• No results found

das dfi wahrend der trockenen Zeit sorgfaltig verbarg.

In document The poetry of Günter Grass (Page 57-64)

Chaos,the speaker is sayingjis imminenteSpoons no longer contain sub- stances but are porcus like sieves and the hand - like the spoon - may catch the rain or allou it to pour through the fingers,The flood itself questions the speaker's authenticity,his integral existence in a world falling apart at the seams:

Der ISeller steht unter klasser^wir haben die Kisten hochgetragen II

und prufen den Inhalt mit der Liste,

iZU-

Noch ist nichts uerloren gegangane- ~

These last three lines anticipate the opening scene of the play Hochwasssr where Betty and Noah emerge from the cellar with a large packing case which contains Leo and Kongol"^^

The lyrical post's debt to the theatre is evident in his tribute to Fritz Kortner;Koniq iLiar^'^^ The famous actor and producer is described in terms of the people and objects that surround him as he sits in an armchair of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna before going to the performance:

In der Halle,

in jeder Hotelhalle,

in einam eingesessenen Sessel,

Klub~,Leder-,doch niemals Korbsessel, II

zwischen uerfruhten KongrejBteilnehmern und leeren Sesseln,die Anteil haben, II selten,dann mit Distanz gegruBt,

sitzt er^die uon Kellnern umsegelte Insel, und vergipt nichts,

The hotel hall becomes the scene of an impromptu rehearsal acted out by guests,waiters - and even armchairs,The staging of the play King Lear is actually prefigured by the description of the hall where the disintegrating

/3g.Grc.ss,G.Hochwa53er. vhl. P,11 . /l^Grass,G.Hochwpsscr, \J'dJ. P d l .

/251 Grass, G . Hochwasser. In; Grass ^ G. The ate r spiel e,Luchter hand, f'Jeuwied und Berlin.1970,Pp.7-58.

,.Grass«G. Kc'niq l.ear, Ag,

p.53

l u x u r y op s c u l p t u r e d a n g e l a 5 B a r o q u e m i r r o r s and gold leaf p e e l i n g rrom p l a s t e r f i g u r e s r e f l e c t s the f r a g i l i t y of L e a r ' s w o r l d :

I'iel hort er nicht aber a l l e s und u i d o r l a g t den T e p p i c h . Die Stul<katur denkt er weg und stemrnt seine Brauen g e g e n . Bis sich ihr B l a t t g o l d I H s t , s p r e c h e n B a r o c k e n g e l \J Q V O ^Z S

In the c o u r s e of an i n t e r v i e u given in 1957 Kortner a d u m b r a t e d his con- ception of Lear in t e r m s which i l l u s t r a t e G r a s s ' s t r i b u t e :

Mein 'Lear' b e g i n n t d e m i t , d a p dieser Konig l u x u r i e s b e h a u s t i s t e E r ist umgeben uon P r a c h t und P o m p , s c h e i n t sicher im G e h a u s e . E r uertragt die W a h r h e i t n i c h t . E r e r t r S g t es n i c h t , dap die W a h r h e i t , d i e er a u s g e s p e r r t zu haben m e i n t d u r c h all den L u x u s j a u s g e s p r o c h e n u i r d . A m S c h l u B j n a c h d e m er g e f a l l e n i s t , l a n g e , f a s t endlos,v/on sshr hocli h i n a b , d a weiS er w a s wahr i s t . Da kann er auch kein Konig mehr sein.Da ist die Buhne l e e r , ^ ^ In the final stanza of the poem Kortner b e c o m e s one with the c h a r a c t e r of L e a r , H i s p e r s o n a l i d e n t i t y is t e m p o r a r i l y submerged b e n e a t h the o f f i c i a l p e r s o n a of 'Herr K o r t n e r ' which is d i s c a r d e d as soon as the r e a l play b e g i n s :

Im H o t e l Sacher wird nach Herrn Kortner u e r l a n g t , Herr Kortner iSpt sagen,er sei auf der P r o b e .

In der Halle,in seinem S e s s e l , s t e l l t jemand sich tot und t r i f f t sich mit Kent auf der Heide,''^^

As Ruth Lorbe has o b s e r v e d , Konig Lear is really a m i n i a t u r e drama w h i c h i n v o l v e s the reader in much the same way as a play h o l d s the i m a g i n a t i o n of an a u d i e n c e , S h e w r i t e s :

Das G e d i c h t ist d r a m a t i s c h a u f g e b a u t , w a s bei einem d r a m a t i s c h e n M o t i v w o h l a n g e m e s s e n i s t . E s zielt ab auf S p r u n g , i/erwicklung und E n t l a d u n g und o p e r i e r t m i t dem Leser zusammer..liiir haben es hisr k e i n e s w e g s mit einem m o n o l o g i s c h e n G e d i c h t zu t u n ; d e n n es wird a n g e n o m m e n j d a p der Leser m i t s p i e l t , d a p er Kortner k e n n t ,

/ ^ 9 » u r a s s , G . K o n i g L s a r , A g , P,31 «

/;29»Kortn8r,F.In ;Theater h'sute.Zeitschrift fur S c h a u s p i e l ^ D p e r ^ a a l l e t t , H e f t S.f^.ay 1 9 6 7 . P , 7 , I n der H o t e l h a l l e q B s p r o c h e R . Inter--

V i_Bw w 3. t h ^ 'H.g n n i I'l • R i c-.r, h Li i e t e r . / 3 0 . G r a s s , G . K B n i q L e a r . A g . P.3'1 ,

p. 54. dap er 'King Lear' gelesen ode.r gesehen hat.Der Autor uiird mit dem Leser in Kontakt genomrnen,er zieht ihn nit ins Lin- uerstandnis.

Grass appeals to tne Shakespearean tradition rather than to the theatre of French classicidi,i. In one poem he describes an incident in the life of Dean Racine which serves to highlight Grass's own position in ths histor^'^of European literature.The essential theme of Racine lapt sein liJapoen andern is the contradiction experienced in composition which - f o r Grass's Racine-takes the form of a discrepancy between aesthetic order and the personal experience of dissonance.The French dramatist himself is the focal point of the poem which begins with a description of Racine's coat of arms:

Ein heraldischer Schwan und eine heraldische Ratte bilden-oben der Schwan, darunter die Ratte-

das Wappen des Herrn Racine,

Swan and rat are the visual expression of an aesthetic credo which becomes explicit in the actions of the dramatist as he seeks to discover the inner meaning of the coat of arms.Racine works with ths precise intellect of a

92

watchmaker-he is 'auf Verse aus'. The fourth stanza is the turning-point of the piece.Here R a c i n e gains insight into the nature of the heraldic swan by observing sleeping swans as he attends his muse next to a nocturnal pond.Their very'plurality prefigures the conscious recognition of whiteness and of its material significance:

Schwane schlafen dort wo es seicht ist,

und R'acine begreift jenen Teil seines '^^appens, welcher weiss ist

und der Schonheit als l^opfkissen dient.

The rat and the swan seen in their emblematic form exist in carefully poised harmony.Their hierarchical balance reflects a social order where privilege remained as yet unchallenged by the apostles of the Revolution.

/^/•.LorbByR.Lyrische Standpunkte.Interpretationen moderner Gedichte. Bayrischer Schulbuch-Uerlag.l969.P.1 82.

oGrasSju. Uor- und Machqeschichte der Tragodie des Coriolanus von Livius und Plutarch uber Shakespeare .bis zu Brecht und mir. In:Akzente. / ^ 3 0 G r a s s, G«R a c j. n e 1 a R t sein WaoDen n andern® Gd. Pp.58-59. • Zeitschrift fur /3-4.,Grass,GoRacine lapt sein L'appen andern. Gd. P. 58. Dichitung.

/ii'.Grass,G.Racinn laGt a Gin Waopen tf andern. Gd. P. 58. Carl Manser.I'erlag Runchen^^ -j ^

11 Gd.

Carl Manser.I'erlag Runchen^^ -j ^

/ 3 ii. G r a s s, C. R a c i n 0 1 t sein IJapnen OLUiorji. Gd. P«53. 3ahroang.3un6.195'^ Pn-iq/.-??!.

3ahroang.3un6.195'^ Pn-iq/.-??!.

IJ.S.'J Gcshind the suiff.ce calm both croaturss ore cond.itj.oned by the spirit or an elemental conflict.The peaceful beauty of the drowsing swans conceals a meaning whiol'i Racins is unabj.e to grasp,J-t is the meaning of Baudelaire';: Line ^Charonne, ^he awareness of dissonance fornulated by Grass himself into

an arjsthetic dactrine;'Alles Schnna ist schief' ^^^The rat of the ernblGm is transformed into a water-rat which disrupts the idyllic scene by

gnawing at the drowsing swan: Auf schrait der Schwan, das kiasser reisst,

riondlicht uerarnt und Racine beschliesstj nach Hause zu gehen,

• II " ^ sein uJappen zu andern.

The French classicist,unable to tolerate the discrepancy between artistic form and crass physical reality,is turned into a pedantic realist^The underlying antagonism between the ugly and the beautiful also finds.here an appropriate image in the description of the swan being gnawed by a rat.

Rats are recurring creatures in the landscape of Grass's imagination. The epitome of moral and physical decay,they provide a perspective on man-» kind from 'sewer level' which has earned for Gllinter Grass the reputation of 'Gossendichter',Yet these creatures have inspired such memorable pieces as the 'washroom scene' in H u n d e j a h r e a n d the dialogues of 5chlich and Perle in the play Hochwassar. -i-t is little wonder that Herr Racine finds himself unable to accommodate such animals in his coat of arms and that he choses to renounce all claim to the theatre:

Fort streicht er die heraldische Hatte,

Die aber hBrt nicht auf,seinem Waposn zu fehlen, Weiss stumm und rattenlos

wird der Schwan seinen Einsatz verschlafen- Racine entsagt dem Theater

The concluding lines recall Pilenz's reflection in Katz und Naus when he ponders the meaning of T'lahlke's 'mouse':

Und die Maus?[\!icht dap jemand,das Schicksal oder ein Autor,sie getilgt oder gestrichen hatte,wie Racine die Ratte in seinem Wappen gestrichen und nur den Sciiwan geduldet hattoc ^ ^

/3'/.0audel3iretL-»Lp3 Fleurs du mal, (Edition ds Antoine Adam),Gamier,Paris,1 961 , Pp. 3/1-36.

Crass,G.Ha. Ag. P.14.

" - It / ^ , G r a s s , G .Racine la^.t sain i;i.'^ppen andern, Gd, P,b9.

Grass,G .j-lunde.jahre.Rowohlt.Frankfurt am Nain.l 963. Pp.269-273.

. Grass,G^'icjlil'ijij.gg.gl.»-• ^ ^ ' ' ^ s P i e 1 e. Luchtcrhand.fJeuwied und Berlj n.19:70, Pp.7-58.

Grass,G.RncinG iMUt sein iiJapncn andern. Gd, P.59.

p. 55

'uJith Grass the particular aspect oF an object uery often gives a C I L I B

to its total essence.The isolateci detail throws liglit on an event the broader significance of uhich has been engulfed by the process of tinieoGrass himself elucidated this approach to writing when he stated:

In meinen Gedichten versuciie ich,durch uberscharfen Realismus fapbare Gegenstande von aller Ideologie zu befreien,sie aus- einander zu nehmen,ujieder zusammen zu setzen und in Situationen zu bringen,in denen es schuierfallt,das Gesicht zu beujahren,in denen das Feierliche lachen mup,ueil die Leichentrtiqer zu ernste niene machen,als da^ man glauben konnte,sie nehmen Anteil,

The seemingly absurd ending of such poems as Abqelaqert ' receive meaning only when viewed from this perspective.In this lyrical piece of six stanzas the poet plays the part of a beachcomber wandering along the shores of his own memory,Snatches of experience are recorded or 'stored away' simply because they are left-overs of past happenings:fragments of rock from a glacier'-formed valley,hair-pins and razor-blades left behind by a previous tenant,coins found in the grass after the circus is gcacjdust on the fingers,ash on the record player:

Beim Einzug in neue Wohnungen finden wir Spuren

der letzten f'lieter:

Haainadeln und Rasierklingen.,, Asche,wer immer wUnschte,

in alien vier bJinden zu sein,

lagerte dennoch auf Schallplatten ab, die von abgelagerter Musik rund sino, ^ ^

In the final stanza the remnant described is the button from the coat of a soldier at Dunkirk.With characteristic deftness in'the use of ambiguity

Grass exploits the associations of the word ' Knopf' (which resembles ' K o p f : head) and leaves' the reader in a state of uncertainty as to the ultimato fata

Grass,G. Quoted in Dcmin^H, Doppeiinterpre tationen, P,277, Grass,G. Abcslaoert. Gd.P.66.

of the soldier:

Pcby Was ich beschreibtsn ujerde,

es kann nur den Knopf meinen, der bei Dunkerchen liegenblieb,

nie den Soldaten,der knopflos davonkam,

Nostalgia for the past, concern with life in miniature and a toying with the remnants of a decayed ciurlisation are features of Grass's poetry which he has in common with a number of writers in Germany (ijJalser, Eich, Heissenbuttel), France (f^en^ Chaj? and Francis Ponge) and America

(Ferlinghetti), Theodor Wiesor has observed:

Dichter sind Strandganger geworden,auch in den Strassen der Grossst^dte. Allein die Dinge, die sie finden, sind noch

II " verlasslich, haben die Melancholie des Llberbleibsels, die

Trauer um eine uergangene Walt,

One of the most delightful poems from Gleisdreieck is

Aus dem Alltaq der Puppe i-Jana. The doll motif itself belongs to a long tradition in German literature. One need only think of Rilke's use of the doll metaphor in the fifth Duino Elegy, With Grass the doll ~ a favorite requisite in the world of the chiild - is the subject

of several successful nonsense poems including the liturgical fro

Lamento bei Glatteis. Aus dem Alltaq consists of seventeen short lyrical episodes which describe the brief life of Nana the doll. Each fcur-line stanza is provided with a heading which sets the scene for Nana's

nonsensical activities and each has no logical connection with another. In the first episode the doll receives its name from the chiming of a clock:

Die Puppe spielt mit den Minuten,

doch niemand spielt mehr mit der Puppe,- es sei denn,daj3 die Uhr drei Schritte macht i < t

und l\lana sagt:l\iana Wana Nana,,, *

At the barber's shop Nana makes plaits of the rain and then proceeds to ^41: Grass,G,Abgslagqrt.Gd.P,66.

146,iiJieser,T.Gp.Cit.P.26.

<49. GrasSjG.Aus dam Ajltaq der Puppe '^ia^a. Gd. Pp. 41-44, GrasSfG.Lamento bei Glattsis. U'J.Pp,j6~37,

P.5G comb her hair.. In one Morgensternesque interlude ths doll discovers an

'unmarried t o o t h ' which she places in a glass: Da sprang das Glas,der Zahn wieder frei

J bip einem Stuhl die Uladen e n t z w e i .

She amuses herself with a yoyo-playing spider ('Schicksal') or observes celluloid as it drips from the roof - and then makes a hole in her h e a d . In autumn Nana speculates on a poplar tree:

Die B l a t t e r , bunte Scheine fallen a b , 1

die deutsche Tlark u e r w i t t e r t . *

A visit to the zoo is the turning-point in the doll's l i f e . For hers she becomes betwitched by an owl (frequently a creature of ill omen in Grass's repertoire of mythical beasts) and grows despondent:

Seitdem hat die Puppe Mause im Blick

In document The poetry of Günter Grass (Page 57-64)