher crundlage". (r 432) Materiarism for Benn is common
both to capitalism and to sociafi=*(7); it is al_so the
quality which enables him to associate Marxism and
"Americanism" and to reject both out of hand:
Der Einfruß des Amerikanismus
er in mancher Hinsicht anderenist so enorm, weil
ceiste""¡;å;";;;"
ähnelt, die den jungen Deutschen heute formen:
Marxismus, die materialistische Geschichtsphiloso-
phie, die rein animaristische GeserlschartËaotirin,
Kommunismus, deren niveaulose Angriffe g"g.rr-ã;=
individuaristische und das
gerichtet sind. (rv ZO2) metapTíysischã éein
"Das metaphysische sein" in Bennrs artistic theory
presupposes an aggressively anti-materialist standpoint.
Appried to Benn the I'political theori_st', it amounts to a
reversal of the Marxist "unterbau-(fuerbau" schemer ãs we
noted in the previous chapter with reference to Bennrs
letter of 23 February 193f to Richard Gabel (cf. p.56
above ) : Benn denies that empirical reality including
socio-economic and poritical factors determines the
artistr s work. on the contrary, Bennr s "unterbau,,, the
irrationar source of creativeness_. is the sphere which,
because it functions independently of the empiricar
world,
makes artistic autonomy possibre. The creative
writer,
in other words, is by definition the antagonist of all
organisations devoted to the service of empirical reaJ_ity
for "wahrheit" is I'jensei-ts jeder Empirie". (r 4oB) what
this standpoint must mean for Lhe writer,s position in
relation to political pa rties is indicated in Könne nD ichter
die welt ändern? (f93o): "schriftsteller, deren Àrbeit auf
empir.ische Einrichtungen der Zivilisation gerichtet
ist,,,

0) See atso ¡ieter wel lershoff:

is te ott V tr ir-
i-n Reinhold Grimm, WoIf-Dieter Marsch,
t
eds. :
e
Gottfried Benn ( Gottingen, 19 r
P.29
 -86-

Benn claims, "treten damit auf die Seite derer über, die
die wert realistisch empfinden, für materiell gestartet
halten und dreidimensional in wirkung fühlen, sie treten
ü¡er zu den Technikern und Kriegern, den Armen und Beinen,
die die Grenzen verrücken und ¡rähte über die Erde ziehen,
sie begeben sich in das Milieu der frächenhaften und zu-
tät-tigen Veränderungen, während doch der Dichter prinzi-
piell eine andere Art von Erfahrung besitzt und andere
Zusammenfassungen anstrebt als praktisch wirksame und dem
sogenannten Aufstieg dienende". (rv ZLU)
The rejection of the poritically engaged writer as one
concerned with "flächenhaften und zufättigen veränderungen"
reflects an antithesis we have already noted in Bennrs
artistic theory: that between the absolute., unconditional
quality of art and "den bedingten Tatsachen, die Geschichte
haben" (.f. p.58 above ). How Benn views this antithesis is
indicated by his choice of the verb "übertreten" in the
above-quoted extract from Konne n Dichter die Welt andern? )
it suggests that the writerts identification with social
reality means a betrayal of the uncompromising, "absolute"
calling of the artist. such a rel-ationship of mutual
excrusiveness between the "autonomous" type and the sociar
sphere is very explicj-t1y formulated in Das mo rne Ich of
r92o; the division of the world into two camps described
here is the method on which Bennts treatment of the
poriticar world in the v'Ieimar era rests; this appries
particularly to the crisis years L9Z9-I93Zz
was sollte die kleinformatige und rein
voluntaristisch emotionierle Genossenschaft,
deren Verdienst die eevöIkerungsdj-chte von
Europa darstellt, mit dem bedingungslosesten
cedanken, der )e gedacht war, dem Gedanken
des autonomen Ïch beginnen, aus dem kej-n
KIeingeld abzuschachern, keine pressewerte
auszumelken r^raren, was tat das Geschmej-ß vor
dem Befehl des Absoluten: - es wurde sozial.
(r 16r. )

As in I93o in Kclnnen ichter die We 1r andern? , Bennls

message is that the "social" type , of whatever couleur.
is a renegade to the spirit.
The irreconcirability he postulates between the
"autonomous" type and the "sociar" sphere necessitates the
construction of an abstract norm on Bennrs part. rn the
 -Bt-

early novella Die Eroberung a similar Process was evident

in the stylísation and typification of the "Herr". While
the "Rönne"-noveIIas are still clearly discernible as
"fiction", the tine between BennIs "fiction" and "non-
fiction", between "imaginative" and theoretical or essay-
istic prose becomes blurred in the decade or so after L92O.
Dieter Wellershoff., the editor of Bennrs collected works,
discovered this while trying to classify the prose works
either as "Essays' (for vol.I of the Gesammelte Werke) ot
as creative Prosa (for vol.rr¡. (B) creative writing in
Benn's work functions as cultural criticism, and cultural
criticism often takes on "artistic" form; the latter occurs
also in the course of polemic or debate, where Benn applies
his "artistic" techniques (..g. association, antithesis) to
contemporary, historical problems .
The prefix "gegen-" which appears so frequently in
Bennrs work and which originates in Rönners "Gegenglück" j-n
the novella Die Insel (1916, cf . p.ZLf . above) has its
opposite number in the "norm" - just as Rönners "Gegenglück"
was a response to his incompatibility with the "Herr".
"Norm" is a concept which appears in many variatj-ons in
Bennrs work throughout the rtwenties and early 'thirties:
e.g. "Normgeschmeiß" (rr lof), "Normaltyp" (r 84), "Nor-
malmann" (l 158), "Normalmensch" (l l-5B, 425), "NormaI-
bürgerlichkeit" (r B6t.), "Normatgehalt" (r 85). similarly
the "Durchschnitt" (..g. r 84, 87, rv 2f5) or the "Durch-
schnittstyp" (r L56) are formulae favoured by Benn. AIso
prominent in the same context is Bennrs dismissal of manrs
historical, social and political existence in terms of an
inflated but meaningless "Masse" (l L24, 126, l-4T, I4B,
156, 433, rr 97, rv 2o2; cf. also p.18 above).
Bennrs "norm" r âs ever , appears under the aegis of
empiricism which, through the natural sciences. has
encouraged materialism, the common denominator of modern
civilisation - be it dominated by Marxism or by
"Americanism". - Benn sees his position as "antikapita-
listisch, antizivilisatorisch". (rv 2C,6) By placing the

(B ) See wellershoff ts postscript to voI. II (rr 4BZtt. ¡ .

 -BB-

two concepts in apposition, he makes them appear to be

synonymous, i.e. it is not possible to attack capitalism
without attacking "civilisation" as a whole; thus Marxism
is no antidote to capitalism since it too falls under the
heading of materialism: the scientist not only propagates
capitalism but, with his empirical method, he is also a
budding Marxist a rrKeimblattmarxistr'. (rr 114 ) The
scientist, in fact, has a finger in every "cj-vilised" pie;
he is also behind the "Technj-ker" and the "Krieger". (rv
2L4) Furthermore and above alt he is the prime defender of
mediocrity, of the "norm"; he is the type who "das primat
des Durchschnitts sichert"; the artist, on the other hand,
is diametrically opposed to and independent of the norm:
ich meine ¿llerdings, daß der diesen beiden
Ii.e. the tTechnikerr and the 'Krieger'J ü¡er-
geordnete Begriff, nämIich der des wissenschaft-
lers, der eigentliche und prinzipielle cegen-
spieler des Dichters ist, der wissenschaftler,
der einer Logik lebt, die angeblich allgemein-
güftig sein sott, aber doch ñur tukrativ i-st,
der einen Vùahrheitsbegriff durchgesetzt hat,
der den populären Vorstellungen von Nachprüt-
barkeit, allgemeiner Erfahrbarkeit, Verhrertbar-
keit weitgehend entgegenkommt, und der eine
Ethik propagiert, die das primat des Durch-
schnitts sichert. (rv 2I4f. )
By association Benn, the critic of empiricism and of
the entire socj-o-economic spectrum, can gather the most
diverse qualities into the one category. placement of
words in apposition is the most frequent method. The
mil-ieu of the engaged writer, for example, consists of "der
Zivilisation, der Wissenschaft, Induktj-on, Baconschem ZeiL-
alter, stählernem säku1um, opportunität, Liberalität. . . "
(r 74) of everything, that is, "was man summarisch als
eufklärung ansiehtr'. (r T4) It is Bennrs self-confessed
"summary, treatment of reality which enables him to dismiss
" [d].s sanze der Geschichte" (I 73, authorrs emphasj-s ,, the
"typische fn l historische In ] prozeß" ( r 73, authorr s emphasis
and the imperialistic basis "aIler historischen Organi-
sationen". (r 433) rt arso enables him to dismiss the entire
empiricaL/socío-economic spectrum as "das ganze frei-
schwebende cemecker der Zivilisation". (rv 22O)
 -ri9-

" ... ich fordere für den Dichter nur die Freiheit",
Benn insists, "si-ch abzuschließen gegen eine Zeitgenossen-
schaft, die zur HäIfte aus enterbten Kleinrentnern und Auf-
wertungsquerulanten, zur anderen aus lauter Hertha- und
Poseidonschwimmern besteht: er wilI seine eigenen Wege
gehen". (rv 22O) Berrn forces his contemporaries into
ideological moulds, while himself insisting on absolute
freedom from such moulds. Concepts such as empiriçi-sm,
science, materialism, hedoni-sm, civilisation, progress,
politics, opportunism, Marxism(9), the generality, the norm,
the "Durchschnitt", the "Masse" are related associatively,
remain undefined and often appear as Bennrs ohrn special
brand of cliché. He describes the "freedom" which he
demands for the writer as "transzendent, nicht empirisch,
nicht materiell, nicht opportunistisch, nicht fortschritt-
lich". (tv ZZZ) Here the two methods of association and
antithesis are combined: on the one hand is the artist,
the "tränszendent" typa, and on the other hand are the
social and empirical dregs, the "Iulehrzahltyp" - what Benn
in another place (Goethe und die Naturwissenschaften, i-93Z)
refers to as "der garrze ranglose Consensus omnium" (l 193):
all those miscellaneous, inferior quarities which correct-
ively c¡o to make up the "norm".
The latter, the non-transcendent qualJ_ties of the
socio-economic and politicar wortd, are "rein phänomena1"
(rv 2O9,218) and the materialism which is common to them
all is "reaktionär" (cf. p.6I above). only art, because
it. breaks through and transcends the empiri-car foundations
of "given" realities, is "radicaI", without compromise,
unconditional and wholly autonomous: " die Kunst",
Benn writes in 193f, is "vieI radikaler als die politik
sie aIlein, nicht die politik: r€icht bis in jene see-
lischen schichten hinein, in denen die wirkrichen verwand-

(9) Bennrs approach to Marx is not analytical; he does not

mention him or any of his works by name, but refers in
general terms to the "ism". "Marxismus" is an emotive
cipher expressing an antithetical position in relation
to art and "das individual-istische und das meta-
physische Se j-n" ("f . p. 85 above ).
 -9o-
lungen der menschlichen ceserlschaft sich vorr-zi-ehen. die
Verwandlungen des Stils und der Gesinnung". (rV 23p)
These "seelischen schichten'r are the irrational rayers of
BennIs "Geologie des rch", the "primary", irreducible
sphere to which the secondary, "rein phänomenar" poriticar
world has no access and which "kein Dogma erreicht,, (p.76
above). As we noted with reference to Bennrs method of
"summarisches tiberbricken", artistic creativeness means
dissociation from historical processes (p.6Bt. above ) ; it
is this same anti-materialist conception of artistic
"radicalism" as spirituar self-reliance which Benn pro-
pounds in his letter of 1929 to Die neue Bücherschau, in
which he attacks the Marxists Kisch and Becher:
mir kommt der Gedanke, ob es nicht weit
radikaler, weit revolutionärer und weit mehr
die Kraft eines harten und fiten Mannes erfor-
dernder ist, der Menschheit zv lehren: so bist
du und du wirst nie anders sein., So lebst du,
so hast du gelebt und so wirst du immer
Ieben. (rv 2to)
The artist, then - because he rejects the socio-economic
and political worrd en broc, because of his conviction that
"seine cröße gerade darin besteht, daß er keine
sozialen Voraussetzungen findet" (l T6), because he believes
onry art is without compromise can indulge in the logic of
"der öftenttichen, also opportunistischen sphäre". (r 136,
author's emphasis) This is a dangerous proposition when
measured against the real world within the context of which
it was; made: Berlin in 193Ij it causes one to wonder
wherein the "opportunism" of at least one "public" typu in
the l-atter days of the weimar Repubrj-c (and in the earry
years under National sociarismj ) consisted: carl von
ossieLzky, the editor of the same wertbühne to which Benn
himself was a contributor. (10) tn;.rat=a Bennrs
".tr-
(ro ) Benn had made a si_milar a ssociation between the
"pub1ic" sphere and oppor tunism in Das mode rne lch of
I92O, where he h ad equated democracy with hedonism
(r rT). ossietz
pursuing democra
hedonistic"; in
he anticipates h
"wenn man den ve
votl bekämpfen w
Schicksal teilen
Bedrohunq und Verfolqunq bis 1933¡ op. cit., p.213.
 -o'r -

differentiation from the empiricar and sociar worrd is

accompanied by a refusal to differentiate between
individuar components of this worrd. such an uncompromis-
ing standpoint, when maintained not onry within but arso
vis-å-vis a time of poritical precariousness, contains
the danger of sweeping the grain away with the chaff.

Bennrs undifferentiated and in the final anarysis

unfairly exclusive standpoint invites a contrast with
Thomas Mannrs position in the rtwenties and early ,thirties.
rn fact Benn himself invites the contrast. significantry,
it arises from a difference in the two writersr approach to
history, specificalty to the nineteenth century. (Bennrs
view of history, as hre sharr see in the first section of
chapter 4, is not separable from his attitude to the
concrete poliLical events of 1933). Remarking on Mannrs
reference in L929 to "das große neunzehnte Jahrhundert,,,
Benn sees the nineteenth century under the domination of
negative qualities; he describes it as "das Jahrhundert,
dessen Standardbegriffe vor unseren Blicken j_n vehementer
weise i-hre historische sendung beendenr'. (r 6Bt.
) end of
contenrporary culture he complains that it derives its
standards from the "zivilisationstyp, ein Ausdruck, der
nichts weiter bezei-chnen sorl als den durchschnittrichen
Typ,'den das verflossene Jahrhundert schuf". (r 68) But
the "standard concepts" and "average types" of which Benn
speaks with such confidence are largery of his o\^/n
construction. Mann, in contrast, had cautioned in his
essay Die Ste 1lu Freud in der moderne nGe istes-
cfe schichte (L929) z

Wir sind wenig geneigt, gewisse beschämende

Fehlleistungen ães neun=éhnten Jahrhunderts
als -physiognomisch bestj-mmend für aie=e
Epoche anzuerkennenj wir leugnen, ã.n-Aiu
Philisterei delî monistischen Ãufkíä.u"g'
wirklich Herr ypçf seine tieferen-ili;;."
geworden wäre. (11)

(II) Thomas Mann: Die Ste 11 Fre uds in r mode n

tes ch , in Th. Mann: A1 un ue
KIe r S Frankfurt.
1 q
1 tr p
t
 -ot-

The same principle of differentiation which prevents

Mann from accepting a single crj-terion as the determinant
of an entire epoch allows him to grant that creative
imagination and reason are not necessariry mutually
exclusive; he does not treat reason as virtually
synonymous with pedantry or shallow optimism.Gz) By the
same token, he does not find that sober criticism of
contemporary events with a view to improving the course of
these events is at varj-ance with the artistic personality.
Benn, however, sees little distinction between parti ipat-
ion in historical or political processes and subiuqation
to them. ". . . wie ist es mit dem historischen p.ozeß,, ,
he asks, "kann er, kann jemand für ihn fordernr daß ihm die
Kunst oder die Erkenntnis dient?" (r Tz) Bennrs answer is
an unequivocar "no"; he cannot concej-ve of "dienen" other
than in terms of abandonment of artistic integrity. Active
identification with his times wourd mean that the arti_st
"in das allgemeine Gejoder über die cröße der zeíL und den
Komfort der Zivilisation Ieinstimmt]". (r TZ)
Vlhat r orr€ wonders, is more "radical " ? Bennr s
unconditional, absolute standpoint, his insistence that the
artist is a priori removed from "arren historischen Kate-
gorien der Macht und ihrer Entfaltung, dem Geserr-
schaftrichen und Forensischen, den Begriffen der Entwick-
lung r.lnd des Fortschritts als einer rein naturalistischen
vorstellungsmethode, einer sphäre rein empirisch ,,

(r 72)? such a grobar and uncompromising rejection of

historical categories does indeed have the appearance of
an extreme - perhaps even "radical" spiritual sel_f-
reliance. But Bennrs "radj-carism", his apparent refusal
to float with the intellectuar tide, however much dis-
comfort it may have caused him in the latter years of the
weimar Republic and however much one must admire his
tenacity of purpose, can be seen from another point of
view: a point of view from which Thomas Mannrs position

(l-2) See for example Mannrs essay Zu Lessinqs cedà tni-s

!!2zg) ' in
r)o.
Mann: ES ES op. cit., p.I!t-
 -93-

appears more independent, more intellectually mettlesome

and, irl this sense , more "radical " than Bennr s . For
Mannts self-possession, his efforts to adhere to a
discriminating, balanced vj-ew were undertaken in a climate
of intellectual and political extremism which was hostile
to such efforts; his Deutsche Ansprache held in Berlinrs
Beethovensaal in 1 93O is another example of an act which
was both "öffentlich" and anything but "opportunistisch". (13)
Benn, although he dissociated himself from party poritics and
was hostire both to the extreme Ìeft and the extreme right
in the late weimar Republic, did not remain immune to the
methods of debate prevarent in these circles. He submitted
to the prevailing spirJ-tua1 winds in spite of himself .
The tendency to think in I'either-or" terms which was
peculiar to many groups in the weimar Repubric especiarly
after L929 meant that intellectual moderation and Lhe
willingness to compromise hrere rare commodities. Extremists
insisted on the absolute and exclusive validity of their own
position; their methods of politicat debate not infrequentry
amountçd to denunciatory tactics of their opponents. This
phenomenon, particurarly as it concerns the poritical scene,
has been amply documented. (14) rt affected not only
Taqesporitik but was prevalent also in political theory
as fo,r exampre in carr schmittts uncompromising "Freund-
Feind" pattern as outlined in his Der Beqriff des porj-ti-
schen, which went through the first of many editions in
1927. schmitt's antitheticar method was common to almost

(13) cf. Klaus Mann: de nkt. bensbe tt

Bertelsmann ( Gutersloh, 19 P.2 f
'
(14) Sge Karl Dietrich Bracherrs standard work: l-ri e Auf-
losung der We imarer Re Iik. Eine Studie zum
Prob des Machtverf Ils in der oe kratie , Schrif-
ten des Instituts fur pol-it ische Wissenschaft 4
(stuttga rt/oüsseldorf , IgDj ). on p.156 Bracher
writes of the "propagandist ischer Kampfführung und
ideologischer ex:<fus ívität in allen politischen
Bereichen. " See aIso, inte r alia, pp .96-100-. ISzf . ,
37ott.
 -94-
(I5)
all antidemocratic thinkers in the weimar Republic.
Nor did literary life escaPe the tendency to approach
a problem from mutually exclusive standpoints. It can bel
observed , for example, in the strife between the "Schrift-
steller" and the "Dichter", the "Asphaltliterqten" and the
"vörkisch" writers in the Prussian Academy ,Q6) whicrr
resulted in the resignation of E.G. KolbenheYêr, Wilhelm
schäfer and EmiI Strauss on 5 January 193L .GT ) r'urther
to the left in the political spectrum, too, in the Bund
proletarisch-revolutionärer Schriftsteller, the l,ukács-
Becher faction sharply condemned the theories of Ernst Bloch,
Walter Benjamin, Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht. The
latterrs work in particular was decried as-"Tendenz", which
precluded the required ,Parteitichkeia". (IB) lukácsl

(15 ) Kurt Sontheimer: Antidemokratisches Denken in der

See
WE t e en des tschen
, Studienausgabe
Mu nchen, , P.l . Other examples of this anti-
thetical method: Germa nic "heroism" - international
"pacifism"; the "abstractil and "artfremd" quality of
pãrliamentarianism
1'organic" qrr"lity ofand of the weimar "system" - the
the true "volksgemêinschaft".
See also CarI Schmitt; Der Beqriff des Politischen 5

3rd ed. (Hamburg, 1933), pp.52f., 56r. Hitref's

crasser use of antithesis is discussed by Lutz
Winckler: t_

, edition suhrkamp 17 (Frank-

furt, L97o Such antithetical thinking necessitates
the bringing together of heterogeneous qualities
under one categoryr ãs in the following example from
Hans Schemm when he defines "Verstand" as "Logik,
Berechnung, Spekulation, Banken, Börsen, Zinsen,
Dívidenden, Kapitalismus, Karriere, Schiebung, Wucher,
Marxismus, Bolschewismus, Gauner und Spitzbuben".
Ouoted from Hermann Glaser: Spießer-Ideoloqie. Von der
Zerstorung des deutschen Geistes im 19. und 20. Jahr-
hundert (rreiburg, 1964), p.86.
(16) See Inge Jens: Dichter z¡lyischen rechts und links. Die
Geschichte der Sektion fur Dichtkunst der Preußischen
t
Munchen, L97T t pp.9 5 9 f. , lOIf.See also p. IO[f.
for .Tosef Pontents list of antitheses between
"schriftsterler" and "Dichter".
(17 ) rbid., p.128.
(18 )

Schriftsteller, Sammlung Luchterhand L9 (Ueuwied

@pp.2o,68t.
 -95-

dogmatism, particularly with regard to Brecht, tended (in

Helga GaIIasr words ) "zur denunziatorischen FormeI". ( 19 )
Marxist intellectuals were also antagonistic to other
socially engaged writers such as Döblin, Toller,
Tucholsky, Hiller '(2o) .rr"lagous to the KpDrs uncomprom-
ising attitude to the SpD in the political sphere, such
writers were dismissed as "bürgerlich". writers of the
most varied kinds were reduced to a common denominator.
Thus in l-932 otto Biha finds that Alfred Döblin, Franz
vüerfel and Gottfried Benn have one thing in common they
are all reactionaries because, he craims, their work is
"arbeiterfeindlich" :
Denn schließIich sind ihre Traktate mehr
oder minder private Rechtfertigungen ihrer
eigenen Existenz und Abbirder i-hres schlechten
cewissens , (2L)
himself rejected the ideologica). jostling and
Benn
wrangling in toto, dismissing both left and right with the
remark:
die Ideologien derer, die sie angreifen
I(arrpf um
und derer, die sie halten. Metaphorisché Auf-
schneiderei- einmal von rechts, einmal von links.
(r T3)
such cavalier banishment of the socio-poritical worrd from
the realm of "Geist", Bennrs self-differentiation from
what he calls "empirische Einrichtungen der Zivilisatj_on',
(p.Br above), incrudes a conviction that art moves on a
qualitatively different leve1 from "culture"; in IgZT he
writes in his essay Kunst und staat that "Kunst" is ',vj_el
seltenerr äls es scheint". "Dieser schein", he continues,
"hängt mit dem verbreiteten rrrtum zusanmen, daß Kurtur,
Zivilisation, Bildung und Kunst im Grunde identisch seien.
Kunst aber ist ein isoliertes phänomen, individuell

(Ie ) rbid., pp.156,225.

(zo ) rbid. , pp.4Bf ., Bo.
(21) Otto Biha:
E 1
runcf s roze s se s der Lite tur. in Interna tiona Ie
Liter Zen an l_ Ver-
n 1 t 2t 19
p.1 t
 -96-

unfruchtbar und monoman. Das bestimmt ihren Rang". (I 47)

This rigorous distinction between art as a primary and
culture as a secondary phenomenon underl-ies Bennts
condescending view of the cultural life of Berl-in in his
prose work Saison (f93o). one of the main objects of his
scorn i-s the theatre. - rn what is doubtless an allusion
to the many theatre-scandals and Saalschlachten of the
Weimar Repub1ic, he remarks sarcastically:
Die Clique, die klatscht, ist das gleiche Kaliber
wie die Clique, die pfeift, die ej_nen sind von
rechts dumm, die anderen sind von links dumm,
morgen klatschen sie einem Tomatenpropheten,
ubermorgen einem Bauchredner, schadrt ja auch
nichts, warum denn nicht, Gehirnmütt Zinnober,
Tank Gottes. (rr I21)
Bennrs attempted caricature falrs flat in retrospect;
his disdainfur dismissar of "the" cultural and politicar
scene in one breath can be convincing only if one un-
reservedry shares his views about artts independence of
the historicar context within which it is produced. Benn
himserf , of courser \^rãs not blessed with hindsight; he
seemed unav/are that he was no ress impricated in the burn-
ing issues of the day than were his "poritical" opponents -
that he was not as sovereignly "autonomous" as he liked to
believe; the "metaphorische Aufschneiderei" of which he
accuses the politicar left and right was not absent in hj-s
own affective onslaughts on both directions. rn summariry
and unconditionally dismissing the politicar scene, Benn
falls into the same interrectual error which characterises
much of this scene itself; Kurt sontheimerrs remarks about
the extreme left and the extreme right in the weimar
Republic are relevant in this context:
Der Charakter des Unbedingten, der die Bedingtheit
des eigenen Denkens zv sehen verwehrt, gab béiden
Richtungen das Gepräge . (22)
The "Bedingtheit" into which Bennrs own "unbedingt-
heit" 1ed him does not, as we know, come from an overtly

(22) Kurt Sontheimer:

Weimarer Republik op. cit. , p f
 _,-)-(_

politíca1 position; his particular "Feindbild" is this

political position. But since Benn was a writer and not a
politician, the question arises whether it is fair to make
him pass muster politically, to approach him from a
position other than the exclusively artistic one he
prescribes. Doubtless the antithesis he lays down in 193f
between "Gesinnung" and "rnspiration", "Mitteilung" and
"Ausdruck", "Teilnahme" and "Differenzierung" (t I38) can
be a valid and effective theoretical preliminary to
artistic creativeness; it is a conception which Benn
shares with other artists of his own and previous
generations. \'-Jl
( '¡'¿ I
But he also asserts his vi-ews against
writers who identify themselves with the politicar arena,
and aggressively so. Not only does he refuse to be
determined by political concerns; he arso measures (ano
dismisses) poritics against his ov/n view of art. His anti-
political remarks in the late rtwenties and early 'thirt j_es
cannot escape being evaluated within the context of the
cultural and politj-car scene within which they u/ere made
and against which they were directed.
Bennrs "provocativeness", as Eckart oehlenschräger
rightly claims:, +s "eine spur polemisch aufgeradener schübe
aus sprache".(24) this provocativeness is not merery
"..ra
the stylistic,phenomenon as which oehlenschräger prefers
/rt-
to see íL.\')t ) certainly, it is a stylistic phenomenon.
But it is also much more; styristic erements such as

(2s) E. g. Mallarmé, Baudelaire, poe, Stefan George.

(24) Eckart Oehlenschläger: Prov tion und Ve gecfen-
warti neS umP i1 ied Be
Literatur und Reflexion 7 Frankfurt, L97t p 2
(25) of Bennts ironic remark in summa sum¡narum r".-- die
ceselrschaftsordnung ist gumlen-
schläger writes:
Die wendung witr nicht geresen werden ars eine
abschließende soziologische Beurteilung; "gut"
ist die "cesellschaftÃordnung. vielmehr gerade
insofern, als sie die Beweguñg des Sprechens
zum Widerspruch herausfordèrt. oiesér ist
jedoch seinerseits ni-cht inhaltrich als Geserl-
schaftskritik, sondern nur von seiner provoka-
tiven Technik..her ars eine spur polemisch auf-
geladener schübe aus Sprache
stehen. (rbid. ) "rrgä*"""ãr, zu ver_
 -98-

association and antithesis are present not only in Bennrs

"imaginative" work, but also in the hectic and bitter
Iiterary controversies in which he was involved in l-929
and 193I: they are inseparable from his "existential"
concerns, from his view of himself as an artistj-c "antj--
type" to the society in which he works - and from the
method of thinking whereby he defines the relationship
between art and politics. The "Differenzierung" Benn
speaks of and which he opposes to "Teilnahme" means self-
differentiation and, as we have noted, of a kind which
preverrts him from doing justice to the reality from which
he differentiates himself. It does not allow him to see
the individuaÌ trees for the forest.
"In jeder geistigen Haltung ist das politische
latent" wrote Thomas Mann .(26 ) t".rn meant this positively,
with reference to the emancipatory impulses he saw in
Romanticism. In our context the phrase also admits a
negative interpretation. Vlhile it is not quoted here to
impute that Gottfried Benn was a proto-fascist (.n idea we
dispute, see chapter 4 ¡elow), it does serve to indicate
that "Geisü" in its "pure" form is a doubtful quantity;
when applied to a political situation, it cannot entj-re1y
escape "politicisation" in spite of itself. And when it
understands itself apolitically not only within but
.\
vl_s-a-vJ_s a politically volatile environment, its persist-
ence in :Lts so-calIed "pure " state r âs Bennrs case shows,
is very tenuous indeed .Gl ) B.rrrr," etitist "Artistentum".,
no matter how independent and self-sufficient it may appear,
cannot escape the empirical world it seeks to transcend.

(26 ) F s ste
op. cit. , p.1
(27 ) The problem is whether such a "pure" condition can
exist in reality at aII. Even Bennrs assertion of
"autonomy" under the Nazis and his break with them
in the name of artts "purity" ("f. chapter 4 ¡e1ow)
was a "politicalr' act; it involved diãsent: con-
cretely, repudiation of National Socialismts
Kulturpolitik.
 -99-

Many of the above-quoted examples of Bennrs "political

theory" and of his aggressive insistence on the private,
autonomous quality of art v/ere expressed in the context of
public literary controversy. These controversies, while
confirming the criticisms made above about Bennrs un-
differentiated approach to political realities, also
relativise these criticisms. For the attacks on his own
position with which Benn had to contend \^¡ere no less
intractable than his own polemics; he not only provoked,
but was provoked. Furthermore, he pursued his principle of
self-differentiation with admirabte conseguentialityr so
that his position in the literary life of rate weimar was
f.ar from comfortable. The "autonomous " force in Bennrs
'artistic personatity, whatever dangers it may contain, also
possesses an obdurateness which not only resisted the
Marxists through thick and thin but which ultimatery did
not lend itself to subjugation by the Nazis.

TV

In JuIy 1929 Max Herrmann-Neisse wrote an article in

Die neue Bücherschau entitled Gottfried Benns prosa.
Herrmann-Neisse gives unreserved approvar to Bennrs view of
the artistrs position in society; he sees Benn as
diametrically opposed to the politically engaged wrj-ter:
" ... in dieser ZeiL des vielseitigen, wandlungstähigen
Machers, des literarischen Lieferanten poritischer propa-
gandamaterialien, des schnetlfertigen Gebrauchspoet€h", he
writes, there still exists "in ein paar seltenen Exem-
praren das Beispiel des unabhängigen und überregenen wert-
Dichters Es gibt neben dem keß intelrektuellen publi-
kumsliebling, dessen Vokabularium, snobistische A1rüre t zD
nichts verpflichtender Radikalismus leicht eingehen, den
wirklich, naturhaf! selbstständigen Geist Es gibt.
(28 )
Gottfried Benn". Herrmann-Neisse goes on (with
".rr.r,
a sj-de-swipe at Marxist authors) is "das Gegenteil von

(28) Quoted from Hohendahl, op. cit., p.12Bf.

 -100-

populär ... , zuverlässiger, weiter gehend und weiter

wirkend revolutionär, als die wohlfeilen, marktschreie-
rischen Funktionäre und Salontiroler des propaganda-
buntdrucn"". (29)
Herrmann-Nej-ssers article was provocative, to say
the least. rn fact two members of the editori_al committee
of Die neue Bücherschau, Egon Erwin Kisch and Johanhes R.
Becher, were sufficiently provoked to resign their posts.
rn his letter of resignation to Gerhart pohr (trre editor
of ¡ie neue Bücherschau ) trre Marxist Kisch directs his
attacks less at Herrmann-Neisse than at the subject of his
essay i.e. at Benn himself and at his "autonomous"
position, at what Kisch prefers to call the I'widerliche
Aristokratie, di9 aus jeder zeíre des Bennschen prosa-
buches stinkt". (3o) B.r,rr'" response to Kisch came in the
form of a letter to pohr which was published in the
october issue of Die neue Bücherschau under the titre über
Ile rift rs
r_ r . Not surpris-
ingry, he totarry rejects Kisch's views and disagrees "daß
jeder., der heute denkt und schreibtr €s im sinne der
Arbeiterbewegung tun müsse, Kommunist sein müsse, dem Auf-
stieg des proletariats seine xräfte leihen". (rv 2oB)
Bennrs statement represents a defence against the craims of
party or ideology on the artistrs intellectual and
spirituar independence. But he goes a step furtherj his
defence is also an attack, and in terms as unconditi_onal_ as
Kischts attack on him in the same issue of Die neue Bucher-

(29 \ p.f?9. rt is possible that Herrmann-Neissers

tbi9:,
wer-ter gehend und weiter wirkend revorutionär" was
a stimulus for Bennrs own remark in september of the
yea{.that
'weit radikarer,refraining
l.*g from politicãr activism is
weit revolutionärer" than trying to
change the world (cf. p.90 above).
(3o; euoted by Gerhart pohl replying to Kisch and Becher
in the September issue of Die neue Buche chau r aft
Hohendahl, op. cit., p .134.
 - Iol-

(31) Benn adopts that position of mutual exclusive-

".1,-,.,.
ness and Iack of differentiation which characterised many
areas of political and intellectual debate in the Weimar
Republic: "Natürlich höre ich die große Frage der ZeiL" ,
he avers, but then goes on to reveal himself as a
representative of the times by defining the "große Frage"
in terms of an irreconcilable antithesis: "rch oder
Gemeinschaft, Hingabe an den sozialen Verband oder Selbst-
gestaltung, Politisierung oder Sublimierung .... ". (rv 2fI)
Bennrs "either-or"'position is not merely a resPonse to
Kischfs extremism, for he had expressed comparable ideas
long before L929 - most emphatically in I92O in Das moderne
rch (p. 86 above ). And earlier in L929, in a contribution
to the ninth issue for that year of the weekly Die
literarí ehe WeIt , he had j-nsisted that there are no "Ver-
mittlungen zwischen produktiver und rezeptiver Menschheit"
(rv 2O3) i.e. between the artist and the uncreative socj-o-
political plebs.
Nevertheless, Bennrs position in 1929 is better under-
stood when seen in context concretely, in the context of
his clash with Marxist authors and in the light of the
problem of mutual exclusiveness between artistic autonomy
and political engagement which characterises this clash.
Ludwig Marcusers 1931 discussion of the latter is both
relevant and illuminating. - He defends Bennrs position
but in so doj-ng unintentionally throws into relief the
ambivalence of this position; he disagrees with the
Marxists r "Behauptung, daß alte geistigen Schöpfungen j-n
erster Linie bedingL sind durch den sozialen Boden, auf

(3r ¡ In thê salne (October) issue of Die neue Bücherschau

a letter from Kisch appeared. Like Bennrs letter,
it is a reply to Pohlrs letter in the September
j-ssue ; Kischrs tone is no more moderate than it had
been in September. He writes that Benn is "ein in
seine krankhaften (schizophrenen) Hemmungen einge-
sponnener Snob, der keine Ahnung von der WeIt hat,
aber sie behandelt.I' Quoted from Hohendahl, op. cit.,
p.535. Furthermore Kisch prescribes as binding on
the writer the same Marxi-st view of literature
which is anathema to Bennrs entire artistic theory:
"Alles in der welt ist von der Politik abhängig, von
den ökonomischen verhäItni-ssen und ihrem tiberbau.
Also auch die Literatur il
Die neue Bucherschau t
7 , L929, p.537.
 -LOz-

dem sie gewachsen sind" and objects to the "Entlarvungs-

sucht, die inquisiLorisch bestrebt ist, noch bei den abge-
Iegensten Kulturgebilden die Blu'tprobe auf gesellschaft-
Iiche vorurteile zu machen". "wer diesen Soziologie-
Fetischismus nicht mitmacht", Marcuse complains, "wird als
(32) so far, so good; so far
'Reaktionärr verfedmt".
Benn's position is eminently worthy of defence. But
Marcusers emphatic (and convincing) statement: Es ist die
rr

nte llektue 1Ien S

me urch Ents
wq-f.]e'.", is applicable in equal measure to the extrem-
ity of Bennts own position. Benn cannot be accused of
having thought through the Marxists' positioni he rejects
it out of hand. He decides the complex problem of the
relationship between art and politics by setting himself
above the problem and, from this sovereign position, dis-
allowing a possible interconnexion between art and
poliLicaI realitj-es; not only does he (quite reasonably)
refuse to be measured by a political yardstick, but he goes
a decisive step further and finds political ideas wanting
according to decidedly apolitical standards - by the
standards, that is, of his own ideas about the nature of
creativeness. In October l-929 hj-s attack is directed
specifically at Kisch and the Marxists; but the same
attitude characterizes his view of the political spectrum
as a whole:
rm übrigen aber nehme ich die Aristokratie
meiner schriftstellerischen Art durchaus für
mich in Anspruch und, lwenn sie einem Journalisten
von so oberflachlichem Hinsehn des Herrn
Kisch widerlich erscheint, nehme ich sie um so
freudiger an mein Herz. Denn wenn mej-ne geringe
Art zrt schriftstellern überhaupt eine ¡estimmté
Tendenz vertritt¡ so allerdings ganz ausgespro-
chenermaßen die, den Typ des unfundierten Rum-
und Mitläufers, des wichtigtuerischen Meinungs-
äußerers, dês feuilletonistischen Stoffl¡esprengers,

(s2 ) Ludwig Marcuse: Der Reaktionär in enführunssstrichen t

in Das Tagebuch (/ uarch 1931). Quoted from Hohen-
dahl, op. cit. , p. r4or.
(3s ¡ rbid. , P. 142 .
 -103-
dessen Persönlichkeit ihren Talenten und
Energien nach gar nicht danach ist, irgendeinen
Gedanken historischen oder erkenntnismaßigen
Charakters zu Ende denken zu können, in séiner
ganzen Nebensächlichkeit empfinden zu lassen
zugunsten eines reservierten Typs, der mit
eigenem geistigen Besitz, durch ältere Herkunft
Iegitimiert, in längerer Arbeit an sich selbst
gezüchtet, in einem immer zv sich selber zurück-
laufenden Rhythmus stilisiert, aus der unheim-
lichen Gebundenheit des Ich immer von neuem
produktive Vorstöße versucht in ein Weites und
Allgemeines, das wahrscheinlich der einzige
l<ollektivistische Besitz des menschlichen
Geschlechts ist (rv 2o6f.)
The latter part of the quotation, in effect, out-
lines Bennrs artistic i-rrationalism as discussed in
chapter 2 above. He describes the apolitical, "reserved"
type - the antithesis of the political, "unfundiert" type
in terms of his disjunctive "hyperämische Theorie des
Dj.chterischenrr (rrin einem immer zu sich selber zurücklau-
fenden Rhythmus", "immer von neuem produktive vorstöße")
and of his I'ceologie des rch'r ("durch ältere Herkunft
legitimiert", "der einzige kollektivistj-sche Besitzr', i. e.
a "collective" which is not of a sociar or poritical kind
cf . p.56tt. above ). Although Bennrs "Geologie des Ich"
had been foreshadowed in his earry, Expressionist work
and details of it had appeared in L92T in Kunst und staat
(r 48) and in I92B in Totenrede für Klabund (cf. p.53
above ), it. is not improbabre that his crash with Kisch in
J-929 provided him with an impulse which furthered the
detailed theoreticar work in the fortowing year. tt is
safe to assume, at least, that Benn in I93O, while form-
ulating his theories in such essays as Zur Pr lematik
des Dichterischen and I)er A ufbau der Per onlichkeit. Grund-
riß einer Geo looie des rch , had not forgotten the events in
which he was involved during the latter part of 1929. The
opening sentence of Zur problematik s Dichterischen ,ât
least, indicates that his ideas about the autonomous
writer.hrere not formulated without reference to other
literary theories with which he had been confronted:
Das Thema vom Dichter und Schriftsteller, ihrem
wesen, ihrer Lage und ihren Beziehungen zueinander,
ist in letzter Zeit wiederholt Gegenstand
literarischer unterhartung geweseñ, und zwar fast
 -104-

immer in dem Sinne, daß die ZeiL fur den Dichter

vorüber sei, an seinen Platz sei eine andere
Erscheinung getreten. (r 66)
However, one shoul-d emphasise the "cum grano sa1is"
in Peter Uwe Hohendahlrs comment on the effects of Max
Herrmann-Neisse I s article :
So darf Herrmann-Neiße cum grano salis als der
Schöpfer des aristokratischen Gottfried Benn
seltèn.(34)
The controversy triggered off by Herrmann-Neisse and the
provocation Benn receives from his Marxist opponents speeds
the aggressive momentum which had already informed his
artistic personality in the firsl decade of his work and
which is inseparable from his principle of self-different-
iation from empirical and socj-al- reality. - Benn, the
"aristocratic", "reserved" type, asserts himsetf in a most
vehement, decidedly "unreserved" style; in practice, his
artistic autonomy does not mean a complete withdrawal from
the public sphere: he participates in it only to negate
its relevance for the artist, to reaffirm the "genuines
uein" he trad expressed in L925 in the poem Grenzenlos
(cf . p.'56 above ). He unconditionatly proclaims art as a
primary value and simultaneously relegaLes the political
world to a secondary position - a relationship expressed
in thç antithesis "legitimiert - unfundiert" in the above-
quotecl extract from Bennrs attack on Kisch in October 1929.
fn 1931, the year after he had formul-ated his
"Geologie des rch" in detail, Benn provides the thus far
most detailed e:xplication of his "formal" principle. He
does so publicly in his Rede auf Hej.nrich Mann on 28
March. Like his "Geologie des Ichr', Bennts emphasis on
"Form" and the "konstruktiver Geist" belongs to his
principre of serf-differentiation (cf. p.f7ff. above) and to
his rejection of art as political engagement. (rt is in
his speech on Heinrich Mann, in fact, that he equates "anti-
ideologisch" and "ausdruckshaft", cf . p.T5f. above ). The
emphasis in Bennrs speech on the earIy, unpolitical

(3+¡ In the introduction to Hohendahl, op. cit., p.36

 -r05-

Heinrich Mann at the expense of the later, politicalì-y

engaged Heinrich Mann means an emphasis on "Kunst" as a
quality higher than and incompatibte with social and
political concerns: "Ich bin mir natürlich vöttig ]'.lar
darüber", Benn says, "daß man eine so große Erscheinung
wie Heinrich Mann noch nach vielen anderen Seiten auslegen
kann, jeder nach seiner Neigung: als Fortschritt, als BiI-
dung, als Pädagogík, als Partei rch feiere in ihm
die Kunst ". (I 4f6¡ "Kunst", as Bennts words suggest,
is at variance with "Bildung", "Pädagogik", "Partei" '
The talk on Heinrich Mann and the exclusive view of
art it expressed provoked another attack on Benn. Werner
Hegemann, writing in the weekly Das Taqebuch on 11 epril
1931, entitles the second section of his articte "G.8.
als Faschist und Adolf Hitlerrr and refers to Bennrs
"ceistesgenosse Adolf and to his "Geistesgenossen
"+:lît"
im Lager der Reaktiontt. \J2l To j-mpute so simple an affil-
iation between Bennrs thinking and reactionary politics is
an over-simplification¡ âs will become more evident in the
next chapter. Such a nonchalant association can only be
made if one does not carefully explore the nature of
Bennts peculiar kind of irrationalism. And this Hegemann
did not do. In the same speech on Heinrich Mann which
Hegemann refers to as reactionârlr Benn had emphatically
opposed the claims of party or ideology on art; and his
resistance is directed not only against Marxist but also
quite specifically against "völkischr'-nationatistic
ideology: "Hierüber", he writes with reference to
Nietzsche and the primacy of art, "hat uns nichts hinaus-
geführt, keine politische, keine mythische, keine rassische,
keine kollektive rdeologie bis heute nicht (r 416)
And in an essay on Heinrj-ch Mann which was published on
2f Mardn (one day before the speech), Benn is quite
specific in his defence of Nietzsche against political
misuse; if his remarks do not refer exclusively to the

(35 ) Werner Hegemann: Heinrich Mann? Hitler? Gottfried

Benn? ode r Goethe? t in Das Tasebuch, L2, I93t.
Quoted from Hohenda hI, op. cit., p. 146.
 -r06-

Nazi party, then at least to the "völkisch"-nationalistic

parties of the right, of which Nazism in r93r was the most
prominent. Aft.er discussing Nietzsche's inf luence on
tleinrich Mann, Benn continues:
Wenn man nämlich gewisse öffentliche Stimmen
beachtet, müßte *átt folgern, wir befänden uns
hj_ermit bei der Huldigung auf einen Defaitisten,
Stimmen, die aus der gleichen Affekttrubung
heraus die heroische Intrans ígenz Nietzsches
für j-hren unfundierten Imperialismus in Anspruch
nehmen und Bataillone bei ihm ausheben, obschon
er es doch l¡/ar, der schrieb; der deutsche ceist
ist meine schlechte Luft, ich atme schwer in der
Nähe dieser Instinkt gewordenen Unsauberkeit in i

pslzcholosis . (r 134 ) (36 )

These remarks, made before Hegemannrs attack on him accus-
ing him of \lazi sympathies, confirm that the anti-Nazi
sentiments Benn exPressed on 16 aprir r93r in his reply to
Hegemann ( Fline ceburtstacrs de und die Folcren ) are not
conveniently produced for the occasion or mere polemical
punch-1ines.
Bennrs reply to Hegemann was not printed in an
esoteric literary journal, but in the very public forum of
the Vossische Ze_itunq. Even the milder of his remarks imply
an antj--Nazi standpoint: "AIso denunziert Hegemann mich und
meine Gedankengänge aIs faschistisch", Benn objects, "und
bringt Redensarten von Hitler ârrr die er afs vom gleichen
ceist neben die meinen stellt"' ( rv 233) eenn points out
that "das faschistische organ Der Anqriff vom 3o. Mätz,
in dem ich wegen derselben Rede, wegen der mich diese
braven giedermänner des Common sense Ii.e. Hegemann and
the left antölpeIn, aIs zugehörig zum portugiesischen
l
Mischvolk angesprochen werde, aIs Kurfürstendammjour-
naille, als Defaitist, als Zugehöriger zu der Liga für

(36 ) In 1963 Reinhold Grímm referred to this as Bennrs

"einzigen bisher vor 1933 nachweisbaren Angriff
auf die Nationalsozialisten". See R. Grimm:
Kritische Erqänzunqen zur Benn-Literatur, oP. cj-t.,
p.3o4. one could add a further example to Grimmrs:
the attack on the Nazis contained in Bennrs reply
to Hegemann; see below.
 -Lo'(-

Menschenrechte". (rv 233) He takes a distinct pride in not

meeting the requirements of either politj-caI grouping:
"Armselige Gehirner', he ca1ls the left, "die jeden, der
seinen Blick ei.nmal rückwärts richtet, aIs reaktionär ver-
schrein". But nor is he enamoured of the group to which
his real sympathies are accused of belonging; he gÖes on
to make a fundamental distinction between his own
irrationalism and that of the Nazis: "Armselige, stumpfe,
unerfahrene Gehirne", he calls his attackers from the left,
"die schon die Diskussion des Irrational-en nicht mehr
scheiden können von den geistigen Schwammigkeiten des
parteimäßig organisierten Somnambulismus". (lv 233)

The exclusiveness of the artist, the fact that he

expresses "prinzipielt eine andere Art von Erfahrung"
(p.86 above) ttran prevaiJ-s in the empirical wor1d, is a
conviction which Benn voices vis-å-vis specific political
currents of the day - both left and right. Arthough his
attacks are directed mainly against leftist thinkers,
this fact alone is not enough to suggest an identification
with or even sympathy for National sociarism. on occasion
he attacks both left and right in the same breathr âs the
above-quoted remarks from Eine ce burtstaqsrede und die
Forqen confirm. And, consistent with the sharp rine he
draws between the "autonomous" and the "social" spheres,
his ra<lio-talk Die neue riterarische saison (28 August
1931 ), while attacking the Marxist literary theory of the
Russian sergei Tretjakow who was currently visiting Berrin,
arso rejects all politicarly engaged art. with his usual
lack of differentiation and with his usuar antithetical
treatment, Benn lays down an "either-or" choice for the
riterary world (and he is talking about the concrete here
and now, the current literary season j_n 193I ) :
Man muß arso wohl prinzipierl und für alle Zeiten
eine vordergrundsliteratur unterscheiden, die vom
Feuilleton umrankt wird und der die Damenwelt
zuneigt, und eine Hintergrundsliteratur, aus-
schließlich dazu, berufen, von niemandem a1s dem
cesetz der persönlj-chkeit dazu berufen, die
wenigen großen Gei-ster der folgenden Generation
zu befruchten und zv erzj_ehen. (t 4ZO)
 -108-

"Prinzipielt und für alle zeiten": a universal law, in

óther words, by which artistic self-differentiation
precludes self-identification in any form whatever with
the socio-political here and nowi it is a Iaw which
postulates a "Gegensatz zwischen der kollektivistischen
und der artistischen Kunstrr . (r 4ZZ¡ (Wherein Benn makes
no distinction between the "Arbeitertiteratur'r advocated
by Tretj¿rkow and the Kitsch to which the reference to the
"Damenwelt" presumably refers ).
"Collective" as used by Benn, it should be emphasised
once again, does not refer to the Marxist sense of the word
alone, but to the entire political complex: "Die völker und
ihre politischen ¡'ühreri " he exclaims disparagingly in l-9292
"Die rührer, die nichts um des Volkes wil-Ien tun, alles nur
aus Eitelkeit, aus Machtgier, im idealsten FaIl aus Fanatis-
mus zu einer fixen Idee. Erbl-icken Sie irgendeinen Sinn
darin t zu ihnen überzugehen? Ich erblícke keinen Sinn, ich
höre keine Stimme, ich sehe keine Figurr'. (rv ef f ) rfrat
Benn ostensibly usurped this position in I933t 34 is of
course puzzlíng. No matter from which angle one looks at
the problem, however, one cannot escape the fact that Bennrs
artistic theory was an I'antiideological" one and that the
principle of self-dífferentiation it contained meant what
it said: that the artist be free from extraneous injunctions.
But nor can one overlook the dangers of his undifferentiated
way of thinking about poliLics. Both factors are evident in
his behaviour in the literary section of the prussian
Academy in the early weeks of 1933.

The records of the Preußische aka der Kunste in

Berlin suggest that Bennrs role in the early weeks of 1933
- until late February at least - was entirely in keeping
with the sharp dividing line he had drawn betwen art and
politics. In 193f¡ ês we have seen, he was prepared to
attack both the left and the right. This is stilt the case
in January 1933. On 5 January the literary section of the
Prussian Academy held a meetj.ng at which paul Fechterrs
 -109-

"vöIkisch" literary history Dichtunq der Deutschen (lgSZ)

vvas gelq:?Ily agreed to be "kunstfeindlich und anmas-
send -n . (J/)
r,udwig Fulda and walter von Molo agreed to
revj-se a draft for an open letter of protest which had been
prepared by Heinrich Mann in December L932. In mid-
January of 1933 members of the Academy received copies of
the Fulda/von Molordraft, and most agreed that its terms
were too genet"I. \"/ his objections
"""?.Bl"ompanied
But for practical reasons
with an alternative draft.\-ti
( "Da befürchtet wird, daß Benns schriftsatz bei wieder-
gabe in der TagçsPresse als zri schwierig empfunden werden
(4o) r,i" proposar was not accepted at the
möchte " ¡,
meeting of members on 2J January, and the task of revising
it was handed over to Alfred Döblin.
Bennrs terminology reflected his personal view of
art. At the same time, it reflected his own and the
Academyts belief that one should not confine oneself to
attacking one particular political direction. Accordingly
he formulated his draft so as to emphasise artrs independ-
ence of all political ideology, bê it left or right. His
draft is. much sharper in tone than the Futda/von Molo
. (41) and reflects his unconditional rejection from
version''-'
artrs point of view of "dem niedrigen Standpunkt von Partei-
formeln" ; it continues :
"Wer es gar \^/agen sol1te Geisteswerke wie etwas
Ne.bensäctrtictreè oder gar Unnützes abzutun, oder sie
aIs reine Tendenzwerte den aufge.bauschten und nebel--
haften Begriffen der Nationalitat, allerdings nicht
weniger der Internationalitat, unterzuordnen, dem
werden wir geschlossen unsere Vorstellung von vater-
ländischer Gesinnung entgegensetzen, die davon aus-
geht, daß ein Volk sich nicht durch Aufl¡ringung von
Macht und Waffen, nj-cht durch Klassendiktatur, auch

(37 ) Inge Jens: Dichter zwischen rechts und Iinks, op.

cit., p.I77.
(38 ) rbid., pp.ITT? ., 2B3f .

(3e ) Ibid., p.178.

(4o )Archives of the Ln
the akademie de
(41) printed in Jensr op. cit., p.z92t.
 -I10-

nicht durch züchteriàche Rassenmaßnahmen ent-

wj-ckeIt und trägt, sondern ausschließlich durch
die immanente geistige Kraftr. durch die produk-
tive seelische Substanz (42)
Benn's distinction between creative irrationalism ("imma-
nente geistige Kraftrr, "produktive seelische Substanz" )
and "völkisch" or nationalistic ideas follows the same
principle he had exPressed in 193r - both in his specific
references to the Nazis and in his complaint about the
misuse of Nietzsche for political purposes (p.1O5ff.
above). His conception of creativeness j-s consistent with
the belief he had exPressed in L929 that "schöpferische
Akte" originate "im lrratj-onalen, das kein Dogma erreichtrr.
On 20 February ' three weeks after the National
Socialistsr accession to power, the Academy discussed the
resignation of Heinrich Mann and xättre Ko1lwitz j-n
connection wíth their support for a proclamation suggest-
ing a union of KPD and SPD against the Nazis for the March 5
elections. Bennrs remarks at this meeting, too, appear to
be in line with his oPposition to the artistrs involvement
in politics:
Benn weist darauf hin, wie oft er seine große
verehrung für den Künstler Heinrich Mann öffent-
tich bekundet habe. Er werde dafür von links und
rechts angegriffen. Er brauche also nicht zrr
wiederholen, wie er z! dem Dichter Heinrich Mann
stehe. rndessen Heinrich Mann eröffne den Kampf
gegen die Iegal und verfassungsmäßig gebildete
Regierung und sage, bêi dieser Regierung sei die
Barbarei. DaraufLrin habe sich die Regierungs-
macht zur Wehr gesetzt. Er müsse scharf betonen,
wir seien nicht angegriffen worden, sondern
rieinrich Mann habe den Angriff eroffnet. Die
Weimarer Verfassung a1s Grundlage unserer staats-
bürgerlichen Rechte taste niemand an. Wir aber
hàtten außer der Weimarer Verfassung aIs Akademie
eine innere Verfassung, díe uns Zuruckhaltung
auferlege. (43)
But in spite of Bennrs insistence on the "purity" of the
Academy and of art or rather because of this insistence
his remarks are ambivalent. They carry ad absurdum his

(42) rbid. , p.286 .

(43 ) rbid. , p.185.

 -111-

ideas about the apolitical position of the artist and

in view of the actual political context reveal a naive
faith that art, if only it keeps itself to itself, will
therefore remain free from political interference from
above. His interpretation of the Constitution is very
one-sidedi it ignores the fact that Heinrich Mann, actj-ng
as a private citizen, was entitled to the same "fegaI und
verfassungsmäßig" rights as the government. rt is precise-
ly this fact which Martin Wagner had pointed out on L5
February in the meeting at which the president of the
Academy (under pressure from the Nazi curture Minister in
Prussia, Bernhard Rust) had accepted Mannls and Kollwitz'
resignations; the actions of the ratter, wagner insisted,
were wj-thin the constitution i.e. they had "nur von ihrem
staatsbürgerrecht der freien Meinungsäußerung Gebrauch ge-
macht, das durch die verfassung garantiert ist, die dg.
Reichspräsident, die uinigË.gf , auch der Herr Reichskomissar
selbst beschworen haberr''. (44)
Bennrs attacks are aimed in the wrong directi.on.
They constitute an unconsidered, indiscriminate dismissar_
as "politicar' types of those writers whose efforts were
directed at preserving the same intelrectual and spirituaJ_
self-determination which was fundamental to his own con-
ception of art. Consistent with his pre-I933 ideas, he
considers that art is above political actj_vism of any kind
and that such activism trivialises artrs high caIling.
Later i-n the meeting of 20 ¡'ebruary he emphasi-ses the
artistic duties of the Academy and, true to his previous
theories, suggests that political engagement is i_ncompat-
ible with the true function of the Academy:
Renn wendet sich gegen die Einstellung al_ler
derjenigen Mitglieder, die immer und ohne weiteres
geneigt sind, alles, hras die Akademie und ihr
eigenes wesen betrifft, zu bagatellisieren. Altes
sei nach deren Meinung weit wlchtiger: die t¡eimarer
verfassung, der Zusammenschruß der Arbeiterparieien,
hemmungslose politische Agitation, ars g...ä. die
Akademie. Die Akademie aber sei eiñe gtanzvorle
Angeregenheit, sie könne es jedenfalls seiñ al-s die
einzige stät.te zur literarisóhen Traditionsbildung

(44¡ rbid., p.z9ot.

 -l12-

und zur künstlerischen nepräsentation, die

Deutschtand hat. Daß die Akademie eine
hohe innere Aufgabe habe, habe,j!.gerade Heinrich
wiederholt ausgesprochen ' 145)
Mann

By globally rejecting political activity of any kind on the

part of the artist, Bennrs remarks are self-defeating as
far as his ideas of artistic autonomy are concerned; they
aread e cto support of the Nazis, who \^/ere to make of
the Academy anything but the "glanzvolle Angelegertheitil in
Bennrs sense.
Not the Nazi régime, Benn believed, but the political
activities of its opponents represented the real danger to
the artistic independence of the ecademy and to the
preservation of "pure" art unadulterated by political
engagement and this in spíte of the fact that most writers
within the Academy were relatively passive vis-à-vis the
régime and that the immediate effect on the Academy of
Heinrich Mannrs and Xättre Kollwitzrresignations was
- (46) Butr âs Bennrs above-quoted remarks On 20
ml-nrmar.
February suggest, he feared that the Academyrs artistic
activities woufd become submerged in political ones. He
associated political activity on the part of writers with
the same "unfundiertrr (cf.p.1O2 above) social and political
preoccupations which in his opinion were anathema to art-
istic creativeness.
rn the late February of 1933 Bennrs dismissal of the
"secondary" quality of political concerns from the absolute,
unconditional standpoint of art included disdain for what
seemed to him the naivâté and triviality of those sections
of the literary world which feared the worst from the new
régime. This j-s evident ín a letter which Benn wrote on
2T February 1933 to Egmont Seyerlen; it is the first
indication of the analogies (to be discussed in chapter 4)
Benn finds in f933/34 between the Nazi movement and his own
theories of creativeness :
Hier herrscht Angst und Schrecken in der
Litefatur. nie verláge senden íhre anrüchigsten

(45 ) rbid., p. f85t.

(46 ) see ibid. , p.187-190.
 - 113-

gücher nach Wien ins DepoL utìd wi.ssìolr volr NicltL.s

I

die Autoren sitzen in Prag und im Otl-akringer l-lezirk

und erwarten das Vorbeigeún der Episode. Was für
Kinder: was für Taubel Die Revolution ist da und
die Geschichte spricht, wer das nicht sieht, ist
@ Nie wird der Individual-ismus in der
alten Form, nie der alte ehrliche Sozialismus
wiederkehren. Dies ist die neue Epoche des
geschichtlichen Seins, über ihren Wert oder Unwert
zlr reden ist Iäppisch, sie ist da (47)

There is evidence, then, that Benn sa\^i j-n Nazism

"po1itical" qualities of a different order than those he
rejected in activists of the ]ibera] and far left: that,
already in February 1933, he had begun to sympathise with
the Nazis as a "revolutionary" force far transcending the
mundane positivist and rationalist frames of reference to
which Ieftist thinkers and activists and obsolete l-iberal
individualism were bound. Jottings dated 5 March 19ii in
one of Bennfs unpublished noLe-books tend to confirm this
judgement. They are entitled Thesen and contain five brief
notes on history notes which develop the line of thought
contaj-ned in the above-quoted letter to Seyerlen and which
also form the basis for Bennrs radio-ta1k Der neue Staat
ntellektu (24 epril 1933). rn this talk he
states that the new historical movement of National SociaI-
ism is "negativ wie positiv vorhanden: in dem¡ \ÂIâs sie
bekämpft, und in dem, was sie errichtet". (r 443f. )
Nat j-onal Socialism, that is, has thrown of f the o1d
"Iiberal", materialistic and Marxist values and is con-
structing new, metaphysical ones. This association of his
o\^/n cultural criticism with Nazism, which we will be
discussing in more detail in chapter 4, is implicit in the
above-mentioned Thesen written on 5 March:
Inrmer hieß es: die Ku1tur ist bedroht, die Frei-
heit ist bedroht, Iacherlich: jedg geschichtliche
Bewegung machte Kultur uberflussig u. ent-
hielú gÍeichzeitig den Boden für eine neue (48)

These private thoughts of Bennrs do not suggest that

his behaviour in the Academy eight days later (13 }ttarch) is

(47 ) Benn-NachIaß, op. cit.

(48 ) rbid.
 -r14-

motivated by political expediency or opportunism; at a

meeting of the literary section of the Academy on this
date, h€ makes the following suggestion (not quoted in
Inge Jens' book): he
befürwortet, daß wir dj-e Regelung der Ver-
häItnisse in deÍ Abteilung selbst in die Hand
nehmenr üfr Auflösung oder Zwangsmaßnahmen z|J
veïmeiden. Wir seien all'e mit der Vorkriegs-
zeíL auch verbunden; ebenso seien wir der
Gegeff^/art verpflichtetr üñ die-Zukunft der
Sation mitzugestalten. Er schlagt vor, eine
Erklärung zu formulieren, die allen Mitgliedern
zrrr Unteizeichnung zugehen und ebensowohl der
Reorganisation der Abteilung wie einer ein-
deutígen zuverlässigen Arbeit der Abteilung
dieneñ könnLe. Er hat folgenden Wortlaut zur
Diskussion gestellt (49 )

Benn then put forward a draft for the "Erkl-ärung" :

Sind Sie bereit, unter Anerkennung der ver-
änderten geschichtlichen Lage weiter Ihre Person
der Preußischen Akademie der Kunste zur Ver-
fügung z1r stellen? Eine Bejahung diese'f Frage
="ñriéßt die öffentriche potitisóhe eetätigung
gegen die Regierung aus und verpflichtet Sie
2u- loyãlen ¡lltarbeit an dèn satzungsgemfß
der"iner
akademi-e zufallenden Aufgaben der NaÈion. (50)
That Benn himself was the instigator of this questionnaire
is further confirmed by his statement in reply to a
question from Rudolf Binding: that "Gedanke und Formung
des Entwurfs von ihm selbst seien". (lr)
Benn, in other words, was instrumental in helping t.o
bring the Prussian Academy into alignment with the Nazi

(4e ) Archives of the PreulSische Akademie der Kunste'

op. cit.
(¡o¡ rbid. rnstead of Bennrs original- "satzungsgemäß der
Akademie zufallenden Aufgaben der uatiorl", the final
version quoted by Joseph Wulf and Inge Jens goes a
step further in its "satzungsgemaß der Akademie zrt-
fallenden nationalen kulturellen Aufgaben im Sinne
der veränderten geschichtlichen Lage". see Joseph
Wulf: r ne
Dokumentation GU tersloh, 19 .l ' P.2 and Inge
Jens: Dichter zwischen rechts und linksr oP. cit. ,
p. 191.
(51) Archives of the Preußische Akademie der Künster oP.
cit.
 -115-

régime. It was not long before most of the old members

were replaced by new figures who were faithful to the
government: e.g. Hanns Johst, Hans Grimm, Emil Straúss,
Erwi-n Guido Kotbenhey€r, *"?:^{tiedrich Blunck, Börries
von Münchhausen and others .\)¿ / ott 20 April (Hitlerts
birthday ) tfre new members were invited to the State Theatre
by the Minister for Culture (eernhard Rust) to witness the
premiåre of Hanns Johstrs play Schlageter. Benn was
invited as a representative of the few members of the
Academy remaining from the time of the Vüeimar Republic. At
the celebration which followed the performance he felt
little affinity with the new members as Oskar Loerkers
diary entry for 22 apríL reports:
Bei der Vorstellung \^/aren Stehr, Strauß,
schäfer die Zusammenstellung erfolgte nicht
nach dem Grade des Könnens, sondern politisch. ,
Benn nahm Anmaßung und Feindlicfrteit-wahr-... (fS)
yet only days laterr orr 24 april, he held his radio-talk in
support of the National Socialist state, in which he
attacked the literary emigrés from what appears to be an
overtly political standpoint.

The "political" Benn of 1933/34 is the same Benn who

in 1931 had proudly seen himself as the "purerr artist "der
nicht übera11 mitlief, den Rummel- mitmachte, dabeiwar,
sondern die Trächtigkeit hatte: wer mit der Zeít mitläuft,
wird von ihr überrannt, aber wer stillsteht, auf den kommen
die Dinge zrt ". (l 428) The early weeks of the Nazi
régime demonstrated that the mutual exclusiveness, the
I'either-or" choice which Benn saw between "stillstehen"
and I'Mitlaufen" was invalid and the more so in a politic-
ally volatile time. His conception of his o\^/n position in
February and March 1933 was still that of the artistic
"anti-type" opposing the (anLi-Nazi) activists in the
literary world opposing the type who represented for him

Ø2) For a fu1I list see Inge Jensr op. cit., p.2O4.
Þs¡ Hermann Kasack, ed.: Ta
1903-Iq39 (Heiaelberg rmstadt, 1955 t P.27r.
 -r16-

the hustling political busybody who has no place in the

sphere of art and whom Benn (=eg above ) fraa so uncondition-
ally rejected during the Vüeimar Republic as the type "der
den Rummel mitmachte".
Bennl s antíthetical thinking, his anti-materialist,
anti-Marxist and anti-liberal bias facilitated his initial
sympathy with the Nazís. But this sympathy, as we shall
see, was not unambiguous and did not lead to a full
identif ir:ation with the rágime j for the same principle of
self-differentiation the rejection of "mass" culture and
of concern with political questions which had prevented him
from identifying himsetf with Marxist or "Iibera1" writers
- was to be a central factor in what we might in anticipat-
ion call his incompatibility with Nazi culture. Further-
more, the same principle of self-differentiation which
informs the person of the artistic "anti-type" is common to
the individual aspects of his artistic theory discussed in
chapter 2 above: to the irrationalism expressed in his
"Geologie des Ichil and to the rel-ated "constructive" princ-
ipIe. Yet these same principles have been made largely
responsible for Nazismrs attractiveness to Benn (see
chapter 4, parts 1 and 2 respectively).
The real ambivalence of Bennrs "political" phase is
that the same cultural criticism that allowed him to
associate himself with the Nazis was indissoluble from a
principle of spiritual self-determination and artistic
autonomy which milítated against such an association.
And, further to complicate the matter, it was this same
"autonomous" principle which, in its tendency to adapt the
empirical world to its o\4tn requirements, made possible the
intellectual short circuit that prevented Benn from seeing
historical realitj-es for what they were.
 -r17-
CI-IAPTEIì 4

Be nd ialis

(t) Historv and creativeness

Repudiation of historical categories as a whole and

of the generally accepted "Entwicktungsbegriff." in
particular had played an important role in Bennrs theory of
creativeness before f933. A. Iook at the changes in his
attitude to history in L933/34 might provide some insights
into the relationship between art and politics in his think-
ing during these years: Bennrs support for the concrete
historicat phenomenon of National Socialism should be seen
against the wider background of his view of history in
general.
" ... es gab iemals eine Qualitat, die außerhalb
des Historischen stand", declares Benn on 24 april 1933 in
his radio-taIk er ie Intel (r
445) clearly departing from his insistence one year
previously (in the Akademie-Rede) ttrat creativeness contains
an 'rantihistorische Tendenz " (p. 77 above ) . " rmmer 'prägte
die Geschichte den StiI, immer war dieser Stil die Verwirk-
Iichung eines neuen historischen Seins", he insists in Der
neu e Staat und die Intellektuel-Ien. (r 445) Bennrs new,
"po"itive" view of history does not, therefore, exclude his
previous preoccupation with the question of "stil", w.ith
the problem of art. But political history now gains a ne\^/
significance as a quality through which artistic styles can
be realized:
eeispiele dafür wären gewisse bekannte Tatsachen
zum Beispiel aus der Kunstgeschichte: Das attische
neichsgeiüfrf zerbrach die Mauer, die den ägyptischen
Hof umschloß, entwickel-te das Fernbild, den perspek-
tivistischen Stil; aus der neuen Dynamik des
Geistigen, die der orient nicht kannte, brachen in
Hellas die großen heroischen cötter, aus dem politi-
schen Grundbegriff seines fünften Jahrhunderts, dem
des Sieges, der dorische Tempel, die Nike und die
 -I18-

Statue des Polyklet hervor. (r 445f.) (1)

Bennrs "Iibergang zvr_ zeitweiligen Anerkennung eines
sinnes in der Geschichterr, writes Beda Allemann, v/as only
possible "auf dem weg über die Kunstgeschichte". (2) orr"
can go stil1 further: Bennrs "po"itive" vj_ew of history
in 1933/34 was possibre onry by way of his o\^/n previous
theories about the nature of creativeness through a view
of creativeness, moreover, in which "historyt' was described
in negative terms. This paradox is symptomatic of Bennrs
vj-ew of history in 1933/34 anð, of his relationship to
the
concrete historicat phenomenon of National socialism. we
have to dear not only with an apparent logicar deveropment
of Bennrs pre-r933 artistic theory in rgr/34, but also
with ambiguities and even contradi-ctions - which throw
considerable doubt on the belief that his support for
the
Nazis was ä natural resur-t of his thinking in the two
decades before 1933.

rï
It might be asked what Beda Allemann means by ,,Ent_
wicklungsbegriff, when he writes of Bennrs view of
history
in L933/341
Jetzt wurde sogar der Entwicklungsbegriff
vorübersehend árr"ftiura; ã;!;-äi" Geschichre
hatte ja wieder eiñen Sinn.(3)
Benn had always had an "Entwicklungsbegriff ,,
(.f . p.63_69
above ) - one whi-ch had been remarkabr-e for
i_ts polarity
to the generally accepted view that "Entwicklung,,
is ,,das
schrittw"+îî Hervorgehen eines Zustandes aus einem
anderentt. \¿*/ rhis latter is certainly not the
meaning of

(1) The same examples are cited one week later

in (r zrz ) 3o april)
(
tzI de n
(2) Beda Al1emann: Gottfried Benn. Das problem
Geschi-chte roP cit. , p.32. der
(3) rb j_d. , p.4T .

(4) Heinrich Schmidti .o.. êd',

revised by Georgi rÕth
naussabe
13 lstrttf.ri, ígA
 -119-

"Entwick1ungil which Benn accepts in f9T/34-; he retains

the same viev¡ of the "discontinuous" or disjunctive nature
of significant events in time as in his creative theory
before 1933. Now, however, in 1933, he tries to see the
histori-cal movement of National Socialism in the same
terms as other "creative" (non-poritical and non-historicar)
events. Benn admixes his previous decidedly apolitical
view of creatj-veness with politicaJ_ concepts:
Die Geschicht verfährt nicht demokratisch, sondern
erementar, an ihren wendepunkten immer erementar.
Sie fägt nicht abstimmen, sondern sie schickt den
neuen biologischen Typ vor (r 444)
Benn discusses history in his own terms, i.e. in
terms of art; his remarks reveal a conception of historical
"developmentil which corresponds with his own pre-1933 theory
of the unconditional way in which art is created; thus he
asks the literary emigrás on 24 uay 1933:
wie stellen Sie sich denn nun eigentlich vor,
daß die Geschichte sj_ch bewegt? Wie stellen
sie sich zum Beispier das zwölfte Jahrhundert vor,
den tibergang vom romanischen zum ¡otischen Gefühi;
meinen sie, man hätte sich das beéprochen? Meinen
sie, im Norden des Landes, aus GGenEen sie
mir jetzt schreiben, hätte sich jemand einen neuen
Baustil erdacht? Man hàtte abqestimmt:. Rundbogen
oder Spitzbogen; man hàtte debattiert über die
Apsiden: run oder polygon?Elaure, sie
kamen weiter, wenn sie endlich diese noverl-istische
Auffassung der Geschichte hinter sich l-ießenr ürTr
sie mehr a1s das elementare, das stoßartige, das
unausweichliche phänomen zrt sehen lrv-Z4f ¡
The irrational and spontaneous quality of creativeness is
contrasted with rationar processes of poriticar decision-
making. True to his previous theories, Benn does not see
creative events as a cultivation or extensíon of a given
situation; they arise independently and are to be judged
on their own terms. - To borrow semi Meyerrs words, they
are "schöpfung, nicht Ausbirdung gegebener Anlagen" (.f.
p.64 above). Benn transposes this disjunctive and un-
conditional principle of creativeness to history in general_
- as is evident already on 5 March 1933 in the conviction
expressed in his note-book, namery: "geschichtriche Bewe-
 -120-

gungen sind nie t?] u. abteitbar. Sie sind da". (5) He

appries the same principle to contemporary historical
events: like art, the new state must be judged on its own
terms; as one of those rare creative events in the
discontinuous course of history, it breaks with the previ_ous
historical epoch, the l{eimar Repubric, which has no right to
judge it from its superseded premises.
Es waren doch diese vergangenen fünfzehn Jahre
eine andere Epoche, sie isÉ ü¡erwunden, und man
kann sie nicht mit den neuerstandenen Maßst-¡ãr,
messen. (r 257)
Benn had seen the early years of the twentieth century,
including the Vrleimar Republic: âs l-itt'e more than a contin-
uation of the sterile positivism and materialism which in
his opinion dominated the nineteenth century. Thus he
sarcastically refers to the "bürgerl_iches Neunzehntes_Jahr_
hundert-Gehirn'r (rv241) of the émigré representatives of the
fifteen years prior to 1933 (i.e. of the hleimar Republic).
Bennrs early prose and poetry, as wer-l as his artistic
theory in the rtwenties and early 'thirties, had been
directed against the "standardbegriffe" propagated by the
nineteenth century and adopted by the twentieth (cf. p.9r
above ). His artistic theory had been characterised not
only
by the "negative" movement of cur-tural criticism, however,
but also by a "po"itive" movement: the setting up of his
creative, anti-rational "Gegenvorstellungr'. comparabJ-y the
National socialist state is attractive to Benn in its
aggressive rejection of Lhe past., âs welr as in its will_ to
construct new values: like the creat.ive ,anti-type" of
Bennrs pre-1933 artistic theory, the new historical real_ity
is "negativ wie positiv vorhanden: in dem, h/as sie bekämpft
und j-n dem, was s ie errichtetil. (r 443f . )
such a sense of an irrevocabr-e break with tradition,
of a new start from radicalry new premises, had been, in
one form or another, an experience co¡nmon to most
Expressionist writers and artists. But care is ca]led for
in treating of these writerst "break'r with tradition,

(5) Benn-Nacþl-aÊr 9p. cit.One word was indecipherabl_e:

most probably "erlernbêr", possi¡ty- "ãii.""tá;l'.---'
 _l-2I_

including thr= aggressive cultural criticism in Bennrs

artistic theory which appeared to find some correspondence
in National Socialism. It was characteristic of the
German Expressionists that they did not simply break with
"the" German tradition. They were attracted by those
figures within tradition who themselves fel-t uneasy in
relation to their own tradition: e.g. ttölderlin, Kleist,
Heine, Büchner, Nietzsche. For Benn the latter plays a
decisive role. Like Nietzsche, Benn is concerned with the
devaluation and stagnation of traditions, and the common
denominator of this stagnation in his own epoch is the
nineteenth century. Nietzsche had begun the attack on many
of those nineteenth century ídeal-s and usages which Benn
rejected along with facets of his own era. His programme,
in Bennrs eyes, is a manifesto for the twentieth century
artist.
Inseparable from Bennrs theory of creativeness is his
culturat criticism, already clearly prefigured in his
Expressionist years. Just as the weimar Republic had done
litt1e but continue the traditions of the nineteenth
century, the task of the creative "anti-type" writing in
these years and in 1933/34 is to continue Nietzschers legacy
of provocation and spiritual renewal, his "negative" as well
as his "po"itive" impulses. After Nietzsche, it was the
Expressionist generationwhich had given impetus to what
Benn calls for in t933/342
hlas vernichtet werden soII, ist der Intellek-
tualismus und die in ihm verwurzelte Zivilisation.
(rv 394 )

And it was this "civilisation", according to Benn, which had

provoked the Expressionists I irrationalism:
Lange genugr..sagte sich diese Jugend, haben wir
das mitangehort, G€istesfreiheit z Zersetzungs-
freiheit antiheroische IdeologieJ Aber der
Mensch will groß sein, das ist seine cröße; dem
Absoluten gilt unausweichlich sein ganzes inneres
Bemühen. Und so erhob sich diese Jugend von d.en
gepflegten Abgründen und den Fetischèn einer
defaitistisch gewordenen Intelligenz und t,rieb
in einem ungeheueren, den Sechzigjährigen nicht
mehr verstandlichen neuen Generationsgluck vor-
wärts in das Wirkende, den Trieb, in das formal
noch nicht Zerdachte, das rrrationale (r 448f. ¡
 -r22-

since his own Expressionist years, "das Absolute" for

Benn had meant a dismissal of "l-iberal" individualism and
a refusal to be defined in terms of empirical, casuistic,
day-to-day domestic and political- realities. rn f933/34,
as we sha1l see in some detail in the third section of the
present chapter, he did not relinquish the principle of
artistic setf-differenti-ation which was inherent in his
conception of artrs "absoluteness" and autonomyj that he
nevertheless associated himself with National Socialism
necessiLated a capricious interpretation of historical
realities.

]II

For Benn "der Intellektualismus und die in ihm ver-

wurzelte ZivíIisation" in the years before 1933 had
included the world of history and politics¡ âs manifest-
ations of a materialist worl-d-view. His support for a
concrete historical movement in 1933, for the political
powers of the dayr does not mean a new recognition of
materialist, empirical principles in history. On the
contrary, the National Socialist state, he says in 1933 in
his Àntwort an die Iiterarischen micrranten ,rrhandelt sich
gar nicht um Regierungsformen, sondern um eine neue
Vision von der ceburt des Menschen". (rv 243) " ... über
diese vision'r, he asserts, "entscheidet kein Erfolg, kein
militärisches oder industrielles Resultat". (rv 243)
Klaus Mannrs reproach of "Barbarei", he insists, "wird
absurd vor so viel Legitimation als geschichtriches seinr'.
(rv 243) Benn sees the "geschichtliches Seinrr of the
National- socialist state, therefore, not, in "historical"
but in metaphysicar terms as a self-regitimising power
which has its being independently of governmentar forms, of
industry and of the mititary: the empiricar real_ities which
are prerequisite for "history" and "politics, in the
accepted sense are downgraded to a secondary roJ_e.
This
ì
is exemplified by Bennrs view of economics in
1933/34' He sees National socialism in contrast to Marxism:
"werch sonderbarer sinn und welche sonderbare Geschj_chte,
 -L23-

anzu-
Lohnfragen als den InhaIt aIIer menschlíchen Kampfe
sehenrr , (r 44o) he remarks of the Marxist
view of history'
BennwelcomesinNationalsociatismwhatamountstoa
reversal of Marxist thinking: a "Wendung vom ökonomischen
zum mythischen Kollektivt', (f 44O) a "Durchstoßung"
of the
empirical layers of reality, to speak in terms of his pre-
f933 "ceologie des Ich". "Welch intellektueller Defekt'
welch moralisches Manko", he upbraids the opporients of the
Nazi régime, "i. diesem a.llem Ii.e. in National Socialisml
nicht das anthropologisch Tiefere zu sehen,! " (f 44O)
vlhere Benn does speak favourably of socio-economic
realities, he does so in terms which stress the secondary
importance of these realities. In 1933 tre tells the
literary émigrés
daßesdemdeutschenArbeiter}reutebesser
geht als zuvor die arbeiter haJ¡en mehr Macht,
ãie sind besser geachtet, sie arbeiten in besserer
stimmung, in staãts¡ürgerstimmung (rv a44r' )
Bennrs point, however, i-s less the workersr economic welfare
than their spiritual condition a condition which is not
determined by material considerations, but which transcends
them: " was die sozialistische Partei ihnen [tfre
workers] nicht erkämpfen konnte", Ïre says, "gab ihnen diese
neue nationale Form des Sozialismus: ein sie bewegendes
Lebensgefüh1". (fV 245) For Benn this anti-materialist
"Lebensgefüfrt" goes hand in hand with the Nazisr stated
rejection of the philosophical premises of material-ism,
above all those of Ivlarxism; the new state propagates a new
form of socialism wtrich
den unfruchtbar gewordenen marxistischen
Ge.gensatz vorl Arbeitnehmer und Arbeitgeber auf-
lösen wilt in eine höhere
rDer
Gemeinsamkei-t, mag
man sie wie ;ünger Arbeiterr nennen oder
nationalen soziálismus. (r 442¡
The fact that National Socialism was "social.i-st" in
name only need not concern us here. It might seem puzzling,
however, that Benn suddenly sees in "Sozialismus" a positive
quality. But here, too, h€ submerges historical and
political categories in a "higher synthesis" not unlike
Ernst ;ünger, from whose book Der Arbeiter (1932) he takes
his conception of "socialism". ;ünger had made a myth-
 -L24-

ological figure of the worker, hag-seen him as "Gegensatz

(6) Like Benn, Jünger had
zu aIlen bürgerlichen Wertungen".
complaj-ned fondness for "Sicherheit als einen
"t ?g\rgeois
höchsten Wertrr \ I / and for "Vernunft a1s die oberste Mtacht,
durch die /O\
er Ittre reürger'] diese Sicherheit gewährleistet
siehtrr .\o/ Jünger's "socialism" was bare of dialectics,
Marxist or otherwise, including those of parliamentary
democracy: his "socialist" state transcended historical
causality and was thus "totaI" and "absolute". Technology
had been raised to the status of myth, politj-cs to the level
of metaphysics and materialism was to transcend itself in
the type of the "worker" and his anti-bourgeois Weltanschau-
uns. Comparably Benn tries to see the National- Socialist
state as an "absolute", whose quality is beyond discussion,
which therefore does not admit dialectics in any form and
which, in its transcendence, is not subject to empirical- or
causal laws nor to the bourgeoj-s institutions which base
themselves on these laws. The new state is "der notwendige
Gedanke, diese überirdiChste Ivlacht der WeIt, mächtiger als
das Eisen, mächtiger als das Licht, immer in der Rufweite
der Cröße und im FIügelschlagen einer transzendenten Tat".
(r 44r¡
Benn, then, is interested in "den inneren Prozeß, die
schöpferische Wucht" (lV Z4O) of the new historical move-
ment, rather than in its empirical accompaniments. National
Socialism is attractive for him in its refusal to accept
empirical truth as the basis for its endeavours. Empiricism,
as ever for Benn, "ruft die Gegenvorstellung hervor"; he
associates the anti-empirical, anti-dialectical and
"absolute" quality of his "Gegenvorstellung" with the
Nati-ona1 Social ist state :
Die unabsehbare geschichtliche Verwandlung for-
miert sich politisch zunächst unter dem zentralen
Begriff: der totale StaaL. Der totale Staat, im
Gegensatz zum pluralistischen der vergangenen

(6) Ernst ;ünger: Der Arbeiter. Herrschaft und Gestalt

in Ernst Junge @il, , (stuttgart,
r.d. ), p.21.
7 rbid. , p. 50.
B rbid.
 -L25-

Epoche
Identitat von Macht und Geist, Indj-vidualität und
Kollektivität, Freiheit und Notwendigkeit, er ist
monistisch, antidialektisch, uberdauernd und
autoritär. (r 2:.4)
Theoretically at least, the state cannot be argued with; it
is by definition an intellectually unassair-able quality.
Benn provides an a priori justificatj-on for the new state,
and from a point external to politics. In his pre-I933
artistj-c theory he had drawn upon scientific terminorogy to
irrustrate his ov/n (highly unscientif ic ) theory of the
irrational basis of creativeness; in 1933/34 ne draws upon
political terminology to express an essentially aporiticaÌ,
metaphysical view of history and politics.
Bennrs depolíticisation of poritics can be observed
in his treatment of a further politicar category, that of
the "Führer":
¡'ührer ist nicht der Inbegriff der Macht, ist
überhaupt nicht ars terroiprinzip gedacht, sondern
ats höchsres geistiges prinzip 9è=ãher,. Éür,i"rt
das ist das schopferisc e, in ihm sammern sich die
verantwortung, d ie Gefahr und die Entscheidung,
auch das ganze rrrationale des ja erst durch ihn
sichtbar werdenden geschichtlicñen wir-tens er
beruft sich selbst, man kann natürrich auch sagen,
e¡r wird berufenr ês ist die stimme aus dem reuiigén
Busch, der folgt €rr dort muß er hin und besehen
das große Gesicht keine Macht konnte sie
hindern, keine widerstände sie zurückhaltenr €s
war überhaupt keine andere Macht mehr da -, auch
hierin zeígt sich das Elementare, unausweichriche,
immer weiter um sich greifend Massive der geschicht-
ljc hen Verwandlung. ( r 214f . )
The concept of "die historische cröße, which Benn adapts
from Jakob Burckhardt(9) is thus "dehistoricised,,, removed
from the chain of historical causality, played over into a
sphere which is monistic, "absoluter', not arguable with;
j-nto the sphere of the irrational which herer âs always
in Bennrs creative theory, is integrat to creativeness, to
"das schöpferische". The "Führer", like all creative types
and like all creative events, is not subject to causarity
or to models of behaviour external to himserf. He is the

(9 ) rt is the sub-tj.tle of the fifth chapter (entitled Das

Individuum und das 11 rne )of Burckhardtrs Welt:-
ctes chicht he Betra tunc'en.
 -126-

,,autonomous" type which can be traced from Bennrs early

rtwenties and
work through his artistic ttreory of the
early 'thirties. The "Führer beruft sich selbst" and,
I'nicht Muster, soncLern
like Rönne in Die Eroberunq, h€ is
Ausnahme". (f 2L5) If he is a "representativerr type, then
he is it in the sense that he represents the irrational
and creative metaphysical raw material lost Ín the course
of developing consciousness and civilisation (cf. P.57f.
above ). The "Führer" and his historical movement seek to
construct "eine neue anthropologische Qualität und einen
neuen menschlichen stilrr . (r 2I2)

IV

"Eine geschíchtliche Verwandlung wJ-rd immer eine

anthropologische Verwandlung sein" (I 2l-5), writes Benn ín
Züchtunq I (1933). "Anthropologische Substanz" had been
an important concept in his pre-1933 artistic theory' along
witl. the disjunctive nature of creativeness which went to
make up his "hyperämische Theorie des Dichterischen". In
f933/34 "anthropologische Substanz" and "Verwandlung" are
central in his view of history (both concepts frequently
accompanied by the adjective "neu" ). But how is this
"Verwa¡dtung" to be interpreted? Vùhat is the "anthropolo-
gische Verwandlung" which the "geschichtliche Verwandlung"
brings with it? Benn writes of the political realities of
1933/34 as emanations of a deeper, more fundamental- spirit-
ual metamorphosis:
A1les, was heute politisch und empirisch sj-cht-
bar wird und Form gewinnt, ist ja nur der Aus-
druck dieser Verwandlung, sie selber ist jen-
seitig, kausallos, transzendent (rv 393f. )
Nazi and fascist idealogues, too, emphasised the "spiritual"
and transcendent quality of their movements. "History is
an aspect of the ma jestic life of the spiritr', said the
(1O) *nit. history had taken
Rumanian fascist Horia Sima.

(fo) Quoted in G.L. Mosse: Nazi Culture. rnte1lectual.

s Grossetrs
Universal Library I T Nev/ York, 19 , P.xxa ii.
 -L27-

onsometningofthe''majesticlifeofthespirit''also
for Benn in L933/34, the question remains how concrete'
empirical, historical reatity is to be reconciled with
the transcendenb "anthropological" principte which for
Benn (lottr before and during 1933/34) represents freedom
from the strictures of the empirical here and now' Bennrs
attempt to depoliticise politics does not make politics
any the less rea1.
Before 1933 Benn had expressed the "newness" and
"otherness" (cf. p.6I above, footnote L2) of creativeness
as a result of a return to the "old", precivilised levels
I'anthropologische
of the psyche, to the "Erbmasse" or
Substanz", in terms of a "Gegenvorstellung" to an empirical,
mechanistic world-vj-ew. He had sought "eine neue, die alte,
Wirklichkeit", (r 185) as he exPressed it in I9JI in his
essay coethe und die Natur\,fissenschaften. In ]933 he
writes a forward to this essay for the publication of his
volume Der neue Staat und die Intellektuel-len. As in his
pre-1933 artistic theory, h€ oPPoses the irrational,
transcendent qualities of the mind to the mechanj-stic world-
view. Now, however, in 1933, with his characteristic polar-
isation of intellectual spheres, he presses National
Socialism into the servica of his "transcendent" (itt this
case exemplified by Goethe ) world-view in opposition to the
mechanistic (exemplified by Newton) world-view:
Newton schuf jene Vorstellung von 'objektiver
we1tt. V,Iie wenig es eine solche gibt, wie sehr
sie ímmer wieder der existentiellen und transzen-
denten unterliegt, zeígL zwar die heutige Stunde
der Geschichte, aber in der Wissenschaft lebt sie
grundsätzlich fort. Diese objektive, die anti-
goethische Vüelt wird heute getragen von den
sogenannten Realwissenschaften AIs die ein-
ziÇe Forderung, die sie zu erfüllen haben, wird
neùerdings voñ ihren Autoritäten hingestellt:
Prop-hezeiungen zu ermög1ichen. Prophezeiungen
ermôg1ichen, also Erfolge berechnen, Chancen
auskalkutieren-: das hat mit Erkenntnis gar
nichts mehr zu tun, das sind reine Geschafts-
prinzipien. (r 6r4t. )
"Die heutige Stunde der Geschichte" is thus cited in support
of essentially ahistorical ("existentiell" and "transze¡.-
dent") qualities. An attempt is made to transcend history
 -r2B-

through history. The "new" historical movement releases

those "o1d" creative forces which are "ohne die späte
zivilisatorische Aufteilung in rdee und Realität". (r 6L5)
Benn raises the reality of history to the leve1 of an
idea: an "idea" which is itself ahistorical. This
"dehistoricisation" of history occurs under the aegis of
lJennrs own pre-1933 theorj-es of creativeness. rn 1933, for
example, he writes a foreword to his early essay Das moderne
rch (L92o), which he now interprets in the light of his
interpretation of contemporary (1933) tristorical reality -
as an attack on materialistic conceptions about the function
of the state and as a plea for "transcendent" qrr"lities in
poJ-itics:
Ihr ltfre essayrs] Grundzug ist der Haß gegen
das wissenschaftlich Util-itaristische, die kauf-
männisch gewordene Erkenntnis, den Staat aIs
reinen Verpfleger, den Menschen aIs reinen Renten-
empfänger, gegen aIIes Mechanistj-sche des Lebens,
ihre Sehnsucht ging über da.s Empirische und
Soziale hinaus auf die schopferische Substanz,
auf die Verwandlungsgefuhle, auf Bilder und
Gegenbilder, die ihr aufstiegen aus der ewigen,
von Untergang umkränzten, der ichl-os strömenden,
der stygischen Flut. (r 6Of)
Comparably in f9fi/34 the I'geschichttiche Verwandlung"
transcends "das Empirische und Soziale", for: "Eine ge-
schichtliche Verwandlung wird immer eine anthropologische
Verwandlung sein". Thus Benn sees the historical, poli-ticaI
events as expressions of something much deeper and more
primary than the "actual" or objective historical phenomena
accompanying National- Socialism. "Niemand zweifelt mehrr',
he writes in 1933 in Züchtunq I, 'r daß hinter den
politischen Vorgängen in Deutschland eine geschichtliche
Verwandlung steht, die unabsehbar ist. Der kulturelle Lack
einer Epoche ist brüchig und springt. Aus den Nahtlinien
des organischen stößt ¿ie Erbmasse hingesäte Jahr-
hunderte sind am Ender'. (r 2f4)
Bennrs treatment of "history" in general and of
specific historical and political categories (..g. economics,
the "Führerpri-nzip" ) in f933/34 reveals a Gedankensprunq
over the empirical phenomena which go to make up historical
realities. So, too, his treatment of individual points of
 -r2g-

the Nazi prograrnme indicates a depoliticisation of

political reatity and caIls into question his compatibil-
ity with the actual, empirj-ca1 phenomenon which National
Socialism undoubtedJ-y was; it also raises the question of
the alleged similarity between National Socialism and
Bennts pre-1933 thinking : ot at least the idea that one is
contirruous with the other. Benn either does not bother to
inform himself on what precisely the Nazi progranìme con-
. ' (rr)
tains \ --'
or he stretches the programme to suit his own
needs; orr âs a resul-t of such wilfu1 adaptation, he
involves himself in contradictoriness and, on occasion, he
finds himserf forced to defend his o\^/n ideas against the
Nazis. - The unity he superimposes on various spheres of
reality, the claim in the 1934 introduction to his volume
Staat nd t e Ie , for example:
Politisch geistig - biologisch es ist
alles gar nicht mehr zv trennen, (IV 394)
is not workabre in practice ; Bennrs o\¡¡n conception of
"Geist" and of the "biological-" origins of creativeness is
in the final anarysis irreconcirable with the actuar
political programmes of the Nazis.
An essay such as Geist und Seele fticrer ces lech-
ter (1933) would suggest on the surface that Benn i_dent-
ifies himserf entirely with the genearogical measures of
the Naz-is: that instead of a deporiticisation of po]_itics
a politicisation of his artistic theory a harnessing of
the creative "Erbmasse" to a political ideology takes
p1ace. The essay consists rargery of a discussion of
scientifj-c means by which the race coutd be "improved"
by a points-system, for example, whereby only marriages
would be permitted, "die das wertvorlste Erbmateriar des

(11) see Dc)Ðl)e leben (publ . L95o)z rr

Das Partei-
programm. Ich hatte es nie bis zu Ende studiert,
\^/ar auf keiner der NS.-versarnmlungen gewesen, hatte
weder vor noch nach 1933
-Zeitschrift abonniert
5 March f933 Benn had wri
part of the fifth of his
"Das Proqfamm einer neuen Bewegung kann man nie
erfahren. " Benn-Nachlaßr op. õit.
 -130-

volkes hüten nd weiterführen". (r 237) The parallelism

to Nazi ideas is, of course, unmistakable. But Bennrs
statements in favour of genealogicar laws to further a
concrete social programme are qualified whe he sees the
politicar measures in conftict with his own private inter-
pretation of them - i.e. in confl-ict with their servicabil-
ity to creativeness as he understands it. This raises the
question of what Benn means by "wertvoll": his conception
of "Rasse" does not correspond with the actual Nazi idea
that a hearthy body (provided it berongs to Lhe right
raciar grouping) fulfirs a large part of the requirements
for a healthy irra, (12) ,, ... welches sind die entschei-
denden lrlerte des menschlichen seins: das biorogisch Natür-
liche und Gesunde oder die ho e Züchtung des ceistes?r asks
Benn in Geist . (r 239)
He continues:
so viel wird man alrerd ngs vermuten können,
daß es Rasse ohne ceist nicht gibt. Daß alåo
Rasse züchten auch immer heißt: Geist-;ü.ht;;.
Nur der Geist - Geist als Entscheidunqstähicr-
keit, Maßsinn,..Urtei1shärte, prüfungsãchärté
- bildet das Körperliche eines volkés
eines Einzernen dahin aus, daß man vonoder
Rasse
und Züchtung sprechen kann. (r Zag)
Bennrs pre-1933 conception of "Gei-st" and "Rasse" had been
similar; he had seen "Geist" as a quality which, although
favoured by certain intelrectual (not racial) groups (e.g.
the Lutheran pastor-house), cannot be "bred" or "improved"
by design (cf. p.6o above) - and it was in this point
(trre question of biological "züchtung") that his chief
objection to Nietzsche had come (p.62 above). The "ce-
meinschaft" of which he speaks in
tiqer Geschlechter is not a colrective of Germanic super_
men; the primafy, the tentscheidenden Ï^Ierte des mensch_
lichen seins" for Benn are metaphysicar ones the var_ues
of a "metaphysische Gemeinschaft". (f 23g) Benn does not
unambiguously commi-t hi-mserf to the biotogism which domin_
ated Nazi genealogical theories.

(I2) Hermann claser: @, op. cit p.27.

 - 131-

not adopt the Nazisr Social Darwinism.

Benn does
Biological "fitness" is a secondary question, just as the
empirical aépects of politics are secondary to its meta-
physical meaning. There is evj-dence, too, that some of
Bennts statements on genealogy are concessions to the
régime and not entirety expressions of his own convictions.
on 24 August 1933 he writes to xäthe von Porada:
Habe ein paar Aufsätze verfeltigt für Zelt-
schriften, die gut zahl-en, lappisches Zeug.
Was man so jeLzL wil1.(13)
It is probable that the "Iäppisches ze\g" to which Benn
refers includes at least the essay Der d eutsche Mensch. Erb-
masse und Führertum, nine Pages of genealogical gossip
publ ished in Die Woche on 26 August i.e. two days after
his letter to Kathe von Porada.
Even in the process of making concessions to the régime,
Benn reveals that his own personal conception of creativeness
and the Nazisr ideas about "züchtung" are worlds apart; in
f934 he writes in Lebensweq eines Intellektualisten:
Die neihe der Paralytiker unter den Genies ist
enorm, die der schiZophrenen trägt die größten
NTamen, und das al1es nicht beilaufig supplemen-
tarisch, hinzukommend, sondern als Geschick,
Wesen, BIut und Boden des Schöpferischen
Unter den hundertfünfzig Genies des Abendlandes
finden wir allein fünfzig Homoeroten und Trieb-
varianten, Rauschsüchtige in..Scharbn, Ehelose
und Kinderlose als Regel, Kruppel und Entartete
zu hohen Prozenten, das Produktive, wo immer man
es berührt, ist durchsetzt von Anomalien, Stig-
matisierungen, Paroxysmen. (rv 52)
Benn's terminological- concession to the Nazj-s ("Blut und
Boden" ) is grotesque in the context, whose message is
precisely the reverse of what the régime publicly declared
as "productive", i.e. physically robust, "cleant', "fit".
It is hard to believe that Benn does not consciously
distance himself from the Nazis here: the use of "Entartung"
and "B1ut und Boden" to describe one and the same thing is
too much of a dichotomy for Benn not to have been aware of
it. This dichotomy is reinforced by the "Homoeroten" and

(13 ) Paul Raabe, Max Niedermayer, eds.: Gottfried Benn: Den

îraum alleine tracren. Neu e Texte. Briefe. Dokumente t
op. cit., p.135.
 -r32-

the "Kinderlose", both of which hardly correspond to Nazi

ideas about "Ertüchtigung". Benn describes art (positively)
-which Börries von Münchh¿rusen
in terms simíIar to those
had used in his article ene icht on 7 october f933
/rh\
\- ' /
to attack Expressionism from the Nazi point of view.
Not the biological suPerman, therefore' not tlte
"blonde Bestie" is the creative type:
nicht aus dem Samenunflat der Zwanzíg-
jährigen, auS fettwerdenden Leibern kam Erkenrtt-
nis. (rv 53)
Benn in Ig33/34 does not abandon his earl-ier (1930) idea cf
the "bionegative" tyP. as the creative type (cf ' p'6Zt'
above ). Tfhe decisive values lie beyond questions of racial-
origin or the concrete political measures which are to
regulate and "develop" the race. - Even the modern science
of eugenics is significant f:or Benn by way of the prelogical,
creative "Urwe1t" of his theory of creativeness:
Die ungeheure Ahne.nverehrung früher Re1igi onen
Iebt iñ aen lehrsätzen der modernen Eugenik
wieder auf (r 462)
Benn, then, not infrequently separates his own theory
of the irrational basis of creatíveness from the
'rpoliticised" irrationalism of the Nazis. Although he is
willing to see the latter as helpers and protectors of the
irrational, creative "anthropologische Substanzrr, he insists
on the primary position of his own theory: on the one hand
he sees the Nazis as custodians of the "Erbmasse"; on the
other hand he sees them as a hindrance to the effective
expression of the creative material in the "Erbmasse".
This question will be developed further in the final
section of the present chapter, when we discuss the fate of
Bennrs principle of artistic self-determination under
National Socialism.
V

The none too clear-cut consonance between Bennrs

(r4 ) Reprinted in Paul Raabe, ed.: Expressionismus. Der

¡ d.tv Sonderreihe
r(Munchen, r9 5 , p.229-234. see also p.173
be Iow
 - t33-

conception of creativeness and that of National Socialism

begs the question of the continuity between his pre-1933
artistic theory and his support for the Nazis in 1933/34
the question whether his thinking was "proto-fascist" to
the degree that it was destined to lead him to an un-
equivocal support for National Social-ism . ot whether there
\^/ere elements in his thinking which would suggest an in-
compatibility with and even a rejection of the new régi-me.
A discussion of some of the secondary literature on this
question may provide some enlightenment preparatory to a
further enquiry into what Benn the artist and Benn the
"po1j-ticalr' writer have in common.
Bennrs interpretation of some of his earlier works in
the light of "die heutige Stunde der ceschichte" (p.I2T
above ) i. 1933/34 suggests that he himself understands his
support for the National Socialists as a natural_ develop-
ment of his thinking before 1933. His L934 foreword to
the volume Der neue Staat und die tntel_Iektuetlen (1933)
is quite specific on this point and asserts that his two
radio-talks in support of the new régime ( Der neu e Staat
und die rntellektuellen and Antwort an die l-iterarischen
Emiqranten ) are " ld Jas ResultaL meiner fünfzehnjätrrigen
gedanklichen Entwicklung". (rv 393)
Much of the secondary literature on Bennrs "politic-
ar" phase has been too eager to draw the same conclusions.
On Ç May f933, not long after Bennrs first public
expression of support for the Nazis, Klaus Mann wrote a
letter to Benn j-n which he anticipated the latterrs sel-f-
interpretation, albeit from a negative point of view:
Es scheint ja heute ein beinahe zwangsläufiges
Gesetz, daß eine zu starke Sympathie mit dem
Irrational_en zur..politischen Reaktion führt,
wenn man nicht hollisch genau Acht gibt. Erst
die große. Gebärde gegen ãie 'Ziviliõation' -
eine Gebarde, die, wie ich weiß, den..geistigen
Menschen nur zrt stark anzieht - t p1ötzlicfr ist
man beim Ku1tus der Gewal_t, und dann schon beim
Adolf Hitler. (euoted by Benn in Doppe1leben,
rv 76f .)
Four years later, however, in his essay Gottfried Benn.
Die Geschichte einer Verirrunq (L937), Mann modifies rhe
assumption of his letter to Benn that j-rrationalism al_most
 -134-

inevitably leads to political reactioni he makes the

imporLant point that other thinkers (spengler, George)
with spiritual affinities to Benn did not support National
(15) ,r, insisting that it is Possible to
Socialism.
preserve the ideals of "civilisationn without necessarily
(16) t..rn demonstrates the
becoming a "platter Rationalist",
differentiation which one misses in Bennrs cultural critic-
ism and political judgement during the Wqimar Republ-ic and
in I933t34.
rn his reminder: "rdeologisch tï9: sich über den
(17) Mann once again
Expressionismus ... alles behaupt.r.",
makes an important distinction - a distinction which is
sometl-mes overlooked by Marxist critics. Bernhard Zieglex
(pen-name for Alfred KureIIa), fot example, takes a danger-
ously simplistic view when he writes (itt the same number of
Das Wort in which Klaus Mannrs article is printed) that it
is clear "wes Geistes Kind der Expressionismus \^/ar, und
wohin dieser Geist, gaîz befolgt, führt: in den Faschis-
(18 ) fascism" , zíegrer craims, can be traced
mus ". Barrrr'
" "
back to his Brussels period and the dramas and novellas he
/ra\
wrote there . \LJ i A similar view has been maintained by
more recent crítics. Like aII half-truths, it is unjust in
that it leaves out of account those facts which do not
support the desired conclusion. Given the fact that Benn
supported the Nazis, it is a simple matter to go back and
"prove" that he was a fascist from way back - but only by
distortion and, above all, by omission.
On the other hand, the Marxist approach does provide
insights, especially where the question of Bennrs un-

(15) Klaus Mann: Gottfried Benn. Die Geschichte einer

Veri t in Das Wort t 2, 1937, P.36.
(16 ) rbid. , p.37.
(u) rbid., p.41.
(rB ¡ Bernhard ZLegIer: rNun ist dies Erbe zuende ... r,
in Das Wort, 2, 1937. Quoted from Hohendahl, op.
cit., p.2oo.
( 19 ) rbid. , p. 2o1 .
 - r35-

differentiated culturat criticism is concerned. In this

context Georg l,ukácst critique of Expressionism is
rerevant: Expressionismr writes l'ukács in 1934, "vermochte
sich nur zu einer ganz abstrakten Opposition gegen
' Bürgertichkeit' überhaupt aufzuschwingen t
zv einer Oppo-
sition, die ihre bürgerliche Grundlage und dementsprechend
ihre gemeinsame Weltanschauungsbasis mit der'bekämpftenl
Bürgerlichkeit schon dadurch verriet, daß sie den Begriff
der'Bürgerlichkeitt prinzipiell rind.von vornherein aus
jedem Krassenzusammenhang Iöste".
(20) too, failed to
".rrrr,
distinguish between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat;
"bürgerlich" for him is not a socio-economic concept, but a
handy formula used to dismiss the mediocre, materialistic
"Durchschnj-tt" r "Mehrzahltyp" or "Normgeschmeiß'r.
The danger of the Marxj-st approach, however, Iies in
the drawing of a direct line from Expressionism to political
reaction¡ ãs l,ukács did and as Kurella did with specific
reference to Benn. It is an approach which He1mut Kaiser
continues in l-962 when he claims a direct connection between
Bennrs National Socialist episode and the fact that 'rer die
Klassengrundlage der Wirklichkeit, die ihm 'aufstießr,
nicht erkannte und ihm die Arbeiterbewegung fremd war und
fremd blieb".
(2t) certainly Bennrs undiscriminat.ing treat-
ment of the socio-economic and political world during the
Weimar Republic is not above critj-cism, be it from a
Marxist viewpoint or no. But some MarxisL critics leave
themselves open to the reproach that their method succumbs
to the same exclusiveness and lack of differentiation as
Bennts own "political" thinking. rt is to such ideologicat
exclusiveness that Ernst Bloch, writj-ng in f93B in Das Wort,
objects when he makes the astute remark that the method

(zo ) Georg Lukacs:

in G. Lukacs: Essays u r Realismus Neuwied rlin,
L97L) P.12o.
'
(21 ) Helmut Kaiser: We
tfried Benn s und Ernst Jun rS (eerlin, 19 2)'
p.15. See also Gunter Hartungts interpretations of
the title poem of the AJasha cycte (1913) and of the
dramatic work lthaka (1914), in weimarer Beiträqe,
sonderheft 2, ñÇp.r4Ari. rtre@,
Hartung writes, occurs "in faschistischen cestenT
(p.149 ).
 -136-
I'rechnet fast alle OPpo-
represented by Kurella and f,ukács
sitionen gegen dj-e herrschende KIasse, die nichi- von vorn-
Ìrerein kommunistisch sind, der herrschenden KIasse z''J" '(22)
Contrary to r,ukács, Bloch sees a certain "progressivê"
impulse in ExPressionism:
DÍeExpressionistenwarenIPionie.!ieldeszer-
falls: wäre es besser, wenn sie Arzte am
Krankenbett des Kapitalismus hàtten sein
wollen? (23)
ÉIochrs approach leaves the way open for the possibil-
ity of distj-nguishing between individual aspects of
literary/nistoríca1 movements; in the case of Expressionis¡n
and its political. sequel, it does not preclude one from
making distinctíons between various forms of irrationalism:
between that of a Benn, for example, and that of a Kurt
Heynicke, an Arnolt Bronnen or a Hanns Johst' (Wfrettrer the
latter three can all be thrown into the same pot is of
course another question). Benn's particular form of
cultural criticism, while it had much in common wit'h and
contributed to the climate of spiritual and intellectual
extremism which were favourable to the rise to power of
Natj-onal Socialism r(24) ut the same time contains a Pohler-
ful impulse which sets him apart from the mass of Nazi
fellow-travellers - an instinct of non-compliance, a refusal
to speak on behalf of realities extraneous to his own art-
istic pursuits. This t'non-representative " posture was
(22) Ernst Bloch: Diskussionen über Expressionismus, in E
Bloch: S fr ZeiL erweiterte Ausgabe,
Gesamtausqabe vol. Frankfurt , 1962) , p.269.
(23) Ibid., p.27I.
(24) Benn of course is also turned into a proto-fascist
in t933/34 øv ideologicar supporters of the Nazis'
Frank Maraun finds in Bennrs work a welcome
recognition of the "cedanke der Schöpfung, den er dem
flachen Fortschritts- und Entwicklungsbegriff der Ziví-
lisation und ihren wissenschaftlichen Stutzen entgegen-
ste1lt". Frank Maraun (erwin Goelz): Auf dem weq zum
at. Da bnis ,in
Berliner Borsenze itung, Dec. 1933. Quoted from Hohen-
dahlr op. cit. , p.178. For other positive interpret-
ations from the National Socialist point of view, see
Hohendahl: pp. t66tt. , I75-LTB, I8off. See also MartÍn
Raschke: Gespräche mit Gottfried Benn, in Die Li teratur t
36, 1933, pp.9, tI and Rudo1f RelLau: Schopferische
étáats¡ãÍañüttq, l.t Der Mittaq (oüsseld orf), 3O August
L933.
 _r37_

manifest in his Expressionist years, in his thinking

during
the weimar Republic and, as we shall seer it was decisive
in making his rerationship with National sociarism
the
*é=ä1li.rr.e it was.
Bennrs "irrationalism" has also been given short
shrift at the hands of many post-war critics. walter
Muschgrs polemicar essay of Lg56, for exampre,
throws rlo
ne,nr liqht on Bennrs rerationship to
Nationar socialism.
Like many others before him, ruluschg attacks
Bennrs irrati_on_
alism in toto; he writes that "Lust am Archäischen
maß_
gebrich am Zustandekommen des Dritten Rei_ches
beteiligt
war", that "Benns Kunsttheorie und -praxis gar
nichts
anderes erwarten ließen" and that
"di_ese proteische Denk_
weise in ihrem l^resen charakterlos fist ]".(25) u,r".rrg
does not distinguish between irrationar-ism
as a component
of an artistic theory and irrationalj-sm as a pseudo_
philosophy in the service of a political
ideorogy. The
former, he implies, must necessariry read
to the r_atter.
But one must distinguish between susceptibility
and fatal
necessity. Benn himself distinguished between
his own
irrationalism and that of the Nazis before
1933 (cf.
pp' 106t. , rogf. above
), and he did not cease doing so in
r9T/34' Muschg fails to consider the ,,connecti_ons 1,

between Bennrs own artistic theory and

Nazi ideorogy and
equally importanL the relationship between
Bennrs think_
ing before 1933 a'nd during f9T/34. one cannot
hope to
make such distinctions if one posits
an a priori identity
between Benn and Nazism.
Ïn contrast to Muschg, Alfred Àndersch remarks
that
"der Hang zum rrrati-onalen nicht unbedingt eine
vorform
des Faschismus zlJ sein braucht ,, . (26 ) orruursch
writes this

(25) Wa1ter Muschq:

Benn, in W. ¡¿u schg: D 1 Ze t
Lj-teratur, 3rd . ed. Bernr l r t n
dahl: op. cit. , P.3 19 r. Quoted from Hohen-
(26) Atfred Andersch:
Gedichte ,inFr er
Hohendah I, op. cit., p.2 9
f t 5, I95o. Quoted from
 -r38-

with reference to Walter Mannzenrs essay on Bennrs

theoretical work. Mannzen distinguishes between Benn the
poet and Benn the essayist and thinker. He makes Bennrs
irrationalistic "Kulturtheorie" responsible for his support
of National Socialism and writes of the "unverändert fort-
bestehenden Grundzüge seines Denkens, aus dem seine dama-
Iigen Handlungen in logischer Folge hervorgj-ngen".(27 )
"lra
the continuity in Bennrs thinking is not as simple a matter:
as Mannzen makes out: the ideas which dominated Bennrs
thinking before 1933 do indeed continue to dominate his
thinking during f933/34; and because of this continuity
Benn was unable to identify himself convincingly with
Nazism. The point will become clearer in the second and
third sections of this chapter.
In f95B Dieter Wellershoff makes some attempt at a
more objective evaluation of the relationship between
Bennrs th inking before 1933 and his support for National
Socialism in f933/34. Wellershoff remarks that Bennrs
support for the Nazis was "eine Konsequenz seines Denkensr',
but also that it was "keine fatale Notwendigkeit". (28)
thus appears to free Bennrs early work from the stigma of".
proto-fascism. Butr on the other hand, Benn, "der Vitalist,
der rrrationalist, der NihiIist, waruyä"1.Ito mortale ins
braune Kollektiv durchaus disponierL".\'Y ) Wellershoff
goes on to stress those aspects of Bennrs work before 1933
which could be interpreted as containing a predispositj.on
for Nazism, ât the expense of those aspects which might
have prevented 1933 from being a "fatale Notwendigkeit'r.
He indicates that much of Benn's pre-J-933 tfrinking is not
compatible with Nazism - e.g. Pan-German nationalism,
chamberlainr s racial theories, social Darwini-"*. (30 ) But :
"Benns lebensphilosophischer lrrational-ismus ist eine der

(27 ) Walter Mannzen: Die Stunde Gottfried Benns. Die

Essavs, in Frankfurter Hefte, l, I95O. Quoted from
Hohendahl, op. cit., p.247.
(28 ) Dieter lvellershoff : c. B. Ph anotvp dieser Stunde t op
cit. , p.1O9.
(2e ) Ibj-d., p.110.
(3o ¡ Ibid . , p. 121 .
 -139-

ideologischen Vorformen des Nationalsozial-ismusrr. (3I )

Wellershoff finds the evidence as far back as 1913 in the
cycle of poems entitl-ed Alaska. He writes that the third
poem of this cycle ( Ein Trupp herqelaufener Söhne schrie
) " ist ihm unversehens zu einem ahnungs-
vollen Portråit des Faschisten geworden''. (32)
Wellershoff approaches the over-simplification we ""r.have
noted in earlier critics an over-simplification which
still characterises one of the crassest examples of Benn-
criticism: Franz Schonaueris opinion in 196I, "daß der weg
Benns, vom ersten, r92o erschienen Essay Das moderne rch an,
folgerichtig zu dem fütrrte, was man fäl-schricherweise Benns
'Verratr genannt hat: seine frenetische akklamation 1933
für den rKolonnenschritt der braunen Bataillone'". (33)
That Benn himself was of the same opinion." *.rry åt
his critics, that he saw Nationar sociarism in terms of Ïris
o\^/n pre-1933 thinking, was possibre only through an idiosyn-
cratic view of history a view of history which, as vüe
have seen, is inseparable from his theories of creativeness;
as Beda Allemann rightly puts it, the historical "Mutation"
which Benn welcomed in f9T/34 is "der im engeren Sinn
geschichtemachende vorgang, wenn Geschichte im sinne der
Bennschen Geologie verstanden wird". (34) ês
""rrrr¡
indicated by our discussion of his view of history in r%3/
34 and as suggested by Allemannrs remark, does not i-n the
first instance see or value the actual, empirical phenomena
of history in general and of National Socialism in
particular.; he is blinded to the realj-ties of historicar
phenomena by his own vi-sion of what these phenomena
represent: a breakthrough to the deepest, creative,
irrational layers of his "Geologie des rch'r. one can speak

(3r ¡ rbid.
(32¡ rbid.
(33 Franz Schonauer:
) l-m nRe
Versuch einer Darstellun olemi idakt
Absicht Freiburg, 1 ¡ P.
(34) Beda Allemann: G.B. Das problem der Geschichte, op
cit., p.44.
 -r4o-

of a certain "continuity" of Bennrs pre-1933 thinking with

his private view of history in 1933/34, but not of a
correspondence between his own conceptions about the nature
of creativeness and those of the Nazis. Bennrs affirmation
of history and politics in 1933/34 was possibte only through
a nullification of historical and political principles.
His abrupt transposition of one sphere to another (ttre
application of artistic principles to historical_ reality )
was possible only through his mettrod of thinking, which had
arways incrined to associatircn, the abrogation of causarity
and the reconstitution of the empiricar world according to
the dictates of an autonomous imagination. He could only
"affirmil the concrete, historical realJ-ty of National-
socialism by refusing to see the concrete, historical rear-
ity it was. The paralle1s, between his pre-I933 thinking
and Nationar socialism v/ere indeed onty pararlers: they
could not meet in the here and no\¡/; Benn courd only see a
correspondence by doing violence to the meaning of
"history" and 'rpolitics". Theodor Heuß provided an acute
interpretation of Bennrs "private National socialism" as
early as f934, in a review of the volume Kunst und Macht:
Diese erregten Satze sind voll von leidenschaft-
lichem Bemuhen, die politischen Erscheinungen der
zeiL mit dem sinn und Auftrag der Kunst zusanìmen-
zudenken, aber dies gemühen ãerbricht es
ist der Monolog eines Einsamen und Erschütterten,
der von der Gewalt der Zeít erfaßt ist, ihr
zugehören möchte, in ihr irgendwie urfúllungen
erspurt und zugleich seine denkerische position
verteidigt - ein merkvnirdiges Beispiel wie
sich ein Mann von starker schriftsLelleríscher
Begabung, von extensiver und zugreifender
Beresenhgitr seinen privaten Nationalsoziarismus
auflcaut. (35 )

(35 Theodor Heuß: Kunst und Magþ!, in Die Hilfe, IL,

1934. euored rro@p.
)
.ffiit.-'
Another earry recognition of a certain contradict-
or]-nes s in Bennrs thinking in f933/34 comes from
Rudolf Rellau¡ op. cit. See also Werner Milch: Das
l_
d
Benns, in Jah t a o, 1935, p.257-
zTL, especialty p.2 f and Rudolf Binding's 1etter
of 1.9.1934 to Berthold Widmann t which is quoted
in Hohendahlr op. cit., p. f86t.
 -141-

rt is this "zusammendenken" - Bennrs forcibl_e association

of his essentially private artistic theory with political
reality the probrem of the fundamental incompatibility
between Bennrs conception of art and NationaÌ socialist
reality, r,vhich deserves closer attention than most critics
have been willing to devote to it.
rn judging history and politics by the criteria of his
artistic theory, Benn, as we sav/, tries to lift the state
and poritics out of the empirical, politicar world and at
the same time to associate himsetf with a concrete, politicar
movement - unsuccessfully, for, in trying to adapt the
political situatio.t to his view of art, he must inevitab]-y
find that he cannot convincingry do the converse: i.e.
adapt hi-mserf as an arti-st to the political situation.
Bennrs continuing belief during f9T/34 in the possibility
of a t'Durchbruch" to those creative layers of the t'Georogie
des rch" where "das absolute rchrr can exist free from the
determining factors of empirical (which must include
political ) reality was bound to bring him into conflict with
the empirical phenomenon which an historicar event in-
evitably is.
 -L42 -

(2) Art and the State

What makes the National Socialist state interesting

for Benn, writes Gerhard Loose, is "die monolithj-sche struk-
tur, die geschlossene Form - im Gegensatz zur Lockerheit,
in der Tat: Formlosigkeit der politischen Gebilde des
Liberalismus". (1) ,n. partiar truth of Loosers statement is
borne out by Bennrs rejection of liberar indivrdualism and
by his affirmation of what he considered the Nazi staters
"monistisch, antidialektisch" quality (cf . p.J,Z]2 above ).
Arthough Loosers remarks do suggest a connection between
Bennrs principle of "Form" and his cultural criticism, the
active, vehement, forceful, almost aggressive impulse of
Bennrs 'rkonstrukti-ver Geist" and iÈs relation to cultural-
criticism and political rearity deserve more emphasis. -
It is in his treatment of "Form" duríng f9T/34 that Bennrs
association of artistj-c and political principles through the
medium of curtural criticism becomes especially evident.
Bennts manifesto of the "konstruktiver Geist" before
1933 involved a conscious, determined serf-differentiation
from what he sarnr as a material-istically biassed civiris-
ation j "materialism" r "civilisationr', development and
intellectual and spirituar devaluation had been virtuarry
synonymous in his thinking, with the artist as their
antagonist. This antagoni-stic standpoint of the art.ist had
meant a refusal to work on the terms of the given,
"casuisticr' ("f . p.Tr above ) material worrd. The same
relationship continues into f933/34; Benn attacks the
previous, "Iibera1" epoch and the aesthetic he considers
representative of it: he dismisses I'naturaristic' art,
meaning art founded on observation of empirj-cal reality.
His Fede auf Marinetti on 29 March f934, for example,
wercomes Futurism as a style which "die stupide psychologie
des Naturalismus hinter sich warf, das faul und zäh gewordene

(1) Gerhard Loose: Die Ästhe tik cottfri ed Benns ( Frankfurt,

196r), p.86.
 -143-

Massiv des bürgerlichen Romans durchstieß'r ( r 479).

Comparably, the aesthetics of Expressionism for Benn
included a rejection of the "erbärmlichste bürgerliche
trrleltanschauung" of Wilhelmenian Germany :
Im Grunde v/ar ja doch dieser Expressionismus
das Unbedingte, die antiliberale Funktion des
Geistes zu einer ZeíL, als die Romanschrift-
stelter(2), sogenannte Epiker, aus maßlosen
wälzern abgetaÈeltste Psychologie und die er-
bärmlichste bürgerliche We1tanãchauung, aIs
Schlagerkomponisten und Kabarettkomiker aus
ihren Schenken und Kaschemmen ihren fauligsten
gereimten Geist Deutschland zum Schnappen vor-
warfen. (r 247)
Benn here varies the anti-empirical- in the broader sense
"anti-naturalisticr' - impulse behind his artistic theory
and plays it over into a quasi-political sphere: in the
formulaLion "die antiliberale Funktion des Geistesrr. A
similar association of aesthetic with political forms
recurs in the same essay on Expressionism (l uov. 1933)
from whj-ch the above example is taken; Benn refers to the
time of the weimar Republic and finds that the dominant
literary trends in this epoch corresponded to its potitical
forms:
Einige Romanschriftsteller betrieben ja wohl
auch politische Propaganda, die Geschichts-
raume beruhigten sie hinsichtlich der Vteit-
schweifigkeit ihrer prosa, und j_m parl_amen-
tarismus fanden sie Entsprechungen für die
Geschwätzigkeit ihrer upik (r 253)
Apart from such disparaging analogies between artistic and
political intentions and forms, Benn al-so draws positive
paralleIs : namely between the "antj_-naturalistic",
disciplinary quarity of his "constructive" principle and
the "anti-liberal" state; his essay Doris InIelt sees

(2) ffi]J," other forms do come under f ire r ãs for example

Valery in the following excerpt, novelists are thé
mgin object of Bennrs attack on so-called "bourgeois"
literature : "çelS¡ggflhy, diese kapitatistische Fre-
gatte Lawrence, Erotiker mit Tannenduft
Val_ery eine rein gesellschaftliche Arabeske, ein
Nachzugler es sind alles dieselben ceselrschafts-
typen, dieselben psychologischen Mixer" (l Z5B). The
main exceptions to the rule are Flaubert, Conrad,
Hamsun, the early H. Mann.
 - r44-

bothartandtheSpartanstatemoving''ausderpuritani-
schenundpassivenldeologieindiegeordneteundordnend
ästhetische" . (t ZgIf ' )
Bennrs artistic theory in 1933/34 is an
extension of
art and
Ïris previous anti-materialist understanding of
simultaneouslyaretentionofhispre-Ig33practiceof
dividingtheworldintotwodistinctcamps:intotheun- in
creative, "representativerr types who' Iike the "Herr"
hisearlywork,existonthetermsdictatedbyempirical
I'anti-types" who deviate
reality.; and the rare, creative
from and reber against the given, empirical, "natural"
norm. As in 1929, the world is still divided into "produk-
tiver und rezeptiver Menschheit (.f. p. ror above ). Benn
dist.inguishes in Lg33/34 between the types "die nur
die
Natur erweiterten" (t 263) and those "die einen StiI bil-- '

deten". ( I 263) The latter are "Drillbohrer gegen natura-

listisches cewäschr' (rV 6O), the former are the perpetrat-
ors of thís same "naturalisti.sches Gewäsch": i'e' their
work is based on "[d]"s Plausibte, Fixe, Mâssenhafte' das
die Naturwissenschaften und der sozialismus heraufgebracht
hatten".(I 467) Before L933, too, socialism andI'ei'ir-¡crnt'-
scienco
had been in collusion, with the artist as thejr
liche und prínzipielle Gegenspieler" (.f .r' p.uu abovc ) : attd
in f933/34 "das Ar j-stokratische , Strenge (r 467 ) of the
artist is directed against "deIn] fntellektualismus und die
in ihm verwurzeL|-ce Zivilisation" (tV 394) against the
same "gesamte modern-zivilisatorische Komp1exil which Benn
held responsible for European nihilism (cf. p.46tt' above)'
The new, anti-Iiberal a9ê, Benn believes, will be
"ein Zeii¿alter der Züchtung, der Form und des gesteigerten
ceistes" (IV 59), whose onslaught on modern civilisation
and its mass-culture will bring about a reversal of Speng-
Ierrs prognosis(3) - an "Aufgang des Abendlandes"' (tV 59)

\J/)
I3 "Mass "-culttrre also f igured prominently in Spenglerr s
of what constitutes cultural decline. Like
"""ããption
Benn ãnd Nietzsche, hê draws a para1le1 between the
modern and ancient world: betweèn the "market-place
loungers " of Alexandria and Rome and modern newsPaPer
readers, the "educatedt' manr the cult of the "best-
r'
se 1Ier . See Oswald SPengler: I st
(london , 1926/28' transl. Charles Francis Atkinson t
p.359f.
 -145-

with Nietzsche, the artist for Benn is the rrphorder of

"das Artistenevangelium innerhalb des alrgemeinen euro-
päischen verfarlsrr. (t 2l6) And, as before 1933¡ so arso
in r%3/34, culturar criticism lies at the root of Bennrs
idea of "Form" :
Form nie als Urmüéiung, verdünnung, Leere
im deutsch-bürgerrichen si.rne, sondern als die
enorme menschli-che Macht, die Macht schrecht-
hin, der Sieg ü¡er nackten Tatbestand und
zivitisarorische Sachverhatre fi zgàj
such positive associations between 'rMacht" and "Form"
recur freguently in Bennrs work during f%3/34; aesthetic
quarities are praced in the context of political and
military ones r so that artistic "Form" and politicat
"zucht", "ordnung", I'Disziprin" are seen in artiance. (r
473) "Form" is the principle conìmon to art and the Nazj_
state:
I.orm -: in ihrem Namen wurde alles erkämpft,
was Sie im neuen Deutschland um sich
Form und Zucht: die beiden Symbole der "efrå.r;.
neuén
Reiche; Zucht und stil im ståal-una in der
Kunst: die Grundlage des imperativen wel_t_
bil_des, das ich kommen sehel Die ganze
Zukunft, di-e wir haben, ist di-es: der staat
und die Kunst (r 4Bf;
of the spirit of "Form" in the work of stefan George, Benn
writes that "sei-n Axiom in der Kunst Georges wie im
Kolonnenschritt der braunen Bataillone ars ein Kommando
lebt"'(t 627) He even speaks of a "Geburt der Kunst
aus
der Macht".(r 281)

IÏ

The latter formulation is the titre of the fourth

section of the essay t. e
l-e on t (pub1. 1934), Alrhough
omitting direct reference to the National Socialist
state,
this work is Bennrs most extended effort at defining
the
relationship between art and the power-state. f t
o\^res
much to Nietzsche's Der qriechische Staat.
Nj-etzschers
premi-ss i-s that the true aim of the state
is ,'immer erneute
 -146 -

Erzeugung und vorbereitung des Genius" '(4) ..d the only

state which can fulfil this aim i-s "der Macht-
kind of /Ã\
staatrr. \-/i Nietzsche goes on to define the "Machtstaat"
in its positj-ve relationship to artistic creativeness:
Bei diesem geheimnisvollen Zusammenhang, den
wir hier zwischen Staat und Kunst, politischer
Gier und künstlerischer Zeugung, Schlachtfeld
und Kunstwerk ahnen, verstehen wir unter
Staat nur die eiserne Klammer, die den Gesel-l--
schaftsprozeß erzwingt: während ohne Staat, im
natürtiêhen bellum omnium contra omnes, die
cesellschaft überhaupt nicht in größerem Maße
und über das Bereich der Familie hinaus Vüurze1
schlagen xann. (6)
The main part of Nietzschers definition is reproduced
l'7\
verbatim by Benn in Dorische Welt (r 29o).'" For both
Nietzsche and Benn, the state conducive to art is cJ-early
an "anti-Iiberal" one one which transcends the plurat-
istic "bel1um omnium contra omnes". Nietzsche had been
writing as a cultural critic of the ]ate nineteenth
century; and Bennrs own cultural criticism in the first
third of the twentieth centuryr ds noted in chapters I and
2 above, follows a parallel course.
Nietzsche had seen his times threatened by a "Iiberal-
optimistische Weltbetrachtung" ' (B) .r,a liberalism, as he
insisted in 1871 in a foreword to Die ceburt er Traqodie
originally_intended for Richard Ïrlagner, is a "kulturwidrige
Doktrin". (9 ) *i.arschers anti-libera1ism, his castigation
of the "schwächlichen Bequemlichkeitsdoktrinen des liberalen
(1o) and his ai"missat of
optimismrr"" "bourgeois" ideals such

(4) Friedrich Nietzsche : l_et_ , Kroners

Taschenausgabe 7O (Stuttgart, t9 t P 2
$) Ibid., p.22If .
(6) Ibid., p.2I9.
ft) See El-se Buddeberg: Gottfried Bennr op. cit., p.IIBf .
and Friedrich Wilhel-m Wodtke: Die Anti im vüerk
Gottfried Benns r op. cit., p.11I.
(B) Nietzsche: Der qriechische Staat t op. cit., p.22I.
(e) Nietzsche: Die Geburt der Traqodie, op. cit., p.2OO.
(ro ) Ibid. , p. 2O1.
 -r47-

as material and spiritual comfort, security, home, domestic-

ity, etc. had been shared by Benn since his Expressionist
days. Bennr âs already indicated by Das letzte Ich in I92I
(cf. p. I7f. above ), makes a rigorous distinction between
the "individualism" he finds at work in the socio-economic
world and the "abso1ute", unaccommodating striving f.or self-
determination by the artist. The latter works against the
f ormer i.e. he works against what Nietzsche in the l-ate
nineteenth century had catled the "Mitte" (p.18 above), the
mediocre "mass". It is thus no coincidence that the source
of the many formulations in Bennrs work prefixed by "gegen-"
can be traced to Nietzsche (cf. p.21f. above) or that the
first example (in I9L6: "Gegenglück'1) represents a deviation
from the intellectual and social modalities of the "Herr" -
from the, "bourgeois" norm, that is, against which the
artistic "Gegenvorstellung" is directed. Like Nietzsche,
Benn fears in the dominance of "mass"-man a threat to
artistic creativeness; he shares the fear expressed by
Nietzsche in Der qriechische Staat Èhat the "domestic"
ideologlz of liberalism represents a debasement of ".@_
Kunstziel des Staates zn dem einer häusrichen Kunst". (rt)
Benn also follows Nietzschers analogies between Greek
cultural history and his own epoch: like Nietzsche, he
praises.the "man1y" q,rulities of Sparta (r 262r 268,
^_^, (12)
279) '--r.i and, like Nietzsche, he sees in Euripides the
beginning of Greecers cultural decline: Euripidesr work
represents that "häusliche Kunstrl which Nietzsche had
deplored and on which Benn remarks in Dorische Welt:
gei Euripides beginnt der Mensch, der He11enis-
mus, die Humanität. Bei Euripides beginnt die
Krise ¡ €s ist sinl<ende Zeit. Der Mythos ist
verbraucht, Thema wird das Leben und die Ge-
schichte. Die dorische WeIt war männlich, nun
wird sie erot,ischr ês begínnen Liebesfragen,

(11 ) Ni-etzsche: Der oríech sche Staat t op. cit., p.227.

(12 ) rblq., p.229f. See also Bennrs 1etÈer of ! August
]-933 to xäthe von Porada: "was haben Sie denn nun
schon wieder gegen den Streiter Ii.e. AeschylosJ?
Verlassen Síe doch diesen larmoyanten bürgeil_ichen
PazifismusJ Ihr Ideal von Mann Iöst wohl Kreuz-
worträtsel u. tätrrt eine Luxusjacht am Lido ...,,.
trf a Ile r op. cit.,
p.1 1.
 -148-

Weiberstucke, W€ibertj-tel . . . Es beginnt die

Psychologie alles wird alltäglióh, die
ShawscheMediokritat. (r zTBf..)
Benn specifically identifies late Greek thought with his
own epoch (r 2BB) and, to describe the cultural decline of
ancient Greece, he writes j-n terms similar to those in
which he had attacked the "liberal" era of the Weimar
Republic and the institutionalised mediocrity which he
considered made up its political life:
Oder nehmen wir das Politische, die ganze
regierungsmäßige Ausdrucksweise ist im fünften
Jahrhundert schon da: rder öffentliche Nutzenr,
bürgerliche cleichheit', das rparteiweseni
'die (r 268)
Against those qualities which he chooses somewtrat
arbitrarily to sum up under the heading of "liberalism"(13)
(psychology, empiricism, rationalism, "progress", material-
ism, "Humanität", mediocrity, opportunism, hedonism, etc. ),
Benn sets up rranti-Iiberal" values. As in his pre-1933
thinking, he constructs an abstract norm and defines his
own position in relation to it by way of an antithesis
an antithesis definabl-e substantiarly in terms of the same
creative "Gegenvorstellung" and motivated by the same
cultural criticism as before 1933. He finds a culturo-
critical common denominator between art and the "anti-
l-iberar" state. when he writes, for example: "Das liberare
Zeitalter konnte die Macht nicht sehen" (t 281), he
means by "Macht" not only spartan miritarism and disciprine,
but a rerated also "disciprinary" spiritual force which
contains both a (politicat) 'ranti-1iberar" impurse and an
(artistic) "anti-naturalistic" one :
Die moderne anthropotogische prinzipienlehre, die
sich als neue wissenschaft bildet, erbrickt gerade in
der Macht und der Kunst verschwistert die beiden
großen Spontangewalten der antiken cemeinschaft.
(r 2Br)
The I'Machtstaat" of antiquity appears for Benn to be
hardry distinguishable from its aesthetic or I'anti-natural-
istic" q,t"rityj he adopts Nietzschers definition of art

(13) see also Gerhard Loose: "Benn greift einen Liberal-is-

mus âor den kein Liberaler je vertreten hätte'r.
G. Loose: Die Asthetik cottfried Bennsr op. cit., p.84.
 -149-

(j-n Der Wille zur Macht, cf . p.22 above) as "die Gegen-

bewegung" to describe both art and the Doric state(14):
Die Antike, das ist dann die neue Wendung, der
Beginn..dieses Prinzips, Gegenbewegung zu werden,
runnaturlichr zu werden, Gegenbewegung gegen
reine Geologie und Vegetation, grundsatzlich
StiI zu werden, Kunst, Kampf, Einarbeitung
ideellen Seins in das Material ... (r 29l-)
Art and state share a "constructive", disciplinary force
whose aim is the destruction and transcendence of the
1evel1ing, nihilistic qualities dominant in the spurious
empirical and social world and in the flaccid "individual--
ism" of the liberal epoch; they have in common the "Um-
wertung alles nur reizvoll lndividuellen, genußhaft
Nahen". ( r 462',

III

Bennrs transposition of artistic

principles to the
state through the medium of culturar criticism was possibre
only by way of a perverse and wilful interpretation of
poritics. As noted in the previous section of this chapter
with reference to the "Geologie des Ichr', Bennts utter-
ances in f933i34 reveal a certain difficulty in reconcil-
ing actual, empi-rica1, historicar rearity with the "primary"
nature of his creative irrationarism, with its quarity of
self-differentiaÈion from all ideorogical and political
determinants. The same difficulty is apparent in his
association of the artistic "constructive" principle with
the "anti-libera1" Nazi sLate.
Bennrs language indicates how tenuous this associat-
ion is and the degree to which it can be valid only in the
realm of the imagination, in a sphere which is not subject
to the laws acting in the here and now. Benn suggests the
connections between art and the state mainly by apposition

(14 ) For Nietzsche, Apollo had been both a I'staatengott'l

and a "Kunstgottrr. See Nietzsche: Der qriechiãche
Staat, op. cit., p.23Of.
 -L59-

by a or by conjunctions such as "und'" or "oder":

comma
"Zwischen Rausch und Kunst muß Sparta treten, Apollo, die
große züchtende Kraft" (I 2BT); "It{oira-: der jedem zvge-
wiesene Teil, der Raum des Lebens, den die Arbeit tüttt am
Staat und am Marmor" (I 476)(f5); "Zucht und Kunst - die
beiden symbole des neuen Europas" (I 476); "Bei der dies-
jährigen Bilanz der Erde stieß ich auf zwei Prinzipien, die
die Gevüatt des Züchtungsgedankens zu ertragen scheinen, es
sind die Kunst und die Macht oder der Krieger und die Statue
oder das Schlachtfeld und die Herme". (l 4OO) The relation-
ships are not defined but suggested, not logically developed
but stated. A similar principle operates in the fusion of
separate ideas into one formula : I'mil-itante Trans zendenz"
(r ZZO); "formale[r] Absolutismus" (t 253) j "die impera-
tive Kunst" (l 4TT).; or, âs already noted, "die anti-
Iiberale Funktion des Geistesrr.
The "scientific" sub-title of Dorische welt ( "Eine
IJntersuchung über die Beziehung zwischen Kunst und Machtr')
is misleadinn. (16) As in his artistic theory and practice
before f933, history serves Benn as material- for an imagi.n-
ative "Gegenvorstellung" which itself works independently of
historical categories and methods. The Greek historical and
cultural background is significant for Benn only through the
affinities he selects (largely through the agency of
Nietzsche ) between it and his ovrn ideas about the meaning of
art.
The same assocj-ative method which before 1933 had
enabled Benn to posit an antithetical rel-ationship between
the artist on the one hand and the complex and multifarious
world of politics on the other hand permits him in 1933/34
to dream up an alliance between the I'anti-libera1" qualities
of art and the National Socialist state. rt is an alliance,

(r5 I s formulation in Der Wille zur Macht

Compare Nietzsche
)
op. cit., p.649: "Man kann bei Naturen wie Casar und
Napoleon etwas ahnen von einem rinteresselosenr Ar-
beiten an ihrem Marmor ".
(16) see Ludwig Rohner: cottfried Benn: Dorische welt rf[
L. Rohner:
Gesch
(meuwied rlin, 19 ' P.2
 - r51-

however, which was not to stand the test of concrete

reality. - For under National Socialism as it existed in
fact (u= opposed to its mode of existence in Bennts mind)
it would have been ludicrous to hope that the political
world could loe pressed into the service of art; actual
Nazi reality demanded the reverse procedure. In the last
analysis Benn had to ask himself whether the rrantiliberale
Funktion des Geistes" had a political or an artistic mean-
ing i.e. he had to ask himself at what point the boundary
between "Kunst" and "staat" is to be decisivety fixed.
It is Bennrs concern for artrs "primaryrr quality, for
its right to function independently of ideological and
political controls or pressures which is above a11 respons-
ible for the inconsistency and even contradictoriness that
becomes evident in the course of his attempted "zusammen-
denken" of "Kunst" and "staat". There are points where he
draws back from identifying the two spheres: the state, he
writes in Dorische Wel,t, "reinigt das Individuum, filtert
seine Reizbarkeit, macht es kunstfähig. Jâ, das ist viel-
Ieicht der Ausdruck: der Staat macht das Individuum kunst-
fähigili "aber", he continues, evidentty with a side-glance
at National Socialism, "übergehen in die Kunst, das kann
die M¡rcht nie. Sie können beide gemeinsame Erlebnisse
mythischen, volkhaften, politischen Inhalts haben, aber die
Kunst bleibt für sich die einsame hohe we1t. Sie bleibt
eigengesetzlich und drückt nichts aIs sich selber aus".
(r 29o) Benn, in other words, hesitates to a1low the state
fuII status in the artistic sphere: "Denn wenn wir uns jetzt
einmal dem Wesen der griechischen Kunst zuwendenr so drückt
der dorj-sche Tempel ja nichts aus, er ist nicht verständlich,
und die SäuIe ist nicht natürlich, sie nehmen nicht einen
konkreten politischen oder kul-tischen Willen in sich auf,
sie sind überhaupt mit nichts para1lel, sondern das Ganze
ist ein stil ..."(t Ðo,t ) art here is not seen as an
extension or representation of historical or political
powers; while the state may serve as a means towards art,
it is not its aim: although Benn describes the Doric state
as "Beginn dieses Prínzips, Gegenbewegung zu werden, run-
natürtichr zu werden, Gegenbewegung gegen reine Geologie
 _L52_

und Vegetation, grundsätztictr Stil zu hlerden", he reserves

for the artist the ultimate realisation of the "anti-
naturalisticr', constructive principle and demotes the
political world to the secondary status of "mere" nature:
Dieses Darstellungsprinzip stammt nicht mehr
unmittelbar aus dãr Natur wie das Politische
oder diã uacht, sondern aus dem anthropologischen
Prínzíp (r 29L)

The suggestion is that "das anthropologische Prinzipr' - in

Bennls artistj-c theory the source of creativeness ís
primary, unconditj-onal and not subject to laws operating
in the empirical sphere. This cl-ear del-imitation of the
"anthropological" principle from politics and worldly
"Macht" means an equally clear distinction between the
latter two qualities and formal, artistic ones for
t?ästhetische Gesetze" have their I'zentrale Lage im anthro-
pologischen Prinzíp". (I 292) Comparably in the Akademie-
Rede of L932 the formal principle had been "eingebettet in
das Ursprünglichste der anthropologischen Substanz" (cf.
p.72 above); and both principles had in common the
spiritual and intellectual self-determination which was
and in 1933/34 remains the prerequisite for artistic
creativeness: art, Benn writes in Dorische wel-t, is
anchored in "der freispielenden Gene" ( I 289), which is
"absolut, eigengesetzlich, sêlbstentzündet
nichts hervorgerufen, durch keine Cötter und durch keine
Macht".(r 289f..)

IV

Bennrs reluctance to allow the two spheres of "Kunst"

and "Macht" to coalesce, his insistence that art is "eigen-
gesetzlich", throws considerable doubt on Else Buddebergrs
claim that he rrsubstitutes" the Nazi movement for his own
irrationalism:
Was mußte es bedeuten, wenn dem entleerten
Ich nun mit der rBewegungr plotzlich realiter
erlebbare t in der vötkischen Gegenwart zu ver-
wirklichende Gehalte angeboten werden konnten
Das Rönne-rch suchte die imaqi-nierten
tMedj-terranr,
Gehalte des Halluzinatorischen im
 -r53-

im 'ligurischen KomPIex w ieviel wirk ich-

keitsnaher wurde dassel-be nun mittels der Sub-
stituierung durch das National -ra s s isch-völ-
kische (17 )

Benn does not replace his own imaginative "Gegenvorstellung"

with "das Natic,nal-rassisch-völkischer'; and how little
enamoured he is of "das VöIkische" wil-l become clear in
section 3 below. While it is true that the impulse of
cul-turaI cri-ticism contained in the "konstruktiver Geist"
facilitates Bennrs association with the Nazis, Lhe same
"konstruktiver ceist" means freedom from the dictates of
the empirical, including the political, here and now and
freedom from ideological strictures: it means that "Kunst"
is not subject to "Macht"; at best they are analagous, not
interdependent qualities :
Man kann sie nebeneinander sehen, die Macht
und die Kunst. (r 29o)
The artistic principle contained in "die anti-
libera1e Funktion des Geistesrr, then, is not submerged in
the political meaning of the formulation; art remains
"für sich die einsame hohe wel-trr. rn this point, too, Else
Buddeberg finds a different interpretation:
Vor..der Wende. hatte Benn aus dem subjektiven
Gefuhl der volligen Ich-Entleerung a.ls einzige
Rettung vor dem Chaos eine immer starkere
Herausarbeitung des Formale n entwickelt. Mit
der Vüende vollzieht sich al tmätrtictr ei-ne imrner
deutlicher werdende Abschwä chu ng der Autonomie,
der rAbsolutheitr der Form. (1 B)
Contrary to Buddebergrs assertion there is in fact an
intensification of BennIs "formaI" principle in t933/34;
this is indicated by the forceful quality of the formul--
ations he chooses to express the idea of form: "formaler
Absolutismus" (I 253); "Form ist Sieg, Herrschaft"
(r )173); "Sagen Sie für Form immer Zucht oder Ordnung oder
Disziplin" (r 473); "die unerbitttiche Härte des Formalen"
(r 474) -; "sich herankämpfen in t{ühen¡ auf Wegen und
umwegen, mit Rückschlägen, in immer härterem und gestänt-
terem Elan" (l 476); "ordnung die das Leben er-
hämmertr rnêißelnd ergreiftr' (r 262); I'Kunst, Kampf , Ein-
arbeitung ideellen Sej-ns in das Material" (r 29I) j "Dri11-
(tt ) EIse Buddeberg: Gottfried Benn t op. ci!. , p.1O4.
(IB ) Ibid . , p. 1O1 .
 -rt+-
und ideologischen
bohrer gegen naturalistisches Gewäsch
andere' die allgemeine'
Dilettantismus, Einbrecher in die
muß erkämpft und
die unsichtbare Weltrl (rv 6o); "Ausdruck
aufs rucksichts-
gehalten werden mit e iner Schärfe, die
(lv 6f) None of these
Ioseste alles teilt u nd scheidet".
about the "Ab-
examPles suPPort Budde bergts contention
schwächung" of the "Ab solutheit
der Form" in Bennrs think-
episode' In fact the
ing during his National Socialist
from Lebe nsweg e ].nes
lat ter two examples quoted above (fottt
as an assertion
Inte llektualisten, L934) can be interPreted
its culturo-
of the "Absolutheit der Form (including
and its
critical imPulse ) aqainst Nat ional Socialism
cultural effluent (cf' P'fB5 below). and
Buddeberg is right in Placing "Autonomie"
but her aPParent
"Absolutheit der Form " in apposition;
il-rtIÊcl "
cletermination to demonat-raLe bhaf- Be¡ntt "rluJ¡Ft
j ltrdtl¡t Ito t' I tr
National Socíalism for his own prê-l:JJ lcì<la¡r
suggest that these ideas are largely given
up <luritrg L\.t )-)t'
34. Thus she falselY asserts:
Benn ist so überzeugt von der produktiven'
der
verwandelndenKraftderrneuenRealität''daß aufgibt
er einen veritablen Gtaubenssatz
bezeichnenderweise nur für die ZeiL seiner
nationai;;;i;ii"ti=cþen seiñe Begeisterungl Dieser
Claubens;;L; hatte für kunsttheoretischen
,Jd;i"d;;;;, für seine Refrexionen zur Absorut-
heit der Éot* eine zentrale Bedeutung gehabt
und er wird sie wieder habenJ Es ist der
Satz NietZscf,e'=.
metaphy=i""fte
-rloãtt
tätigtceit sei' zu der das Leben
.rrr= verPf lichte ' (19 )
he had
Not true: Benn does not give up the "Glaubenssatz"
during
adopted from Nietzsche; he endorses it several times
in
1933/34: for example in Züchtunq r (1933' r 2L6f')'
Lebensweq eines rntellektualisten (1934' rV 54)
and' in
different words ( "Nur a1s ästhetisches Phänomen ist das
(zo )
Dasein und die wett ewig gerechtfertigt"),

(19 . Ibid., P.116.

oP' cit' '
(20 "în-õãilsåt' Die Geburt der-Traq-ôqiel.
From Nietzsche: s "Nietzsche
;:iî. d?s.könnte nur
al-s Ganze= trr=-ine* einzigen satz,
sein tiefster ""ã-r"Lünftígster sein". (I 292)
 -L55-

welr (t 292\/ and in Lebe nS\,VeCf e a s Inte lektua I sten.

(rv 65)
An approach such as Buddeberg's serves to confuse
rather than clarify the issue of the relationship between
Bennrs pre-1933 ideas and his thinking in fgß/34. The
problem of artistic self-determination remains fundamental_
to Bennrs position in these years; even Buddeberg finds
herself confronted with the unavoidable fact that "Geistes-
freiheit" and "Frej-heit der Kunstausübung', (2I) ,... basic
to Bennrs conception of art before 1933, and toward the end
of her section on Benn and National socialism she suddenry
discovers that he did after arl try to save "die Absorut_
heit der Kunstrr from the domination of poritics:
Man fragt sich angesichts der Erhöhung der Kunst
über jeães politiãche Maß, wie e"rr., gt-auben
konnte, daß diese seine Auffassungen mit der
Handhabe von Macht im dritten Reiõh jemals )u
vereinen gewesen wäre. Jedoch: man ñruß ,."ig_
nieren; von Benn ist keine Folgerichtigkeil,
zr7 erwarten, - wenigstens nicht außerhaÍb
dieser einen Konsequenz, die auch innerhalb
seiner politisch-nationalen überflutung
gel_egen-tlich durchbricht. rmmer wiedei ist
er bemuht, die Absolutheit der Kunst zu retten. G2)
one hopes that Bennrs own inconsistencies do not precrude
a consistent treatment of them. The vicissitudes of his
creative "anthropologische substanz" and of his ,,construct-
ive " principle in 1933/34 ao i-ndeed appear to conf irm Er-se
Buddeberg's judgement that there is "keine Folgerichtigkeit
zu erwarten" from Benn. However, one should took for the
source of the inconsistency; this might result in the
discovery of a certain underlying "Forgerichtigkeit'r in
Bennrs thinking after all.
Creativeness, Benn had said on 5 Apri1 I93Z in his
Akademie-Rede, contains "e

(2r) Else Buddeberg: Got fried nn. op. cit., p.lOZ.

(22 ) J-n contradiction
2l absolut
schem Formwillen
rden aufqehobenr'.
 -$6-
und eine unrepräsentative" (.f. p.77 above). Despite
the "radical" and unconditional quality of the "schöpfe-
rische Vüucht" (p.I24 above) which initially made National
Socialism attractive to Benn and which he associated with
his o\^/n specif ically artistic "radicalism", he was forced
to the recognition that art serves a qualitatively differ'-
ent 1evel of "creativeness" than that envisaged by the Nazi
state. Benn tried to superimpose his o\^/n conceptions of
creativeness on the Nazi movement; he tried to I'aesthet-
j-cise" politic". (23) But he shrank from the corollary which
a totalitarian régime imposes: he shrank from "potiticising"
art. The constant underlying his artistic "radicalism"
the fact that it was in its pith and kernel "unrepresent-
ative" and not amenable to spiritual annexation from alien
quarters - prevented Benn from unreservedly placing hiinself
in the service of National Socialist ideology.

The formulation r'Ästhetisierung der Po1itik" has its

source in Walter Benjamints study Das Kunstwe rk im ZeiL-
alter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (1936).
Benjamin uses the term to describe art which tends to
support reac{:ionary politics by withholding from art its
social relevance - by a "künstlerische Befriedigung der
von der Technik veränderten sinneswahrnehmung". (24)
"Politisierung der Kunstrr, on the other hand, is given a
positive meaning in Benjaminrs study. It is introduced

(23 The term "Ästhetisierung der Po1itik" is employed

)
by Dieter Wellershoff in Gottfried Benn. Phànotyp
dieser Stunde. op. cit. , p.135 and by Gerhard Loose
ffi eottfried-Benner op. cit., p.12o.
For a brief but convincing discussion of r'Ästheti-
sierung der Politik" with reference to the complex
question of the continuíty between Benn's pre-1933
thinking and his position in f%3/34 see Reinhol-d
crimm: Bewußtsein a1s Verhanqnis. Uber Gottfried
Benns Weg in die Kunst , in R. Grimm, Wolf-Dieter
Marsch, eds. IE nst im Schatten des Le
und wider c tfried nn t op. cit., p.7 f
(24) Walter Benjamin: Das Kunstwerk im ZeíLa1ter seiner
technischen Reproduzierbarkeitr op. cit., p.51.
 -L57 -

rather abruptly in a postscript to the essay; but the marn

body of the work suggests that "Politisierung der Kunst'l
refers to artrs function of critically illuminating the
structures of social reatity: artrs main significance
(e.g. in the film) i= "die Tendenz, die gegenseitige, (2þ)
Durchdringung von Kunst und Wissenschaft z\t fördernrr
and to emphasise more than hitherto the "publj-c" or "Aus-
(26 )
stelrungswer ttt of arÈ.
Bennts artistic theory is clearly at variance with
Benjaminrs views on the alliance between science, photo-
graphy and art and on the latterrs social frame of reference'
As opposed to Benjaminrs
t'gegenseitige Durchdringung von
Kunst und wissenschaft", Benn had insisted i'n 193o that the
scientist is "der eigentliche und prinzipielle Gegenspieler
des Dichters" (cf. p.BB above). BennIs artistic "autonomy"
had meant self-differentiation from the socio-economic \^/orId
and had involved a failure to take account of the complex
interactions between individual aspects of this worLd j to
approach empirical reality critically on its own terms was
for Benn tantamount to a betrayal of art (cf. P.B5f. above).
As noted in chapter 3, this relationship of mutual exclusive-
ness between artistic, "purerr rrGeist" and the entire "public"
sphere had its dangers and tended to be self-defeating as
far as artrs independence is concerned.
The dangers and the Possible political consequences
of such a separation of "Geist" from socio-economj-c real-
ities seem, ât least, to have been convincingly exPlained by
Herbert Marcuse in his essay Ü¡er den affirmativen Charakter
der Kultur (1937). Marcuse concludes that the cultural
traditions of the last four hundred years, in their tendency
to raise art to a higher, "autonomous" sphere and thus to
"transcend" sociat and political reality, have de facto
supported social injustices. The transference of "culture"
into a sphere beyond the socio-economic here and now,
Marcuse belj-eves, tends to cancel out intellectual and
spiritual independence and lead to voluntary subjugation
under a totalitarian régime, "wo d.ie innere Freiheit sich

(25) rbid. , P.40.

(26) Ibid; ¡ p.22f f..
 -r58-
(l''l ) nb"t-t..t,
selbst zur äußeren unf reiheit aufhebtrr .
"Innerlichkeit" in a realm beyond concrete historical
realities, Marcuse writes, leads to "eine ebenso abstrakte
äußere Gemeinschaft Das Individuum wird in eine falsche
Kollektivität gestellt (nasse, Volkstum, BIut und Boden).
Aber solctre Veräußerlichung hat dieselbe Funktion wie die
Verinnerlichung: Entsagung und Einordnung in das Bestehen-
de, erträglich gemactrt durch den realen Schein der Befrie-
digung. Daß die nun seit über vierhundert Jahren befreiten
Tndividuen so gut in den Gemeinschaftskolonnen des autori-
tären Staates marschieren, dazu hat die affirmative Kultur
(28)
ein gut leil beigetragen".
The relevance of Marcusers train of thought for Bennrs
case is clear i but it is not directly applicable to Benn.
On the one hand, the reproach can be made from Marcusers
and Benjaminrs point of view that Bennrs principle of
artistic autonomy, by failing to take due account of
empirical realities, misinterprets these realities and so
leaves itself open to misuse by political power. But on
the other hand: rro matter how much one is irritated by Benn
and his pure "Geist", the fact remains that it does not
readily lend itself to "Einordnung in das Bestehende" in
Marcusers sense: when confronted with the inescapably
empirical realities of Nazi totalitarianism, Benn becomes
decidedly recalcitrant. In approaching art and politics
with similar crj-teria in 1933/34, in "aestheticising"
politics, he tried to adapt political reality to his view
of art rather than adapt himself as an artist to the
political powers of the day. He tried to take National
Soci-a1ism on his own terms in the face of the Nazisl
pretensions to intellectual and spiritual hegemony, an
impossible procedure. The inconsistencies in Bennrs treat-
ment of the individual components of his artistic theory
i.e. of the creative "anthropologische Substanz" and of the

(27 ) Herbert Marcuse: Ilber den affirmativen Charakter der

Ku1tur, in H. Marcuse: Kultur und Gesellschaft I,
edition suhrkamp lol 1r
(28 ) rbid. , P.93.
 -r59^

"formal" principle are a consequence of his incompat-

ibility with a basic tenet of Nazi cultural policy, -
namely that the state, not the artist, should administer
the Muses.

(3) Artistic Autonomv a nd National Socialism

"Es ist kennzeichnend für Benns Dilemmarr, writes

Gerhard Loose, "daß angesichts schmerzricher Enttäuschungen
und wachsender Bedenken er sich in dem Versuch, den sich
immer hartnäckiger gebärenden widerspruch zwischen den
politischen Forderungen, die er zu erfülren strebte, ohne
dabei sein letztlich einziges und wahres Anliegen kom-
promittieren zu wo11en, lösen, sich zu erschreckenden
"l(1) presumably
Aussagen hinreißen ließ". by Bennrs ,,Ietzt-
lich einziges und wahres Anriegen" Loose means the primacy
of art in Bennrs scare of values and the inviol_ability to
extra-artistic dictates this had arways presupposed. But
it is questionable to what extent one can speak of Bennrs
"Bedenken" in 1933/34 in terms of the gradual, developing
process suggested by Loosers remarks. There is evidence
that Benn entertained certain doubts and reservati_ons
armost from the outset. of course such reticence often
stands in contradiction to other statements of Bennrs
supporting National social-ism. There must remain a
specurative element in evaÌuating some of his remarks under
the Nazi régime.; it is often dif ficult to distinguish
clearly between his own convictions and the things he felt
constrained to say (or not to say) in view of the potiticar
situation. A useful guide, however, is the fact that Bennrs
private utterances reveal a less guarded scepticism than he
generally affords himself in pubric statements; the mis-
givings implicit in many of these public statements (which

(1) Gerhard Loose: r op. cit. ,

p. ]-24.
 -r6o-

become perceptibJ-e largely through the incousistencies

they contain ) are acknowledged quite explicitly in many
of Bennrs private utterances. On 9 June 1933, for example,
Oskar Loerke notes in his diary:
Gestern Benn rief an, entsetzt von den nega-
tiven EreignissenI des Vortags, rdiesen-Wahlen,
diesen Menschen. rch beruhigte ihn. (2 )
The events referred to by Loerke are those of 7 June
1933, when the officialty reconstituted literary section of
the Prussian Academy - henceforth to be known as the
"Deutsche Akademie der Dichtung" - held its first meeting,
at which the Prussian Minister for Culture, Bernhard Rust,
suggested that the times, being "eine Zei-L vötkischen Er-
wachens", had demanded "das Ausscheiden a1ler Mitglieder,
die das volk nicht als vertreter seiner rnteressen ansehen
konnte und andererseits
/)\ eine grundlegende Neuordnung der
Abteilungrr . \J/ simitar scruples about being manoeuvred into
the position of a representative of "volk, and state become
apparent in another privat.e remark of Bennrs this time in
a letter of 19 September to Xäthe von porada j the refer-
ence is to the cancellation of a planned poetry-reading on
the radio:
Eben kommt der telefonische Anruf vom Rundfunk,
daß die Lesung meiner Gedichte unterbleiben muß -
Ursache : peinliches Schweige". (4)
But Benn guesses the reason himself namery that hj-s work
is not in accordance with Nazismrs ideological code: that,
in other words, it does not satisfy the demands of those
"völkisch" aspirations which Bernhard Rust had cited on T
.fune as prerequisite for acceptable art. "wahre ursache",
Benn surmises, "von mir erwartet: v/egen DefaitismusJ rch
bin sehr froh darüber: ês gehört wirklich nicht ins Aufbau-

(2) Hermann Kasack, ed. : r

1939, op. cit., p.27
(3) Inge Jens: Dichter zwischen rechts und links, op. cit. ,
p.2O7. For Bennrs retrospective account of thiè meet-
irg, see Doppelleben, IV BB.
(4) r ed Be a1 n op. cj-t.,
p.1
 - 161-

(5)
programmrl A comparable situation, but this time with
the initiative for the cancellation coming from Benn him-
se1f, is described in a letter to fäthe von porada on 9
October 1933j it reveals Bennrs characteristic distaste
for playing participatory roles in the communal sphere:
Am L9. fseptember] sollte ich eigentlich in
Augsburg vorlesen in der dortigen Literar.
Gesellschaft, die mich eJ_ngeladen hatte.
Aber ich habe eben abgeschrieben. Es wehte aus
den Briefen so viel Bildungsdrang u. Aufbau-
willen, daß mir schlecht wurde bei dem Gedanken,
den Abend hinterher mit ihnen verbringen zv
mussen. (6 )
of Bennrs public statements, too, even where
Some
he himself appears unaware of the fact, betray a dichotoiny
between his actual position as an open supporter of the
Nazi régime and his own self-concept as a "pure" , politic-
ally unsullied, uncompromising artistic I'antj--type". This
dichotomy is evident from first to last in his pubric
utterances during f933/34. One of his earlj-est statements
in open court under Nationar socialism, his Antwort an die
Iiterarischen Emiqranten on 24 tuay 1933, for all irs
fulsome praise of the "new state" and the almost aggress-
ively affi-rmative tone of his "Antwort" ("und die muß
natürlich unzweideutig sein", TV 239), remains ambival-ent
with respect to his own position as a public figure; he
takes care to emphasise that he has not adopted the
position of the literary felrow-traveller, that he has not
joined forces with "der öftentlichen, also opportunistischen
sphäre" (cf . p.9o above) which he had dismissed in the
weimar Republic from the absorute standpoint of the
"aristocratic", "reserved" type represented by the artist:
kei cht
mit neuen Freunden. Es ist meine fanatische Rei_n-
heit, von der sie [i.e. Kraus Mann] in rhrem Brief
so ehrenvoll fur mich schreiben, meine Reinheit
des cedankens und des ceführs, das mich zu dieser
Darstellung rreibt. (rv 247)

$) Iþl_d.
(6) rbid., p.141f .
 -162 -

Another, even more pathetic attempt by Benn to rescue his

compromised integrity appears in Lebensweg eines InteI-
lektualisten (1934), shortly before his withdrawal from
pubtic life; he insists:
Ich habe für mich gelebt, außerhalb von kapita-
listischen Betriebenr. Behörden, Presse,
Literatur, Vortragssalen, ich habe aIIein ge-
tebt. (rv 63 )
Bennrs statement is quite transparently untrue ; it is the
result of wishful thinking: he reached a wider audience
in his radio-talks in support of the new régime than he
would have reached in any l-ecture-ha11. And the speech
with which he welcomed Marinetti as the herald of fascism
did not remain confined to the four wal1s of the banquet-
ha11 of the Union nationaler Schriftstel-l-er, but was
published in the Deutsche Allqemeine Zeitunq on 3O tularch
f934r ês was his Antwort an die li-terarischen Emi-qranten
(i.t the form of an open letter) on 2J May 1933.
The cliscrepancies between Bennrs own views about the
nature and function of art and the attitudes propagated by
National Socialism become tangible above all where the
question of the "Eigengesetzlichkeit" or autonomy of art
is concerned. In trying to bring artistic autonomy and
the Nazi censorship apparatus into harmony in Die Dichtunq
braucht inneren Spielraum (;anuary, 1934), Benn flat1y
contradicts himself: "Was die Zukunft angeht", he writes,
"so erscheint es mir selbstverständlich, daß kein Buch in
Deutschland erscheinen darf, das den neuen Staat verächt-
lich macht".(I 259) But on the other hand the arts need
"inneren Spielraum" (r 259) and literature "eine gewisse
Experimentierbreite". (I 259) The unity Benn tries to up-
hold the unity superimposed on art and the state from
the point of view of art collapses: although art is
"gewiß auch politisch, ja sogar eminent politischr' (r Z6o),
it is so in "anderem sinne, als alle übrigen kulturellen und
politischen außerungen es sind. Sie Iart] ist politisch
innerhalb jener tiefsten Seinsschichten, in denen die
wahren Revolutionen entstehe.t". (I 260) fn effect, Benn is
adding nothing to what he had said in r9 3f in Eine ceburts-
taqsrede und die Fo1clen, where he had delimited artistic
 -ús-
"radicalism" from the political sphere, insisting "daß
ich die Kunst für viel radikaler halte als die politik
sie allein, nicht die Polit.ik, reicht bis in j<:ne
seelischen Schichten hinein, in denen die wirklichen
verwandlungen der menschrichen Gesellschaft sich vorl-
ziehen, die verwandrungen des stirs und der Gesinnung'
(rv 232, cf. p.B9f. above). rn the same manner art,
according to Dicht t innere lra l-s
I'politicari' onry on condition that it is not answerabl-e
to any empirical, poritical forces; it is more "primary"
than the political authorities in the here and now. The
work of the artist can be "politicar" only as rong as the
political world itserf is an expression of those "tiefsten
seinsschichten" of the "Geologie des rch, i.e. only as
long as the artj-stic and poritical spheres are associated
by way of the "depoliticisation" of politics described in
the first section of this chapter:
Totaler staat, dieser großartige und neue Begriff,
kann daher für sie lart] nicht heißen, daß iñr
rnhalt und Thema nur dieser totar,e staat sein
dürfe. Der totale Staat selbst ist ja ein Ab-
granz jener welttotalität, jener subãtanti-eIlen
Einheit a1ler Erscheinungen und Formen, jener
transzendenten GeschlossenheÍt eines in Áicrr
ruhenden Seins (r z6o)
The "identity" between art and politics is thus removed to
a transcendentar plane; if art is politicar "in anderem
sinne" than politics as it is generally understood, then
there can be no convincing identity between art and the
politics of the day. rt is the latter, however in
concrete terms the Nazisr trenchant ideological propagand_
ism and their censorship apparatus - which confronts Benn
at every step in his attempts to redefine politics by way
of his "ceologie des rch". (7) Thus he concr-udes Die

3) Erlen some of gennrs most effusive utterances in support

of the Nazi are not.unequivocar-. As .ãiry
April 1933, ,régime
he concludes hi-s cðntribution to a séries"" 3o
of article-s_celebrating the I ruray i-n the Berli_ner Taqe-
blatt as follows 3

wenn di-ese beiden wahrhei_ten sich treffen, wenn

der politische und der ästhetische Aspekt ver-
einen, dann kann in der Tat die ga.ze Nation "i.úsich
erheben, um das Bild Deutschlandõ so großarti-g,
 -164 -

Dichtunq braucht inneren Spielraum with the suggestion that

art be lerss subject to political control:
Man sollte sie al-so weniger kontrollieren, aIs
sich ihrer Intuition und Weltgestaltr-rng über-
lassen. (r 26:-)

II

It might well be asked what becomes of Benn's

adherence to the primacy of art, j-ts "unrepresentativeness"
and its freedom from ideological strictures in the face of
the following excerpt from Zucht und Zukunft (October,
1933 ) :

der Sinn der Züchtung kann nur das Volk

selber sej-n, das ZíeI aller Begabung ist
wiederum nur das VoIk. Talente - was soIlen
sie denn ausdrücken -, doch wohl etwas, r¡/as
die Allgemeinheit will und füfrft. Die Kunst
wer soll sie denn aufnehmen, doch nicht a11ein
jener Kreis international-neurotischer Ästhe-
ten aufnehmen soII sie doch vor a1lem die
kul-ture1le und geistige Gemeinschaft, aus deren
Leben der einzelne, auch der Kunstschaffende,
auch das Genier_ und wäre es das esoterischste,
entstand. (r 46ot. )

(l continued)
so genial darzustellen, wie es seiner vielfäItigen,
nahezu unausgeschöpften produktiven Substanz ent-
spricht. Dann wird der Kunstler am ersten Mai
kameradschaftlich neben dem Arbeiter gehen und auf
den straßen das crün tragen, das ihm der neue staat
an diesem historischen rrühlingstag gibt. (r'Zl-3)
For all his rhetoric, Benn refrains fróm saying that the
political.and the aesthetic spheres have mel; in fact
the "wenn" suggests that they have not. Furthermore, and
more significantly, Benn prefaces and quarifies his
remarks with the insistence on "eine Absolutheit des
F'orma1en, die zur substanz der menschlichen Rasse gehört.
Das bedeutet hinsichtlich der Kunst eine Eigengesetzlich-
keit des Geistig-Konstruktiven, das bedeutet, áaß nicht
all-es Artismus ist, was sich nicht programmatisch zum
vorksriedhaften bekennt, daß nicht alres rnterlektuaris-
mus ist, was sich nicht an Feiertagen der Nation
plastisch verwenden rägt, daß nich! arres destruktiv ist,
was sich ni-cht für die aktuelle poritik als konstruktiv
erweist, das heißt, es gibt Bereiche, die sich der ver-
wirklichung entziehen. " (r zr3) rt is with some justice,
therefore, that Dieter lrreltershoff entitles Bennïs
article Die Eiqenqesetzlichkeit der Kunst.
 -ß5-
Zucht und Zukunft, ít should be remembered, hlas a very
public event (a radio-tal-k) and precluded Benn from a forth-
right, undissembling expression of his opinions. He goes
on to modify, indeed to relativise his seemingly unequivocal
statement that the artist expresses "was die Allgemeinheit
will und fühlt":
Diese Fragen führen vor die tiefsten weltanschau-
lichen Schwierigkeiten, die es heute gibt. Auch
wir können sie an dieser Stelle nicht entscheiden.
(r 46r¡
Such "weltanschauliche Schwierigkeiten" were not shared by
the Nazi leadership; neither it nor most writers still
pubtishing in Germany in 1933 were in much doubt about the
nature of the artistts relationship to "Vofk" and state.
lfhile Nazi cultural policy was ostensibly favourable to a
"metaphysical" conception of art, it was so only on
condition that the validity of this "metaphysj-c" be pre-
scribed by the state in,the substantive ideological
interests of the state. \a/ This of course did not leave
room for the "esoteric" in Bennrs sense; and even 1ess
acceptable to Nazismrs ideological build-up was the view
put forward by Benn in Zucht und Zukunft that "das Genj-e
wohl individuelle Züge und zeichen trägt, die auf Auflösung
aller menschlichen Bindungen, aller kollektiven Ordnütr9, ja
jeder züchterischen Moral- hindeuten". (I 46f¡ On the other

(B) A few weeks after Bennrs radio-talk Goebbels, at the

official opening of the Reichskulturkanuner on ID
November, Þrocráimed : "Dffiividuerlen
Freiheitsbegriffes liegen an den crenzen des völ-
kischen Freiheitsbegrif fes. " euoted from lrlalther
Hofer, ed.: r Dokume
1q45, Fisch er Bu cherei I72 (Frankfurt, I95T P. o
Already
rrnationa on B t"tay 1933 GoebbeLs had promised that the
lso zialistische Idee will die ge samte
Kultur in eine Verbindung mit bewußter pol ir isch-
weltanschaulicher Propaganda setzen, sie aus der ver-
fallsnahen, individualistischen Bindungslosigkeit des
jüaisch-liberalitischen Kunstbetriebes . . . eiIösen"
and that (.= K.D. Bracher feports) art "das Gesunde und
Starke, das Typische und für aIle Verpflichtende darzu-
stellen habe. " Karl Dietrich Bracher, Wolfgang Sauer,
Gerhard Schulz: 1s te
t e c rr-
chla , Schriften des
Instituts fur pol iti-sche Wissenschaft 14 (Köln,/opladen,
L96o) , p.2 B9r.
 -166-

hand, Benn concedes, the "Genie", despite his deviation

from "zucht" and "ordnung", can return to the "Kreislauf
des volkesr'. Brrt Bennrs own conception of "vork" has tittre
in common with the Nazis' biologistic "Züchtung" nor with
their dictum that art directly reflect or rather idearize
the "vörkisch" order of things. - The spiritual enrichment
of the "Volk", Benn says in Zucht und Zukunft, would not be
possible "\n/enn jede Generation von vorne begänner \^/enn sie
nicht die Erlebnisse und die Arbeit der Vorfahren summarisch
in sich trüge wie lückenhaft der einzelne, wie brücken-
haft das rch, wenn die urform aufsteigt, die Entelechie'r.
(r 4621 The 'ridentity" between artj.st and "voIk" in Bennrs
sense thus takes prace in the context of geologicar time,
indirectry, through a bridging of the empiricar here and
now - through the metaphysical "Erbmasse" or I'anthropolo-
gische Substanz" which, although I,atent in the "volk", can
be creatively activated only by the artist on his own terms
and not on the terms of an extraneous, ideological or
political authority. As before 1933, the artistrs "Ver-
ankerung im Überindividuellen" (cf. p.j9 above ), his release
from the conditionar and changeable experience of the
empirical, biographical- "rch" does not mean absorption into
a poritically organised collective; artistic creativeness
for Benn is by definition a refusar to work in accord with
the shifting empirical surface of things, to adapt himsetf
to the requirements of given historicar circumstances. -
As had been the case in his artistic theory in 1929,
"schöpferische Akte" in 1933 still originate "im rrratio-
nalen, das kein Dogma erreicht" (.f. p.T6 above). Benn
translates "vork" into his own terms i-n a manner compar-
abre with his redefinition of "history" and ttre rrstate" as
discussed in sections I and z respectively of the present
chapter.
The distinctions Benn had made in 193I and at the
beginning of 1933 between his own "artistic" irrationalism
and "völkisch" or nationalistic ideas do not vanish in
1933/34; they are reasserted repeatedly during these years
and amount to a demarcation of artistj-c territory from
political and "völkisch" territory. Bennrs abortive
 -ro t-

attempts to associate his own artistic theory with National

Socialism are accompanied by repeated reaffj-rmations of
artrs exclusiveness and freedom from extraneous pressures
and controls. Although h j-s utterances in 1933/34 are
i-nterspersed with Nazi vocabulary and jargon, the meaning
he intends diverges from "völ-kisch" Nazi ideology and not.
infrequently contradicts it, an especially eye-catching
example of the latter being the suggestion in Lebensweg
eines rntellektuatisten that "Entartung" is "BIut und
Boden des schöpferischen" (cf. p.131 above).
Bennrs poetry in f933/34, too, removes history from
the dominion of a particular politicaL authority and omits
eulogies on the Nazi state. Perhaps the best-known of
the poems Benn wrote during 1933/ 34, Dennoch die Schwerter
hèlteg (published 1933), not only diverges from but
contradicts Nazi conceptions of "Volk" and collectivism:
Der soziologische Nenner,
der hinter Jahrtausenden schlief,
heißt: ein paar große Männer
und die litten tief.
Heißt: ein paar schweigende Stunden
in Sils-Maria-Wind,
nrfü11ung ist schwer von Wunden,
wenn es nrfültungen sind.
Heißt: ein paar sterbende Krieger
gequält und schattenblaß,
sie heute und morgen der Sieger-:
\^/arum erschufst du das?
Heißt: Schlangen schlagen die Hauer
das cift, den Biß, den Zdnn,
die Ecce-homo-Schauer
dem Mann in Bl-ut und Bahn-
heißt: so viel trümmer winken:
die Rassen wollen Ruh,
lasse dich doch versinken
dem nie Endenden zu-
und heißt dann: schweigen und walten,
wissend, daß sie zerfäIlt,
dennoch die Schwerter halten
vor die Stunde der welt. (rrr 182)
Possibly it was the "heroic" overtones and the militant
images which prompted Horst Haase to call Dennoch dj-e
Schwerter halten "die spezifisch Bennsche Variante
 -168-
/o\
faschistischer Ideologiett . \r ) But one should add that
Benn's particular "variant" of Nazi ideology is one which
omits a vital component of Nazi ideology i.e. the "vö1-
kischr' , collectivist homage to racial and national solid-
arity. Às the reference to Nietzsche and the productive
solitude of Sits-Maria suggesa, (to) Dennoch die Schwerter
halten emphasises the isolation and spiritual self-
reliance of the créaLi-ve thinker.
Artistic self-differentiation - artrs quality as
"Gegenkunst" and its necessity to exist autonomouslyr orr
its own terms - can be traced back to Bennrs beginnings in
Expressionism. It is not surprising, therefore, Èhat his
main expositions of his relationship to Nazi culture in
L933/34 should involve retrospective views of his o\^¡n
early work and of the literary movement with which it was
associated: in Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus (1933) and
Lebensweq eines rntellektualisten (1934) .

III

ft was Borries von Munchhausenrs attack on Express-

ionism, which appeared under the title of Die neue Dj_chtunq
on 7 October 1933 in the Deutscher Almanach auf das Jahr
1934, that provoked Benn into exploring some of the fund-
amental problems wtrich had concerned him since his own
Expressionist days. A letter to Käthe von porada written
on 3 Uovember 1933 (two days before the publication of
Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus ) reveals more open scept-
icism about his relationship to the National Socialists
than he permits himself in the essay j-tse1f :

(9 ) Horst Haase: nnes

DeT GI ck sieben
Las en (eerlin, 19 t p tr

(ro) See Friedrich Wilhelm Wodtke 1s commentary on Dennoch

die Schwerter halten in F.W. W odtke, ed.: Gottfried
Benn. Selected Poems , Clarendon German Series
(Oxford University Press, I97O), p.t65tt.
 -L6g-

Ich habe uberhaupt keine Stellung bei der Partei

oder bei irgendwem, ob ich sie haben könnte, ist
eine andere Frage, aber ich bin mehr als ie ganz
auf die innere Wirklichkei t zuruckgezogen, nur
fur sie fuhre ich diese au ßerlich so schwierige
Existenz (11 )

The dissonance Benn displays here between his own private,

inviolate "innere Wirktichkeit" and the inescapable
political order of the day typifies his pronouncements on
art and its relationship to po litics in Bekenn l_s zum
Expressionismus . The essay, being a "Bekenntnis" to Bennrs
own past and at the same time an attempt to clarify his
position in relation to the National Socialist present, is
of vital importance for an understanding of the nature of
this relationship. (12 )
Benn begins Bekenntnis zum Expre s s ionismus with
concessions to the Nazi régime:
Das Maß an Interesse, das die Führung des neuen
Deutschlands den Fragen der Kunst entgegenbringt,
ist außerordentlich. Ihre ersten eeistei sind és,
die sich darüber unterhalten, ob in der Malerei
Barlach und No1de als deutsche Meister gelten
durfen(l3) die mit einem Wort die xunst als

(11 ) op. cit.,

p.1 3
(12) Benn himself remarks on the importance of the essay
two days after its publication: "Der Aufsatz erregt
hier das allergrößte Aufsehen. Er ist ja auch grund-
legend. Er hat mich viel innere Leistung gekostet. I'
rbid. , p. 144.
(13) Hildegard Brenner sees the controversy about the
permissibility of modern art as part of a power-
struggle between Àlfred Rosenberg and Goebbels. See
Hildegard Brenner: nst ri
sozialismus, rowohlts deutsche enzyk lopadie I 7 168
(neintret< bei Hamburg, 1963), p.32-95 . The Nazi- leader-
shiprs_discussion about Barlach a nd Nolde is treated
on P.o(x.
A fact which Benn-criticism does not appear to have
taken cognizance of is that on 22 October 1933 (a fort-
night before the publication of Bekenntnis zum Expres-
s l_on smus ) tfre painter Oskar Sch lemmer wrote a letter
to Benn poi-nting out Nazismrs fundamentar hostility to
Expressionism and to any genuine artistic activj_ty at
all. lVhether Schlemmer's letter, comj_ng as it did a
fortnight after the appearance of von Münchhausenrs
article, contributed to Bennts decision to write his
essay on Expressionism, is a matter for conjecture.
Schlemmerrs letter is published in Tut Schlemmer, ed. :
S ie fe r (tuünchen , Ig5B),
P. r5- 17.
 -170-

eine Staatsangelegenheit ersten Ranges der

öffentlichkeit fast täglich nahebringen.
(r z4o)
" ... Diese großartige Bereitschaft für oinge der Kunst",
Benn writes with cautious diplomacy, "wird sicher geneigt
sein, den geringen Einwand gelten zv lassen, den ich im
folgenden über ein bestimmtes Kunstproblem aussprechen
möchte". (t 24or..) rn fact Bennrs "geringer Einwand", as
the rest of the essay revears, is a life-and-death matter
for his own functioning as an artist for, in spite of the
Nazist "großartige Bereitschaft fur Dinge der Kuns;t", they
present "eine starke Front von Ablehnung des Stils und
Formwillens der letzten deutschen Epoche" (I 241): i.e.
against Expressionism, which Benn confesses "ars mir einge-
boren zu empfinden". (t 24r) Thus, whi-Ie Benn on the one
hand considers his support for National sociatism in r%3/
34 as a natural consequence of his pre-1933 thinking¡ âs
"das Resultat meiner fünfzehnjährigen Entwicklung" (cf.
p.133 above ), he is also moved to defend the same "continu-
ity" in his thinking aqainst National Socialism.
rn Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus the I'compatibre"
elements between National sociarism and Bennrs artistic
theory are described above alr in terms of the "anti-
riberal" qurlity discussed in the previous section of this
chapter. Benn defends Expressionism in terms vtrich he
believes ought to make it agreeable to the Nazi rágime.
Bet\,\reen 191o and 1925, he writes, there existed "kaum ü¡er-
haupt einen anderen als den antinaturalistischen stir" (r
245); and this style was motivated by culturar criticism,
it was also an "anti-liberal" style:
rm Grunde war ja doch dieser Expressi-onismus das
unbedingte, die antil-iberale Funktion des ceistes
Da war doch jedenfalls Kampf, ja klares, ge-
schichtliches cesetz. (r Z4T)
rn the light of this "anti-liberar" impurse and the rejection
of "die erbärmlichste bürgerliche weltanschauung" (r z4T)
which Expressionism and National social-ism share, Benn
wonders:
Diese letzte große Kunsterhebung Europas, diese
letzte schopferische spannung, die so schicksal-
haft War, daß sich aus ihr ein Stil entrang, wie
merkvnirdig diese Ablehnung, die man ihr herlte
entgegenbringtJ (r 247)
 -T7T-

But Bennr s ef forts to make the rranti-liberaI " , quasi-

political aspect of his artistic theory acceptable to
National Socialism end either as a defence via Expressionism
of his own artistic theory and of the artistj-c self-deter.nin-
ation it had always presupposed, or even as a veiled attack
on National Socialist cultural attitudes. Indeed, the
former: entails the latter: that Benn is at cross-purposes
with Nazi ideas about the nature and function of art becomes
apparent in the fact that Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus is
for long stretches "pure " Benn à Ia Zur Proble matik des
Dichterischen or Der Auflcau der Personlichkeit. He describes
Expressionism in terms of his theory of the "Geologie des
rch" which he had discussed most extensively in the latter
two essays in 1930 and which had meant a refusal on the
part of the ¿rrtist to accomodate himself to the demands of
any empirical "collective" or "Glaubensgemeinschaftrr what-
ever; art had been "supra-personal" only in the sense that
it transcended the ephemeral, biographical, empirical "rch".
It is in this sense that Benn in Bekenntn l- zum Expressionis-
mus describes Expressionism as "einheitlich in seiner inneren
Grundhaltung aIs Wirklichkeitszertrümmerung, aIs rücksichts-
Ioses An-die-Wurzel-der-Dinge-Gehen bis dorthj-nr wo sie
nicht mehr individuell und sensualistisch gefärbt, 9êfälscht,
verweichlicht, verwertbar in den psychologischen Prozeß ver-
schoben werden können, sond.ern im akausalen Dauerschweigen
des absoluten Ich der seltenen Berufung durch den schöp-
ferischen Geist entgegensehen". (t 243)
Not only before but also during f933134 tfre I'absolutes
Ich'r in Bennrs artistic theory presupposes an "Ich schöp-
ferischer Freiheit" ( Nach dem Nihilismus t cf . p.75 above ) .
Artistic "radicalism" the release from the "bedingten Tat-
sachen, die Geschichte haben" ("f . p.58 above) and the
resolve to penetrate to the metaphysical root of things -
is expressed in the above examp Ie from Bekenntnis zum
Express ionismus by the "rücksichtsloses An-die-Wurzel-der-
Dinge-Gehen"; and such refusat to be conditioned by
historical forces means that there can be no pre-established
harmony between the demands of artistic expression and the
requisites of the social and political world within which
 -IT2-

this expression takes prace. Benn touches on this point

l_n Bekenn t is zum Express r_onl_smus : the characteristic
Expressionist "schwierige [r ] weg nach innen zu den
Schöpfungsschichten, zu den Urbil-dern s zt) clen Mythenil
(r 248) was I'radikal und tief " (r z4B); and suich a need
for radical artistic self-reliance, he concedes, may be
difficult to comprehend in the light of contemporary
political- rea lity
:

Es ist heute leicht, das als abnorm und zer-

setzend und volksfremd zu bezeichnen, nachdem
diese großartige nationale Bewegung an der
Arbeit ist, neue Realitàten zu schaffen, neue
Verdichtungen, neue Einlagerungen von SubsLanz
in die vötfig defekten Scfricfrtén vorzunehmen
und sie offenbar die moralische Härte hat,
einen Grund zu legen, dem eine neue glück-
lichere Kunst entsteigen kann. (r 248)
Bennfs plea for a sympathetic understandj-ng of Expression-
ism in spite of its "abnorm", 'rzersetzend" and "volksfremd,
qualities is thus prefaced by a show of deference to the
Nazi régime. - "Aber wir reden ja von einer zeit,t , he
continues, "wo das noch nicht dawar, al1es leer h/ar, wo
nicht der Geist Gottes, sondern der uihilismus über den
wassern schwebte r wo Nietzsches wort für eine Generation
von Deutschen ga1t, daß die Kunst die einzige metaphysische
tätigt<eit sei-, zu der das Leben uns noch verpflichte". (r
248r..) ostensibly, Benn means that Nationar soci-alism has
created a new spirituar climate which, in contrast to the
Expressionist epoch, allows the artist to work in harmony
with the political powers that be that art need no longer
be "Gegekunst" and has ceased to be the unique and excrusive
quality which he had claimed for it before 1933 with
frequent reference to the words from Nietzsche with which
he concludes the above-quoted passage. But, as we know,
Benn did not regard his favourite Nietzsche quotation as
passé during f933/34 (cf. p.t53f. above). Furthermore, rhe
ensui-ng remarks in Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus indicate
a far more problematj-cal sj-tuation than Bennrs praise for
the Nazis' "großartige nationare Bewegung" and their "groß-
artige Bereitschaft für ninge der Kunstrr would suggest;
he continues in the past tenser on ttre face of it referring
to the years before 1933:
 -r73-

Did Kunst, dies enorme Probleml Seit zahllosen

Generatíonen war die abendländische Menschheit:
auf Kunst angewiesen, maß sich an ihr, überprürte
bewußt oder instinktiv aIIe kultureIIen, recht-
Iichen, erkenntnismäßigen Grundlagen immer wieder
an deren geheimnisvollen Wesen und nun sollte
sie plötzlich in allen ihren Leistungen ausschließ-
liih volkstümlich sein ? Man griff die
Kunst, die sj-ch ihren Stoff nun in ihrem eigenen
Innern suchte, einfach aIs abnorm und volksfremd
aufs åußerste an. Man sah nicht das Elementare,
erstaunl-ictr Rigorose dieses eklatanten Stil-
willens, sondern entledigte sich der zweifellos
vorliegenden Schwierigkeiten, indem man immer
wieder sagte: das isL rein subjektiv, unverständ-
lich, unvêrbindlich und vor allem immer wieder:
rrein formalistisch' . Diese Vorwürfe si-nd äußerst
paradox im Munde von Zeitgenossen, die ein solches
Wesen mit der modernen..Physik trieben . . . ; aber
wenn sich ei-n Dichter uber sein besonderes Wort-
erlebnis..beugt, ein Maler über seine persönlichen
Farbenglucke¡ so muß das anarchisch, formalistisch,
gar eine verhöhnung des volkes sein. (r 249f.)
Bennrs remarks are ambiguous; they refer mainly to an
indefinj-te time past: but the displeasure they reveal with
reference to demands that art be "ausschließlich volkstüm-
lich" and complaints that Expressionism is "abnorm" and
"volksfremd" suggests a veiled attack on the National
Socialist present. The confidence Benn had expressed in
the Nazi leadership at the beginning of his essay is
attenuated; it becomes an appeal, but not without an under-
tone of scepticism as to its likely outcome:
Einen solchen Widersi-nn wird das neue Deutschland
bestimmt nícht mitmachen, die Leute, die es führen,
selber ja artistisch produktive Typen, wissen z1r
viel von der Kunst um nicht auch zu wissen,
daß die Kunst eine speziatistische Seite hat, dafò
diese spezialistische Seite in gewissen kritischen
ZeiLen ganz besonders in Erscheinung treten muß
und daß der Weg der Kunst zum Volk nicht immer
der direkte einer unmit.telbaren Aufnahme der
Vision von der Allgemeinheit sein kann. (r ZDO)
Rather than adapting himself and his artistic theory to
Nationar socj-alist ideas about what is erigible for consider-
ation as "art", Benn is attempting to accomprish the reverse
i.e. to persuade the Nazis to relinquish their hegemoniat
pretensions in the culturar sphere and to approach art on
its own terms. This, needless to sâ!: was kicking against
the pricks.
 -L',14-

Bennrs tendency to baulk when he sees the actual

political scene contradicting his o!^/n interpretation of it
is especially clear in the final section of Bekenntnis zum
Expressionismus. He agrees that there had been "auffälIig
viel biologische Minusvariantenr' (r 253) among the
Expressionists; but rather than deploring this fact as a
good Nazi should have, Benn tends rather to affirm it:
"Aber gegenüber so summarischen Behauptungen, wie Deserteure,
Zuchthäusler, Verbrecher, entartet, zuchtlos, faule Aktien,
betrügerische Börsenmanöver", he writes with reference to
Börries von Münchhausenls articI., (14) "drärrgt sich geradezu
die Frage auf: sah nicht vielleichL Kunst von nahem immer so
aus?"(r 253) Benn thus stands by his pre-1933 theory (out-
lined in most detail in 193O in Genie und Gesundheit and
Das Genieproblem) tfrat the artist is a "bionegative" typ..
rt is a theory which had been integral to his conception of
the artist as an "unrepresentativerr typer ês a I'Gegenkomplex
von der Idealität der soziologischen und medizinischen Normil
(cf. p.62 above) - as a type who is not assimilable to the
vox populi and who has no desire to refrect its idears and
values or to find himself corroborated by them: an idea
Benn had already expressed at the outset of his own
Expressionist years when: oD 2 September I9I3, he wrote to
Paul Zech: "tr{as Allgemeingut wird, ist gerichtetr' (gr.
12, cf. p.44 above). It is in the same tenor that Benn
continues his discussion of the artist as a "biologische
Minusvariante" in Bekenntnis zum Expressionismus: i.e. with
an unambigu ous endorsement of the sine a non of his
artistic theory; he emphasises his persuasion, already
prefigured in his own work during the Expressionist years,
that art cannot be ideologicalry determined, that it is by
its very nature "Gegenkunst" and therefore cannot form an
organic part of a "volksgemeinschaftrr or expect patronage
and much less direction from the body politic:
Es gab doch wohl nie eine zivit und gepflegt
entstandene Kunst, seit Florenz keine mehr,
keine, die unter dem beitättigen cemurmel
der Offentlichkeit von irgendeiner anerkannten
(14) See von Münchhausen: Die neue Dic tung t i-n Paul- Raabe,
ed. : Express l-smus. Der Ka f um eine lite rarische
Bewegung , op. cit., pp.229, 232.
 -L7 5-

Baumart der Erkenntnis fiel, Kunst war in den

letzten Jahrhunderten immer Gegenkunst ( f 253\
This pronouncement of Bennls amounts to a retraction of
his conciliatory remarks earlier in the essay namely
that Nationar socialism had worked a change in the isolated
position of the artist (p. 1/r above ); Benn adheres to his
conviction that art, since the Renaissance at least, has
always been autonomous and thus unthinkable without
intellectuar and spiritual serf-determj-nation on the part
of the artist.
Bennrs Bekenntnis zum E xpressLonl_smus incl-uding as
it does an attempt at making Expressionism congehlal to the
Nazi leaders, contains some compromising remarks: the
obviousl¡z untrue suggestion, for exampre, that Expression-
ism was a purery "Aryan" phenomenon. (t 242) But the essay
is not an attempt to make Expressionism acceptable to Nazism
at all costs. In the final- analysis, Bekenntnis zum
Expres s r-onISmus is just what its title suggests: a "Bekennt-
nis" to Bennrs own past and at the same time proof that he
is at cross-purposes with National socialism. peter de
Menderssohn grossry oversimplifies the essay when he craims
that i-t "eine einzige eemühung, die Kunstbewegung des
was
Expressionismus in die Tyrannis des Nationalsozialismus
einzubauen und sie in ihm organisch aufgehen zrr lassen" and
that Benn "den Expressionismus umbaute, damit er in den
Nationalsozialismus passe " . (15 ) On the contrary, Bekennt-
nis zum Expressionismus was not least an attempt to rescue

(f5) peter de Mendelssohn: rh e re

Vers ttfr e in P. de Mendels-
sohn: Der Ceist in der Despotie ( Berlin, rg53),
pp.253f ., 273.
rn f953 Georg Lukacs added a one-sentence postscript
to his f934 essay Große und Verfa'l l des Flxoresq ac)n I s-
mus, j-n which he h ad drawn a direct line f rom Express-
ronr_sm to reactionary politics: "Daß die Nationa 1-
soziali sten spater den Expressionismus als rentartete
Kunstr verworfen ha ben, andert nichts an der histo-
rischen Richtigkeít der hier gegebenen Analyse. " G.
Lukacs: I
cit., p.1 9. Lu csr apodictic pronouncement , does
ße S oP.
not
alter the fact tha t Expressionism was irksome to the
Nati-ona I Socialists from the beginning, i.e. in 1933,
before Lu kacs had even written his essa v. It is not
clear what he means by "später" in his f953 postscript.
 -r76-

Expressionism from the "Tyrannis des Nationalsozialismus".

It is truer oh the other hand, that Benn finds in
National Socialism a po\^/er friendly to art: partly in the
common denohrinator of cultural criticism he discovers
between his own artistic theory and the Nazisr rejection of
"liberalism" (cf. part 2 of this chapter), and partly in
National Socialismrs val-ue as custodian of the creative
"Erbmasse" or "anthropologische Substanz" (part 1). Yet he
was moved to defend his own notion of artistic creativeness
against National Socialism. His attempt to redefine "free-
dom" in his radio-talk Der neue Staat und die Intellek-
tuellen helps to demonstrate the nature of this ambivafence:
political movements such as National Socialism, Benn says,
are usually directeà against "eine cesellschaft, die über-
haupt kej-ne ¡,laßstäbe mehr schaf.fi-, kein transzendentes
Recht mehr errichtet, und verdient denn eine solche Gesell_-
schaft etwas anderes als Joch und neues Gesetz?" (I 444);
"der Liberale", he continues, understands "freedom" as
"unumschränktheit in Geschäften und Genuß". (r 444f. ) Such
is the conception of freedom Benn rej ects in Der neue Staat
un d die Intellektuellen
when he says:
Geistesfreiheit, um sie fur wen aufzugeben?
Antwort: fur den StaatJ (I 447)
Benn was to find that this answer did not prove workable
under National Socialism. He found himself in opposition
not only to the "Iiberal" ideology of the years before I9J3;
he arso had to contradict the concrete forms which the Nazi
staters ovrn "anti-libera1ism" took on. - Above all he had
to contradict the régime's ideas about what constitutes
"culture". rt was primariry due to Nazi cuLtural attitudes
and procedures that Benn in the course of f%3/34 found
himself being manoeuvred into the position of the despised
"representativerr type, the "Mehrzahltyp", the ideological
fellow-traveller he had considered typical of the cultural
and political world in the Weimar Republic.

IV

Under National Socialism Benn was no less averse to

the employment of art in the service of politj-car propaganda
 -177-

than he had been in his attacks on Marxist writers in the

Iate Weimar Republic, when he had adopted Max Herrmann-
Neissers phraseology to convey his distaste for the
" Iiterarische Lieferant politischen Propagandamaterialsrl

(cf. p.99 above). Art for Benn in 1933/34 coutd be

"politicaI" only on condition that it did not surrender
itself to the political and ídeological exigencies of the
day: "Nicht in der Propagierung und plakatierung ge-
wisser im Moment besonders brauchbarer und augenfäIliger
Erscheinungen von Dichter und Werk erblicke ich einen
nationalen Sinn", he writes in reply to a question from the
ts e All ine ZeíL n on 3o ,.]uty 1933, "sondern, daß
es ein kleiner Efeu- und Fichtenzweig war, mit denen ein
unsterbriches zeitalter [ancient creece] seine höchsten
sieger krönte". (tv 25o) perhaps the pithiest expressj-on
of this idea in the whole of Bennrs work is in his 1934
introduction to Der neue staat und die rntell-ektuerlen,
where he affirms his pre-1933 "antj-ideo]ogical" understand-
ing of art with the words: "Das schöpferische ist weder
rechts noch Iinks, sondern j_mmer zentral". (tv 393)
"Ich kann auch heute nicht umhin", Benn writes in
the above-mentioned contribution to the Deutsche Arrgemeine
Zeitunqr "eine tstärkere praktische Annäherung zwischen
volk und Dichtungr nur in der Richtung zu wünschen, daß
nicht die Dichtung populärer und alrgemeinverständl_icher
wird, sondern daß der staat öffentriche Einrichtungen,
Akademien, Hochschulen, seminare dazu hergibt, die Nation
damit zu durchdringen, in der Dichtung die wahre eigenge-
setzliche Transzendenz, die tiefe geheimnisvorre Hiero-
glyphe des eigentlichen Volkswesens zrr sehen". (tv 249)
"Auch heuter': Benn, in other wordsr euite consciousry
adheres to his pre-1933 persuasion that t̡e writer works
independentry - which means that he preserves for himsel_f
the right to forswear pressures from political quarters
that he solicit popular sentiment for a specific ideorogical
cause; it means that he reserves for h j_s work the privilege
to be esoteric: "die wahre e j-gengesetzliche Transzendenz"
which Benn claims for art in f933 entails his adherence to
a tenet he had expressed in 1926 in his essay Medizinische
 -r78-

Krise - namely that "nicht mehr die naturwissenschaftliche

ceneralisierbarkeit des Einzelfa1ls, sondern der schöpfe-
rische Akt individueller Perspektive aIs Kriterium der
Wahrheit giIt" (.f . p.Tz above ). As noted j-n chapter 2
above, Bennrs revolt against rationalism and the natural
sciences is onry the point of departure for a much broader
cultural- criticism; Benn rejects the "gesamte modern-
zívilisatorische Komplex" (p.46 above ) and its degradation
to a "stândardisierte Mythologie" or cultural "Einheits-
idol " (p. 50 above ) .
Nat-ional Socialism was the consummation of just such
a "standardised" culture : not "individuerre perspektiven",
but ideological dictates provided the "Krj-terium der !{ahr-
heit". Bennrs resj-stance to pressures urging the artist to
adapt himserf to such a normified cultural scene is evident
in his remarks about the creative writerrs relationship to
the generality in his article in the Deutsche Allqemeine
Zei-tunq in Juty 1933. - If anyone is going to do any
compromising, Benn indicates, then it is the state and
"Volk"; art is not to pass muster before the latter: the
suggestion that the Nazi state help the peopre to approach
literature exclusi-vely on literaturers own terms is either
naivâté on Bennrs part or a deliberate refusal to abandon
his insistence on the unrepresentative and autonomous
quality of art. The literary section of the prussian
Academy, which had been officially reconstituted seven weeks
previously and renamed the "Deutsche Akademie der ¡ichtung",
is obviousry not one of the "öffentliche Einrichtungen" Benn
has in mi-nd and not i-n spite of, but because of its now
predominantry "völkischr'-nationalistic members (on whom he
had arready given his verdict privately in conversatj_ons
with Oskar Loerke on 21 April and B June , cf. pp. Il5 , I59
above ). The aim of the new Acad€fty, as Bernhard Rust had
said on 7 Juner wâs to represent tl:e interests of the "volk".
National socialismrs aim was that art serve the state and
that the state support art only insofar as the latter
identifies itserf with the "vorksgemeinschaftrr and thus
makes itself usefur to the officialry sanctioned ideology.
with this approach to art Benn is at odds throughout 1933/34.
 -r7g-

"Elitist" themes, it is true¡ wê'.ê also a province

of National socialist culture - but only to the extent that
they helped to fulfil propagandist aims: "Der demagogische
Charakter der Nazi- rWeltanschauung "', writes Ernst Loevqy'r
"Iieß aber das Elitäre nur in gewissen Dosen, d.h. nur zrt
gewissen Zwecken und in gewissen Momenten zu. Es mußte
sich auf konfuse und widerspruchsvolle Vüeise mit VoIk-
haftiqkeit verbinden, durch die allein der eppell an die
Massen Erfolg versprach. Es ga1t, das Romantische zu popu-
Iarisieren und in eine Sprache zu übersetzeB, die auch dem
rr ( 16 )
Ietzten HinterwäIater noch ge läuf ig \n/ar . B..rr, ' own
"
understarrding of art was not compatible with such a
functional and tendentious form of "e1itism"; thus he was
moved to a redefinition of "Volkhaftigkeit" in terms of his
own. But such terms were at odds with Nazi realities and
meant in the final analysis that Benn was a foreign body
in the National Socialist cultural wor1d.
In 1927 -Benn had remarked in his essay Kunst und
staat that t'Kunst" is "vieI seltener, als es scheintrr.
"Dieser scheinr', he had continued, "hängt mit dem ver-
breit,eten lrrtum zusammen, daß Kultur, Zivilisation,
Bildung und Kunst im Grunde identisch seien. Kunst aber ist
ein isoliertes Phänomen, individuell unfruchtbar und mono-
man. Das bestimmt ihren Rang" ("f . p.95f . above ). National
social-ism, already in 1933/34 in the process of making art a
state-affair and of propagating an "official" German culture
under the aegis of the Propaganda Ministry and its various
subsidiaries (tfre establishment of a Re ichskulturkammer had
already been decided upon in September 1933), was inimical
to Bennrs conviction that art moves on a qualitatively
different level from "culture", Art, for Benn, is an
anomalous quality and does not tread the beaten and popular
track which in his view rePresents "cul-ture". rt j-s thus
in contradiction to National Socíalismrs course of supervis-
ing and regulating cultural activities, and in accordance
with his own pre-1933 views, that, Benn invokes the delimit-
ation of art from culture in Lebensweq eines Intellek-

(16 ) Ernst Loewy: Literatur unterm Hakenkreuz. Das Dritte

l- u n , Fischer
Bucherei I , 2nd ed. (Frankfurt , rg6g), p.g 6.
 -r8o-

tual-isten (r934 ) :
Ich bin der Meinung, daß man einmal scharf
zwischen zwei Erscheinungen unterscheiden muß,
namlich der des Kunsttragers und der d es Kult ur-
träqers Kunst ist nicht Ku1tur, Kunst hat
eine Seite nach der Bildung, der Erziehung, der
Kultur, aber nur, weil sie eben das afles nicht
ist, sondern das andere, eben Kunst. (rv 50)
T.S. Eliot, thanks largely to the lessons tàught by
totalitarian rágimes ,('7 ) irr=isted after the second war
that "culture" cannot be consciously controlled or directed
i.e. that "culture of which we are wholly conscious is
never the whole of culture: Lhe effective culture is that
which is directing the activities otr*1=. wt¡o are manipul-
ating that which they call culture rr . \ r() ) "cr-,lture ", in
short, / I ()
is "the one thing that we cannot deliberately,airn
aLt' .'-'' ) The parallelism between Eliot's and Bennrs think-
\

ing on this point is obvious; Eliot himself recognised it

in l-953 when he referred to Bennrs lecture Probleme der
Lvrik (I95l-), endorsing the view expressed in it that the
voice of the poet is that of "the poet talking to himself
or to nobody"(2o) .rrA that the initial stages of literary
creativity invol-ve an irrational, indefinabl-e impulse (r'ein
dumpfer, schöpferischer Keim"r âs Eliot quotes Benn)(2I)
which does not set out with any cl-ear intentions of a
didactic nature or otherwise. It is precisely in this
directj-on that Bennrs thoughts are moving seventeen years
before Probleme der Lyrik when he writes in his Lebenswes
eines Intellektualisten that the artist does n ot seek to
influence popular opinion: that the "Kunstträger" l_s

(17 ) T.S. E1iot: N st of Cu]t re

(london, I94 t pp 19' t 90, 11 t r23.
(re Ibid., p.1O7.
¡
(le ) Ibid. , p. 19.
(zo ) T. S. Eliot: Ttre Three \/o ces of Poetrv , in T.S. Eliot:
On Poetrv and Poets , Faber paper covered editions
(tondon, 1957), p.9 7. See also Probleme der Lyrik:
das absolute Gedicht, das Gedicht ohne Glauben,
das Gedicht ohne Hoffnung, das Gedicht an niemanden
gerichtet, das Gedicht aus Worten, die Sie faszinie-
rend montieren. " (r 524)
(2L) Ibid. Compare Probleme der Lvrik (r 5c,6).
 -IBI-
I'statistisch asozial, weiß kaum etwas von vor ihm und
nach ihm, lebt nur seinem inneren Material ... Er ist
ganz uninteressiert an Verbreitung, Flächenwirkung, Auf-
nahmesteigerung, an Kultur". (rv 5f)
Ueither Bennrs remarks in PEobleme der Lyrik in I95I
nor E1iot's commentary on them in his essay The Three
Voices of Poetrv were made with reference to politics.
But both are relevant to the problem of artrs position in
relation to politics and to Bennrs sj_tuation in f9fi/34:
both Benn and E1iot attest, to speak with the latter in
his NÔ tes rds the Definition of Culture , that culture
will not "be brought iqto,existence by any activity of
poJ-itical demagogues ".(22) - ond it would only be stating
the obvious to indicate that Bennrs remark in Lebensweq
eines lntellektualisten that the artist "lebt nur seinem
inneren lulaterialrr is at vari-ance with the support of a
"culture" dictated from above. The "Kunstträger" for Benn
is a primary phenomenon; his particular form of "irration-
alism" is irreducible: it contains an indefinable,
spontaneous , ungovernable force which in its very nature
precludes it from being brought into any kind of ideologicat
order j it cannot be made to function within the curturar-
political framework of the National socialist state. The
latter can on no account be authoritative for the artist;
he is aberrant and out o f order in any totalitarian system.
Bennrs confession of faith in the autonomous "Kunst_
träger" is al-I the more unequivocaÌ when seen in the light
of the previous sect j_on (rv 3O-49 ) of @
rntellektualisten. He adopts a more defiantly posi_tive
approach to Expressionism than he had in Bekenntnis zum
Expressionismus - this time with specific and detailed
reference to his own earry work: to the "Rönne"-noveÌras
and to his early poetry and dramati-c sketches. Benn is
aware that his devotion to the work of his Expressionist
years "in der heutigen stunde etwas kompromittierendes und ,

l.
Bizarres bedeuten".(rv 31) Also as in Bekenntnis zum
Expressionismus, Bennrs avowal of a continuity between his
work in 1933/34 and his j-deas before 1933 involves a

(ZZ¡ T.s. Elior: Notes towards ct Definition of Culture t

op. cit., p.19.
 _IB2 -

deviation from National Socialism and its understanding of

artrs position in relation to the political establishment.
Benn neither denies this disparity, nor does he try to
attune his interpretations of his early work to the National
(23\
Socia list viewpoint. \--l He lays down as a universal
principle the artist's incompatibility with the h j-storical
world a situation which had already been prefigured in
Rönneis estrangement from the world of the "Herr" in the
early prose worksr âs discussed in chapter I above; allud-
ins to his novella oie Reise (f9f6¡, Benn writes in Lebens-
v/ecr eines In llektualisten:
Für das Leben und die Erkenntnis, die Geschichte
und den Gedanken, gibt es in der abendländischen
WeIt noch ein solches monistisches Prinzip? r'ür
die Bewegung und den Geist, für die Reize und
die Tiefe gibt es noch einen Zusammenschluß,
eine Betastuñg, ein G1ück? Jâ, antwortet Rönne,
aber weither, nichts Allgemeines, fremde, schwer
zu ertragende, einsam zu erlebende Bezirke -:
er erblickt die Kunst. (rv 37)
The imaginative "Gegenglück" which Rönne had embraced
in response to his estrangement from the intel-Iectual and
social modalities of the "Herr", and which is the fore-
runner of Bennrs artistic theory, is described in Lebensweg
e ines rntellektualiste n as "das Primäre". "An das Pri-
märe", Benn writes, "können diese Dinge mit Zeitcharakter
doch nicht anknüpfen, und wiederum die voraussetzungen für
Historisches besaß er Inönne ] nach Erfahrung und Anlage
nicht".(rv 33) The Benn of f934, therefore, in confessing
himself to the Rönne of L9L6, reaffirms the principle
already implicit in the early novellas namely that the
artist does not approach historical reality on its own terms,

(23) rhe rirst section of Lebens\^req eines Intellektualisten

entitled Die Erbmasse (rv 19-29), is couched in Nazi
genealogj-caI terminology. But this is due to tactical
considerations on Bennrs part, i.e. by the necessity to
prove his "Aryan" ancestry. In a letter of 3O.9.34 fre
writes to Ina Seidet that Börries von Münchhausen
"öffentlich in einem offízíellen Brief an das Büro
mich als Juden hingestellt hatte u. i-ch wegen meines
ärztl-ichen Berufs natür1ich jg.den derartigèn Zweifel
im Keime ersticken muß, j-ch wurde meine Praxis u
damit meine ganze wirtschaftliche Existenz verlieren,
wenn ich nicñt mein Ariertum IOO,/o zur Geltung
brächte. " (e.r.S9)
 -rB3-

that he cannot speak with or for it: art is "primär" l'tot

only in the sense that it originates in those primordial,
creative layers of Bennrs "Geologie des lchr', but also in
the sense that it is not subject to causal and empirical
laws, not classifiable in ideological terms and not
assimilable to "diese Dinge mit Zeitcharakter'r, including
the political- present. To this unambiguous affirmation of
the "Rönne"-typ. as a deviant from established, sanctioned
realities, Benn adds his bel-ief also Prefigured in his
early work and reaffirmed in Bekenntnis zum ExÞress ronl-smus
("f.p.f73 above) - that the artist 1s a "bionegative" type:
that "das Produktive, \do immer man es berührt, durchsetzt
ist von Anomalien, Stigmatisierung€n, Paroxismen". (IV 52)
Benn in Lebensweq eines Intellektualisten openly rejects
the claim to exclusiveness of the Nazis' "health!",
"po"itive" biological and cultural precepts and norms:
there can be little doubt in which direction his sardonic
remark is aimed that "Erkenntnis" does not come "vom
samenunfal-t der zwanzigjährigen". (rv 53)
Lebensweq eines I nte llektua listen covers the whol-e
range of Bennts artistic theory - his "Geologie des rchrr,
his idea of the creative type as a "bionegative" typ" and
his "constructive" or "formal" principle in relation to
the historical present. The problem of form is singled out
for special attention in section 3. (rv 50-6I) rorm is
fundamental to Bennrs conception of the autonomous I'K,-rnst-
träger"; like his "ceologie des rchrr, it played a
significant role in the attraction National Socialism held
for hj-m. Neither principle, however, \^/as totally and
unreservedly identified with politicsi as \,ve have noted,
Benn repeatedly shielded his own conception of art from the
hegemonial pretensions of Nazism. T,ebe nsv/e cf eines rntelÌek-
tua listen goes so far as to express the fear that the kind
of art given patronage under National Socialism contravenes
that very 'ranti-naturalistic" and t'anti-liberalr' styte Benn
had hoped would become the mark of the new Germany. The
"Kulturträger", he writes, has close affinities wj-th the
"Romanschriftstel-ler" (rv 5I), and it soon becomes clear
that he is not referring only to novelists in tJle years
before 1933, but to contemporary writing: i.e. to writers
 -IB4_

in the Third Reich in 1934. "rntellektualismus'r -, l're

asserts, "ist innerhalb unseres Themas die kaltschnäuzige
Behauptung, daß Balladen und historische Romane allein
nicht das gesamte Gebiet der deutschen schicksalhaftigkeit
umgreifen". (IV 57) He goes on to define "Intellektualis-
mus" as the COnscioirs, forming, constructive or "anti-
naturalistic" aspect of artistic creativeness: it is "d.as
bewußte und wil-Ientliche E]ement, das formsetzende, ab-
brechende, bändigende und bildende Element des Schöpfe-
rischen". (lV 57) Benn unambiguously affirms the impulse
of self-differentiation and the freedom from ideological
strictures which the "construcÈive" principle had always
entailed in his artistic theorY:
Intellektualismus gehört nicht zu einem
bestimmten politischen oder moralischen System,
sondern ist anthropologischer Grundtrieb, Râssen-
weisung. (rv 57f.)
Thisr âs Benn is aware, means a divergence from Pre\/ailing
artistic observances in L934; it also means a rejection of
them, and Benn does not hesitate to say so:
diese prima Epiker, Anekdotenschnurrer '
Ballardenbarden, notorische Nachspieler .. .'
getarnter neuer Staat, in Wirklichkeit die
stupiden alten Herren -: Mittelstand aIs
vamþirismus. Am liebsten möchten sie aIIesr.
was überhaupt noch seine Anschauungç.n in prag-
nante Formen bringt a1s fremdgÇammig: urr-
-èchrift-
rassisch, undeut=óh de.tnnzieren(24) . . .

(24) It is very probable that these remarks allude to

Bôrries von Munchhausen. Apart from his hobby as an
amateur geneticist, von Munchhausen was also a
"Balladeñbarde". The terms in which Benn refers to
such writers j- n Lebensh/ecr eines I nte 1 lektua listen
("nei bü rgerlicher Lebens.haltung und hinter ver-
s ch los se nen Turen, Obstbaume vorm Fenster und Filz
um die Telefonglocke ,..", rv 59t.¡ calt to mind his
letter of L5 oct. L933 responding to Munchhausenrs
attack on Expressj-onism:
"wie können sie es über sich gewinnen, aus rhrem
gepflegten, eleganLen Grandseigneur-Dasein, das
Ihnen fur Ihr Leben und fur Ihre Kunst das Schick-
sal zuwj-es, mit diesen Terrassenr ãuf denen Sie
Tee trinken, mit diesen Ritten von Damiette zum
Teich Mensaheh, Ihrem Park, Ihren Türmen, Ihren
Taxushecken, die qualvoIle, zerrüttete, erbitterte
Existenz meiner expressionistischen Generation mit
diesen beleidigenden Ausdrücl<en zù zeichnen? "
PauI Raaþe, ed. : Expressionismus. Der Kampf um-eine
literarische Bewequnq, op. cit., p.3O5.
 -185-

ste1ler, die ihrem WeltbiId spracl-rlich nicìrt

gewachsen sind, nennt ma:r in Deutschland
Seher D¿rs ist die Kunst cler bürgerlichen
Ara, und wenn man das abgestanden findet, dann
ist man ein rntellektualist. (rv 59t.¡
Lebensweq eines Intellektuali.sten marks a decisive
point in Bennts mésalliance with the National Socialist
ideology. He openly and explicitly distances himsel-f from
the Nazi cultural scene. Vfhile Bekenntnis zum Expressj-onis-
mus had in comparison been defensive and had preserved a
degree of tactfulness in the vain hope that the régime would
adopt a more conciliatory approach to Expressionism, Lebens-
\^/eq eines InteIlektuaIj-sten su ggests that Benn has abandoned
aJ-I hope of any possible accord between his own understand-
ing of art and that promulgated under National Social-ism;
he has gone over, quite unmistakably, to the offensive. An
interview he gave on 23 September 1934, shortly before the
publication o f Lebenswecr eines nLe 1l-ektualisten , throws
into sharp relief the unconformable position in which he
found himself : "Der Deutscher', he says, êlluding to the
Nazist rejection of Expressionism, "sieht die Form leider
oft ars etwas Nebensächriches an"; but Bennts own position
with regard to the question of form is clear and uncompromis-
ing: "fch bin ein konzessionsloser vertreter der Formal-
kunst".(25) ,n. same 'ranti-liberaI" impulse in Bennrs
cultural criticism which had facilitated his association of
artistic with political forms is now directed against
National Socialism. And since Bennrs artistic theory
remains, as ever, j-ndissorubre from hj-s cul-tural criticisrn,
the "anti-naturalistic" or "constructive" principle

(25) Nelly Ke iI: Menschen

e t in Germania, 3
(2 9 p.5.
The interview took place shortly
before the appearance o f Lebensweo ei S Inte 1 1ek-
tualisten in Bennrs volume Kunst u Macht which (he
states in the intervj-ew) is due to appear rr in wenigen
Tagen"; his letter of 3O Sept. to rnã- Seide 1 also
mentj-ons that publication is imminent: see er.61.
Already on 2f August Benn had announced in a 1etter
to Ina Seide1 his inability to identify himself with
the régime (er.58)., althou*gh without rêfererrc" to the
specifically artistic problems he discusses in Lebens-
weq eJ_nes Intellekt sten.
 -186 -

continues to work in conjunction with his "anti-Iiberalism";

however, it is not now associated with but once and for all
differentiated from National Socialism.
Bennrs "antilíberale Funktion des Geistesr' (p.I42
above ) now includes an attack on what had exposed itself to
him as only a pseudo "anti:1j-beralr' state: it is a
"getarnter neuer Staat", as he calls it in the extract from
Lebensweq eines Intellektualisten quoted above. Against
this state and its culture Benn asserts his I'anti-natural-
isticr', form-conscious artistic theory and, as in his Rede
a uf Heinrich Mann in 193r (cf . p.75 above ), he aLl-ies the
"constructive" principle to the rrantiideological" one: the
artist, he writes, is a "Drillbohrer gegen naturalistisches
Gewäsch und ideologischen Dilettantismus, Auflcrecher der
Wahrheit, Einbrecher in die andere, die allgemeine, die
unsichtbare We1t". (tv 6O) From Bennrs point of view, the
prevailing literary and cultural climate has made no break
in pri-nciple with the "bürgerliche jira " prior to 1933
("notorische Nachspieler in Wirklichkeit die stupi-den
alten Herren"): with an era, that is, which in Bennrs eyes
had timited itself to purely rrnaturalistic" guide-Ii-nes, to
the sterile empirical and social- surface of things - an era
dominated by artistic dilettantism (lack of form-conscious-
ness) and ín which the ideologically independent, autonomous
artist was the odd-man-out just as in the National
Socialist present; "mass"-culture continues to thrive in
1934.
"Die Kunstr', Benn contends in Lebens we cf eines rntel-
lektualisten, consists of "die Maßnahmen des Künstlers
selbst, sich auszudrücken, also sein Konstruktives
seine bewußte Anwendung von Prinzipi-en des Baus und des
Ausdrucksrr (rv 54); true art, in other words, is I'nicht
im geringsten das, was das bürgerliche Deutschland vom
ersten Augenblick an bis heute verächtlich 'Artistik' nennt
und nannte, sondern es war tief .r r€ligiös und sakramentalrr .
(rv 54f . ) "eis heute nennt und nannte'r : that is until
1934, in the Nazi here and noh/. Benn raises to a uni-versal-
and incontestable principle the derimitation of the "Kunst-
träger" from the social and politicar worrd in obvious
 -IB7-

contradiction to Nazi cultural policy. That the "bürger-

Iiche Welt" from which the artist dissociates himself
through his form-consciousness includes the National
'sociatist state becomes very clear in two laconic remarks
Benn makes in his note-book in early December f934: "Form
unterscheidet vom Gesindel", he notes - and leaves little
doubt as to which "Gesindel" he means: " die Dummheit
(26) of
- das ist das eigentliche völkische Ko1lekti.r".
course Benn could not afford to use such a tone in public;
but Lebensweq eines Intellektualisten already expresses
the same attitude to art - albeit in somewhat more civil
language as the enLry in his note-book some two months
Iater.
Bennrs emphasis on the artistfs independence of "the"
state in general, then, includes a decl-aration of independ-
ence from the current political order:
rjnendlich klar ist die Linie der ablehnung,
die von Plato bis ins zwanzigste Jahrhundert in
der öffentlichkeit gegen den Kunstträger besteht;
in einen geordneten Staat, in einen Staat, der
auf eine untadelige Verfassung näft, gehört er
nicht hinein der Kunsttrager ist aus seinem
natürlichen Wesen heraus eine gesonderte Er-
scheinung. (rv 51)
The artist as a 'rgesonderte Erscheinung" in BennÌs sense
means not only that the "Kunstträgert' cannot, but also
that he will not accomodate himsetf to the state, much less
speak for it; "Kunst" for Benn remains "Gegenkunst" and
means that "der Kunstträger" in person irgendwo hervor-
treten oder mitreden nicht solIe, runter Menschen war er
aÌs Mensch unmöglicht - seltsames Wort von Nietzsche ü¡er
Heraklit das gitt für ihn".(rv 53)
The "autonomous" principle underlying Bennrs artistic
theory and his cultural criticism thus loses the appearance
of the "Einordnung in das Bestehende" which according to
Herbert Marcuse results from the self-annul-ment of the
"innere Freiheit" peculiar to European culture since the
Renaissance (cf . p.I56t. above ). Benn in Lebensweq e j-nes

(26) Benn-Nach1aßr op. cit. Benn does not provide the

exact date. However, an entry dated 16.l-2.34
follows,very few pages later in the note-book.
 -1BB-

Inte llekt ualisten has decisivel y and conclusiveJ-y delimited

the whole range of his artistic theory from tl.e established
Nazi political-cu1turaI order. His assertion of artrs
'autonomyagainst the National Socialist state signifies at
once a repudiation of Nazi cultural desiderata and a
confession of faith in his own pre-f933 thinking and in the
independent or I'antiideol-ogicalil conception of art it
involved:
und vielleicht ist mancher nicht damit ein-
verstanden, mich bei dieser rätigkeit zrt sehen.
(r'r,' 62)

The effect of Bennrs National Socialist episode on

hj-s work after 1934'and the interpretations of this episode
which his later work contains would be a worthwhile study
in itself. The work of his "innere Emigrationil and its
attitude to the cultural world during the remaining decade
of the Third Reich is circumscribed i-n a remark he makes
on 30 september 1934 in a letter to rna seidel:
mir ist ja Abneigung aus gewissen Kreisen
ganz a.ufrichtig lieber wie Zustimmung, ja mir
sind uberhaupt die meisten Geistigen, die heute
prominent sind, nur a1s cegner ertraglich. (8r.59f. )
This adds little to what Benn had already intimated in
ben eines Intellektualisten i it is only stated in
terms he could not afford to use in public.
The emphasis in Bennrs work after 1934 on the
"absoluteness" of art, his insistence in f935 for example
that there are "zwei Ordnungen, eine physische und eine
metaphysische" (lv 255) and that "Geist" is a "Todfeind der
Geschichte" (rv 26L),(27) is not a new course decided upon

(27) Both quotations are from Sein und Werden, whj-ch is a

review of Ju1ius Evola's book Erhebung wider die
moderne I^Iel-t (19 35). The review contains a positive
reference to Nat ional Socialism (w Z6O) which, how-
ever, was motiva ted by tactical considerations:
"Habe allerdings sehr modifizieren müssen, Sie ver-
stehn", Benn wri tes in a letter to Max Bense on
17.2.35 (8r.63).
 -IB9-

as a resul-t of his experiences with historical reality j-n

f933/34. His 'rpoIj-ticalrr episode confirmed his pre-I9j3
artistic theory and did not cause him to evolve a new one.
The "Radardenkerts" insistence in 19492
Die Kausalität liegt in rhnen Die äußere
Kai.rsalitàt schafft nichts heran (rr 26l-)
had already been implicit in Rönners situation in Dj-e
Eroberunq in I9I5 and quite explicit in the essay Das
moderne rch of L92o (cf . p.25 above ) . Bennr s "Doppellebenr' ,
furthermore, is not a new discovery made after f934 asa
result of his experiences in the political- world; as our
discussion of the novella DÍe Er oberung in chapter I above
indicated, Bennrs "Doppelleben" is prefigured in his early
work. Peter de Mendelssohn is of another opinion:
So wird aus dem, vor Einbruch der Macht nicht
vorhandenen, aber jetzt a posteriori behaupteten
Dualismus Schriftsteller-Arzt nach dem Einbruch
der Macht die Dgppe Iform tHande Lnder-Denkender t

hergeleitet. ( 28)
If a careful reading of Bennrs "Rönne "-novel-l-as and early
dramatic works do not confirm that the "Dualismus Schrift-
steller-Arzt" was present in his thinking before 1933, then
at least Das moderne lch (I92o), summa summarum (1926),
Medizinis che Krise (1926) or (to cite the most obvious
example ) Irrationa lismus und moderne Medizin ( 1931 ) make
it plain beyond a doubt.
But the continuity between Bennrs pre-1933 thinking
and that after his break with National- socialism is not
unprobrematical-. Peter uwe Hohendahl touches on an import-
ant (and tickl-ish ) point when he comrnents on an articre by
Werner Mitch in the post-war yearbook Der Bund(29), ,,Da
er fMirch ] nenns weltanschauung unzweideutig zu den

(28) Peter de Mendelssohn: Ve l_n-

baren, op . ci-t., p.27 BC nnrs first explicit refe I
ence to h is "Doppell-ebenrr is in a letter of 26.4.34
to Ina Se idel (st.57 possibly in connection with
the ideol ogical "sch ulungsabendeil of the National
Socia list Arztebund which he attended to avoid
suspicion and to safeguard his medical practice. see
also Doppelleben (TV 9tf. ).
(29) werner Milch: rn ist t in Der
Bund. Jahrbuch (19 o t P.90-1o9.
 -190-

geistigen Vorformen des Faschismus rechnete und zugleich

auf der Kontinuität von Benns Denken insistierte", Hohen-
dahl remarks, "war die ideologiekritische Frage nach dem
- gesellschaftlichen Stellenwert von Benns späten Schriften
nicht abzuweisen". (3o) ,rntik. Milch's article, the present
study has attempted to show that Bennrs Wel-tanschauunq does
not unambiguously belong to the "geÍstigen Vorformen des
Faschism.rs": that his pre-1933 thinking contains impulses
which would just as readily suggest antipathy to National
Socialism as support for it. Nevertheless the "reiner Geistrl
(rv 26l-) which, in f935, in Sein und werden, Benn detaches
from the historical world and from the standpoint of which
he had heaped contumely on the political world in the l-ate
Weimar Republic - \^ras, as noted in chapter 3 above, not the
politically immune quality that he liked to believe. The
fact that it persists in his theoretical work after his
experiences in the Nazi state makes Hohendahl-rs com¡nent
relevant in the context of the present study too. Among a
profusion of other problems, it would raise the question of
the extent to which Benn adheres to his own theories: it
is difficult, for example, to reconcile his theoretical
pronouncements about artrs political abstemiousness with the
extqemely "politicaI" (and, it should be added, courageous)
act of writing, privately publishing and sending to friends
and acquaintances his Zweiundzwanziq Gedichte (1943), some
of which are anti-Nazi diatribes; perhaps one of the best-
known is the poem Monolog (written 1941 ), which opens with
a not-very-positive reference to Hitler:
Den..Darm mit Rotz genährt, das Hirn mit f,ügen
erwahlte Vo1ker Narren eines Clowns,
in Späße, Sternelesen, Vogelzug
den eigenen Unrat deutendJ Sklaven
aus kalten ländern und aus gIühenden,
immer mehr Sklavenr pngezieferschwere,
hungernde, peitschenuberschwungene Haufen :
dann schwillt das Eigene âfl¡ der eigene Flaum,
des Propheten J

:::'ii,1'27¿r'Tä,.T"""
(3o ¡ Peter Uvùe Hohendahl, ed. : Benn- Wirkunq wider Will-en,
op. cit., p.56.
(J1) The poem is qu:roted by Benn in Doppelleben (rv Io9-
112)., with a brief commentary on the circumstances l_n
which he wrote the Zweiund z,watl io Gedichte (rv to9).
 -19r-

ln his t-heoretical work, however, especially after

the collapse of the Third Reich in Ir45, Benn perseveres
in his tendency to belittle the entire political sphere
(albeit j-n a general, abstract sense, without attacking
specific parties or persons on the contemporary scene )
from the sovereignly "autonomous" standpoint of art. The
vicious circle he describes in Doppel-leben t for example:
Politische Apathie wird verurteilt, aber
politische Handlungen sind nur möglich unter
Macht- und Expansionsaspekten (rv 85)
is, in the mutual exclusiveness it assumes between political
action and "Geist", as spurious as Bennrs attempt in 1933 to
approach concrete political real-ities on metaphysical terms.
But in one point, it should be added, he has modified his
approach to politics since late Weimar: although artistic
creativeness for Benn after f945 stil1 entails dissociation
from historical processes, the polemical vehemence which
between l-929 and 1933 naa thrown him into the turmoil of
the political worl,d in spite of hj.s "autonomous" and
"reserved" self has been quelled somewhat. Bennrs "Doppel-
Ieben", although still involving a refusal to be defined in
extra-artistic terms, has become more stable and bai-anced;
the incompatibility between art and politics is described
in terms of a Nebeneinander rather than of a Geqene inander.
This is evident in the conciliatory tone of an undated
prose fragment in his Nachlaß; temper, theme and Bennrs
evident intention to use it in public ( it begins: "Aber
vielleicht hört uns ein Jugendlicher zu " ) place the
fragment in the post-f945 years:
wir leben in einer ZeíL unversöhnlicher
Gedanken, nicht zu vereinbarender Antithesen,
Form und Korperinhalt, Kunst und Politik,
Intellektualismus und Moral sind nicht zu ver-
einen, aber wir müssen im gleichen Raum leben,
in der gleichen Stadt, im gleichen ZeíLa1ter,
ja sogar in der gleichen Wahlzelle, - also man
muß sich begegnen, nicht ausrotten, sondern
dulden die Einsamkeit und das Abstrakte i-n
die inneren Gesetze, aber die Verträglichkeit
in das Nebeneinander - man muß das zu ertragen
lernen (32 )

(32 ) Benn-Nachlaß op. cit.

 -1 a2-

Comparably in his Berliner Brief (.rury 1948) eenn

call-s democracy "als staatsprinzip das beste" (w ZBz);
"aber" , he cont:Lnues, "zum Produktiven gewendet absurdJ
-."Ausdruck entsteht durch Gewaltakt in Isol-ation" (rv 282).
This brings us back to the "nicht zu vereinbarende Anti-
thesen" Benn mentions in his prose fragment. He aPpears to
be aware that a tiberal-democratic order is necessary for
the intellectual self-determination essential to meaningful
artistic activity i.e. that a democratic order is the only
one which can hope to guarantee the artist freedom from the
"ästhetisches sing sing" (r 3lTz Kunst und Drittes Reich
1941) which had been the National Socialist state. But
Bennr s continuing antithetical "either-or" approach means
that as in the Weimar Republic - he fails to make a
distinction between critical participation in and sub-
jugation to the political world (.f. p.92 above ). "Das
Abendlandrr, he writes in his Berliner Brief , rrgeht
meiner Meinung nach gar nicht zugrunde an den totalitären
Systemen oder den SS-Verbrechen, auch nj.cht an seiner
materiellen Verarmung oder an den Gottwalds und Molotows,
sondern an dem hündischen Kriechen seiner rntelligenz vor
den politischen Begriffen ".(lv 28tf. )
In concrete terms, this woul-d mean that Benn is un-
willing to play a part in the furtherance of. political
conditions on which his own sacrosant artistic autonomy
depends. Theoretically, it makes him a parasite. What he
would ín fact have sai-d and done (as distinct from his
theoretical pronouncements ) in the face of a further total-
j-tarian menace is a hypothetical question. - And to do fu1l
justice to Benn and hj-s I'post-Naziil thinking would
necessitate a detailed examination of his writings in the
years of his "innere Emigrationrr and in the years after
f945i it would also requi-re a consideration of the changed
historicaL context. But in the perspective of the present
study Bennrs attitude to politics during the Weimar
Republic and in the initial period of the Third Reich one
specific criticism must be made of his continuing practice
of relegating politics to a subordinate status in the scal_e
of values. His clai-m in the Berl-i-ner Brief that the social
 -r9 3-

and political world is "peripheral" that "einer, der

seine innere Grenze überschreitet und ins AJ-Igemeine
möchte, unberufen, unexistentiell und peripher vor dieser
stunde erscheint" (rv ZB4) - is not conducive to a self-
critical retrospective view of his o\i\¡n experiences in the
political arena between L929 and 1934. (rtris is not to
claim'that the sol-e criterioñ for the quality of post-war
German literature is its relative degree of Verqanqenheits-
þewaltiggng.; v\¡ere this the case, Gottfried Bennrs work
would doubtless have been consigned to the mothballs long
since ) .
Bennrs Doppelleben , his extensive attempt to render an
account of his political interlude, tends to shrug off
responsibility for failing to recognise the political
realities of 1933 for what they were. He makes the tenuous
claim that a "Begriff U?:."*inration" did not exist in
Germany in 1933 (rv 69)(JJ) and the even more dubious
remark that the Nazi régime had come to power "legafly"
(fv TO). However, the most symptomatic and in our context
the most relevant - part of Bennrs retrospective explication
of his position in L933/34 is his comment about the party
Programme: he had not read it; he knew j-t contained anti-
semitic points - but: " wer nahm politische parteipro-

(3:¡ See Bennrs radio-discussion with Thilo Koch and peter

de Mendelssohn on 22.3.I95O, in Thilo Koch: Gottfried
Benn. Ein biographischer Essay mit neuen Texten.
Briefen und einem Nachwort I97o t dtv. TOT, 2nd ed.
(Munchen, L97o) , p.111-I25, especially p.1l-3-116, where
de Mendelssohn comments on the question of emigration
and its tradition in Europe and Germany. rn fairness to
Benn, a remark of de Mendelssohnrs in another place
should be corrected. He writes (with reference to
Klaus Mannrs letter to Benn in 1933 an¿ the latterrs
comments on it in Doppelleben): rrNirgends in seinem
maßvol-len Brief wirft der junge Schriftsteller dem um
so vieles Älteren vor, daß er nicht das Exil- gewätrlt
habe. Dieses Argument taucht nicht auf, und es war
auch gar nicht die damalige Alternative. Es ist des-
halb bemerkenswert, daß Gottfried Benn sich in Iängeren
eusführungen gerade gegen diesen, überhaupt nicht ér-
hobenen Vorwurf verteidigt.rr p. de Mendelssohn: Das
Verharren vor dem Unvereinbarenr op. cit., p.2j9f. The
insinuation is that Benn consciously misinterpreted
Klaus Mannrs letter. But his comments on emigration
are made without reference to this l-etter
 - 194-

gramme ernst? " ( rv 7r) (34 )

His
Antwort an die lite-
1933
rarischen Emigranten, he says, was "weniger ein plädoyer
für den NS. als für ganz etwas andefes, und jeLzt nähern
wir uns dem Kernpunkt des Problems: nämlich für das Recht
eines volkes, sich eine neue Lebensform zu geben". (rv Bo)
Without a doubt, the disparity between National Socialism
and Bennrs olvn ideas was a central factor in his position
during 7933/34. But in-Ð.olElleben he overlooks what is
the real "Kernpunkt" of the problem: his effort to see
National Socialism for what it was not and the method of
approaching politics which enabled him to make this effort
in the first place. It was Bennrs refusal to do justice to
the inescapably empirical phenomenon of history (including
his unwillingness to take political programmes seriously)
that enabled him to approach National Socialism from an
essentially ahistorical standpoint and wil-fully to adapt it
to his own cultural-critical and artistic requirements. He
had, he writes j-n Doppelleben, sought in National Socialism
an "Ausweg aus Rationalismus, Funktionalismus, zivilisato-
rischer Erstarrung". (tv 78) Benn had reacted to the
intellectual mass-stultification and the ideological stand-
ardisation he considered a condition of the development of
modern manls rational faculties by summarily disclaiming
the entire soci'c-economic and political complex. His
cultural criticism did deliver fruitful- impulses for his
literary activities; but it was anything but constructive
when viewed in the social and political frame of reference
which moved Horkheimer and Adorno to the exhortation:
die Aufklärung muß sich auf sj.ch selbst
besinnen (cf. p.50 above )

Bennrs exclusive approach to art played a central role

in making his relationship to National Socialism the
ambivalent phenomenon we have described. The I'reactionary"
quality which some critics find in artistic "autonomy", how-

(34; See also Bennrs remark in his note-book on 5 March

1933: "Das Proqram¡n einer neuen Bewegung kann man
nie erfahren" (cf. p.I29 above).
 -L9'r

ever., takes on another hue when one considers Bennrs case

and his actual position in the National Socialist state:
here he appears as something of a pox on the totalitarian
body politic. On the other hand his adherence after i-945
to the same exclusj-ve view of art, his insj-stence that
there are "nur noch zutei Typen ... : diejenigen, die handeln
und hochwollen und diejenigen, die schweigend die Verwand-
lung erwarten, die Geschichtlichen und die Tiefen, Ver-
brecher und Mönche" (rv ZB4), hinders the recogni-tion that
"die Tiefen" are not immune to hj-story and that "Mönche",
too, not least by the sin of omj-ssion¡ câÍr get mixed up
with "verbrecher". The truth of this is not invalidated
by a theorem Benn had come round to as a result of his
experiences wj-th Nazism in f933/34; in April 1936 fre
comments in his note-book:
ich kann den Staat nicht wichtig nehmen,
jedenfalls nicht wichtiger als er sich mir èuf-
ãrängt: so wichtig muß ich ihn ja nehmen. (35)
Some of Bennrs Zweíundzwanziq Gedichte and essays such as
Züchtunq rr (194o) and Kunst unrl ittes Reich ( 194r )
indicate just how seriously Benn did take the Third Reich in
the years after L934: but (and therers the rub) only after
it had well and truly established itself i.e. when it was
too late.
Bennrs thinking was and remained of a kind which could
not forfend reactionary politics. Seen from a political
point of view, this is a minus point for Benn. But on the
other hand his thinking was and remained of a kind which
tended to incommode and was not assimil-able to a totalitarian
order or readily convertible to propagandist abuse: an
ingredient which is probably the sine gua non for al_l art
worthy of the name. Benn was a mediocre-to-average burgher
and a good writer. But that is the problemj it is the
enigma concerning the relationship between political
credibility and artistic rank. In art, Benn says in a I9D4
radio-talk entitled Altern a1s Problem für KünstIer, "geht
es ja nicht um l,{ahrheit, sondern um Expression". (I 2TB)

(35 ) Benn-Nachlaß t op. cit.

 -Lg6-

The mutual exclusiveness between art and empirical truth

remains as firmly a component of hi-s artistic personality
as ever. But he cannot suppress an important question.
The fact that he cannot supPress it suggest,s that the
artist Bennr oo,4¡ttçr.how -intransigently he persists in
drawing the line between himself and the economic, social
and political human lot, just as surely oversteps this
line j he cannot avoid the question of artrs accountability:
"Aber, als letzte Frage", Benn asks, "wie verhäIt' es sich
mit dieser Expression, die sich vor die Tiefe drängt ist
Ausdruck schuld? Er könnte es seinr'. (r 5TB) This, of
course, does not clear up but only compound the problem of
artrs ethical and political location. At the same time,
however, ít does betoken the precariousness and the
ambiguity which Bennrs conception of art shares with the
rest of what is popularly known as the "human conditionrr.
Furthermore it bespeaks an intrinsÍcally unsmug disposition
wi-thout which art does not come into existence and wíthout
which it cannot convince.
 -Lg7 -
BIBLIOGRAPHY

ï Pr rv Sources
(I) Works. Interviews. Uncollated Texts
Gottfried Benn: mmel l-n vae t ed. Dieter
Wellershoff Wiesbaden, 19 -19 6 1).
vol. 1 Essavs, Reden, Vorttaqe (195e ) .
voI. 2 Prosa und Szenen (1958).
vol.
voI.
?
4
@
:Au e und verm
Schriften 19 1

Ta nd Fra
Nachlafò (wiesbaden, f95
t l_s t in Die neue
her t Lg2 , P. 1

Rundfunk-Gesprach zwischen Johannes R. Becher

und Gottfried Benn um l-93o, in Max Nieder-
mayer, ed.: Johannes R. Becher. Lvrik. Prosa,
Dokumente. Eine Auswahl , Limes Nova 9 (wíes-
baden, 1965 ), p .77-BL.
eL
ische e tfried Benn
Adolf Frise, in Deutsche Zn nft- Woehen-
zeituns fur PoIitik, Wirtschaft und Kultur
lBerlin);3 June, 1934, p.19. -
Unpublished manuscriPts, fragments, aphorisms
and sketches in Bennrs Nachlaß: Holdings of
the Deutsches Literaturarchiv (Marbach a.
Neckar ) .
verbal and written utterances (1932/33)
recorded in the archives of the Preußische
Akademie der Künste: in the Sammlunq Gott-
fried Benn at the Akademie der Kunste,
Berlin. Published for the most part in Inge
Jens: schen links rechts.
Die Geschichte der Sektion fur Dichtkunst
dér Preußischen Akademie der Kunste dar-
ãèsteIIt nach den ¡okumentel (München, l-}Tl-),
f . ,289 ,29r.
Hanns Johst, An di-e Schriftsteller aIler LanderJ Aufruf
Gottfried Benn: der 'Union Nationaler Schriftstellerr, in
völkischer Beobachter (aerlin), I March 1934.
Nelly Keil: Menschen unserer Zeít: Der Dichter. Ein
Intervi in Germania
eerlin), 2 3, 23 september 34, p.5.
19
 -198-

Thilo Koch: E n Fer mit Gottfried e

Sender Freies Berlin, May I95 in Th ilo
Koch: Gottfried Benn. E in bioqraphischer
Essa E Te ten Briefe
Nachwort IQ7o. dtv. 7O7, 2nd ed. ( Munchen,
l-97o) , p.1o5-110.
thilo Koch, Pêter de Mendelssohn, Gottfried Benn:
Eine Rundfunkdiskussion : Schriftsteller und
Enriqration, Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
(eerlin), 22 March I95o, in Thilo Koch: Gott-
fried Benn. Ein bi ocrraphischer Essav , p.11I-
r25.
Georg Rudolf Lind: Interview mit Gottfrie , i-n Die Tat
(zü .

Hara Id Steinhagen, ed. : Gottfried Benn. Texte aus dem Nach-

1aß (1q33-t9qq), in Jahrbuch,der deutschen
schil-lerqesellschaft, I3, 1969, p.9B-1r4.
(2) Letters
Max Rychner, ed.: Gottfried Benn. Aussewäfrtte Briefe ( wr-e s-
baden, I95T).
A select list of letters not included in the above volume
follows ;
Letters to: Akademj-e der Künste (eerlin), Al-ain Bosquet,
Ellinor Büller-Klinkowström,,lürgen Egge-
brecht, Albert Ehrenstein, Julius Gescher,
Leonharda Gescher, Max KreIl, Else Lasker-
SchüIer, ..Wilhelm Lehmann, Alfred Rj-chard
Meyer, Kathe von Porada, Pamel-a Regnier-
Wedekind, Marguerite Schlüter, CarI Schmitt,
Herwarth Walden, TiIIy Wedekind, Kurt Wolff,
in Paul Raabe, Max Niedermayer, eds.: Gott-
fried Benn: Den Traum alleine tragen. Neue
Texte, Briefe, Dokumente (wiesbadeã , r966j.
Paul Fechter, Gert Micha Simon, EriLz Sorge,
Johannes Wey1, ín Max Nj-edermayer, Marguerite
Schluter, eds.: Gottfried Benn. Lvrik und
Prosa, Briefe und Dokumente. Eine Auswahl-,
Limes-Paperback, 2nd ed. (Wiesbaden, l-97f).
Adolf ¡'risé, in Gottfried Benn: D e
nete lch. Briefe aus den h
dtv Munchen, 19 2 , PP. , 113.
Oskar Loerke, in Inge Jens: Dichter zwischen
rechts und links. ri
fur Dichtkunst der Preußischen Akademie der
Kunste da e ste 1lt e
Munchen, r9Tr), p.Z
 -rgg-

Letters to: Börries von Münchhausen (extract from a

longer, unpublished tetter), in Paul Raabe,
ed. : Expre s s ionismu s. Der Kampf um eine
lite e Beh/e , dtv Sonderreihe 4r
Munchen, I tr
-) t p. 3o5.
lze (with a foreword by the addressee ),
F . W. oe
in Merkur, l-5, 19 6t , p.438-454
W. Oelze, in..Edgar Lohner, ed . : Gottfried
Benn, Dichter uber ihre Dichtungen -3-Gffi:-
I1 .

chen , 1969).
F.W. Oe1ze, in Harald Steinhagen: Die sta-
tisehen Gedichte von Got t-f ried Benn . Ilie
V I tischen rik
r¡erof f entl ichungen der deutschen S iIl-er-
ge se l- l-s cha ft 28- (stutrgart, 1969).
Karl Page1 (with a foreword by the addressee ) ,
in Neue DeuLsche Heftq, I33, 1972, p . z6-6t .

Egmont Seyerlen, in Bennrs Nachlaß: Holdings

of the Deutsches LiLeraturarchiv (tvtarbach a.
LTeckar ) .

Nel-e Poul Soerensen, in N.P. Soerensen: Mein

Vater Gottfried Benn (wiesbaden, f96o ) .
Carl Werckshagen l-n 2. Folge
(wiesbaden, 1958 ) p

II. Secondarv Literature on Benn

Marion Adams: Gottfried Bennrs Critique of Substance,

Melbourne Monographs in Germanic Studies 2
(Assen , L969).
Beda Allemann: Gottfried Benn. Das Problem der Geschichte 5
opuscula 2 (efutting€n, f963).
Alfred Andersch:Die Blindheit des Kunstwerks, in A. Andersch:
Die Blindheit des Kunstwerks und andere Auf-
satze, edition suhrkamp 133 (Frankfurt, 1965),
p. 21-33.
Eranz Schonauer und der literarische Instinkt
in Der Auqenbl-ick, 3 , rg51, þ,63-64.
Hans-Dieter BaIser: Das Problem des Nihilismus im werke Gott-
fried Benns t Abhandlungen zvr Kunst-, Musik-
und Literaturwissenscha ft 4J t 2nd ed. (Bonn,
r97o).
endré Banuls: Heinrich Mann et Gottfried Benn t in Etudes
Germanj-sues , 26, I9TI, p.293-3oT.
 -200-

Max Bense: Ptolemaer und Mauretanier oder die theolo-

ration
Koln rlin , I95o).
e rP S e
Benns fru t in Gottfried
Benn: e s nd Reden (wiesbaden, L95o),
p.7-4
O. Biha : Die Ideol-ogen des inburqertums und die
Krise. Ein Beitraq zur Analvse des Faschi-
sierunqsprozesses in der Literatur, in
rnternationale Litera tur. Zentralorcran der
internationalen vereinigung revolutionarer
riftste lle t 2, 19 t p .108 -11 ?
Bodo Bleinagel: Àlrsolute Prosa. ihre I{r'¡¡'¡2. e n.|-ion und Rea a-
n i cottfrie , Abhandlungen
ztJ Kunst-, Musik- und Lite ra turwi s sens cha f t
6z (aonn , 1969).

Gunter Blôcker: Gottfried Benn, in G. Blocker: Die neuen

Wirklichke iten. Linien und Profile der
modernen Literatur (eerlin, L957), p.149-
165.
PauI Bockmann: Gottfried Benn und di e Sorac-he des Flxores-
sionismus, in Hans Steffen, ed.: Der deutsche
Expressionismus. Formen und Gestalten , Kleine
vandenhoeck-Reihe 2oB s (cöttingen, 1965),
p. 63-87.
Herbert Braun: Wandl-unsen des kunstlerischen Ichs bei Gott-
fried Benn. Untersuchungen z1J einer inneren
Bi a ie des Dichters (oiss. , München,
I9
Hanspeter Brode:Studien zu Gottfried Benn I. Mvtholoqie.
Naturwissenschaft und schi t l-
Ca und Inselmotj-ve, Gehj-rnbeschreibunq
und Kulturkreislehre bei Benn, in Deutsche
VierLeliahrsschrift fur Literaturwissenschaft
und Geistesgeschichte , 46, L9Tz, n.7y4T
EIse Buddeberg: Gottfried Benn (Stuttgart, 1961 ) .
Probleme um Gottfried Benn. Die Benn-
tor""hunq IaãO-f96O, Sonderdruck aus Deutsche
Viertel-iahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft
und Geistesgeschichte (stuttgart, 1962).
Studien zrtr lyrischen Sprache Gottfried Benns
(oüsseldorf , 1964).
Astrid Claes: Der I rische S rachstil (oiss.,
KoIn, 1953).
 -20L-

Christoph Eykman: Die Funktion des Hässlichen in der Lyrik

Georg HeYms. Georg Trakls und Gottfried
Benns. Zur Krise der Wírklichkeitserfahrung
im deutschen Expressionismus, Bonner Ar-
beiten zur deutschen LiteraLur 11, 2nd ed.
(eonn , L969).
Per n. rf
Benns rhaltnis zur Ge schichte , in C. Eyk-
man: Geschich tsr¡essimismus in der deutschen
sten Jahrhundert
( eern nchen, I97O p. 95-rr1.
Albrecht Fabr:''-: Redeauf Gottfried Benn, in A. Fabri:
Variationen. Essavs (wiesbaden, r95g) ,
p. 119-I33.
Alex von Frankenberg: Umsonst?, in Die Wandlunq, I L946,
p .2I3-2I5 .

Horst îrítzz
p. 383-4o2.
Pierre Garnier: Gottfri-ed Benn (earis , 1959).
Roger Goffín: Gottfried Benn et Ie National-socialisme, IN
Revue Belqe de Philoloqie et drHistoire 38,
L96o, p.795-BoB.
Francis Golffing : A Note on Gottfried Benn in Poetrv, 50,
1952, p.2f I-Zf J
Withelnr Grenzmann: Gottfried Benn. Der Nihil-ismus und die
Form, in W Grenzmann: Dichtunq und Glaube.
Probleme und Gestalten der deutschen Geclerr-
wartsliteratur, 2nd ed. (eonn, 1952), p.70-
87.
Reinhold Grimm: Bewusstsein a1s Verhänqnis. -über Cottfried
Benns Weq in die Kunst , in R. Grimm, Wolf-
Dieter Marsch,. eds. : Die Kunst im Schatten
des Gottes. Fur und wider Gottfried Benn
(eõtúinsen, 1962) , p.4o-84.
Gottfried Benn. Die farbl-iche Chiffre in der
Dichtuncr, Erlanger Beitrage zur. Sprach- und
Kunsttissenschaft L, 2nd ed. (nürnbêrg, f962)
Kritische Erqanzunqen zur Benn-Literatur, in
R. Grimm: t e
Literatur Gottingen, 19 3 , p.273-352.
Nichts - aber daruber G1asur t in Heinz Otto
Burger, R€inhold Grimm: Evokation u nd Montaoe
Drei Beitraqe zum Verstandnis moderner
deutscher Lyrik , Schriften zvr Literatur I
(cättTngen, rg6r), p. 28-43.
Romane des Phanotvp, in R. Grimm: Strukturen
P.74-94.
 -2o2-

El-mar HaIler:
1965).
Michael Hamburget Gottfried Benn t IN M. Hamburger: Re,ason
2

and Energv. Studies in German Literature

(london, I95V), p.273-312.
Peter Hamm: Ein Brief über Gottfried Benn in Lvrische
Blatter , 3, 1958, p:55-59.
Gunter Hartung: t-llcer die deutsche faschistische Literatur
l_n Weimarer Beiträqe, 14, Sonderheft 2h9 âe,
p. r46-rj2.
Werner Hegemann: Heinrich Mann? Hitler? Gottfried Benn? oder
Goethe? in Das Tagebuch (eerlin), 11 ApriI
I93I, p. l8o-588.
Benns Geburtstagsrede und die Folqen , j-n Das
Tagebuch, 2 5 April I93r p.674.
'
Peter Heller: Eisgekühlter Expressionismus , in lvierkur, 9,
rg55, p.1o95-11oo.
Clemens Heselhaus: Die rhvthmische Aus ruckswelt von Gott-
fried Benn, in C. Heselhaus:
der Moderne (nüsseldorf , 196I P.25 -2 Ã
'
Wolfgang Heybey: vor der Zukunft. Fli e vercrle i-
n e r Mensr-lr
Gedichten
Benns und Bertolt Brechts, in Die Padago-
qische Provinz t 15, P.337-349.
Bruno Hi-l-lebrand: tistik tthe r_e v
Benn und Nietzsche Munchen, 19

Go ttfried Benn im Spiecrel der Literatur.

itis ^1^ e
fIv chs .i ^1^ r '{ac
Q¡]¡ri f#+"mo se r_ I
rg4a, in L sensch fr
buch, 5, L9 , P.3 I-
Peter Uwe Hohendahl, ed and introd.: Benn - Wirkunq wider
Wi1Ien. Dokumente z r Wirkuncrsqe s chichte
Benns, I¡fi rkung der Literatur. Deutsche
Autoren im Urteil j-hrer Kritiker 3 (Frank-
furt , I}TI).
Hohendahlrs book contains I24 (in the main,
unabridged ) articles in four languages on
Benn. The following is a list of those
entries which are relevant in ttre context of
the present study. !{e follow Hohendahl's
arrangement of entries according to chronology
and language. Date of appearance of tLre
original is provided in brackets after each
entry; further bi_ographical details are to be
found in Hohendahl. Articl_es for which Hohen-
dahl does not provide the full_ text, and which
are especially rel-evant, are entered elsewhere
in this bibliography.
 -203-

I{olfgang Martens: KI inische Lvrik ( 19t2 )

Hans von Weber: Gottfried Benn: rMorque und andere Gedichte'
( L9r2) .

EmiI Faktor: F ittene r (rgrz).

Rudolf Kurtz¡ Bei Geleqenheit Benns (1912)
Ernst Stadler: rische I'1 t (1912).
Hans Friedrich: Extract from a review of contemporary poetry
in Janus, 1, I)IL/L?.
Hanns Wegener: Gottfried Benn: 'Morque und andere Gedichtel
(tgtz) .

EIse Lasker-Schüter: Doktor Benn (1913).

Ma rtin Sommerfeld: rDiesterwegl (1918 ) .
Os kar Loerke: Neue Lyrik (1918).
Carl Sternheim: Extract on Benn from Sternheim Prosa (vol. 6
of Wilhelm Emrich's edition of the cesamt-
werk). (1918).
Hans Franck: rDer Vermessungsdiriqentt (1920).
Max Kr eI1: Gottfried Benn: Di-e cesarnmelten Schriften (r923).
Rudolf RurLz: Gottfried Benn (]-924).
Otto Flake: Gottfried Benn (f924).
Max Her rmann-Neiße : Gottfried
t
Benn (1925).
Ernst Lissauer: Benns rSPaltungr (l-926).
oskar Loerke : Gottfried Benn: rspaltungr (1926).
Walter Petry : Gottfried Benn (1927 )
Carl Einstein: Gottfri-ed Benns rGesammelte Gedichte I t1927
)

Hermann Kasack; Notizen zu Gottfried Benns rGesam¡nelter

Prosar f929).
Max Herrmann-Neiße: Gottfried Benns Prosa (1929 ) .
Klaus Mann: Gottfried Benns Prosa (1930).
Ludwig Marcuse: Der Reaktionär in Anführunqsstrichen (193I).
K1aus Mann: Extract from Kl. Mann: Auf der Suche nach einem
weq (1931 ).
Peter Hamecher: Dichter des lrrationalen (f932).
Rudolf Arnhe j-m: Die F1ucht zu den Schachtel-halmen (1933).
F.c. (author unknown): Politisch bioloqisch beqründet (193J).
Friedrich Eisenlohr: Gottfried Benn: rDer neue Staat und die
Intellektuef l-en' ( Ie33 )
Klaus lvrann: ottfried Benn. Oder: Di-e
Geistes (1933).
Erich Heller: Go{-,tfried Be s Hordenzauber (re33).
Rudolf Muller: Gottfried Benn: rl)e neue Staat und die
IntellektueIl-en' (1e33).
 -2C,4-
ÉIohendahL (cont. ):
Frank Maraun Inrwin GoeIz]: Auf dem Weq zum neuen Staat
(Ie33).
: Gottfried Benn: Zu seiner Schriften-
JuIius Lothar SchuckingrDer
reihe neue Staat und die Intellektuellenl
(re34).
Egon Vietta : Ause inandersetzurrs m j-t Benn ( 1934 ) .
Rudolf Binding : Letter t_o_ pgrtho]d Widmann (1.9. 34 ) .
Theodor Heuß: Kunst und Macht (1934).
Frank Maraun ferwin Goelz]: Das Ethos der Form (1934).
Max Bense: Gottfried Benn: 'Kunst und Machtr (1935).
Frank Maraun furwin Goelz ] :Heroischer Nihi-lismus. Zum 50
Geburtstaqe Gottfried Benns (1e36).
Anon .: Der Selbsterreqer (1936).
Franke (Christian name unknown): Literatur. die wir ablehnen
(extract on Benn from a longer article in the
NSZ-Rheinfront ) . ( 1936 ) .
Max Ry chner: GottfriedBenn. rNach dem Nihilismusl (L932).
CarI Werckshagen: Gottfried Benn 60 .rahre (1946).
Eugen Gurster: r ist
Verzuteif lunq 19 I
Peter Schmid: Hinweis auf Gottfried Benn_ (1947).
KarI Korn: rDer Ptolemaerl (1949).
Werner Helv/ig: Got t fried Be nn : rstatische Gedichte (re4e). l

Egon Vietta: Kaf feehaus un{_q{.1-qke_it (l-949).

Ludwig Marcuse: Ein Brief an ottfried Benn ( 1950 )
Friedrich Sieburg: Ein Abendlànder ohne Anqst (1950)
Ernst Kreuder t Zur Lvrik Go tfried Benns ( 1950 )
oskar Jancke: Gottfried Benn (I95o).
Wa1ter Mannzen: Die Stunde Gottfried Benns. Die Essavs (1950).
Al-fred Andersch: eSt e nns. te
( rglo
KarI Krolow: Juqendstil und Gottfried Benn (r952)
Guenter Klingmann: fr dBe arist e
Nihilismus 195
Leslie Meier Ieeter Rühmkorf]: Brief ü¡e r Benn (1955).
Hans Egon Holthusen: Rede auf tfried G Benn (1956).
Ernst Nef: Poesie der Innerlichkeit (f906).
Walter Muschg: schi rf e
rg5
Johannes R. Becher: Extract on Benn from Becherrs book Das
' poetische Prinzip (L957).
Reimar Ler.z: Auseinandersetzunq mit Gottfried Benn (1958)
Thilo Koch: Mein Credo. Für Gottfrled Benn (1958).
 -2c5 -

Hohendahl (cont. ):
Walter Jens: Benns Nachl-aß un{ É!!11q (1958).
Ivo Frenzel-z Avantcrarde von Gestern (1958).
Edga r Lohner: Muschg oder die moralische Betraqhtu¡4
d€@llgr(re5j/5e).
Dieter wellershoff: Das Plus der ¡ ichtuncr. Grenzen der
ideolocischen Kritik an Gottfried Benn
(1961).
Hans Magnus Enzensberger: tf c
und vermischte Schriftenl 19 a
Manfred Delling: Irrtum und Fehltritt des Gottfried Benn
(Ie63).
Bernt von Heiseler: Gottfried Benn (1965).
Richard Exner: Jenseits von Sj-eq und Niederlaqe (1966).
Edmond Vermeil: Gottfried Benn et les tendences anti--
intellectualistes du NationaÌsocialisme
Franç ois Erval: Gottfri-ed Benn ou 1a doubl-e vie des
intellectuels al-lemands (L954).
Eugene Jolas: Gottfried Benn (f927).
Frank J. Warnke: An Exp¡gsSionistts Proqress ( tPrimal
vision') (1960).
Curt Hohoff: Die Arzte des Expressionismus, J-n C . Hohoff:
Schnittpunkte. Gesammelte Aufsätze ( stutt-
sartl 1963l , pfizT
in Wort und Wah rhe it 5
Ã
-)t

Brian Holbeche: The Development of Gottfried Bennrs Verse

la12-la30 (oiss. , sydney , 196T).
Hans Egon Holthusen: Das Schone und das hre in der Poesie
Zur Ttreorie des Dich rischen bei sliot unrl
Benn, in H.E. Holthusen: Das Schone und das
re. Neue St n Literat
Munchenr l 9 P.5- T.
'
Helene Homeyer : Gottfried Benn und die Antike t in Zeitschrift
fur deutsche Phi 1ol-oqie 79, 19 6 O, p.113-124
Kurt Ihlenfeld: Deutsche Tradition. Vom Wachteramt des
Dj-chters , in Eckart , 1I, L9 35 , p.297 -3O4.
Oskar Jancke: rach mit tfrie
und Bertolt Brecht, in Neue deutsche Hefte o
J'
r95T, p.225-232.
Walter Jens: Sektion und Vocrelf us. Gottfried Benn- l_n
W. Jens: t tur S t
6trr ed. (etutting€nr 19 2) , p.20 -225.
 -206-

Helmut Kaiser: n. Der We

fried nns und Ernst Juncre rs (eerJ-in, 19 2).
Hans Kaufmann: Got-t f ried Be nn s lr tlrakal , in H. Kaufmann:
nd Wandlu en
Literatur von Wedekind bis Feuchtwanqer
leerri"/wej-mar, 1966), p. rB9-L97 .
Walther KiIIY: Trakl nd Be
in W. KilIy : Wandlungen des l-yrischen Bildes
Kleine Vandenhoeck-Re ihe zz/zS (cöttinsen,
1956) , p. g5-r14.
Eìgon Erwin Kisch: E Erwin Kis : rfl Die neue
Bucherscha , 7, L929' P.535 -538.
Johannes Klein: f ied Be l_n
4 T958,
p.22 -2
Günther Klemm: cottfr Dichtung und Deutung 6
(wuppertat 19

Thilo Koch: Gottfried Benn. Ein bioqraphischer Essav,

dLv 7oT, 2nA eo. (ttdfnchen, I97o).
WiIli KohIer: Der Dichter cottfried Benn und der Adenauer-
in Neues Deutschl-and 15 February

KarI Kraus: ed Heinrich

Fischer Munchenr l 952) , p. 66-16.
Horst Kruger: Gottfried Benns schopferischer Pessimismus
in Eckart, 25, 1955/'56, p.433-435.
Hans Kug1er: Künstler und Geschichte im Werk Gottfri-ed
Benns, in H. Xügter: Weq und Weqlosiqkeit.
Neun Essavs zur Geschi-chte der deutschen
Literatur im zwanzígsten Jahrhundert ( He iaen-
heim, I97O), p.77-ro4.
Frí|-z Landsberge r z Gottfried Benn in Die Weltbuhne t c? LJ
1927, p.9oB-9oi,9 . '

Wa1ter Lennig: Gottfried Benn in Sel-bstzeuqnissen und BiId-

dokumenten, rowohlts monographien 7I (nein-
bek bei Hamburg, f962).
Alexander Lernet-Ho1enia : Àlr f.f crrrl e rìlnaf qroßen Zt¡tíec¡e-
?.11

sprach. Offener Brief an Gottfri-ed Benn l-n

Die neue Zeitunq, 228, 27/28 September 1952,
p. 17.
HeImut Liede: Stil-tendenzen expressionistischer Prosa .
Untersuchunqen zu Novellen von Alfred Döblin.
Carl Sternheim, Kasimir Edschmid, Georq HeVm
und Gottfried Benn (liss., Freiburg, 1960).
 -20'(-

Ferdinand Lion: Exkurs uber ttfried Benn in Hermann5

Friedmann, Otto Mann, eds.: Deutsche

itera r t ren und
Ge sta lten (Heiaetberg, L9 I P,5I- '
Oskar Loerke: Taqebucher I9o3 L939, êd. Hermann Kasack

Edgar Lohner: Gottfried Benn und T.S. E1iot, in Neue

deutsche Hefte, 3, f956, p. ]OO-1O7.
Passion und In
Benns Neuw Berlin, L9 I
d

Gerhard Loose: Die Àsthetik cottfried genns (Frankfurt,

r96L).
Joachim Maaß: Das lyrische Gedicht íU zeitqenossisqhqn
rimatur. Ein Jahrbuch
5, 1934, p.139-I4o.
Friedrich Märkel-: Gottfried Benn und der europäische uihilis-
N, in Zeitwende - Die neue Furche, 29 , 1958,
p. 3C,8-322.
Klaus l{ann: Gottfried Benn. Die Gêschichte einer Verirrunq t
in Das Wort , 2, 9, 1937, p.35-42.
Letter to Gottfried Benn, in Gottfried Benn:
Doppelleben (wiesbaden, I95o), p.B4-BB.
FriLz Martini: Gottfried Benn. Der Ptolemäer, in F. Martini:
Das Waqnis der Sprache. Interpretationen
deutscher Prosa von Nietzsche bis Benn

L.L Matthi-as: Erinnerunqen an Gottfried Benn, in Max Nj-eder-

mayer, Marguerite Schluter, eds. : Gottfried
Benn. Lvrik und Prosa. Briefe und Dokumente.
Eine Auswahl, Limes- Paperback, 2nd ed. (wies-
baden, I97]-), p. 319-329.
Hans Mayer: .sprechen und Verstummen der Dichter, in H.
Maye t; Das Geschehen und das S chweiqen.
, edition suhrkamp 342
Frankfurt, 19 a r P. 11-34.
Peter de lvlendelssohn: Das Verharren vor dem Unvereinbaren
Versuch uber Gottfried Benn, J-n P. de Mendels-
sohn: S ie ( serlin,
r-953) , p.2 -2 2.
P. Michelsen: T)as l)ôt:Þellel¡en und di e asthetischen Anschau-
n n ttfried Benns in Deutsche Viertel-
'iahrsschrift fur Li-teraturwissenschaft und
ce iste sqe schichte 35, I96L, p.247-26I.
Werner Milch:
24o, L935, p.257-2TI.
 -208 -

Werner Milch: U'lcer nachfaschistisches Denken, in Der Bund.

Ernst Nef: Das Werk Gottfried Benns (zürich, L95B).

-Êckart Oehlen schlager : Provokatj-on und Vergeqenwartiqunq.
Eine Studie zum Prosastil Gottfried Benns,
Literatur und Reflexion 7 (Frankfurt, l-97L).
Gerhart Pohl: Ü¡er aie Roll-e des" Schriftstellers in diese r
ZeiL. Brief an Johannes R. Becher und E.E.
Kisch, in Die neue Bucherschau, 7, 1929,
p. 463-47o.
AIfred PüIlmann: Gottfried Be n Phan diese
che Bestands-
a n Arztliche Praxis, L2, 19 March
59-664.
Martin Raschke: Gesprache um Gottfried Benn 5 in Die Literatur,
36, 1933, p.8-r1.
Rudolf ReIlau: t f
Benns neuer Schrift, in Der Mittaq Dussel-
dorf), 30 August 1933.
Paul Requadt ttf l-n
Neophiloloqus
'19 , P.50-
Heinz Risse: PauI Cázanne r-rnd Gottfried Benn (Mrinchen,
l-957 ) .

Ludwig Rohner: Gottfried Benn: Dorische Wel_t, in L. Rohner:

Essa Geschi
und Asthetik eíner l-iterarischen Gattunct
(weuwied/BerIin ), p. 259-28o.
Nico Rost: o n Brief an n, in Groot
Nederland, 19 P.352- I
'
Joseph Roth: Dichter im 4fitten Reich, in Das neue Taqe-
buch, 1, 1933, p.IT-L9.
Max Rychner: Gottfried Benn. Züqe seiner di-chterischen
We1t, in Neue Schwe izer Rundschau . lql+3 .
p.148-18o.
Moderne Dichter als ce gner der Geschichte t
il M. Rychner: Mitte
satze zur Literatur ( Zurich, 19
' P.57-
D. B. Sands: Das UnaufLrorliche, in Monatshefte , 64, I,
L972, p.2-I4.
Oskar Schlemmer: t
, in Tut Schl-emmer , ed.:
Brie fe und Taqebücher (tuünchen, 5 , P. 15-
3r7.
 -209-

Albrecht Schöne :Úberdauernde Temporal-F,truktur. Gottfried

Benn, in A. Schone: Sakularisation a1s
s l_ t n
e t 2nd ed. Gott j-ngen,
L9 , p.22J-2 T

Franz Schonauer :Der Monolog eines Intellektua1j-sten an 5

Deutsche Rundschau, 86, t96o, p.B9o-894.

Der neue-Staat und die rntellektuellen .l_n
F. Schonauer: Deutsche Literatur im Dritten
Reich. Versuch einer Darstellunq in polemisch-
didaktischer Absicht (O1ten und Freiburg/8t.,
I96L), p.38-6o.
War Gottfried Benn ein Scharl-atan? , in Der
.ugenb] ick.. 3, 1958, p. 45-52 .
Kurt Schümann: Gottfried Benn. Eine Studie (Emsdetten,
1957 ) .

KarI Schwedhelm:Das metaphvsische Abenteuer der Poesie. Der

nt in Deutsche
Rundschau, 77, I95I, p. 37- T

Nele PouI Soerensen: Mein Vater ttfried Benn (Wiesbaden,

r96o ) .
Walter H. Sokel :The Writer in Extre is. Expressioni-sm in
T\øentieth-Centurv German Literature (Stan-
ford University Press, f959).
Harald Steinhagen: l-lie stat ischen Ged i r.h von Gottfried Benn.
Die Vollendunc¡ seine expressioni-stischen
Lyrik, Veroffentlichungen der deutschen
Schillergesellschaft 28 (stuttgart, f969).
Joseph Strelka: Gottfried Benn. Der rboliker des Perspek-
in J. Strel-ka : Rilke , Benn. Schon-
er rne
Wien nnover se1, 19 o), P'5
w. E. Suskind : Benn und Graf Keyserlinq uber das neue
DeutEchland, in Die Literatur, 35, 1932/33,
p .556 .

DEr E s nl_s S it in Die

t P.r27.
Frank Thiess: Der Staat und die Kunstler. Eine Antwort auf
Gottfried Benn in Die litera ische welt t Jt?
40, 1927, p.T-
He Imut IJhJ-ig : Gottfried Benn, Kopfe
- des XX. Jahrhunderts 20
@:
Egon Vietta: Die Gedichte Gottfried Benns. in Die
i2.
 -2LO-

Jurgen P. Wallmann: t ied Ben t Genius der Deutschen

lacker, L9 5)

n itische :ro Semester-

spieqel-, 9, O, 19 p.2I-22 .

Jurgen P. WalImann, ed.: Absacre an G. Ben n. Ein Brief von

Prof. Dr. l,rÏ . Muschq t in Akropolis. Schul-
zeituns des Burqgvmnasiums in Essen, )!5
L958, p.7.
F. C. IrüeiskoPf : Antwort auf eine lAn twort'. Abrechnunq mit
Gottfried BennJ, in Der Geqen-Anqriff
(erague), 1, I Ju ne 1933.
Ulrich Weisstein: Gottfried Benn and Expressiorlism, in The
Folio, 19, f954, p.B9-toZ.
Dieter Wellershoffz CottfrieÇ Benn. Phänotyp dieser Stunde.
Eine Studie uber den Problemqehalt seines

Fieberkurve des deutschen Geistes. tlcer Gott-

fried Benns Verhaltnis zur Zeitgeschichte,
in Reinhold Grimm, Wolf-Dieter Marsch, eds.:
Die Kunst im Schatten des GottÇs. Für und
wider Gottfried Benn (cöttingen, 1962),
p. rr-39.
LuLz Weltmann: Nihitismus - reaktionär, in Die Literatur,
35, L932/33, p.31o.
Ursula WirLzz e struk r rtf ied Benns. Ei e
, Goppinger Arbeiten zvt
Germanistik Gopp ingen, l-97l-).

Gunter Witschel:Haltunq Benns zrt Rausch und Rauschqift t l-n

c. Witschel: Rausch und Rauschqift bei
Baudelaire, Huxlev, Benn und Burrouqhs
(eonn, 1968), p.65-9r.
Friedrich WilheIm Wodtke: Die Antike i-m Werk Gottfried Benns
(wiesbaden, 1963 ) .

Gottfried Benn, Sammlung MeLzier 26, 2nd ed

(Stuttgart, f97o).
Friedrich WilheIm Wodtke, ed.: tfried Benn. ele
Poems, Clarendon German Series (Oxford
University Press , I97O), pp. 9-41, 1l-o-230
Joseph Wulf: Der Fa11 Gottfried Benn, in J. Wulf: Literatur
und Dichtung im Dritten Rei-ch. Eine Dokumen-
tation (critersloh, 1963), p.113-123. ,

Bernhard ziegler lAlfred Kurella ] : rNun ist dies Erbe zuende

... ', in Das Wort 2, 9, 1937, p.42-49.
WoIf Zucker: Gottfríed Benn oder oie Grenze der Literatur t
l" Þi"._w.rt¡ürt" , 25; t9z9,g
 -zLI -

III. Background Reading lselect BibIi raphv )

Klaus Berger: Das Erbe des Expressionismus t in Das Wort t

3, 2' 1938, P.loo-1o2.
Karl Dietrich Bracher: Die Auflösunq der Weimarer Republik.
Eine r le falls in
der De mokratie , Schriften des Instítuts fur
Politische Wissenschaft 4 (stuttgartr/oüsse I-
dorf, 1955).
KarI Dietrich.Bracher, Wolfgang Sauer, Gerhard Schulz: Die
nationa Isozia Ii stische Machterqre i qunq.
tudien t des totali
S sinDe
Schriften des Instituts fur Politische wissen-
schaft 14 (xöfn/opladen, 1960)
Hildegard Brenner: Die Kunstpolitik des Nationalsozialism ,
rowohlts deutsche enzykropäaie 16T/:-68 (nein-
bek bei Hamburg, 1963).
Gordon A. Craig: Encracrement and Neutralitv in Weimar Ge rmãnv t
in Walter Lacqueur, George L. Mosse, eds.
Literature and Poli tics in the Twentieth
Centurv, Journal of Contemporary History 5

Arthur Drews: S e Is zia Iis -

in Nordische Stimmen t t 19 p.r72-

Andreas Flitner, ed.: Deutsches Geistesle tre nu ncl Nat iona I-

S zialismus. E l_-
vers l- ta m tv n
ingen, 19 )E
Tu

He1ga Gallas: Literaturtheor

nd rift-
ste I I e r , Sammlung Luchterhand L9 Neuw
IlerIin, r97r).
Peter Gay: Weimar Culture. The Outsider as Insider
(r,onaon, 1968)
Sander L. Gilman, ed.: NS-T,iteraturtheor I e. Eine Dokrrme n-
mit einer E
Schnauber Schwerpunkte Germanistik (Frank-
furt, I97L)
Ronald Gray: Writers and PoI rics: 1918-1933 , in R. Gra
The German Tra
(cambridge university Press, 1965), p.46-77.
neinhold Grimm and Jost Hermand, eds.: Die soqenannten
Zwanziqer Jahre. First Wisconsin Vlorksh.op.
Schriften zur Literatur 13 (eaa Homburg/
Berlin/zürich, L97o).
 -2r2-

AIasLair Hamilton : The Appea 1 of Fascism. A Studv of

nte I S ISM I 4
London, I97I
Gunter Hartung: Ulce r die deutsch Literatur t
l_ nWe t ,1 t L9 , PP. 7 542,
6 77-TO7, SonderhefL 2 /tg 6B p. L2I-L59 .

Jost Hermand, ed.: See Reinhold Grimm above.

Walther Hofer, ed. : r Nati e
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nietri-ch Strothmann: NTe1-'i crna'l sozi a I i el- i T,iterat-rr rr:ol i t i k

s, -

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 -2r3-

Hans-Albert Walter: -l t
voI. I,
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Joseph WuIf: itera Dich Dri-

Eine nta Guters Ioh, L9 ?
J