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Johannes Bobrowski--Erlauterungen der Gedichte und der Gedichte aus dem Nachlass. By EBERHARD HAUFE. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. 1998. 413 pp. DM 64 (paperbound DM 44).
Johannes Bobrowski--Erlauterungen der Romane und Erzahlungen, der vermischten Prosa und der Selbstzugnisse. By HOLGER GEHLE. 1999. 599 pp. DM 64 (paperbound DM 44).
'Ich meine, die Gesellschaft heute und alle ihre Erfahrungen und Unternehmungen versagen sich der Interpretation durch die Kunste.' Johannes Bobrowski's words in a letter to Christoph Meckel of 12 February 1962, quoted by Holger Gehle on p. 278, could be applied to these two volumes as a warning. The reader should perhaps revise the title word 'Erlauterungen' to 'Materialien', for these volumes are not meant to be interpretations, nor full commentaries on Bobrowski's published and unpublished works. Nor are they concordances, but a compilation of notes on the texts themselves, their manuscripts, variants, first publication, place in Bobrowski's development, explanations of historical and geographical references and general information that help the reader to appreciate better the remarkable range and depth of Bobrowski's knowledge. The volumes bear witness to a trend in Germanistik that can at the best assist the reader to a more informed understanding of the texts, at the worst put the reader off further involvement with them. To use these volumes, the reader will need to refer constantly, not only to the other four volumes of the Gesammelte Werke, but also to Bobrowski-Chronik. Daten zu Leben und Werk, edited by Eberhard Haufe (Wurzburg: Konigshausen & Neumann, 1994), and Johannes Bobrowski oder Landschaft mit Leuten, edited by Reinhard Tgahrt (Marbacher Katalog 46, Marbach: Deutsches Literaturarchiv, 1993), as cross-references and not direct quotations are often used.
The industry and devotion to the work by both the authors to further Bobrowski's renown is much to be praised. Eberhard Haufe's first 256 pages on the published poetry include material that provides extra ...