Ernst Jünger - A Portrait

by Lennart Svensson

Ernst Junger - A Portrait is a book about Ernst Junger (1895-1998), Germany's greatest author since Goethe. This is a popular Junger biography for the English speaking world, a personal portrait painted by an avid Junger reader. The book starts out with a thorough biography of Junger's life. Then there's a look at the controversial sides of the man, plus a discussion of Junger's role as an outsider, mentioning something about the reception of his works today. After a look at Junger's books on war there's a survey of central Junger works such as The Adventurous Heart, On the Marble Cliffs, Heliopolis and Eumeswil. Moreover there are chapters on Junger's way of looking at art, history and philosophy, on Junger as a Science Fiction author and comparisons between Junger and other authors, dead or alive. In the introduction to Ernst Junger - A Portrait the author says: My aim in this study has been to look at what Junger represents rather than at what he is, in this respect striving to highlight the fruitful aspects of his work, the neglected sides such as the esotericism and the idealism, the vitalism and the life-affirming traits. At the same time I don't deny that Junger in the 20s was a radical nationalist dealing with fire; I have chapters covering that too. Wishing to write a book that's simple and hands-on I sport "simple but not facile" as my ideal. About the Author: Born in the north of Sweden in 1965, Lennart Svensson took a BA in Indology in Uppsala 1998. While working as a freelance writer he has published novels like Antropolis and Camouflage. Ernst Junger - A Portrait is his debut in English.

Paperback

First published September 24, 2014

Reviews

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good books about Ernst Junger, the author of "Storms of Steel," the definitive account of the First World War, and there are some bad ones. Svennson's book can be plotted probably somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. There is some good information in this book. The problem is that it is lost in a deluge of typos and mistranslated words and concepts. Svennson's first language is neither German nor English, and since most of the texts he grapples with are in either language or both, his efforts are undercut by a weak grasp of Junger's works, in their original form or in translation. Another quibble of mine is that the chapters appear to be of arbitrary length. Svensson can spend one page talking about something that anyone interested in Junger would probably wish for a lot of expounding upon. And then in the next chapter Svensson can squander pages talking about something that is only tangential to Junger's thought and writings. Lastly, while some books suffer from being too dry and scholarly, this book was a bit too informal and loose in its writing style. A phrase like IRL (In Real Life) is perfect for a texting session between two teenage girls, but it doesn't have any place, in my opinion, in a published work about one of the most misunderstood and contentious literary figures of the twentieth century.

Nevertheless, I'll give this book a tepid, qualified recommendation, just based on the fact that it is easy to tell from the book that Svennson has a deep love for Junger, as well an uncommon understanding of the man and his writing. He just has a problem conveying this love and understanding to his readers in a coherent (well-edited and proofread) form.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good overview of Juenger's life and works.