Bergfahrt

by Ludwig Hohl

Zwei junge Männer planen eine Bergbesteigung, der eine, tüchtige, blickt auf zum Ziel, dem Gipfel. Der andere, unentschlossene, ist nur Mitgänger. Nach einigen Wechselfällen gibt er auf und kehrt zurück. Der Gipfelstürme setzt den Anstieg im Alleingang fort und beginnt, oben angelangt, ein langes, von ihm in allen Stationen und Steigerungen bewußt erlebtes, geradezu bedachtsam vollzogenes Sterben. Der Mutlose begegnet seinem, einem raschen Tod, als er, bereits wieder im Tal, aus Unvorsicht in einen Wildbach stürzt.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Mountaineering, Literature, Novella

97 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Hohl was the son of a pastor and was born in the small town of Netstal. He went to Gymnasium in Frauenfeld but was expelled due to the alleged bad influence he had on other students. He never worked in an ordinary profession and spent most of his life in poverty suffering from alcoholism. From 1924 to 1937 he lived outside of Switzerland, first in Paris (1924–1930), then in Vienna (1930/31) and The Hague (1931–1937). He then returned to Switzerland and lived first in Biel, then in Geneva, from 1954 to 1974 in a small basement flat which became legendary. His financial situation then improved due to an inheritance, but in his last years, he suffered from several physical illnesses. Hohl died in 1980 from an inflammation of his legs. He had been married five times and had one daughter.

Hohl’s works never gained him commercial success; he published several himself. His small income came from writing for magazines and newspapers as well as private and public support. In the 1940s and 50s, he took legal action against his publisher who refused to print the second volume of his Notizen (see below) because the first volume had sold less than two hundred copies. Hohl won – which, according to some sources, substantially improved the position of authors versus publishers in Swiss jurisdiction – but the second volume sold equally badly. In the 1970s, he finally achieved some recognition from the literary world. Siegfried Unseld, head of the renowned German publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag, had been introduced to Hohl by Adolf Muschg, and Unseld and Hohl agreed on a contract for a new edition of Hohl's works. In 1970 and 1976, Hohl was awarded prizes by the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung, in 1978 he received a special prize dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Robert Walser's birth, and in 1980 he won the Petrarca-Preis. Ludwig Hohl's literary estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern.

Works[edit]
Hohl published some poems and stories. His best work of fiction may be the narrative Bergfahrt (the German word Bergfahrt, literary mountain ride, is an old term for climbing), which he wrote in 1926, rewrote several times over the next decades and which was finally published in 1975. An English edition of this novella, called Ascent, was published in 2012; it is the first and, as of 2013, only English translation of one of Hohl's works.

Many regard Die Notizen oder Von der unvoreiligen Versöhnung as Hohl’s opus magnum. The title could be translated as Notes, or: On Non-Premature Reconciliation. Hohl wrote it in 1934-36; problems with his publisher (see above) delayed the publication until 1954; it was re-published, with some additions and in one volume, in 1981, a few months after his death. The volume is divided into twelve parts (with titles like 'On Working', 'On Writing', 'On Death') which consist of hundreds of numbered 'notes' in the form of short essays, aphorisms, quotations, poems, outlines for stories etc. Hohl insisted that these notes are not a disparate collection but have a deep inner connection. The main thought which lies behind them is that there is only one true meaning of life, namely to exercise one’s own creative forces. This is what Hohl calls 'Arbeit' (work). This 'work' includes the philosophical concepts of knowledge and action, which become one in the person who works. Hohl also polemizes against the masses of people who do not 'work' in this way, but are very busy trying to 'avoid' such true work. Hohl personifies this flawed way of life in his antagonist, 'der Apotheker' (the pharmacist) or 'Herr Meier' (Mr. Average).

A second volume with similar format was not published until after Hohl's death. It is called 'Von den hereinbrechenden Rändern' ('On the margins closing in') or simply 'Nachnotizen' ('After-notes').

Hohl often quotes the few authors and thinkers he held in highest esteem. They include Goethe, Lichtenberg, Montaigne and Spinoza. He called Goethe's writings his 'daily br

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Romantic (but unromantic) Alpine parable, as clean and dangerous as the windswept heights of its setting – Ascent is (I think) the only translated work of Swiss literary recluse Ludwig Hohl, who lived and died in relative obscurity but has become somewhat unburied, to use the fashionable Goodreads idiom, by subsequent writers in Switzerland and elsewhere, many of whom have named him as a key influence.

Like a good whisky – though perhaps schnapps would be a better image – the book can be polished off in an hour or two, but it has what tasters call a long, long finish. There are two characters: one tall, gaunt, impulsive, and the other shorter, more methodical; they are attempting to scale a mountain in challenging conditions some time early in the last century. That is all Hohl works with in terms of plot; the rest is a combination of character study and pitiless observations of the natural world, observations infused with that mixture of glory, beauty and terror that used to be subsumed under the word awe:

The power comes from the wealth of green, the immensity of the mountains, the light of the sky, which is so big that the sky can't yet be blue; its future blue waits behind a brightness, a shifting, shimmering white, the color of pewter (the sun shines first on the highest mountains, not here for a long time yet).

At least for a non-climber like me, the mountains here have an otherworldly air; they comprise a completely alien world full of obscure features like seracs, couloirs, and bergschrunds. There is something metaphysical to Hohl's descriptions of them, too – a sense in which they have (as he says at one point of the rock formations) ‘joined forced with infinity’. But Hohl makes a point of distinguishing this quasi-spiritual awareness from any out-and-out supernatural tendency, and he does so in a particularly literary way, by borrowing – at a critical point in the story – an uncredited line from Schiller's ‘Alpenjäger’. The original full stanza, from which Hohl lifts the first couplet, runs like this:

With his hand the Deity
Shields the beast that trembling sighs;
"Must thou, even up to me,
Death and anguish send?" he cries,—
Earth has room for all to dwell,—
"Why pursue my loved gazelle?"

Here a mountain spirit is manifesting itself in order to save a chamois from a pursuing hunter. And it is precisely this deus ex machina (or rather, deus ex…erm, ablative case…monte) that Hohl denies in his own fable. Here, the mountains are infinitely more real and dangerous than in Schiller's ballad—

But no spirit came out of a cleft in the rock.

The climbers are on their own, and their individual fates will depend on their own individual personalities. And how much influence do we really have on that, when it comes down to it?

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good thing I didn't read this before going climbing in the Alps, or I wouldn't have done it!

I wonder if Hohl did much climbing himself, and if so, why? He certainly doesn't make it sound appealing at all.

The narrative could use more chamois goats.

[Steve]

Ludwig Hohl (1904-1980) is another of the sui generis authors I find myself drawn to. The Swiss-German Hohl was thrown out of school for being a bad influence and never acquired a profession, subsequently living in poverty for most of his life. For quite some time he lived in a cave, where he wrote some of his best work... Somehow or other he managed to wed five times.(!) He had a low opinion of writing and writers, though he spent a great deal of his life writing, primarily for the desk drawer. Not surprisingly, he had trouble getting his work published, and when he succeeded in doing so, the sales were minimal, despite the fact that authors such as Adolf Muschg, Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt admired his work. Much of his writing was published posthumously, and it is out of print again.

Bergfahrt (which has been translated into English with the title "Ascent") is a novella begun in 1926 and re-written many times. When Adolf Muschg convinced Siegfried Unseld, the head of the great German literary publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag, in the early 1970's to read some of Hohl's work, Unseld was impressed and started publishing Hohl's texts, most for the first time. Among these was Bergfahrt (1975), which I stumbled across in 1980. I loved it and bought what I could find of his books. Not enough, unfortunately.

Bergfahrt is a parable-like story of two men climbing a mountain in the Swiss Alps early in the 20th century. On a beautiful late spring morning, two very different men set out to climb a mountain. Ull, shorter and more experienced, takes the lead and Johann, tall and gaunt, follows behind. The stages of the climb, the different regions of the mountain, are described in an often poetic, but realistic, prose. One feels one is climbing with them.

Already at the first rest stop it is clear that something is not right with Johann. This impression is reinforced at the evening stop, where Johann does not take Ull's sound advice how to stay warm. All the next day they are socked in by rain and snow, so they remain in the little hay storage hut they had spent the night in. From Johann hardly any signs of life; and then another dark, miserable, freezing night in the hay hut. The rain was finished as the next day dawned, but Hohl convincingly evokes the threatening inhumanity, the alien otherness of the high mountain morn amid wind whipped gray and black cloudbanks.

But they continue their climb, though it was now clear that they undertook the climb too early in the season, because the next hut was completely buried under snow and ice. They managed to locate and dig down into the hut to find some shelter, but there wasn't much rest for them. The next day offered yet more problems to the stubborn pair.

All the while Hohl is powerfully describing for us the increasingly alien, increasingly deadly surroundings as they slowly and painfully ascend the mountain. The climbers, whose thoughts we are not privy to and who rarely speak, shrink into insignificance in these surroundings. Then comes a glacier, which is anything but a smooth, solid sheet of ice slowly moving down a mountain. Johann speaks the first word of the day, "Schrecklich" (terrible, frightening), as Ull gestures at what stands before them.

They still continue! This is where I realize that I don't understand mountain climbers at all. Yeah, I know, the challenge. I'd rather swim through the sharks from Cuba to Florida, thanks...

I don't want to spoil the story for you, so, again, I'll leave it there. It gets worse and worse for the climbers, and then there are some surprises, and then some more. Might you want to read this short and intense book about the small matters that can transform a man's greatest strengths into his greatest weaknesses? And what about that moment when death is everywhere, when there is no escape; or that other, very different moment when death surprises? Though the parable aspects of Bergfahrt left me untouched, the rest is burnt into my imagination in such an indelible manner as few other books are.

In the meanwhile, I have reviewed two other books by Hohl: Nächtlicher Weg and Dass fast alles anders ist.

Rating

http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/944...

[Hulyacln · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johann ve Ull iki dağcı.
Önlerinde zorlu bir tırmanış var.
Hazırlıkları tamam, şu an için hiçbir sorun yok.
Ama bilirsiniz hava birden tersine dönebilir, bastıkları adıma daima dikkat etmeleri gerek!
.
Ludwig Hohl’un Türkçe’ye çevrilen ilk eseri olan Tırmanış, son sayfaya kadar şunu söyletti bana ‘bir şey olacak ama ne?’
İncecik bir eser olmasına, sakin cümlelerine, bol dağcılık terimlerine karşın merakla okuttu kendini bana Tırmanış.
.
Yakın dönemde severek okuduğum Max Frisch’ten Sessizliğin Yanıtı adlı eserde de dağ teması çok belirgindi. Tırmanış’ta da yer yer onu anımsamıştım. Tırmanış’ın arka kapağında, Frisch’in Ludwig Hohl’dan övgüyle bahsettiğini okumak da güzel bir tesadüf oldu bana:)
.
Levent Alarslan çevirisi, Gülay Tunç kapak tasarımıyla

[Seregnani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il fuoco ardeva forte ora.
Questa volta, però, si trattava di un altro fuoco: quello della rabbia immensa che cominciava a colmarlo.
«Dunque vuoi arrenderti, vuoi lasciar perdere tutto?».
Dal silenzio di tomba, dopo un po':
«Sì, disprezzami pure, ma non ce la faccio più».
A questo punto, con movimenti bruschi, Ull cominciò a preparare le sue cose e se stesso per la partenza.
Doveva dunque affrontare da solo il ghiacciaio... un'impresa quasi folle; la presenza di un compagno era quasi indispensabile, fosse pure un accompagnatore non provetto.

3,5 ⭐️ Come dice Davide Longo nella prefazione, questo libro non narra solo la storia di due giovani che vogliono salire su una vetta, ma è molto di più.
Attraverso una scrittura fluida si narra una storia di amicizia, una lezione sulla formazione dei seracchi, un thriller, una parabola tra surreale e comico, un dramma emotivo, una fiaba, un paradosso, un'allegoria dove la montagna potrebbe essere solo un pretesto, e poi ancora qualcos'altro che quando finisci di leggere non sai cos'è, ma sai che c'è.
Il tutto in un centinaio di pagine?
Sì, ma scritte per quarantanove anni.

[Ulla Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

En rammende lille sag, der efterlader refleksioner

[Bilge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sevebileceğim bir hikayeydi ama çeviri o kadar kötü ki bir çok yerde kayboldum. Bir turlu kendimi 2 karakterin hikayesine veremedim.

[Deniz Balcı · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tırmanış", İsviçreli Yazar Ludwig Hohl'un dilimize çevrilen ilk ve tek kitabı imiş. Bir merakla atladım üzerine ama olmadı ya... Üzgünüm ama Ludwig Hohl ile tanışmamızdan mutlu ayrılamadım. Arka kapakta Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch gibi çok önemsenen yazarların övgüsünü aldığı yazdığı için sanırım beklentim birazcık daha büyüktü.

Roman, Ull ve Johann isimli iki dağcı arkadaşın zorlu bir buzul tırmanışı yapmasını konu ediniyor. Her şey çok beklendik ve sıradan başlıyor. Ull son derece hazırlıklı, saplantılı, tutkulu ve hırslı bir karaktere sahip. Zirveye çıkmak tek arzusu. Johann ise Ull'un tersine son derece temkinli, sakin, atıl hatta bence zorlu tırmanış için apaçık yetersiz bir karakter ve dayanıklılığa sahip. Birbirine zıt bu iki arkadaş, böylesi bir tırmanış yolculuğunda beklendiği üzere anlaşmazlığa düşüyorlar. Ull ile Johann'ın yolu bir noktada ayrılıyor. Sonrasında hikaye daha çok tırmanışa devam etme kararı alan Ull'ın öyküsü üzerinden devam ediyor ama en önemli atakta elbette Johann'a da dönüyor.

Ama nasıl desem bir garip... Sanki taslak bir metin gibi bu. Halbuki yazar kitabı 1926 senesinde yazmış, yayımlanmasına ise 1975'te karar vermiş. Yani eserin nerdeyse elli yıllık bir demlenmesi de var. Tırmanış Edebiyatı'nın en önemli örneği olarak görüldüğünden bahsedilmiş bir de. Hem sahi, Tırmanış Edebiyatı ne ola ki? Böyle bir kategorinin varlığından haberdar olmadığıma şaşırıp biraz literatür taraması yaptım. Bir inceleme ya da araştırma da bulamadım.

Ben açıkçası kendisi de dağcılıkla çok ilgili olan ve zorlu tırmanışlar yapmış bir yazar olan Hohl'un, madem böyle bir kitap yazmış; bize ölümün kıyısında yapılan bu akıl almaz tırmanışları insanın hangi motivasyonla yaptığını anlatmasını beklerdim. Pastoral bir arınma mı yaşamak istiyorlar, felsefi bir boşalma/sağaltım peşindeler mi yoksa yükseklere çıkarak bir nevi Tanrı'yla yakınlaşma gibi ilahi bir gayretleri mi var? Bu tarz derinlikli bir sebebin altını kazmasını, bizi dağlara götürüp orda bırakmasını, ya da oraya gidenlerin ülküsüne saygımızı arttırmasını beklerdim. Fakat kitap çok tekdüze bir şekilde akıp, sonlanıyor.

Dağcılığa spesifik merakı olanlara önerebilirim sadece.

Diğer yandan çeviri şahane. Levent Alarslan mükemmel bir iş çıkarmış, çevirine sağlık, diğer çevirilerine olan merakım arttı. Sahi Kitap ile de tanışma kitabım oldu, biraz seçkilerini inceledim ve dünya edebiyatı seçkisi ilgi uyandırıcı. Kıyıda köşede kalmış eserleri bizimle buluşturmaya çalıştıklarını sanıyorum. Bu çok özel bir gayret, başka kitaplarına da şans vereceğim.

[AlbertoD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Due giovani alpinisti, Ull e Johann, stanno per iniziare la scalata verso la vetta di una montagna nelle Alpi svizzere. Due amici diversissimi: tanto pragmatico, ambizioso, determinato il primo, quanto introverso, malinconico, riflessivo il secondo. Cominciano l’ascesa insieme ma alla prima vera difficoltà decidono, dopo un’accesa discussione, di separarsi e di andarsene ognuno per la propria strada: il temerario Ull, nonostante gli evidenti rischi di un’ascesa in solitaria, verso la vetta; il fiacco Johann, consapevole di abbandonare il compagno in un’impresa pericolosa ma troppo indolente per proseguire, verso valle.
E sarà questa scelta di separarsi, di non venirsi incontro, di non cedere, almeno in parte, al temperamento altrui, che determinerà i loro destini. Destini tragici, accomunati dal compiersi in maniera cinica, beffarda, quasi fosse una punizione per il comportamento tenuto in vita.
Quello che dunque all’inizio sembrava un semplice racconto di montagna, ricco di dettagli tecnici e di quelle “immagini enfatiche e un po’ patinate” tratte dal “repertorio romantico della narrazione di montagna” di fine Ottocento/inizio Novecento (il virgolettato è dalla prefazione di Davide Longo), finisce per diventare parabola dell’esistenza umana, e meditazione sullo scegliere e sull’agire.
Un racconto denso che si caratterizza per la scrittura semplice e gli spunti di riflessione.

[Philippe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short 'chronicle of a death foretold' narrates a hazardous climb on a high (unnamed) Alpine peak in a time when detailed route descriptions, low-weight apparel and mobile phone were not there to help mountaineers to keep the risks in check. But no technology can protect against hubris, stupidity and naiveté. And the ineluctable consequences of this unholy trio is the key theme of this novel. Two friends move in on an ambitious route in the early summer season. There is still plenty of snow on the high slopes. The two know each other's capabilities. They have climbed together. One of them, Johann, the less experienced one, is an unusually morose mood, however. Everything in him seems to resist the looming challenge. Halfway he finally gives in to this sentiment and abandons his mate who doesn't want to retreat and proceeds on his own, in uncertain weather and with scant knowledge of the route ahead.

We are never let in on the reason for Johann's reluctance to proceed with the climb. I recognise his mood of doom-laden indecisiveness, however. Experienced mountaineers develop a sixth sense that warns of danger. I've witnessed this myself when, crawling out of my sleeping bag in the middle of the night, I was filled with an inexplicable dread of the journey ahead. And to be sure, ignoring these sentiments has confronted me with dramatic, in some cases fatal events. So I have learned to trust these intimations. Hence I found Johann's decision to retreat eminently sensible and his partner's decision to push onwards inexcusably reckless.

The cold menace and even terror radiating out from the inhospitable mountain setting is well captured in this story. There is no metaphysics here. Death is ultimately decided by an infinitesimal shift in the balance of the competing forces of friction and gravity. This factualness offers a welcome contrast with Max Frisch' Antwort aus der Stille. Eine Erzählung aus den Bergen, another Swiss novella from the interbellum that partakes of a similar atmosphere but unfortunately gives into a temptation to sentimentalise.

I read 'Bergfahrt' in the recently published Dutch translation. The story is complemented with an insightful biographical essay by Anna Stüssi (Hohl's biographer) and a short, equally informative afterword by the translator (Ard Posthuma, backed up by four students from the VertalersVakschool in Amsterdam). Fascinating also are two facsimile reproductions of postcards sent by the author from his Alpine abodes. There's a curious editorial error in the annotation of the card sent by Hohl to his friend Kurt Müller on 10 July 1927. The card pictures the unmistakable profile of the Aiguille du Dru in the Mont Blanc range, not a peak named 'Weggis' supposedly part of the Swiss Glärnisch mountains.

3.5 stars

[Jim Elkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Opposite of Modernist Fragmentation

Some years ago George Steiner named Ludwig Hohl as one of the greatest 20th century authors. "Die Notizien" is his central work; it is 900 pages long and still untranslated. I read this to get a sense of him, but it seems to be a singular piece, by which he can't be judged.
Steiner's judgment, which is widely repeated on the internet, is that Hohl is "one of the secret masters of twentieth century prose... a voyeur into the nuances and tremors of sensibility. Hohl experienced physical and psychological phenomena as interminably fragmented. with disenchanted scruple, he fitted these fragments into a language-mosaic of exceptional lucidity" He wrote, according to Steiner, "from a literal underground, from a cellarage or below street level-cavern in Geneva. There, the teeming notes and aphorisms that constitute his opus (Die Notizen) in an always provisional, mobile array, were hung on clothes lines for inspection and revision" (Steiner, Grammars of Creation, p. 224).
I haven't yet read "Die Notizien," but if Steiner's report is accurate (by which I mean, not overdetermined by his worshipful attitude to isolated genius), then "The Ascent" must have been a kind of counterbalance for Hohl. It is absolutely unified, with a crystalline structure supported by polished set-pieces of naturalistic description.
"The Ascent" is an extremely carefully written realist story of two mountaineers, with a simple character puzzle drawn like a moral at the end. Its descriptions of mountain phenomena -- seracs, couloirs, a Bergschrund -- are patient, rational, even architectonic, and its characterizations of the two mountaineers are spare and schematic.
It's hard to see how this is a modernist's text: it could have been written by Georg Simmel or even Adalbert Stifter, and its roots go back to Buechner's "Lenz." I am hoping that "Die Notizien" is this novella's sprawling and uncommunicative opposite.

[Nils · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een dusdanig wonderlijk rijke taal van meanderende frasen, plechtstatige beschrijvingen van de meest precieze handelingen en gedachten, en meeslepend beeldende woordenschat zou je in een bergbeklimmersrelaas niet verwachten.

Bergtocht is dan ook meer dan slechts een korte anekdote over twee klimmers die enkele dagen doorbrengen op de Zwitserse kammen. Het is een bijzonder gelaagde psychologische parabel over de menselijke staat, de onverzoenbare eigenheid van karakters en het noodlot.

Wie aandachtig leest ziet de tweespalt reeds gesymboliseerd vanaf het begin op het terras in het dal, en meest magistraal tijdens het wachten op geschikter weer op de Helling der melancholie, wanneer de anders zo expressieve Ull zich in stilte richt op de details rondom hem en de introverte Johann net dan een vergezicht in het vizier krijgt wat hem tot weidse, diepe gedachten brengt, maar... deze ervaring — dan toch weer getrouw aan zijn aard — niet met de ander deelt.

Voeg hierbij een droom over een beer en enkele hallucinaties tengevolge van ontbering, twijfel en onrust, en men is er zich gauw van bewust dat deze novelle, hoewel bij wijlen uitzonderlijk technisch ogend, geen heroïsche berghistorie, noch een egocentrische klimmersbio is, en waarom Leesmagazijn het gelukkig nodig achtte dit miskende dan wel over het hoofd geziene meesterwerkje te publiceren.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hohls Bergtocht leidt naar een berg die nog niemand gezien heeft en die toch als hij ter sprake komt door iedereen wordt herkend." (Adolf Muschg, geciteerd door Anna Stüssi in het afsluitend essay 'Beschrifte bergen')

Zonder Stüssi's essay zou ik de bergtocht van Ull en Johann wellicht snel vergeten. Gelukkig legde het essay heel wat ondergesneeuwde lagen op de bergflanken bloot...

[Cathérine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 ster
Ik heb helemaal niets met bergen beklimmen maar het is prachtig beschreven.

[Alfred Vuust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lidt svær at læse. Lange sætninger med natur-begreber, som jeg ikke altid forstod helt. Men utrolig enkel og værd at læse igen. Det tog i øvrigt Hohl 49 år at skrive den. Vildt nok.

[Andreu Amoros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un pequeño relato de capítulos cortos de la aventura alpinística de dos amigos que se separan en el camino pero obtienen destinos similares. Buenas descripciones y un ritmo ágil y ameno.

De la biblioteca de Marcel·lí.

[Frederik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underligt uengagerende og meget stiv i sit sprog, trods det altid spændende mand-versus-natur tema. Syntes at Peter Matthisens “Sneleoparden” og Seethalers “A Whole life” er meget bedre i denne kategori.

[James Klagge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short memorable novella. Experienced climbers would get most out of the amazing descriptions. But the psychodrama of climbing is equally impressive. I would have appreciated more insight into the drive to climb, which seems mostly to be assumed. That it all ends in death seems only appropriate.
I twice had scary experiences in the Alps in Switzerland--hiking, not climbing--of disorientation and exhaustion. The story was fully believable.
Apparently this is the only thing by this author translated into English, but I liked this small taste.

[Gil Jourdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure se scritto in modo magistrale, questo racconto lungo (secondo un mio amico, che ne capisce più di me, "la massima forma di letteratura") mi ha lasciato un po' l'amaro in bocca.
Tra le cose positive, la tensione che cresce. Come in alcuni racconti di Jack London (ricordiamo "Accendere un fuoco"), la natura è una forza aliena, imperscrutabile. La montagna da luogo di pascoli e piccoli villaggi, diventa un terreno estremamente inquietante dominato da formazioni di ghiaccio mai viste. Per i due scalatori, è un'esperienza diversa. Ull, il più esperto, ha l'ambizione di salire in vetta e la fiducia di farcela. Johann, sicuramente meno abituato, sembra essere lì più che altro per assecondare l'amico e dopo una parte particolarmente difficile, decide di rinunciare. Il lettore, vedendo Ull partire da solo, a questo punto capisce il finale: precipita infatti in un crepaccio, dove trova una morte lenta e atroce. Ma pure Johann, quasi ringalluzzito da questo invisibile scampato pericolo, nella discesa si azzarda a sottovalutare un torrente, batte la testa contro un sasso e viene travolto dalla corrente.
Il racconto è asciutto, forse anche troppo. I personaggi sono quasi inesistenti, mentre la montagna è la vera protagonista del racconto. Anche se ci sono chiari contenuti metaforici (perfino metafisici?), personalmente mi è rimasta l'impressione di qualcosa di quasi incompiuto, che poteva essere plasmato in modo un po' più ricco. Un'impressione che non ricordo mi sia venuta con il suo compatriota (e a quanto pare sostenitore) Friedrich Durrenmatt, nemmeno nei suoi momenti più lapidari.

[Nene La Beet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Efter at have læst en interessant anmeldelse i Kristeligt Dagblad, bestilte jeg den på biblioteket. Jeg burde måske have taget anmelderens advarsel om, at bogen indeholder meget "bjergbestiger-jargon", alvorligt. I hvert fald blev jeg under læsningen mødt af mange beskrivelser og betegnelser, som jeg ikke forstod, fordi jeg sjældent har klatret højere end til femte sal eller til toppen af Himmelbjerget.

Ikke desto mindre var det interessant læsning, og det var jo pga konflikten mellem de to bjergbestigere, at jeg havde fattet interesse for bogen. Konflikten er næsten ordløs, men grum, og den slutter da også tragisk – beskrevet på næsten kynisk vis af forfatteren.

Bogen besvarer endvidere et spørgsmål, som jeg ofte har stillet mig selv: Hvorfor kaster mennesker sig ud i den livsfarlige bestigning af bjerge, som allerede er kortlagt og besteget mange gange før?
"For at slippe ud af fængslet."
Det har jeg så tydeligvis ikke det mindste behov for...

Bogen er på ca. 100 sider og må være interessant for alle, der klatrer. For os andre er konflikten mellem de to mænd, der opstår, fordi de har helt forskellige tilgange til modgang, modstand, det der er dragende ved bogen.

Ludwig Hohl var ikke nogen glad mand, og han begik selvmord som 76-årig. For ham var bjergbestigning og det at skrive helt sammenligneligt. Virkelig hårdt og måske uden belønning. Bogen her påbegyndte han i 1926, men den var først færdig efter 49 år og blev udgivet i 1975. Og nu er den så kommet på dansk. Tak til det lille forlag Atlanten for det.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brevissimo librino sull'impresa di scalare una cima di due uomini: Ull, alpinista esperto, deciso e sicuro, e Johann, camminatore amatoriale, pigro e incerto. La peculiarità di questo libro è che è stato maneggiato dall'autore per 49 anni, pubblicato solo nel 1975. La storia rimane ambientata all'epoca della prima stesura, quindi intorno agli anni '20. Ed è molto interessante rendersi conto della pochezza di risorse e abbigliamento tecnico che avevano gli scalatori in quell'epoca (scarpe chiodate, piccozza, camicia, corda, lume, ecc.). Il linguaggio è secco, con brevi frasi e pochi fronzoli. Le ampie descrizioni sono comunque funzionali, per descrivere i luoghi, intesi come obiettivi o ostacoli. Nonostante questo tipo di voce non risuoni totalmente dentro di me, mi sono comunque ritrovata con Ull e Johann accecata dalla bufera di neve in vetta, o appesa ad una parete. Il libro fa riflettere su quanto essere o meno preparati e cauti può essere ininfluente sull'esito di un'impresa.

[Enis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bir kitabın hacmi onun niteliğini hiçbir zaman belirlemez. Cümlelerin uzun kurulmasının bir sebebi; okurun da bir dağa tırmanması gibi hikayenin zirvesine doğru, bir yolculuktur. Ludwig Hohl'un daha fazla eseri türkçeye kazandırılmalı.
Onun sarsıcı üslubu bizim yolumuzu belirliyor belki de...
İki dağcının arkadaşlığı nerede kopuyor? Doğada birbirimize olan bağımız yaşamımız için oldukça belirleyici bir rol oynar. Eğer kırılsanız eğer dinlemezseniz bütün ölümcül duygular sizi yaşamdan çekip çıkaracaktır.
Uzun zamandır okuduğum en sade romandı. Okunmalı.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Op i bjergene er ikke en af den slags bjergvandringsbøger, hvor vandringen bliver en metafor for hovedpersonens vej i livet. Her er ingen filosofiske reflektioner eller nye selverkendelser. Det er bare mand mod bjerg.

Ludwig Hohls omhyggelige prosa er kompakt og intensiv, som var den møjsommeligt hakket ind i bjerget selv med en isøkse. Og gennem Hohls prosa bliver bjerget og de voldsomme naturkræfter, en bjergbestiger skal berede sig på at møde, levende.

Læs hele min anmeldelse på K’s bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2023/03/19/ludwig...

[Robert Høgh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Op i Bjergene er en fin bog, jeg læste over en skål risengrød. Den handler om to venner, der bestiger et bjerg i Alperne. De dør begge to, men på hver sin måde.

Jeg føler, at denne bog har et dybt og filosofisk budskab. Jeg kan bare ikke finde ud af, hvad det er. Det er noget med, at selv den bedste bjergbestiger ikke kan klare sig alene. Eller at naturen er større end os mennesker.

Denne anbefaling er svær for mig at skrive. Det er en kort historie på 100 sider, men den er langt mere intellektuelt krævende end Den Romerske Familie på syv bind.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In minder dan 100 bladzijden schrijft Hohl zijn verhaal over alpinisme, nostalgie en intermenselijke relaties, in een stijl helder als berglucht. In De acht bergen volgt Paolo Cognetti de route die door De Bergtocht werd geopend, maar zonder de ijle hoogten van Hohls stilistische bravoure te bereiken.

[Ender Ahmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kisacik ozet bir hikaye olmus. Zaman zaman uzun cumleler ve garip kelimeler (ceviriden sanirim) beni kaybetse de geri kazanmayi bildi. Dagcilarin icinde bulundugu psikolojiyi biraz daha baska hikayeler ile anlatilabilirmis yazar diye dusundum zaman zaman. Bu iki yakin arkadasin belki gecmiste yasadiklari uzerinden gidilyseydi, onlari daha iyi anlayabilirdik.

[kübra terzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tatilde okuduğum bir diğeri;

Johann ve Ull isimli iki dağcının Tırmanış hikayesiydi.
Bazı ifadelerin upuzun soluğa ihtiyacı olduğundan gerek, ben biraz zorlandım. Belki de Miras > Tırmanış olduğundan. :)

Zorlu tırmanışın kısa öyküsü.
Macera sevenlere tavsiye.

[Matthew Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this.

I did. It was awesome. Awesome in the old sense, as it filled me with the feelings of seeing mountains again. It was as close to perfect as it could be. All that was not perfect was removed.

[WillemC · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75/5. Net iets te veel beschrijvingen van bergen in specifieke woordenschat om echt goed te zijn.

[Marie Léveillé · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5