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| THE SMOKY LUMINARY – LENZ Māra Grudule In 1953 Andrejs Johanson's collection of essays entitled Dūmainie spīdekļi (The Smoky Luminaries) was first published. Along with other Latvian and foreign authors Lenz, named "the Vidzeme resident of storms and passions", was brought out of the darkness of the past. His name was one of those that had been heard, but still required a follow-up question, "Sigfried Lenz, the author of "The German Lesson"? Or does this Lenz have anything to do with physics?" As to me, there are centuries in Latvian literature that in some sense have passed by as "smoky luminaries". How much do we know about them, how colorful and large in depth and height is the landscape of writing from Kurzeme, Zemgale, Vidzeme and Latgele in our eyes? Unfortunately, quite often this landscape in our consciousness is synonymous with the history of Latvian literature. Meanwhile Martin Heidegger, speaking of Hölderlin quoted his letter to Casimir Ulrich Böhlendorff. And still many European bookstores carry works of Werner Bergengrūn, Eduard Keyserling and Jacob Lenz in their shelves. And still the majority of Latvian readership thinks of these names as unfamiliar to them even though the lives and activities of these writers for a longer or shorter period of time were linked to the Baltics, to Vidzeme and Kurzeme. Lenz among the others, undeniably is the most recognizable one, it is his fame that from Vidzeme has traveled furthest; without the analysis of his works the late 18th century Sturm und Drang epoque in literature is unthinkable. | |
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Who was he anyway? Some versions.
Lenz and his father. Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz was born in Cesvaine pastor's family on January 23, 1751. His father was a newcomer to Vidzeme. From a modest family of Prussian craftsmen he made a breathtaking career for that ime - after graduation form University of Halle the old Lenz accepted governor's position in Taurene, but in the course of his life was invited to become the superintendent not only at the prestigious and the largest German congregation of St.John in Dorpat (where the author of the expressive Latvian sermons Georg Menzel served in his days from 1626), but even to become the superintendent of the whole Vidzeme, most probably due to his poetic yet conservative and orthodox views. And the father wished his son a priest's career of equal success - as the boy was prone to ailments, small in height but of very gentle nature, in his childhood Jacob Michael Lenz was father's favorite of his eight children. The value of the son in the eyes of the father augments along with discovering his special talents for languages and poetry - the first poem was published in some Baltic German newspaper with a note that this "rare talent should flourish in honor of the fatherland"1 when the young Lenz was only 15 years old. And Jacob is a good son - following his father's recommendation he pursues theology studies in Königsberg. Away from home, new horizons open up at the university and his awareness grows that, probably, it is writing that shapes the real future path for the young Lenz. Instead of following the father's request to return home, Lenz opts for going to Strasbourg along with two sons of baron Kleist being promised shelter and food for his services, in fact, he leaves in the capacity of lackey. His father is embittered. Working as a tutor would later, most likely, help to secure the career of a priest - and now that is traded for wandering around, permanent lack of money and unorganized life style in every respect. It seems that the period of studies at Königsberg was the one along with some later years right after it when a gap between the father and the son became deeper. The further Lenz went away from the traditional and regular, that what was generally acceptable, the colder their relationship grew. The poet feared returning, while his father feared admitting that the black sheep of the family, later pursued by a serious mental ailment, was his own son. And initially having insisted on his return, Lenz's father later hesitates and even refuses to admit his son to his house - this would cause unnecessary complications, would ruin the rhythm of the day and possibly could destroy the reputation of the Lenz's family among the colleagues and parish members. Lenz's friends insisting, finally the father admits his son home, but it seems that he simply ignores the son's illness. It is illustrated, for example, by his idea to put the poet haunted by the fits of raving madness, in the post of the rector of the Dome school and his hope for support from Lenz's former friend and witness of his tragic fate, Johann Gottfried Herder. Struggle with the authoritarian and patriarchal father and continuous cravings for free spirit - these are the issues that Jacob Lenz tries to solve in his drama - the plays "The Tutor" (1774), "The New Menoza" (1774), but particularly in the "The Soldiers" (1776). It should be noted that the plots of these plays devote almost no space to mothers. On one hand the respect and obedience that were taught in the childhood, awe and the stipulations of the Bible "thou shall respect thy father and mother" (for comparison: in 1775 Lenz wrote: "To my mother I should be grateful for my phlegm - my happiness, to my father - for my fire - my disaster. I honour both of them as most respectable people in their sphere that I've met. I have offended both of them, poor ones, I've been forced to offend them."2); on the other hand - the craving for freedom inherent in the time of Sturm und Drang make his inner struggle harder. Lenz and his friends. 70s of the 18th century is a period of important changes in Lenz's life, introduced by Kant's lectures at the University of Königsberg prompting to doubt, philosophize, discuss and leading one to modern French, English and German philosophy.3 During the Strasbourg period right after his studies, Lenz's friendship with Johan Friedrich Goethe, Martin Wieland grows stronger, also exchange of letters with Herder and other German intellectuals strengthens their ties. Almost all of them at the time were young people who shared the same views on literature and philosophy and certainly gave the central role to the cult of an individual, nature and feelings inherent to the Sturm und Drang thought, found French philosophy and the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau specifically very appealing. Looking at Lenz's work, I think, the main role there is given to a person, his internal world, freedom of choice, to the duo between the mind and the feelings, questions of self-respect, and sexuality without which thinking of youth would be impossible. Both Lenz's biography and his works illustrate the significance of the latter one in his life. It is quite characteristic that Lenz played some secondary role in his relationship with women - as is known, it was on his shoulder that dumped, deceived and temporarily abandoned young ladies found their rest and peace. In this respect Lenz's own feelings that, I think, blend intentional reasoning of a "researcher" - as he gets better acquainted with the world of thoughts and feelings of a woman in love - with pacifying gentleness of a compassionate soul (which, most likely was what a daughter of Sesenheim priest Friederike Brion, abandoned by Goethe, and a daughter of goldsmith from Strasbourg Kleoffe Fiebich, abandoned by Kleist, expected from him) and the dawning, deep love of a young, romantic and inexperienced person, who does not even recognize this love at the beginning. By the way, the other two cases of Lenz's love remained unanswered - he meant nothing to baroness Henriette von Waldner while Goethe's sister Cornelia Schlosser who was married while Lenz resided with her family and already pregnant with her second daughter, a couple of months later died during childbirth ("my guardian angel is gone, the deity guiding me", wrote Lenz in 1777 after hearing the news of her death4). The fruit of Lenz's love was his poetry. One of nicest poems with devotion is addressed to Kleoffe Fiebich (here - Fillida), which is available also in Latvian, in Kārlis Krūze's excellent translation.5 The theme of sexuality is present in Lenz's plays as well - almost up to such a level of personal freedom that it allows for self-castration, like in the "The Tutor", or recommendations to open bordellos for warriors where young girls would voluntarily sacrifice themselves for the benefit of society, hence protecting their contemporaries from a similar fate, in the "The Soldiers". Lenz's life is continuously accompanied by his feeling of loneliness, the poet has often knocked on the doors of heart but it seems that has never been truly welcomed from behind of those doors. I think that both Georg Būchner in his story "Lenz" (1835) and Wolfgang Rihm in his chamber opera "Jacob Lenz" (1976) have aptly commented on Lenz's situation. Only a true madman could believe in endurance of friendship and warmth of mutual relations. Besides, Lenz is too different, too unpredictable, natural, sometimes even wild. Having been admitted triumphantly to the court of Weimar, he is expelled from there only a couple of months later in 1776 - his free behavior, lack of manners, that are prerequisites of a court poet, his courting of duchess and Charlotte von Stein as well as occasional drinking initiate fury in the members of the court. I tend to view Lenz among his contemporaries as a figure in the shadow of the famous ones - Goethe, Herder and Wieland. Several of Lenz's works have been attributed to Goethe, thus securing a number of bitter moments for the poet. It could not be claimed that Lenz's compositions would have enjoyed special attention during his lifetime - from all his drama pieces only the "The Tutor" in Hamburg, Berlin and Manheim has been staged and that also after literary amendments to it, while none of his books are republished and a number of his works remain manuscripts and are first published only after Lenz's death. Goethe in his work "Poetry and Truth" (1833) has positively referred to Lenz's creative work saying: "His talent originated in true depth, from perpetual ability to create and gentleness competed with dynamism and wittiness in this talent. (..) Lenz had excellent memory and the material he had read gave diverse food for original thought"; "I often was surprised at the poesy that Lenz could breathe into the most ordinary events" and "I highly value his credentials" and "Lenz like meteor flashed at the horizon of German literature". And still. Goethe's opinion, even though eulogizing Lenz, shows that even Goethe did not succeed to notice the novelty of Lenz's approach to German literature. However, friendship and unconditional support played essential role in the last years of Lenz's life. In 1779 in Riga Lenz became a member of the Masonic craft. A brief period of wandering in Moscow, Dorpat, St.Petersburg follows but since 1781 until his death Lenz settles to live in Moscow. It is not known with any reliable degree of certainty what happened with him during this time. One could think though that the Freemasons took care of the poet weakened by mental illness; Lenz was associated to them not only through the mysterious organization but also through his views - during the 1780s the ideas of sentimentalism and interest in Rousseau's philosophy strongly increased among the Russian Freemasons.6 In Moscow Lenz periodically worked as a tutor and translated texts from Russian into German. For a while he shared housing with Russian writer, sentimentalist and historian Nikolay Karamzin. The latter has admitted that Lenz played a role of an outstanding mental master in his life, it was under Lenz's influence that Karamzin set out to travel in Germany. Presumably Freemason organizations in Moscow have been supporters of Lenz's life at its end but in early 90s as the internal disagreements increased, Lenz lost this support and in 1792 due to the shortage of resources was turned out of doors where on the night from June 3 to 4 he was found dead. Lenz's resting place is still unknown. Lenz and drama. As is known, Lenz wrote poetry (and, let's face it, the poetry is reflection of his mental illness - the motif of suicide is apparent in poet's conversation with himself: "Oh, spirit, that is going wild within me. (..) Calm down. You will be free soon" etc.), theoretical essays on literature and theatre, opinions on his contemporaries, for example, on works of Goethe and Herder, autobiographical fragment "Partisan" (published in 1797) and other works, but German literary history assigns special place to Lenz's plays. Lenz's master in drama, like that of a number of his contemporaries, has been Shakespeare; however, it seems that in contrast to others, Lenz has permitted himself to do more. In "Notes on Theatre" (1774) he argues that events form the main part of a comedy, they are its essence, while in tragedy - a hero; it is not needed- on the contrary, one shouldn't stick to what Aristotle's "Poetics" prescribe, a writer has to be free and without any preconceptions. Lenz thought that German audience was not mature enough to appreciate tragedy, therefore everything should be done to bring the play closer to the audience, i.e., one should attempt to add the comical to the tragic, the language should be as close as possible to the language used on daily basis - his plays not only use localisms, but also conversational phrases, vulgarisms and swear words, cut endings, omitted words7; characters should be copies from the world around, problems must be topical for the specific time period, etc. These rules Lenz tried to observe himself. His plays contain a number of autobiographical moments, sometimes even the names of the prototypes are left unchanged, and the situations illustrated hence have caused indignation among his friends and acquaintances. For example, in his tragedy "The Tutor" Lenz has portrayed baron Berg as a short-tempered, rude and impulsive person, which in general corresponds to the historical truth. At the same time the Bergs from Vidzeme were long-time supporters of Lenz's family and here we can only guess what the feelings of Lenz's father were as he learned the plot of the play. The topicality of the problems of his time has prompted readers in the course of decades to view Lenz's plays from a social perspective thus marginalizing the attempts to focus on the psychological problems that were essential for the poet himself. Now Lenz's plays are linked to the beginnings of the German modern theatre and naturalist drama due to their strong, natural, open and unusual character. Unfortunately Lenz's drama has another side - plot in his plays tends to disappear, the author, carried away by his interest to get into the depths of the human internal world, allows for lengthy monologues and frequent, often unnecessary changes of setting without even thinking about smooth interplay of the actions and events; hence, his plays are difficult to stage without prior literary amendments. In the 20th century, right after the Second World War Bertold Brecht made literary adaptation of Lenz's "The Tutor" for the stage, being impressed by Lenz's social criticism, and he called it a bright illustration of civic-realism while soon after that, following Brecht, a number of German theaters staged "The Soldiers" and "The New Menoza". It should be noted that "The Tutor" quite recently, in the 1980s was staged in Vanemuine theatre in Tartu. Giuseppe Verdi used the plot of "Sicilian Supper" (1782) for one of his operas, Lenz's plays "The Soldiers" and "The Englishman" (1777) after literary reworking have been later, in the 20th century, used for opera compositions in Germany. Friedrich Schiller highly valued Lenz's drama and it could be said that Lenz has had direct influence on the formation of some episodes in his "Love and Deceit" and "The Robbers". The legend on Lenz in Latvia. The term "legend" has its reason. Lenz's writing is almost unavailable in Latvian directly. Lenz remains a legend shaped by interpretations of Latvian writers, philosophers and historians of culture. Each one of them, of course, has described Lenz and has attempted to understand him on the basis of one' s individual motivation. I think that Jānis Poruks among the Latvian intellectuals is the only who has been deeply personally touched by the fate of the German poet, presumably, because he has perceived an echo of a similar spirit in Lenz. Andrejs Johansons in the above mentioned article has given an excellent characterization of Lenz's and Poruks's surprisingly similar feelings for the world. I'd like to add that while in Germany, just like Lenz, Poruks was forced to make his living working as a music teacher and governor, hence his emotional experience could be quite close to those the famous Vidzeme resident a hundred years earlier reflected in "The Tutor" (for comparison: "...I managed to get into a number of summer houses, even palaces where unpleasant jokes were played on me. I was wanted to be seen almost completely undressed just to guarantee I was free from some bad skin disease. (..) I would not give in and even would not let my throat to be inspected and since all around I saw only sponging out and cowardly gentlemen who had everything else but good health, I simply finished with that thing..."). Poruks, by the way, is the first who in Latvian press wrote about Lenz. Presumably, his interest in Lenz emerged while attending lectures at the Riga Polytechnic preschool during late 80s, early 90s of the 19th century. Around 1893-94 when already in Dresden, Poruks composed a dramatic piece entitled "Reinhold Lenz" in German that unfortunately has not survived. "The drama starts with a monologue of Reinhold sitting in a dark night on the stairway of Cesvaine castle and addresses spirits who, unfortunately, do not respond. This then is very sad," Poruks later will write in his memoirs. This drama piece was viewed as unsuitable for staging, though for his own consolation, Poruks earned free tickets to attend the court theatre. Another interpretation on Lenz is to be found in the story "Reinhold Lenz" (1924) by Līgotņu Jēkabs, in which contrary to the historical facts in the character of Lenz we see almost a double of Merkel - an active protector of the rights of Vidzeme peasants. Doctor and writer Jānis Liepiņš was also interested in Lenz and wrote about him; seems that Liepiņš' interest in Lenz has been propelled by his family ties to Cesvaine - his mother belonged to that parish and could've initiated his interest to better research the area. Though I think that Liepiņš' interest in Lenz had another reason - as his heart was very responsive to talented, mysterious women, as can be learnt from his correspondence and discussion records, like Elza Stērste, Mirdza Ķempe, Dina Kuple and others, then quite naturally Goethe's girlfriend Mrs. von Stein belongs quite well to the group, and her biography leads to Lenz. Liepiņš' interpretation recreates the environment of the German intellectuals from the second half of the 18th century, Lenz being an indispensable part of it. Historian of philosophy, Alnis Svelpis has been the most serious about researching Lenz's life and analyzing his views; he, like Jānis Liepiņš, has translated some of Lenz's poems. It should also be stated that without Svelpis's care Latvian audience would not know anything about Lenz's drama, even though presented in small pieces only. Some of Lenz's poems have also been translated by Valdis Bisenieks. Without his translations (for comparison: the Rhymed Chronicle, Casimir Ulrich Böhlendorff and others) it is currently impossible to explain the students of Latvian philology that the Balt-German writing is not an episode in Latvian literature represented only by a few, brilliant personalities, but that it rather is a long and truly interesting process, a subject for research in the course of many more centuries. A collection of Lenz's works has not yet been published in Latvian. Ironic, but already back in 1900, thinking of Riga's anniversary, Jānis Poruks spoke about building a monument in the city commemorating Lenz, the great writer from the Baltics of the Sturm und Drang period. The monument until now is absent both in direct and indirect senses. However, Wolfgang Rihm's opera "Jacob Lenz" has reached Riga. For its libretto Georg Būchner's story "Lenz" (1835) was used; the story was published in Latvian in July, 1996 edition of Karogs magazine, translated by Silvija Ģībiete. Būchner's story "Lenz" focuses on a brief episode in Lenz's life - his January 1778 stay in Elsas, Steintal, in the house of philanthropist and priest Oberlin, in hope of advice and support. However, Lenz is tortured by several fits of madness and soon he is returned to Strasbourg. Oberlin has left detailed, documentary notes on Lenz, trying to record not only the poet's feelings, but also to answer the question what was the cause of his madness. Oberlin thought that it stemmed from his private life, namely, from the difficult relationship of Lenz and his father, his addiction to traveling and unhappy love affairs. For Oberlin Lenz the creative soul - the poet and writer - remains unfamiliar. Oberlin's documentary sources form the basis of Būchner's story. Who brings Būchner to Lenz? I think Būchner's friend Karl Gutzkow has well described him: "Būchner studied medicine. His fantasies played with the bad luck of people, he sought the causes in ailments, yes, in illnesses initiated by madness that were to serve as the background of his witticisms." Elsewhere he writes: "Būchner, like Schiller, being a poet, coordinated his power of a poet through philosophy and in philosophy with the torch of poet's freedom shed light on the darkest areas of ideas."8 I think that not only their common interest in Shakespeare brought Būchner and Lenz together, it was also the desire to look deeper into the depths of a complicated, split personality driven by unrest and internal alarm. By the way, all of Būchner's characters - Woyzeck, Danton and Lenz - are children of the same mother who get burned in the flames of maddening mental sufferings. They are natural and open (like Lenz's characters) in their relations with the public, but broken by deep internal controversies, trying to solve large existential questions. The world is not a shelter, neither is the nature, belief provides only a temporary relief, life on the earth equals a torture chamber and this is one of the reasons that drives the spirits ahead, in an unknown direction. Will death bring salvation? The run has no end, there is no answer. And anything said by anyone - Woyzeck, Danton or Lenz - easily sets into their troubled minds. Būchner's drama is a mirror of his own internal problems. In German literature he is viewed as a representative of early naturalism... along with Lenz.9 I, however, think, that Būchner's story, unfortunately, does not say anything about Lenz the poet, dramatist and lover, a unique child of his own time, even though the story does open some space for looking at his internal world. Trying to find Lenz, we see Būchner himself. And even in Rihm's opera the legend of Lenz remains unsolved. It is just a small episode from a life, moreover, from that part of the life where his fate is already controlled by a severe disease. If concrete historical persons were not mentioned, it could seem that in his place any mentally ill intellectual could be burning in struggle with internal alarm, in deep darkness, doubts and search. Thus, Būchner's story and its presentation by Rihm in opera has gained the features of a personality that is generally human, split by problems and contradictions, but is it the Vidzeme resident of the 18th century of Sturm und Drang, the Lenz of Weimar? The legend who in Latvian culture, seemingly, still is bound to continue. In a poem Lenz says about himself: "Then I understood, that I stem from a grain of sand, that a drop of rain is all my juice, a piece of dust on butterfly's wing is my brightest ornament." Currently, we - with the help of Būchner and Rihm - may have made a small step towards Lenz but we still have passed him by. So that the Latvian reader could either shake out that grain of sand as an unpleasant hindrance and would resume the walk or simply with warm breath could blow it off a dinner table. The legend continues. 1 ...solch seltenes Genie zur Ehre des Vaterlandes entwickeln möge.. // Gelehrten Beiträge zu den Rigischen Anzeigen. - 1766. 2 Mutter hab ich alle mein Phlegma - mein ganzes Glūck - meinem Vater alle mein Feuer - mein ganzes Unglūck - zu danken. Beide verehre ich als in ihrer Sphäre die wūrdigste Menschen, die je gelebt haben. Beide hab ich Armer beleidiget - muš sie beleidigen. Brief an Sophie von La Roche, September, 1775. In: J.M.R.Lenz. Werke. - Philipp Reclam jun.Stuttgart - 1992. - S. 564. 3 See also: von Boetticher, E. Der Dichter Lenz unter dem Einfluss der Geistesströmungen des 18. Jahrhunderts // Baltische Monatschrift. - 1911. - Bd. 72. - S. 94-118. 4 Mein Schutzgeist ist dahin, die Gottheit die mich fūhrte... Brief an J.und G.Sarasin August, 1777. In:.Lenz, J.M.R. Werke // Philipp Reclam jun.Stuttgart. - 1992. - S. 579. 5 First publication of the poem in Latvian in the newspaper Tēvija. - 1942. - June 16. 6 See also: Vernadski G.V. Russkoje massonstvo v carstvovanii Jekaterini II // S. Peterburg, izd. im. Novikova. - 1999. - C. 161. 7 More on this question in: Voit, F. J.M.R.Lenz. Der Hofmeister oder Vorteile der Privaterziehung. Erläuterung und Dokumente // Philipp Reclam jun.Stuttgart. - 1996. - S. 5.-6. 8 Gutzkow, K. Georg Būchner // Erinnerungen und Ansichten: Literärische Porträts von Goethe bis Fontane / Hrsg. P.Goldammer. Rostock, 1979. - S. 219, 226. 9 See also: Lenz, J.M.R. Werke / Hrsg. F.Voit, Philipp Reclam. jun. - S. 601. | |
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