Georg Trakl: Self-Portrait (1913)
I.
You should probably read more Trakl, says Simon. And, yes, I probably should ...
For even if his work isn't quite my cup of tea, there are elements within his lyrical expressionism to which I'm sympathetic; such as his fascination with the blueness of twilight and his love of silence. No one can deny that there are many arresting - and disturbing - images in his work, as he fully exploits the often uncanny ambiguity of German.
II. Wer war Georg Trakl?
Georg Trakl was a typical Romantic figure; a depressed drug fiend, who engaged in an incestuous relationship with his younger sister, Greta, and received generous financial support from wealthy patrons, including the philosopher Wittgenstein, who, like Heidegger, was a huge fan (see section III below).
A pharmacist by profession, Trakl liked to hang around with the avant-garde artists involved with the well-known literary journal Der Brenner, edited by Ludwig von Ficker. The latter was also an avid supporter of the young poet and not only regularly printed his work, but attempted to find a publisher for his first collection.
Unfortunately, Trakl overdosed on cocaine in the autumn of 1914 and became an early member of what is now known as the 27 Club. There's a very strong possibility of suicide. In a letter written in 1913 he confessed:
"I long for the day when my soul shall cease [...] to live in this wretched body polluted with melancholy, when it shall quit this laughable form made of muck and rottenness, which is all too faithful a reflection of a godless, cursed century."
III. Philosophical Readings of Trakl
As mentioned above, both Wittgenstein and Heidegger were keen readers of Trakl. But, perhaps not surprisingly, they responded very differently to his poetry ...
The former, for example, wrote that whilst he didn't understand the verses, their tone - one of true genius - made him very happy. The latter, on the other hand, claimed that Trakl's work made perfect sense, once it had been situated and unified as a single rhythmic wave within his own thinking.
Derrida would later question this rather outrageous attempt by Heidegger to co-opt Trakl's work - what we might describe as an act of philosophical Anschluss - though, to be fair, it's something we've all done is it not; to read an author in light of one's own ideas and obsessions (indeed, it might be argued that every reading is an act of violation, as the reader seeks out their textual pleasure).
Thanks to the poet and literary scholar Simon Solomon for suggesting this post.
For even if his work isn't quite my cup of tea, there are elements within his lyrical expressionism to which I'm sympathetic; such as his fascination with the blueness of twilight and his love of silence. No one can deny that there are many arresting - and disturbing - images in his work, as he fully exploits the often uncanny ambiguity of German.
II. Wer war Georg Trakl?
Georg Trakl was a typical Romantic figure; a depressed drug fiend, who engaged in an incestuous relationship with his younger sister, Greta, and received generous financial support from wealthy patrons, including the philosopher Wittgenstein, who, like Heidegger, was a huge fan (see section III below).
A pharmacist by profession, Trakl liked to hang around with the avant-garde artists involved with the well-known literary journal Der Brenner, edited by Ludwig von Ficker. The latter was also an avid supporter of the young poet and not only regularly printed his work, but attempted to find a publisher for his first collection.
Unfortunately, Trakl overdosed on cocaine in the autumn of 1914 and became an early member of what is now known as the 27 Club. There's a very strong possibility of suicide. In a letter written in 1913 he confessed:
"I long for the day when my soul shall cease [...] to live in this wretched body polluted with melancholy, when it shall quit this laughable form made of muck and rottenness, which is all too faithful a reflection of a godless, cursed century."
III. Philosophical Readings of Trakl
As mentioned above, both Wittgenstein and Heidegger were keen readers of Trakl. But, perhaps not surprisingly, they responded very differently to his poetry ...
The former, for example, wrote that whilst he didn't understand the verses, their tone - one of true genius - made him very happy. The latter, on the other hand, claimed that Trakl's work made perfect sense, once it had been situated and unified as a single rhythmic wave within his own thinking.
Derrida would later question this rather outrageous attempt by Heidegger to co-opt Trakl's work - what we might describe as an act of philosophical Anschluss - though, to be fair, it's something we've all done is it not; to read an author in light of one's own ideas and obsessions (indeed, it might be argued that every reading is an act of violation, as the reader seeks out their textual pleasure).
Thanks to the poet and literary scholar Simon Solomon for suggesting this post.
Heidegger was perhaps drawn to Trakl for different but connected reasons from those affinities (or professional needs) that drew him to Hoelderlin - viz., for his etiolated radiance as a benighted prophet, as Stephen's extract from Trakl's letter makes clear, in a 'destitute time'.
ReplyDeleteThe much discussed possible incestuous relationship may or may not have happened (Grete is alleged to have confessed to it before shooting herself in Berlin three years after her brother's death), but what is clear is that a fascinating preoccuation with the spectral figure of the sister, rehearsed in different guises, permeated Trakl's poetics, in a way that generates for one of the poet's more interesting critics, Gunther Kleefeld, the need for an alchemical reading, in which, as numerous medieval illustrations make clear, the dragon is slain by a brother/sister syzygy, uniting in a mystical conjucntion of Sol and Luna. In psychological terms, the 'personal' love affair of Georg and Grete - like as we might a salacious personal story - was actually driven by impersonal or archetypal forces. As his satanic puppet play Bluebeard unmistakably conveys, Trakl knew, as did the Greeks, that we are mere playthings on strings, pulled by uncanny fates or gored by gruesome gods.
As for Trakl's windfall from Wittgenstein, which amounted to 20,000 crowns (not far short of £100,000 in modern money), his nerves were so shredded he never actually got to the bank to claim the funds - the story goes that when he arrived to make a first withdrawal, he was seized by a panic attack and took off in a manic crisis. But I think we can safely assume Trakl was as much in it for the cash as Ian Curtis was for the fame and fast cars.
Of course, the admiration for Trakl in his own time didn't end there - Rilke also thought Trakl's oeuvre something of 'sublime existence. And time has been as kind to him in death as his drug-addicted, war-traumatised life was cruel, elevating him into one of the most posthumously revered voices in Austrian letters (ironically so, as he especially loathed the Viennese for their revolting 'bonhomie').
Who might he have been, asked Rilke, rather spectacularly missing the point about all he was - a Christian, a Satanist, a junkie, a visionary. A schizophrene, who was at the same time, one suspects, supersane. Trying to 'follow' him is like clinging to the icy tail of a comet.