2020
Cairn
Sonia Schott, « Autoprophétie et spéculation mystique. Fonctions du poème-miroir dans Hiob oder die Vier Spiegel de Karl Wolfskehl », Études Germaniques, ID : 10670/1.pb24lz
The life of German Poet Karl Wolfskehl (1869-1948) is a striking example in the history of German Jews. Between 1890 and 1933, he is an admirer of the work and personality of Stefan George, and he was an early, active member of the latter’s “Munich Circle”. However, this symbiosis comes to an end when Hitler comes to power in 1933. Karl Wolfskehl enters a deep existential crisis and has to leave Germany. He first finds shelter in Italy, his “chosen motherland”. But after Hitler’s visit to Mussolini in 1938, the situation of the Jewish author in newly antisemitic Italy is once again threatened. Karl Wolfskehl goes into exile in New Zealand, where he dies in 1948. On his tombstone, only two words: Exul poeta.The crisis following Hitler’s accession to power leads Wolfskehl to a new poetical productivity. His late religious work takes its roots in the author’s Jewish culture. The poetic sequence Hiob or the four mirrors (Hiob oder die vier Spiegel) was written during his years in exile in New Zealand, and was published posthumously. The title of the cycle plays obviously on the biblical Book of Job and its poems refer to the Old Testament: ‘Hiob Israel’, ‘Hiob Simson’, ‘Hiob Nabi’ and ‘Hiob Maschiach’.The present contribution analyses the symbol of the mirror from the perspective of Wolfskehl’s poetic style. It does so by shedding light on several functions. The poetological function of the prophecy, the didactic role of suffering, the multi-faceted question of identity—especially of the identification with Israel, and the mythical experience of a communion with God.