Edgar Allan Poe letto e tradotto in Germania

La “POEtica” di Arno Schmidt

Abstract

This article investigates the German reception of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) by focusing on the POEtics of one of the major exponents of Gruppe 47, the experimental and avant-garde German writer Arno Schmidt (1914-1979).

Although Poe’s influence in German-speaking countries was not as intense as in France, his importance for the German Studies lies in the fact that he suggested modern and innovative ideas, mainly related to the sphere of the supernatural and the irrational. Starting from a brief overview of Poe’s reception in German literature—especially in the early years of the 20th century—the essay will explore more closely the specific case of “Arno Schmidt,” who opened the door to a refined, curious, and modern understanding of Poe’s introspective genius. Indeed, it will be demonstrated how Schmidt’s monumental work entitled Zettel’s Traum (1970) does not only constitute a very rich sourcebook on Poe’s life and work—which might be useful for scholars and experts of American literature and history—but also offers an original and unparalleled interpretation of the American writer, thus contributing to relevant and in-depth studies on Poe’s life and work in Germany.

Throughout concrete examples, it will be ultimately shown how the blurred lines between fantastic and realistic settings in Schmidt’s works from his Zettel’s Traum onwards seem to be a theme directly suggested by Poe, whose features are extraordinarily reinterpreted by Schmidt from a modern, psychoanalytic perspective. Schmidt’s deep reflection on the American writer ultimately contributed to the development of a linguistic-existential kind of theory—the Etymtheorie—which, once applied, leads to results as interesting as they are surprising.