Cries of Distress: Emily Dickinson's Initial German Reception from an Intercultural Perspective

In June 1898, a two-part commentary on Emily Dickinson appeared in the German-language Illinois Staats-Zeitung, containing what is considered to be the earliest translation of Dickinson's poetry into any language and most probably the first introduction to the author that was not in English.¹ Interspersed in a text discussing Dickinson's work and oeuvre are four poems, "Much Madness is divinest Sense—," "The Heart asks Pleasure—first—," "If I can stop one Heart from breaking," and "The Soul selects her own Society—." The anonymous contributor is only referred to by her initials, "A.E." and "A.v.E." respectively. A little later in that same year, two of the poems were republished, with slight alterations, in the German naturalist periodical Die Gesellschaft, with the full name of the translator given as one "A. von Ende (New-York)."²

Although the achievement of Amalie von Ende for the international reception of Emily Dickinson has been noted several times,³ little is known about her extraordinary biography and extensive oeuvre. It is significant and indicative of Emily Dickinson's reception that a central figure such as Amalie von Ende was the first to introduce the non-American world to Dickinson.

A brief summary of the biography and achievement of Amalie von Ende will place her commentary on and translation of Emily Dickinson in five cultural and intercultural contexts, making up her life and the many worlds of German-speaking America and German-American relations around the turn of the century: politics, gender, criticism, art, and interculturality.⁴

Politics: Amalie von Ende was, in today's political language, a liberal with a strongly leftist bent. Born in Warsaw as Amalie Kremper in 1856, she spent her early childhood in Poland. The Krempers, who sympathized with the Polish liberation movement against the Tsar, eventually opted for emigration to the United States in the 1860s. Already in her youth, she worked as a journalist and wrote for two radical-socialist Milwaukee papers. There she came to know Henrich von Ende, a "radical journalist and publisher," as she herself put it, who served as associate editor of the paper.

Amalie and Henrich moved to Cincinnati and, from 1876 until 1878, jointly edited a socialist daily there, the Ohio Volkszeitung. Her progressive political attitude is also reflected in her membership (and active work) on the board of directors of Horace Traubel's radical Walt Whitman Fellowship International.

Throughout er life, Amalie von Ende demonstrated a strong committment to political, social and ethical change. Emily Dickinson, von Ende wrote, "had a strong sense of vocation. Her life work was to be a friend—counseling, consoling, and helping others." That sense of mission was also Amalie von Ende's. In addition to her journalistic activities, it manifested itself in a powerful educational impetus very much in the radical enlightenment tradition. After her husband's death in 1879, von Ende founded an educational institute for girls which followed progressive pedagogical principles. But what was it that interested this highly politicized and committed woman in Emily Dickinson?

Gender: Amalie von Ende was, and defined herself, as a feminist. It was in the Frauen-Zeitung, the Staats-Zeitung's "section for women," that von Ende published her essay on Dickinson. In all of her work, she always placed special emphasis on women and women's contribution to American, German, and world culture. She also attended several international feminist and peace conferences prior to World War I and was well acquainted especially with those personalities active both in the women's and peace movement.

In ending her articles on Dickinson with the celebratory line: "Emily Dickinson had to write to become what she is: the most original woman poet that America has yet produced," she celebrates the achievement as one of American women's literature.

Criticism: Amalie von Ende was a critic. She dealt with literature, comparative literature, the fine arte, music, and many other forms of cultural expression, including popular culture. Her notion of culture is very broad, although she does accord special place and function to...