CHARMED BY THE KARKONOSZE MOUNTAINS: PRZEMYSŁAW WIATER (1958–2020)

Przemysław Wiater PhD was a historian, art historian, museum curator, and a regionalist. In 1994–2020, he worked as a certified curator at the Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann House in Szklarska Poręba. In February 2020, he became Director of the Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra. Furthermore, in 2008–2017, he ran courses at the Higher School of Management in Legnica. Committed to recovering historic monuments from Lower Silesia, he also served as a councillor for several terms of office in Szklarska Poręba, where he lived. An outstanding regionalist, Wiater focused on investigating the history of Lower Silesia, particularly the Karkonosze and Izera Mountains. He was the first to undertake research into the local tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage, popularizing it in publications describing the history of Szklarska Poręba, Walloon mineral and gem prospectors, old herbalists and laborants, history of glassworks, or the figure and legend of the Spirit of the Mountains. Having discovered the phenomenon of artistic colonies, he popularized it and adapted to harmonize with contemporary times. His idea was to culturally integrate the region basing on historical cultural contents and the heritage imported by post- -WW II settlers. Sharing his knowledge in a popular way, he infected others with his passion, particularly young people to whom he provided support and inspiration. It was at his instigation that the W.E. Peuckert Guild of the Sudety Mountains Guides was formed; member of the Chapter of the Sudety Mountains Walloon Brotherhood, he was also the knight of the informal Society of the Evening Castle, additionally cooperating with the Izery Society. Originator of the Izery Retro Run and the Flannel Rally, he inspired the formation of several tourist routes, such as the ‘Juliusz Naumonowicz Walloon Hiking Trail’, contributing to the creation of the ‘W.E. Peuckert Trail’ and the Polish-Czech ‘Laborants’ Trail’.

Hanss Magnuss Encensbergers – literāro vinješu meistars

The article “Hans Magnus Enzensberger – Master of Literary Vignettes” is dedicated to the latest book of the outstanding German poet and publicist “Masters of Survival: 99 Literary Vignettes of the 20th Century”, published on the occasion of the author’s 90th anniversary. It presents 99 literary portraits in the characteristic style of Enzensberger – from critical attitude to admirable praise. The article first describes the vignette as a special genre of literature (miniature literature), its meaning, and history. Several examples from the history of German and Austrian literature are mentioned: Stefan Zweig, Robert Walser, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil. All objects in Enzensberger’s literary vignettes are “masters of survival” – they are writers and poets between the First and Second World Wars. The article qualifies the critical performance of Marko Martin, Helmut Böttiger, Christian Metz, and Alexander Cammann in evaluating Enzensberger’s work. The style of Enzensberger is also characterised. It surprises the reader by bringing the personal, subjective aspect closer to various intimate facts from the lives of writers and poets. The most significant attention is paid to the representatives of German literature – Gottfried Benn, Gerhart Hauptmann, Johannes R. Becher, and others.

Sexualitäten - Sexualities

Der Band sucht, die Bedeutung des konzeptuellen Wandels von Sexualität und Sexualitäten zu ergründen, und untersucht, wie diese Entwicklung in den verschiedenen Medien ästhetisch und kritisch reflektiert wird. Unter Bezugnahme auf feministische und queertheoretische Ansätze wird danach gefragt, wie die neue Fluidität die Vorstellungen von Sex und Geschlecht und von Erotik und Lust beeinflussen und wie sich dies literarisch und kulturell niederschlägt. Behandelt werden u.a. Texte von: Ingeborg Bachmann, Hubert Fichte, Theodor Fontane, Gerhart Hauptmann, Irmgard Keun, Robert Musil, Richard Schemmerer, Noah Voisine, Frank Wedekind und Mario Wirz.

S. Fischer Verlag

Founded in Berlin in 1886 by Samuel Fischer, S. Fischer Verlag quickly became one of the most important publishing houses of German and European modernism. Émile Zola and Henrik Ibsen headlined the publisher’s first list of authors. The company went on to bring European and world literature to the German reading public, including works by Joseph Conrad, John Dos Passos, and Virginia Woolf. Yet the main focus of S. Fischer Verlag was to launch important new German-language writers who would soon come to shape the canon of modernism, including Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Hermann Hesse, Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Werfel, Robert Musil, and Alfred Döblin. During the first decade of its existence, S. Fischer Verlag was instrumental in shaping naturalist drama in Germany, with Gerhart Hauptmann as its leading literary voice. This success was due to an engagement on various fronts: the founding of a private theatre association, the Freie Bühne (Free Stage), where new plays could premiere despite censorship; the promotion of naturalism in the publisher’s own literary journal; and the publishing concept of ‘Collected Works’. These multi-volume editions of complete works by living writers successfully accelerated the canonization of many of Fischer’s authors, adding economic and cultural value in the process.

Brahm, Otto (1856–1912)

Otto Brahm (Otto Abrahamson) (1856–1912) was a German literary historian, critic, dramaturge, theatre manager and editor. After studying German literature in Berlin, Brahm became an influential theatre critic and proponent of naturalism, championing Ibsen’s works in particular. In 1889 he co-founded the Freie Bühne company in Berlin, as well as a journal of the same name in 1890. Brahm was its editor-in-chief for four years. Freie Bühne was initially conducted as a private theatre society to skirt censorship laws. As its dramaturge, Brahm was involved in many path-breaking productions (e.g., Ibsen’s Ghosts) that would make theatre history and lead to the breakthrough of theatrical naturalism in Germany. Brahm was also an advocate of Gerhart Hauptmann, paving the way for the premieres of Die Weber (The Weavers) and Vor Sonnenaufgang (Before Dawn). In 1894 he took over leadership of the Neues Theater in Berlin, and from 1904 he was at the helm of the Lessing-Theater. His acting ensemble was among the finest in Germany and eventually included the young Max Reinhardt. By banishing pathos from the stage, espousing instead a stark psychological realism, Brahm can be considered—as the critic Alfred Kerr dubbed him—the ‘the true architect of a European stage.’