In this Book
- Gottfried Benn's Static Poetry: Aesthetic and Intellectual-Historical Interpretations
- Book
- 1991
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: UNC Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

summary
This book consists of close readings of four poems illustrating Gottfried Benn's developing conception of stillness or stasis: Trunkene Flut (1927), Wer allein ist— (1936), Statische Gedichte (1944), and Reisen (1950). Mark Roche pays particular attention to the interrelation of form and content, and he uncovers previously overlooked allusions to thinkers such as Aristotle, Seneca, and Meister Eckhart.
Benn's supposedly pure poetry of stasis is in reality an expression of opposition to nazi ideology, Roche argues, and should be viewed in the context of inner emigration. Nevertheless, Benn's opposition to nazism unwittingly rests on the same decisionistic foundation as the power positivism he deplores. Benn's well-intentioned critique of nazism is ultimately unsuccessful. The book concludes with a theoretical postscript that suggest ways in which intellectual history could be made productive for literary interpretation and provides arguments in favor of an 'aesthetic' analysis attentive to both formal structures and philosophical coherence.
Table of Contents

- Half-Title Page
- p. i
- Series Page
- p. ii
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Dedication
- pp. vii-viii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- Half-Title Page
- p. xiii
- 1. Introduction
- pp. 1-4
- 2. “Trunkene Flut”
- pp. 5-14
- 3. “Wer allein ist—”
- pp. 15-22
- 4. “Statische Gedichte”
- pp. 23-29
- 5. “Reisen”
- pp. 30-38
- 6. Statik and Inner Emigration
- pp. 39-55
- 8. Critique
- pp. 65-74
- 9. Theoretical Postscript
- pp. 75-79
- 10. Summary
- pp. 80-81
- Works Cited
- pp. 107-117
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469656793
Related ISBN(s)
9781469656786
MARC Record
OCLC
1155230831
Launched on MUSE
2020-06-05
Language
English
Open Access
Yes
Creative Commons
CC-BY-NC-ND