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A Part of Myself
Erinnerungen aus den ersten sechs Dezennien dieses Jahrhunderts – Erinnerungen eines Mannes, der gern lebt, obwohl es ihm die Anfeindungen der Bornierten zuweilen schwergemacht haben. In seinem Buch »wird eine gewaltige Welt wachgerufen. Dichter, Schauspieler, Politiker – große Namen und auch namenlose Leute aus dem Alltag, Gewinner und Verlierer ziehen vorüber, bewegt und umhegt von Zuckmayers Temperament: Der Erzähler wird zu einem packenden Zeugen, der mit unvergeßlicher Stimme seine Antwort gibt auf unsere so neugierig wie beklommen gestellten Fragen: ›Wie war es denn? Wie ist es dazu gekommen?‹« (Werner Weber)
413 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 13, 2014
Just finished this magnificent book, an autobiography that has the scope and force of a great novel. Zuckmayer was a famous playwright in Berlin, friends with Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, and others less known here but considered giants of literature in Europe. He fought in WWI, and then rebelled against the long rise of Hitler, making it necessary to flee to the United States after many of his friends committed suicide, or fled to other countries in Europe. He did a stint in Hollywood where he wrote "Blue Angel" for Marlene Dietrich, but hated the scene there. Finally he spent 7 idyllic years as a farmer in Vermont, which he brings alive with Frostian clarity. When WWII ended, after much bureaucratic red tape, he and his wife moved to Switzerland in a remote Alpine village for the rest of their lives. This book will stay with you. For me, it opened wide a door to Germany, and introduced me to an open-hearted, deeply tested man.
September 20, 2013
Ich stehe Memoiren im Grunde skeptisch gegenüber: Erstens nehme ich von vorneherein an, dass man sein Leben weitestgehend beschönigen möchte. Zweitens scheint es mir logisch, dass man über seine Zeitgenossen kein allzu schlechtes Wort verlieren will. Inwiefern Zuckmayer sein Leben beschönigt, kann ich nicht beurteilen. "Als wär's ein Stück von mir" ist nicht nur das erste seiner Werke, das mir in die Hände fiel, sondern auch die erste über einen Wikipedia-Artikel hinausgehende Übersicht seines Lebens. Dass er seine Freunde in den höchsten Tönen lobt, dürfte angesichts des Untertitels "Horen der Freundschaft" beinahe schon obligatorisch sein. Dies ist dann aber auch schon mein einziger Kritikpunkt an diesem ansonsten ganz wundervollen Band: die seitenlangen Aufzählungen mir teilweise gänzlich unbekannter Namen kunstschaffender Personen der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Er lobt Freunde wie auch flüchtige Bekannte in den höchsten Tönen, betont die Gefallen, die sie sich gegenseitig getan haben und; manchmal lässt er ihre Namen auch unkommentiert in einer Reihe von Bekanntschaften stehen.
Davon einmal abgesehen ist "Als wär's ein Stück von mir" gerade wegen Zuckmayers grandiosen literarischen Stil die Lektüre wert. Es gibt unzählige Passagen, die ich am liebsten bei meinen morgendlichen und abendlichen Busfahrten, bei denen das Buch mich begleitet hat, durch den Wagen proklamiert hätte, damit meine Mitmenschen erfahren, was für wundervolle, wundervolle Sätze schon geschrieben wurden. Zuckmayers zeitweilige Rast- und Heimatlosigkeit, das ständige Aufbruchsgefühl und das doch schnell wiedergefundene Wohlbefinden an einem anderen Ort (vor allen Dingen seien hier seine Emigration nach Amerika und die damit verbundenen Umstände genannt) haben mich in seiner Schilderung beeindruckt, nicht unbedingt nur wegen des Erlebten, sondern auch wegen der Art und Weise, wie er davon zu berichten weiß.
Es ist nicht nur ein Buch über ein Leben, es ist auch ein Buch über Heimat, die man manchmal eben im Herzen tragen muss, es ist ein Buch über Freundschaft, die Brücken schlägt, und ein Buch über überwundene Hindernisse, über Not, Leid, Trauer, und Wiedersehen. Es hat mich allerdings derart häufig fast zum Weinen gebracht, dass ich es nur eingeschränkt als Lektüre in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln empfehlen würde.
Davon einmal abgesehen ist "Als wär's ein Stück von mir" gerade wegen Zuckmayers grandiosen literarischen Stil die Lektüre wert. Es gibt unzählige Passagen, die ich am liebsten bei meinen morgendlichen und abendlichen Busfahrten, bei denen das Buch mich begleitet hat, durch den Wagen proklamiert hätte, damit meine Mitmenschen erfahren, was für wundervolle, wundervolle Sätze schon geschrieben wurden. Zuckmayers zeitweilige Rast- und Heimatlosigkeit, das ständige Aufbruchsgefühl und das doch schnell wiedergefundene Wohlbefinden an einem anderen Ort (vor allen Dingen seien hier seine Emigration nach Amerika und die damit verbundenen Umstände genannt) haben mich in seiner Schilderung beeindruckt, nicht unbedingt nur wegen des Erlebten, sondern auch wegen der Art und Weise, wie er davon zu berichten weiß.
Es ist nicht nur ein Buch über ein Leben, es ist auch ein Buch über Heimat, die man manchmal eben im Herzen tragen muss, es ist ein Buch über Freundschaft, die Brücken schlägt, und ein Buch über überwundene Hindernisse, über Not, Leid, Trauer, und Wiedersehen. Es hat mich allerdings derart häufig fast zum Weinen gebracht, dass ich es nur eingeschränkt als Lektüre in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln empfehlen würde.
July 31, 2017
Eine charmante und interessante Autobiographie, die zum Lesen und Nachschlagen anregt.
July 18, 2020
Carl Zuckmayer war mir lange Zeit nur als der Autor des Hauptmann von Köpenick bekannt, den ich in der Schule lesen durfte. Über ihn und sein Leben habe ich mich lange keine Gedanken gemacht, obwohl ich die Autobiographie seiner Frau „Die Farm in den grünen Bergen“ bereits als Teenager begeistert gelesen hatte. Als ich letztens nun „Die Schule am Meer“ von Sandra Lüpkes gelesen habe, tauchte er in einer kurzen Nebenrolle auf, spielt doch sein großer Bruder eine wichtige Rolle in diesem Buch. Das brachte mich dazu Die Farm in den grünen Bergen noch einmal zu lesen und dann nach einer Biographie seines Lebens Ausschau zu halten.
Als wär’s ein Stück von mir ist seine Autobiographie, die er 1966 verfasst hat, als er mit seiner Frau bereits zurück in Europa war und in Saas Fee seine letzten Jahre verbrachte. Das Buch beginnt mit den Jahren, die er mit seiner Frau in Henndorf verbracht, bis sie durch die Nazis von dort vertrieben wurden und in die Schweiz flüchten mussten. Erst danach setzt eine chronologische Erzählweise ein, in der die Jahre der Jugendzeit, der Erlebnisse im 1. Weltkrieg und den Jahren bis zu den ersten Erfolgen folgen. Es folgen die Jahre der Emigration in den USA und die Rückkehr nach dem Krieg.
Interessant wird es immer dann, wenn Zuckmayer von seinen direkten Erlebnissen erzählt. Da ist man mitten im Geschehen und spürt die Angst, bzw. die Lebensfreude. Etwas schwieriger zu Lesen fand ich das Buch wenn es sich um Ortsbeschreibungen oder charakterliche Darstellungen von Zeitgenossen handelte. Was vermutlich auch daran liegt, dass viele der Namen heute kein Begriff mehr sind.
Trotz allem war es ein gut zu lesendes Buch und mich hat überrascht wie reflektiert Zuckmayer das Verhalten der Deutschen und besonders der Intellektuellen in der Weimarer Republik beurteilt. Dass man hier zu blauäugig war und zu wenig unternommen hat. Auch dass der erste Weltkrieg herbeigesehnt wurde kann er aus eigener Erfahrung nicht bestätigen. In seinem Umfeld glaubte niemand an den Krieg, bis er wirklich ausbrach.
Ich habe Carl Zuckmayer in diesem Buch als einen interessanten und sehr nachdenklichen Menschen kennenglernt, der eine ungewöhnliche Lebensgeschichte zu erzählen hat.
Von mir daher eine Leseempfehlung.
Als wär’s ein Stück von mir ist seine Autobiographie, die er 1966 verfasst hat, als er mit seiner Frau bereits zurück in Europa war und in Saas Fee seine letzten Jahre verbrachte. Das Buch beginnt mit den Jahren, die er mit seiner Frau in Henndorf verbracht, bis sie durch die Nazis von dort vertrieben wurden und in die Schweiz flüchten mussten. Erst danach setzt eine chronologische Erzählweise ein, in der die Jahre der Jugendzeit, der Erlebnisse im 1. Weltkrieg und den Jahren bis zu den ersten Erfolgen folgen. Es folgen die Jahre der Emigration in den USA und die Rückkehr nach dem Krieg.
Interessant wird es immer dann, wenn Zuckmayer von seinen direkten Erlebnissen erzählt. Da ist man mitten im Geschehen und spürt die Angst, bzw. die Lebensfreude. Etwas schwieriger zu Lesen fand ich das Buch wenn es sich um Ortsbeschreibungen oder charakterliche Darstellungen von Zeitgenossen handelte. Was vermutlich auch daran liegt, dass viele der Namen heute kein Begriff mehr sind.
Trotz allem war es ein gut zu lesendes Buch und mich hat überrascht wie reflektiert Zuckmayer das Verhalten der Deutschen und besonders der Intellektuellen in der Weimarer Republik beurteilt. Dass man hier zu blauäugig war und zu wenig unternommen hat. Auch dass der erste Weltkrieg herbeigesehnt wurde kann er aus eigener Erfahrung nicht bestätigen. In seinem Umfeld glaubte niemand an den Krieg, bis er wirklich ausbrach.
Ich habe Carl Zuckmayer in diesem Buch als einen interessanten und sehr nachdenklichen Menschen kennenglernt, der eine ungewöhnliche Lebensgeschichte zu erzählen hat.
Von mir daher eine Leseempfehlung.
May 10, 2020
Check out my blog post at www.Reading1000Books.com
Carl Zuckmayer's A Part of Myself, A Portrait of an Epoch
by Jim Romano
Hey 1000 Bookies!!! The next book on our quest of reading The 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, our latest is a memoir by German author and playwright Carl Zuckmayer. A Part of Myself is the 1000th and last book on this imperious list. The book is a fascinating read about a time very long ago. Carl Zuckmayer was a member of the German Intelligentsia and artistic community during the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and was a leading anti-Nazi activist and critic. Zuckmayer is best remembered for the movie script, The Blue Angel. The 1930 German movie starred Marlena Dietrich and Emil Jannings. Mr. Zuckmayer wrote several other popular German plays such as The Merry Vineyard, Katharina Knie and The Captain from Kopenick. These plays carried anti-Nazi political themes. His stance against the Nazi regime led to his works being banned in the Third Reich, to have his German citizenship revoked, and to appear on Nazi arrest lists.
A Part of Myself is approximately 400 pages and at times an intense read. I made several observations about this memoir. The first observation is Carl Zuckmayer’s wonderful description of the places he lived and traveled through. His descriptions of his birthplace in Western Germany (Hesse-Darmstadt), his home in Salzburg, his travels through America as well as his farm life in Vermont. Zuckmayer describes scenery quite well, I could see these places through his eyes. Secondly, Zuckmayer traveled in interesting literary and artistic circles and met with many interesting luminaries and historical figures which he describes in great detail. Finally, Carl Zuckmayer witnessed some of the most horrific events of the 20th Century including fighting in World War 1; the rise of the Nazis in Germany; and the Anschluss in Austria. He gives a fascinating firsthard account of these events.
Unlike other memoirs, this one starts at the height of Zuckmayer’s fame, his career and his very happy family life. He discusses his home in Henndorf, Austria. When his first successful play becomes a hit, he buys a vacation home in this village near Salzburg. The reader is treated to his life in Austria and the beautiful Austrian landscape and culture. I wanted to buy a ticket and roan the Austrian countryside with my wife. Henndorf goes from a vacation home to a full-time residence once Hitler and the Nazis come to power in Germany.
Then Carl Zuckmayer’s firsthand account of the German takeover of Austria is frightening and reads like a novel. Zuckmayer finds himself in Vienna during these terrible days. Friends commit suicide and he escapes to Henndorf, then attempts to flee to Switzerland. Zuckmayer has a record as a Nazi critic and has a Jewish Grandmother. His account of the quick 180-degree change in his fellow Austrians is terrifying. There are parallels to the times we live in that I find shocking. The escape alone is worth reading this book. You are at the edge of your seat. Even in the bleakest moments you see small green shoots of kindness. This is must read. Once Zuckmayer and his family are safe in Switzerland, the memoir shifts to his early life.
Zuckmayer was born to a wealthy family in the Hesse/Frankfurt/Mainz area of the German Empire in 1896. Germany is at the height of her pre-World War 1 power. Zuckmayer tells the tales of a Tom Sawyer like childhood with a loving family. As the Guns of August approach, young Carl, at the age of 17, volunteers for service in the German Army during World War 1. He fights and survives for 4 years. His older brother is severely injured and Zuckmayer himself suffers a concussion that incapacitated him at the end of the war. By the end, Zuckmayer despised the war and is disillusioned toward German nationalism. Zuckmayer was a liberal that had high hopes for the post war period of the Weimer Republic. But he quickly realizes the Weimer Republic cannot fight against the rise of nationalist and conservative elements.
Zuckmayer met many illustrious people throughout his life. Zuckmayer tells the story of meeting Kaiser William II in the closing years of the Great War. Zuckmayer retells the look of defeat on the Kaiser’s face. He attends the speeches in Bavaria of the head of a fringe fascist group and is so close that he witnesses the spit flailing from the mustache of one Adolf Hitler. Zuckmayer met Albert Einstein at his successful play The Captain of Kopenick. Zuckmayer worked with the great Marlena Dietrich and Emil Jannings in The Blue Angle. The movie would launch Marlena Dietrich’s career for over 50 years in the movies. Jannings was the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1927. Jannings became a propaganda spokesperson for the Nazi Regime and his career in Hollywood was destroyed.
As a young boy, Carl meets performers at the Wallenda Circus—The Wallendas would go on for over a century in entertaining the masses. (In 2020, Nik Wallenda will attempt to navigate the tightrope over a volcano). Zuckmayer befriended American journalist, Dorothy Thompson in Berlin. Thompson’s anti-Nazi stories back to America led her to be expelled in 1934. The Zuckmayers were friends with Thompson and her husband, Sinclair Lewis, the American short story writer and playwright. Zuckmayer interacts with Ernest Hemmingway, who Carl states was drunk most of the time. Carl meets Captain von Trapp and his family in Salzburg before their story became famous in The Sound of Music. The story regards tales and anecdotes of fellow authors, playwrights and other elite liberals in Weimer Germany. Many died when the Nazis eliminated the liberal intelligentsia.
Eventually Zuckmayer and his family would come to live in exile in the United States. I am happy that our country took him in from certain death in Nazi controlled Europe. But as I read this story, I kept asking if my country, the beacon of hope and the refuge of yesteryear, is still that today as it was then. In my research Zuckmayer wrote reports on character portraits of actors, writers and other artists in Germany for the Office of Strategic Services, evaluating their involvement with the Nazi regime. He does not share that in his memoirs and was only released in 2002. In 1946, at the behest of the US War Department, Zuckmayer traveled around Germany for 5 months as the US cultural attaché reporting back his observances. The report was released in 2004. Zuckmayer
A Part of Me by Carl Zuckmayer is a fascinating look into a long-ago time period, however we as a free and thinking people should read this book to look at the parallels with our age. I urge you to pick up a copy of this book.
Keep Reading My Friends!!!!
Carl Zuckmayer's A Part of Myself, A Portrait of an Epoch
by Jim Romano
Hey 1000 Bookies!!! The next book on our quest of reading The 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, our latest is a memoir by German author and playwright Carl Zuckmayer. A Part of Myself is the 1000th and last book on this imperious list. The book is a fascinating read about a time very long ago. Carl Zuckmayer was a member of the German Intelligentsia and artistic community during the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and was a leading anti-Nazi activist and critic. Zuckmayer is best remembered for the movie script, The Blue Angel. The 1930 German movie starred Marlena Dietrich and Emil Jannings. Mr. Zuckmayer wrote several other popular German plays such as The Merry Vineyard, Katharina Knie and The Captain from Kopenick. These plays carried anti-Nazi political themes. His stance against the Nazi regime led to his works being banned in the Third Reich, to have his German citizenship revoked, and to appear on Nazi arrest lists.
A Part of Myself is approximately 400 pages and at times an intense read. I made several observations about this memoir. The first observation is Carl Zuckmayer’s wonderful description of the places he lived and traveled through. His descriptions of his birthplace in Western Germany (Hesse-Darmstadt), his home in Salzburg, his travels through America as well as his farm life in Vermont. Zuckmayer describes scenery quite well, I could see these places through his eyes. Secondly, Zuckmayer traveled in interesting literary and artistic circles and met with many interesting luminaries and historical figures which he describes in great detail. Finally, Carl Zuckmayer witnessed some of the most horrific events of the 20th Century including fighting in World War 1; the rise of the Nazis in Germany; and the Anschluss in Austria. He gives a fascinating firsthard account of these events.
Unlike other memoirs, this one starts at the height of Zuckmayer’s fame, his career and his very happy family life. He discusses his home in Henndorf, Austria. When his first successful play becomes a hit, he buys a vacation home in this village near Salzburg. The reader is treated to his life in Austria and the beautiful Austrian landscape and culture. I wanted to buy a ticket and roan the Austrian countryside with my wife. Henndorf goes from a vacation home to a full-time residence once Hitler and the Nazis come to power in Germany.
Then Carl Zuckmayer’s firsthand account of the German takeover of Austria is frightening and reads like a novel. Zuckmayer finds himself in Vienna during these terrible days. Friends commit suicide and he escapes to Henndorf, then attempts to flee to Switzerland. Zuckmayer has a record as a Nazi critic and has a Jewish Grandmother. His account of the quick 180-degree change in his fellow Austrians is terrifying. There are parallels to the times we live in that I find shocking. The escape alone is worth reading this book. You are at the edge of your seat. Even in the bleakest moments you see small green shoots of kindness. This is must read. Once Zuckmayer and his family are safe in Switzerland, the memoir shifts to his early life.
Zuckmayer was born to a wealthy family in the Hesse/Frankfurt/Mainz area of the German Empire in 1896. Germany is at the height of her pre-World War 1 power. Zuckmayer tells the tales of a Tom Sawyer like childhood with a loving family. As the Guns of August approach, young Carl, at the age of 17, volunteers for service in the German Army during World War 1. He fights and survives for 4 years. His older brother is severely injured and Zuckmayer himself suffers a concussion that incapacitated him at the end of the war. By the end, Zuckmayer despised the war and is disillusioned toward German nationalism. Zuckmayer was a liberal that had high hopes for the post war period of the Weimer Republic. But he quickly realizes the Weimer Republic cannot fight against the rise of nationalist and conservative elements.
Zuckmayer met many illustrious people throughout his life. Zuckmayer tells the story of meeting Kaiser William II in the closing years of the Great War. Zuckmayer retells the look of defeat on the Kaiser’s face. He attends the speeches in Bavaria of the head of a fringe fascist group and is so close that he witnesses the spit flailing from the mustache of one Adolf Hitler. Zuckmayer met Albert Einstein at his successful play The Captain of Kopenick. Zuckmayer worked with the great Marlena Dietrich and Emil Jannings in The Blue Angle. The movie would launch Marlena Dietrich’s career for over 50 years in the movies. Jannings was the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1927. Jannings became a propaganda spokesperson for the Nazi Regime and his career in Hollywood was destroyed.
As a young boy, Carl meets performers at the Wallenda Circus—The Wallendas would go on for over a century in entertaining the masses. (In 2020, Nik Wallenda will attempt to navigate the tightrope over a volcano). Zuckmayer befriended American journalist, Dorothy Thompson in Berlin. Thompson’s anti-Nazi stories back to America led her to be expelled in 1934. The Zuckmayers were friends with Thompson and her husband, Sinclair Lewis, the American short story writer and playwright. Zuckmayer interacts with Ernest Hemmingway, who Carl states was drunk most of the time. Carl meets Captain von Trapp and his family in Salzburg before their story became famous in The Sound of Music. The story regards tales and anecdotes of fellow authors, playwrights and other elite liberals in Weimer Germany. Many died when the Nazis eliminated the liberal intelligentsia.
Eventually Zuckmayer and his family would come to live in exile in the United States. I am happy that our country took him in from certain death in Nazi controlled Europe. But as I read this story, I kept asking if my country, the beacon of hope and the refuge of yesteryear, is still that today as it was then. In my research Zuckmayer wrote reports on character portraits of actors, writers and other artists in Germany for the Office of Strategic Services, evaluating their involvement with the Nazi regime. He does not share that in his memoirs and was only released in 2002. In 1946, at the behest of the US War Department, Zuckmayer traveled around Germany for 5 months as the US cultural attaché reporting back his observances. The report was released in 2004. Zuckmayer
A Part of Me by Carl Zuckmayer is a fascinating look into a long-ago time period, however we as a free and thinking people should read this book to look at the parallels with our age. I urge you to pick up a copy of this book.
Keep Reading My Friends!!!!
July 9, 2020
Carl Zuckmayer's "A Part of Myself" is an example of the variety of lives that we all live within one. Zuckmayer's autobiography shows his experiences in World War I, a look at his rise in the theater over the 20s and 30s - full of name dropping such stars as Bertold Brecht, Ernest Hemingway, Erich Maria Remarque, amongst many others - his escape from Europe as the Nazi powers came to prominence, his new beginning in America as a farmer, and his eventual return to Europe. There's so much life that Zuckmayer lived, it's hard to believe one book can capture it all.
While I wasn't familiar with Zuckmayer, I was aware of the film The Blue Angel that he had written, and that's what got me excited about "A Part of Myself." The film itself warrants one line in the book, but by that point, I couldn't have cared less. While I came to this book most excited about his rise to popularity on the stage and his interactions with people I was aware of from the time, I actually found Zuckmayer's career history to almost be the most boring part of "A Part of Myself." Much of that might be because I'm not as familiar with the stage as it seems Zuckmayer assumes most readers will be, but this segment does take up the majority of the book. That's not to say this segment isn't fascinating in its own way, but when it's bookended by Zuckmayer's experiences in two different wars, it sort of sags in the middle.
What did grab me about "A Part of Myself" is the look at World War II from the eyes of a German completely opposed to what is happening in his country. I'm sure there are many looks at WWII from this perspective, but this one felt wholly original to me. It's especially interesting to read from a man who was just achieving great success in his country, having to flee, yet finding help from other major stars in his journey to the United States. In these sections, the combination of WWII biography and celebrity biography become blurred in a completely original way.
But in the end, I love that "A Part of Myself" is a story about the many ways we can reinvent ourselves over the course of our lives, how even the things that seem certain can shift under out feet at any second, making us start over once more from nothing. "A Part of Myself" is a remarkable autobiography, one that is a shame isn't more widely available than it is.
While I wasn't familiar with Zuckmayer, I was aware of the film The Blue Angel that he had written, and that's what got me excited about "A Part of Myself." The film itself warrants one line in the book, but by that point, I couldn't have cared less. While I came to this book most excited about his rise to popularity on the stage and his interactions with people I was aware of from the time, I actually found Zuckmayer's career history to almost be the most boring part of "A Part of Myself." Much of that might be because I'm not as familiar with the stage as it seems Zuckmayer assumes most readers will be, but this segment does take up the majority of the book. That's not to say this segment isn't fascinating in its own way, but when it's bookended by Zuckmayer's experiences in two different wars, it sort of sags in the middle.
What did grab me about "A Part of Myself" is the look at World War II from the eyes of a German completely opposed to what is happening in his country. I'm sure there are many looks at WWII from this perspective, but this one felt wholly original to me. It's especially interesting to read from a man who was just achieving great success in his country, having to flee, yet finding help from other major stars in his journey to the United States. In these sections, the combination of WWII biography and celebrity biography become blurred in a completely original way.
But in the end, I love that "A Part of Myself" is a story about the many ways we can reinvent ourselves over the course of our lives, how even the things that seem certain can shift under out feet at any second, making us start over once more from nothing. "A Part of Myself" is a remarkable autobiography, one that is a shame isn't more widely available than it is.
February 2, 2019
I never knew of this book until my wife and I looked at a copy of "1,000 Books to Read Before You Die" (James Mustich) and instantly while flipping through the pages realized how illiterate I am. There are probably 988 books in there that I never heard of (well, maybe I am prone to exaggeratiib). We resolved to try and read some of them and began looking through the list and stumbled on the idea (Mustich has the books arranged alphabetically by the author's name) to pluck them off one by one starting with the letter "Z" (which Canadians for some obscure reason call "zed" but that's another story). There are only 4 books listed under "Z"--Zuckmeyer's has the distinction of being last.
This is quite a book--a memoir. Written in 1966, Zuckmayer writes (borrowing from the NYT review of the book) in a "colloquial style" that attempts to summarize "50 years of German intellectual and literary history and sketches a portrait of an epoch." Zuckmayer was no "shrinking violet." He was born in Nackenheim, Germany in 1896. He served with the German army in World War I and saw first hand the horrors of war and its aftermath in this povitol time of our history. The story is just incredible. My reticence in not giving the book 5-stars (which it probably deserves) probably has more to do with my ignorance over many of the theatrical, intellectual, and philosopher types Zuckmayer acquainted himself with following the war, his 'exile' to the U.S., and his return to Europe. Parts of the book just leaped out at me..."Except for a very few friends, I had very little contact with other political and literary refugees. Many of them looked askance at me because of my obstinate faith in a different Germany, in a true German spirit which, I insisted, must not be equated with the Nazi filth...."
He also concludes this book as he finally makes it to live among the vineyards of Chardonne on Lake Geneva ( Saas-Fee actually) where they have a Certificate of Citizenship which reads:
'Eternal rights and eternal friendships should be confirmed and fixed in writing, since in the course of time past things are soon forgotten."
Zuckmayer ends that, "The meaning of my story is to be found in that sentence."
This is quite a book--a memoir. Written in 1966, Zuckmayer writes (borrowing from the NYT review of the book) in a "colloquial style" that attempts to summarize "50 years of German intellectual and literary history and sketches a portrait of an epoch." Zuckmayer was no "shrinking violet." He was born in Nackenheim, Germany in 1896. He served with the German army in World War I and saw first hand the horrors of war and its aftermath in this povitol time of our history. The story is just incredible. My reticence in not giving the book 5-stars (which it probably deserves) probably has more to do with my ignorance over many of the theatrical, intellectual, and philosopher types Zuckmayer acquainted himself with following the war, his 'exile' to the U.S., and his return to Europe. Parts of the book just leaped out at me..."Except for a very few friends, I had very little contact with other political and literary refugees. Many of them looked askance at me because of my obstinate faith in a different Germany, in a true German spirit which, I insisted, must not be equated with the Nazi filth...."
He also concludes this book as he finally makes it to live among the vineyards of Chardonne on Lake Geneva ( Saas-Fee actually) where they have a Certificate of Citizenship which reads:
'Eternal rights and eternal friendships should be confirmed and fixed in writing, since in the course of time past things are soon forgotten."
Zuckmayer ends that, "The meaning of my story is to be found in that sentence."
December 23, 2024
This is, when all is said (after almost 700 pages) and done, a rather strange Zwischending. Despite what the title and subtitle ("Horen der Freundschaft") imply, it is only sometimes a paean to friendship(s) or an account of them; and while the back cover blurb of my Fischer-Taschenbuch characterizes it as "[e]in Bericht vom Erlebnis des Lebens und wie man es durchstehen kann", it's only sometimes that as well. In fact it's pretty much a standard autobiography, with two wrinkles: (1) Zuckmayer relates rather little from about 1946 onward — which in all fairness was marked by artistic decline and diminished contact with the literary world; and (2) his approach is achronological. He begins with his mid-1930s Austrian paradise and expulsion therefrom by the Nazis, then goes back and starts at the beginning. There's a certain poetic logic to this, as so much of his account of early places, friendships, and so forth is thus overshadowed by the awareness that so many of them would be lost or destroyed. Also, in this manner Zuckmayer can frame his story with a Paradise Lost at the beginning and a Paradise Regained (if not quite the same paradise) at the end, the latter achieved both physically and metaphorically by means of an upward climb.
Not all of the writing is inspired. There are accounts of friendships that are enlivened by anecdotes that are insightful or amusing or both (Pater Erxleben, for instance); at other times Zuckmayer can do no better than list friends with a descriptive sentence each -- or worse, a few leaden adjectives -- as if he were breezing through the last paragraph of a theater review with its run-through of minor characters. Some parts are just plain uninteresting: the Heidelberg years are a good cure for insomnia. There's an especially jarring lurch on pages 580-581 where he suddenly goes from dead-end penury in New York City to having a farm of his own, the acquisition of which he will later recount. An editor could've fixed this, but perhaps in Germany Great Authors are above having editors. Surely "persönlicher Freund" is just as stupid a locution in German as it is in English? And a wise hand might have persuaded him to cut the passage on page 528 where he characterizes Nazis based on phrenology. A proofreader would've been nice as well; twice I read "hin" where "bin" was obviously intended (you'd think they could've fixed this somewhere between the initial printing and my copy, which is from the 35th printing!), although Zuckmayer's occasional misspellings of English words (e.g. "Racoon") do have a certain charm.
For a work that is supposed to be about friendships, I find it more than a little striking how little Zuckmayer seems willing or interested in delving deep into his own emotional life. (Perhaps this is something an American is more likely to notice than a German?) Granted, any account of modern warfare has to be either expressionistic or sachlich; Zuckmayer wisely opts for the latter. But it seems to be his nature not to stray far from Sachlichkeit. Avoiding purple prose is a good thing (and perhaps the wisest line in the whole book is by Else Lasker-Schüler: "Ein Dichter sagt nicht azuren. Ein Dichter sagt blau"), but the tendency toward bloodlessness is a bit befremdlich. He tells us that he has deep friendships with Schiebelhuth and Mierendorff, but we don't gain much of a sense of what made them such great friendships beyond common interests and his attraction (NOT sexual, he takes pains to tell us!) to the former. We don't learn much about his wives except that the first was a strangely good sport (suspiciously cheerful about the dissolution of the marriage?) and the second one hell of a worker. In the same way, if Zuckmayer suffered any kind of identity crisis during those years when he abandoned creative writing for farming while in bucolic Vermont exile, there's no sign of it here.
Reading over the last few paragraphs, I wonder if I'm being unduly harsh. Much of the narrative is indeed of page-turner quality -- the escape from Austria, for instance; the arrival in the USA; the postwar return to Germany. His insights into the character of his rural Vermont neighbors are frequently striking as well. Those disinclined to read the book page for page will benefit from a handy and exhaustive index (names of persons only, as is the German fashion) at the end . . . which is, I suspect, how Zuckmayer’s Nachwelt will usually approach this book.
Not all of the writing is inspired. There are accounts of friendships that are enlivened by anecdotes that are insightful or amusing or both (Pater Erxleben, for instance); at other times Zuckmayer can do no better than list friends with a descriptive sentence each -- or worse, a few leaden adjectives -- as if he were breezing through the last paragraph of a theater review with its run-through of minor characters. Some parts are just plain uninteresting: the Heidelberg years are a good cure for insomnia. There's an especially jarring lurch on pages 580-581 where he suddenly goes from dead-end penury in New York City to having a farm of his own, the acquisition of which he will later recount. An editor could've fixed this, but perhaps in Germany Great Authors are above having editors. Surely "persönlicher Freund" is just as stupid a locution in German as it is in English? And a wise hand might have persuaded him to cut the passage on page 528 where he characterizes Nazis based on phrenology. A proofreader would've been nice as well; twice I read "hin" where "bin" was obviously intended (you'd think they could've fixed this somewhere between the initial printing and my copy, which is from the 35th printing!), although Zuckmayer's occasional misspellings of English words (e.g. "Racoon") do have a certain charm.
For a work that is supposed to be about friendships, I find it more than a little striking how little Zuckmayer seems willing or interested in delving deep into his own emotional life. (Perhaps this is something an American is more likely to notice than a German?) Granted, any account of modern warfare has to be either expressionistic or sachlich; Zuckmayer wisely opts for the latter. But it seems to be his nature not to stray far from Sachlichkeit. Avoiding purple prose is a good thing (and perhaps the wisest line in the whole book is by Else Lasker-Schüler: "Ein Dichter sagt nicht azuren. Ein Dichter sagt blau"), but the tendency toward bloodlessness is a bit befremdlich. He tells us that he has deep friendships with Schiebelhuth and Mierendorff, but we don't gain much of a sense of what made them such great friendships beyond common interests and his attraction (NOT sexual, he takes pains to tell us!) to the former. We don't learn much about his wives except that the first was a strangely good sport (suspiciously cheerful about the dissolution of the marriage?) and the second one hell of a worker. In the same way, if Zuckmayer suffered any kind of identity crisis during those years when he abandoned creative writing for farming while in bucolic Vermont exile, there's no sign of it here.
Reading over the last few paragraphs, I wonder if I'm being unduly harsh. Much of the narrative is indeed of page-turner quality -- the escape from Austria, for instance; the arrival in the USA; the postwar return to Germany. His insights into the character of his rural Vermont neighbors are frequently striking as well. Those disinclined to read the book page for page will benefit from a handy and exhaustive index (names of persons only, as is the German fashion) at the end . . . which is, I suspect, how Zuckmayer’s Nachwelt will usually approach this book.
August 15, 2024
The book's title is taken over from a WWI song or poem about fallen soldiers, in which the word "Stück" has meant "piece" or "part". But "Stück" also means "play" in the sense of a theatrical drama. So Zuckmayer means to express that his life had been like one of the plays he has written. If he depicts his life truthfully in this autobiography, then he is right. His plays often connect evil things and people with idylls. The author has obviously to a large extent staged his life like a play himself; i.e., the similarity is not coincidental.
Zuckmayer also provides a highly instructive cross-section of the milieu of German and US-American literary and musical professionals of the treated periods.
Zuckmayer also provides a highly instructive cross-section of the milieu of German and US-American literary and musical professionals of the treated periods.
June 26, 2018
2 stars, but am rounding up. Emphatically recommended to me by Ralph Pechmann in 6/2018, but this wasn’t for me. I wasn’t familiar with Zuckmayer before, and I kept comparing him to Joseph Wechsberg. (I feel like this very similar to Wechsberg’s story, but Wechsberg’s was 10 stars.) There is passing mention of an Anabaptist play, but I gather that it doesn’t materialize.
November 21, 2021
This is a book about friendship: he refers to losing friends as being akin losing a part of yourself. He loses and gains friends aplenty, living as he did through World War I and World War II. My favorite part was the descriptions of huge feasts in the Austrian countryside prior to World War I.
The book is an autobiography that reads like an exciting novel. Sensual and carefully written.
The book is an autobiography that reads like an exciting novel. Sensual and carefully written.
May 28, 2024
I found this book in the Little Library by my house in Berkeley and was drawn to the cover (not the one pictured) that was a collage including the Hollywood sign and Marlena Dietrich. His life was so fascinating. Hollywood was just a tiny part. The sense of place was awesome.
March 14, 2010
Eine wunderbare Lebensbeschreibung von den 1920 bis zu den 1950er Jahren, die viele Informationen zum Geistesleben dieser Zeitspanne enthält, aber auch unglaublich unterhaltend ist. Besonders gut gefiel mir die Beschreibung der Freundschaft Zuckmayers mit dem Schauspieler Werner Krauß. Mit ihm spielte er Karl May's Geschichten nach und nannte aufgrund dieser Erlebnisse seine Tochter später Winnetou.
November 4, 2010
Superb story
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