Hans Mayer
Encyclopedia
Hans Mayer was a German
literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist.
and Karl Marx
. He can be described as a socialist
and a Marxist
.
He studied jurisprudence and political science, history and philosophy in Cologne
, Bonn
and Berlin
and received his doctorate in 1930 with a thesis about "Die Krise der deutschen Staatslehre" (The Crisis of German Political Science). At the same time, he joined the SPD
and worked on the magazine, Der Rote Kämpfer (The Red Fighter). In 1931, he moved to the SAPD
, which expelled him again one year later because of his sympathy for the KPD-O
. Since he was a Jew and a Marxist and therefore banned from his profession in July 1933, he fled in August 1933 to France, where he worked for a short time as the chief editor of the Die Neue Welt ('The New World'), which was as the daily newspaper of the Alsatian
KPO
. In 1934, Hans Mayer had to flee to Geneva
. Here, he received jobs from Hans Kelsen and Max Horkheimer
as a social researcher. He left the KPD-O in 1935. Carl Jacob Burckhardt
influenced his literary orientation during this time.
From 1937 to 1939, Mayer was a member of the Collège de Sociologie
, founded by Georges Bataille
, Michel Leiris
and Roger Caillois
in 1937. There he held a lecture about the secret political societies in German Romanticism and demonstrated how these secret societies already anticipated Nazi symbolism. Other exiles at the Collège were Walter Benjamin
and Paul L. Landsberg.
After the end of the war, he returned to Germany in 1945. The Americans made him the cultural editor of the German news agency, DENA, the predecessor of the dpa
, and later the chief political editor of Radio Frankfurt.
In 1948, he and his friend Stephan Hermlin
, went to the Soviet occupation zone. In Leipzig
he accepted a professorship for literary studies and became an influential critic of the new German literature. It was possible for him to cross between the East German and the West German world. In the East, he worked through his lectures and discussion circles, and in West Germany he was a welcome guest at meetings of Group 47
. He was also in contact with Bertolt Brecht
during this time.
His relationship with those in power in the GDR was characterized by more friction as of 1956. He resigned in 1963 and did not return to the GDR after a visit to a publisher in Tübingen. In 1965, he was appointed to a newly-created chair for German literature at the University of Hannover. He held this chair until his retirement in 1973. After that, he lived in Tübingen as an honorary professor. As he grew older, he lost his eyesight, but he was still able to dictate his texts. For that reason, his publications extend well into his old age.
, Thomas Mann
, Montaigne, Robert Musil
, James Joyce
, Uwe Johnson
, Günter Grass
, Hans Henny Jahnn
and others in his investigations on the history of literature
.
While he was in exile in 1936, he began the advance work for his great work about Georg Büchner. This work about Büchner was later recognized by the University of Leipzig
as his postdoctoral thesis which was required to qualify as a professor.
He released the collection of essays, Zur deutschen Literatur der Zeit, in 1962. In 1986, he followed this volume with the book, Das unglückliche Bewusstsein - Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte von Lessing bis Heine. Ein Deutscher auf Widerruf is the title of his three-volume memoires of 1982.
The investigation, Außenseiter, which appeared in 1975, was considered by many to be his main work. In this volume, he deals with the literary portrayal of three groups, which have commonly been discriminated against in history: women, male homosexuals
and Jews. He had his own experiences with belonging to two of these groups - as a Jew and as a homosexual.
Der Turm von Babel of 1991 is an obituary on the GDR. Its key sentence is frequently seen to be: "Das schlechte Ende widerlegt nicht einen möglicherweise guten Anfang" - "The bad end doesn't disprove a possibly good beginning." The GDR was the better of the two German states to him for a long time.
The last book published by Mayer is Erinnerungen an Willy Brandt from 2001.
Hans Mayer was an honorary citizen of the city of Leipzig, had honorary doctorates from universities in Brussels
, Wisconsin
and Leipzig, was an honorary professor in Peking, was winner of the National Prize of East Germany
, as well as the Bundesverdienstkreuz
(Federal Cross of Merit) of the class "Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband" (Great Cross of Merit with Star and shoulder ribbon). He was honored with the Ernst-Bloch Prize in 1988. He was a member of the Akademie der Künste
(Academy of the Arts) in Berlin and an honorary member of the
Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Saxon Academy of the Arts).
Hans Mayer, along with Walter Benjamin
, who was also with him at the Collège de Sociologie, and some others, belongs to the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Perhaps there is some correlation to a former competitive situation, which Marcel Reich-Ranicki
wrote about in an obituary, which shows Mayer's life in an unflattering light. Reich-Ranicki describes the story of Hans Mayer's life as a tragic story, as the story of a person who did not find a home anywhere.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist.
Life
Hans Mayer was the son of a Jewish upper-class family. He was influenced in his youth by the writings of Georg LukácsGeorg Lukács
György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism. He contributed the concept of reification to Marxist philosophy and theory and expanded Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. Lukács' was also an influential literary...
and Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
. He can be described as a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and a Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
.
He studied jurisprudence and political science, history and philosophy in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and received his doctorate in 1930 with a thesis about "Die Krise der deutschen Staatslehre" (The Crisis of German Political Science). At the same time, he joined the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
and worked on the magazine, Der Rote Kämpfer (The Red Fighter). In 1931, he moved to the SAPD
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany
The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany was a political party in Germany. It was formed by a left-wing party with around 20,000 members which split off from the SPD in the autumn of 1931. In 1931 the remnants of USPD merged into the party, and in 1932 some Communist Party dissenters joined the...
, which expelled him again one year later because of his sympathy for the KPD-O
Communist Party Opposition
The Communist Party of Germany was a communist opposition organisation established at the end of 1928 and maintaining its existence until 1939 or 1940...
. Since he was a Jew and a Marxist and therefore banned from his profession in July 1933, he fled in August 1933 to France, where he worked for a short time as the chief editor of the Die Neue Welt ('The New World'), which was as the daily newspaper of the Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
KPO
Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party
The Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party , initially the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine , was a political party in Alsace-Lorraine. The party was led by Jean-Pierre Mourer and Charles Hueber. The party was founded in late October 1929...
. In 1934, Hans Mayer had to flee to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. Here, he received jobs from Hans Kelsen and Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was a German-Jewish philosopher-sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research. His most important works include The Eclipse of Reason and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
as a social researcher. He left the KPD-O in 1935. Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt was a Swiss diplomat and historian. His career alternated between periods of academic historical research and diplomatic postings; the most prominent of the latter were League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig and President of the International...
influenced his literary orientation during this time.
From 1937 to 1939, Mayer was a member of the Collège de Sociologie
College of Sociology
The College of Sociology was a loosely-knit group of French intellectuals, named after the informal discussion series that they organized...
, founded by Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
, Michel Leiris
Michel Leiris
Julien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
and Roger Caillois
Roger Caillois
Roger Caillois was a French intellectual whose idiosyncratic work brought together literary criticism, sociology, and philosophy by focusing on subjects as diverse as games, play and the sacred...
in 1937. There he held a lecture about the secret political societies in German Romanticism and demonstrated how these secret societies already anticipated Nazi symbolism. Other exiles at the Collège were Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
and Paul L. Landsberg.
After the end of the war, he returned to Germany in 1945. The Americans made him the cultural editor of the German news agency, DENA, the predecessor of the dpa
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
, and later the chief political editor of Radio Frankfurt.
In 1948, he and his friend Stephan Hermlin
Stephan Hermlin
Stephan Hermlin , real name Rudolf Leder, was a German author. He wrote, among other things, stories, essays, translations, and lyric poetry and was one of the more well-known authors of former East Germany.- Life :...
, went to the Soviet occupation zone. In Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
he accepted a professorship for literary studies and became an influential critic of the new German literature. It was possible for him to cross between the East German and the West German world. In the East, he worked through his lectures and discussion circles, and in West Germany he was a welcome guest at meetings of Group 47
Group 47
Gruppe 47 was an influential literary association in Germany after World War II. '47' Stands for the year of their creation, 1947.-Early history:The beginnings reach back to1946 when Alfred Andersch and Walter Kolbenhoff founded the literary...
. He was also in contact with Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
during this time.
His relationship with those in power in the GDR was characterized by more friction as of 1956. He resigned in 1963 and did not return to the GDR after a visit to a publisher in Tübingen. In 1965, he was appointed to a newly-created chair for German literature at the University of Hannover. He held this chair until his retirement in 1973. After that, he lived in Tübingen as an honorary professor. As he grew older, he lost his eyesight, but he was still able to dictate his texts. For that reason, his publications extend well into his old age.
Work
The work of Hans Mayer includes more than forty volumes. He studied BüchnerGeorg Büchner
Karl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
, Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
, Montaigne, Robert Musil
Robert Musil
Robert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
, James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Uwe Johnson
Uwe Johnson
Uwe Johnson was a German writer, editor, and scholar.- Life :Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania . His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern...
, Günter Grass
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, poet, playwright, sculptor and artist.He was born in the Free City of Danzig...
, Hans Henny Jahnn
Hans Henny Jahnn
Hans Henny Jahnn was a German playwright, novelist, and organ-builder.As a playwright, he wrote: Pastor Ephraim Magnus , which The Cambridge Guide to Theatre describes as a nihilistic, Expressionist play "stuffed with perversities and sado-masochistic motifs"; Coronation of Richard III ;...
and others in his investigations on the history of literature
History of literature
The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/hearer/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces. Not all...
.
While he was in exile in 1936, he began the advance work for his great work about Georg Büchner. This work about Büchner was later recognized by the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
as his postdoctoral thesis which was required to qualify as a professor.
He released the collection of essays, Zur deutschen Literatur der Zeit, in 1962. In 1986, he followed this volume with the book, Das unglückliche Bewusstsein - Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte von Lessing bis Heine. Ein Deutscher auf Widerruf is the title of his three-volume memoires of 1982.
The investigation, Außenseiter, which appeared in 1975, was considered by many to be his main work. In this volume, he deals with the literary portrayal of three groups, which have commonly been discriminated against in history: women, male homosexuals
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and Jews. He had his own experiences with belonging to two of these groups - as a Jew and as a homosexual.
Der Turm von Babel of 1991 is an obituary on the GDR. Its key sentence is frequently seen to be: "Das schlechte Ende widerlegt nicht einen möglicherweise guten Anfang" - "The bad end doesn't disprove a possibly good beginning." The GDR was the better of the two German states to him for a long time.
The last book published by Mayer is Erinnerungen an Willy Brandt from 2001.
Tributes and criticism
When it comes to acknowledging the work on Hans Mayer, these points are especially emphasized:- In the middle of StalinismStalinismStalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, he defended authors such as KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, James JoyceJames JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
and Ernst BlochErnst BlochErnst Bloch was a German Marxist philosopher.Bloch was influenced by both Hegel and Marx and, as he always confessed, by novelist Karl May. He was also interested in music and art . He established friendships with Georg Lukács, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Theodor W. Adorno...
. - In his lectures, it was important to him to investigate literature time after time with a view to whether it was suitable to promote humanity.
- His special attention for the non-compliant and Außenseiter (outsider) especially stands out.
- Mayer was an important supporter for many young authors (for example, for Uwe JohnsonUwe JohnsonUwe Johnson was a German writer, editor, and scholar.- Life :Johnson was born in Kammin in Pomerania . His father was a Swedish-descent peasant from Mecklenburg and his mother was from Pommern...
).
Hans Mayer was an honorary citizen of the city of Leipzig, had honorary doctorates from universities in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and Leipzig, was an honorary professor in Peking, was winner of the National Prize of East Germany
National Prize of East Germany
The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic was an award of the German Democratic Republic given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement...
, as well as the Bundesverdienstkreuz
Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
(Federal Cross of Merit) of the class "Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband" (Great Cross of Merit with Star and shoulder ribbon). He was honored with the Ernst-Bloch Prize in 1988. He was a member of the Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste
The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...
(Academy of the Arts) in Berlin and an honorary member of the
Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Saxon Academy of the Arts).
Hans Mayer, along with Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
, who was also with him at the Collège de Sociologie, and some others, belongs to the most important literary critics of the 20th century. Perhaps there is some correlation to a former competitive situation, which Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Marcel Reich-Ranicki is a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the literary group Gruppe 47. He is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the field of German literature and therefore was in Germany often called the 'Pope of literature' .-Life:Marcel...
wrote about in an obituary, which shows Mayer's life in an unflattering light. Reich-Ranicki describes the story of Hans Mayer's life as a tragic story, as the story of a person who did not find a home anywhere.
Selected literary works
- Karl MarxKarl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
und das Elend des Geistes. Studien zur neuen deutschen Ideologie. Westkulturverlag Anton Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1948. - Richard Wagner, 1959
- Zur deutschen Literatur der Zeit, 1962
- Georg BüchnerGeorg BüchnerKarl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
und seine Zeit, 1972 - Außenseiter, 1975
- Ein Deutscher auf Widerruf, 1982
- Wir Außenseiter, 1983
- Widersprüche einer europäischen Literatur, 1984
- Das unglückliche Bewusstsein - Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte von LessingGotthold Ephraim LessingGotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
bis HeineHeinrich HeineChristian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, 1986 - Der Turm von Babel, 1991
- Versuch über Hans Henny Jahnn, 1994
- Erinnerungen an Willy Brandt, 2001
- Briefe 1948-1963. Publ. and annotated by Mark Lehmstedt, Leipzig 2006