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Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy
Arno Schmidt (1914-1979) was one of the most remarkable writers of the twentieth century. Despite much of his work being available in English, his centenary passed nearly unremarked in the United States and England – to the disappointment of those who frequent the mythical Literary Saloon. In his honor and memory, the evening of 18 January – Schmidt’s birthday – was devoted to conversation introducing the author and his work – a fictional centennial colloquy entirely in the spirit of the great man himself. Biography, an account of his translations and his famous ‘Radio Dialogs’, his early fiction, and then the towering Zettel’s Traum (‘Bottom’s Dream’) and his great final works, as well as his legacy: everything is covered in these pages. Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy is the perfect introduction to this giant of German letters, and his amazing work.
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2014
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November 9, 2015The anniversary of this volume which celebrates the centenary of Herr Arno Schmidt. If you've not acquired yourself a copy yet ; do yourself a favor ;; even if you don't give a flip about Schmidt, a nice manner of introducing an underread/BURIED Giant=of=Fiction to a wider and eager audience (how would a comparable volume on Dorothy M. Richardson be performed?).
http://www.complete-review.com/saloon...
_____________________
Simply put, this centennial colloquy is the only -- and the best -- introduction to Arno Schmidt and his work available in English.
M.A. Orthofer runs The Complete Review, a very nice resource for many things literary, and also the sister site, the Literary Saloon, which is probably one of the best daily sources of information about all kinds of things that go on in the international global world of books. You’ll always find something there and there.
Beginning today, the first of April 2015, scrolling down the Literary Saloon page, I see phrases like “Chinese fiction in ... Japan”, “Romance-writing in India”, “Writing in ... Zambia”, “Translating from ... Kannada”, “Spring issue of New Books in German”, “Latvijas Literatūras gada finalists“, “Translating from .. Chinese”, “Uday Prakash Q & A”, “Hohenemser Literaturpreis” ; from the 26th of March I see “Peter Pišt'anek (1960-2015)” and “Premio Alfaguara de Novela” and “Orwell Prize longlists” and “The Knight and His Shadow review” ; .... well and but so you get the picture. This is an international global world of books and fiction and literature and things of this nature.
Back to Schmidt. Maybe you’ve not read a thing by James Joyce. Not a thing. But you’ve been reading for a long time. And you’ve heard your friends talking about James Joyce and his books and maybe you’ve heard that Ulysses is really difficult and Finnegans Wake is unreadable. You know something about James Joyce and his books. Maybe you don’t need to read Burgess’s Re:Joyce in order to get an initial grasp of what James Joyce is up to in his books and what to expect. You’ve probably never heard of Arno Schmidt. He’s as huge and as complex as Joyce. You’ll benefit from having some ramp-up to his books. And to him. Because in addition to having written books, Schmidt is a literary figure, a reader, a researcher, even a populizer. A personality. Read his books too. But he is always also a potential fellow=reader. That’s why you’ll want to pick up a copy of this centennial colloquy.
About that. I spent US$10.91 for this 100 page book. That’s almost eleven cents per page. I did it because I want to support this fledgling Anglo=Schmidt cottage industry which ought to be springing up any moment now, now that we have reason to expect an English’ing of his massive Zettels Traum any day now. There’s a pretty thriving Deutsch=Schmidt industry that’s been rolling along very healthily now for decades.
btw, a really well grounded reason to take an interest in Schmidt, in so far as the English reading public goes, is the fact that John E. Woods, he of the fabulous Thomas Mann translations, is the major English’er of Schmidt’s work, and in fact too it was his encounter with Schmidt’s books which led him to his life as translator.
Now, maybe you’re impatient with these introductory kinds of books and want to stroll straight on into Schmidt’s books. Where to begin? Just about anywhere (but soon!). There’s really only a handful of books, and, once the intimidation factor is suitably stowed, just about any one of them would serve as entry point, even that big thing about Atheists. Dalkey has four volumes (pretty cheap) available ::
The Collected Stories of Arno Schmidt
Nobodaddy's Children: Scenes from the Life of a Faun, Brand's Heath, Dark Mirrors
Collected Novellas: Collected Early Fiction 1949-1964
Two Novels: The Stony Heart and B/Moondocks
One of his BIG books, one of his four “typoscript” novels, is really highly to be recommended for readers who have already steel’d themselves upon such as Joyce ::
School for Atheists: A Novella = Comedy in 6 Acts
And for an introduction via Schmidt-as-reader and as SPADE=wielder of the BURIED and/or of the sort who would salvage from the merely POPu-l’aire that which is arguably of some literary merit (image DFW excavating that one Stephen King novel that just really blows you away (in Schmidt circles this is refer’d to as the Karl May conundrum (don’t ask!))) ::
Radio Dialogs I: Evening Programs
Radio Dialogs II
And if you’re of the collector sort, the sort that prizes the object, the craft of the whole thing, then sink your dough into ::
Evening Edged in Gold
A little more cost comparison. I paid US$29.41 for the four Dalkey volumes which together come to 1390 pages which comes to about two cents per page. A pretty good deal. For School for Atheists those numbers are $7.97 (I paid for shipping) and 301 BIG pages, coming to 2.6 cents per page. Not bad.
Compare with the $11.50 I paid for the 1198 pages of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling == penny per page. Or Women and Men‘s 1192 pages @ &$13.95 (those were the days!!! ) == again a pretty penny per page.
Of course those numbers look very different if you grab these books from your Local Lending Library. Thing is, drop that ten’er on this centennial colloquy. You’ll dig it.
http://www.complete-review.com/saloon...
_____________________
Simply put, this centennial colloquy is the only -- and the best -- introduction to Arno Schmidt and his work available in English.
M.A. Orthofer runs The Complete Review, a very nice resource for many things literary, and also the sister site, the Literary Saloon, which is probably one of the best daily sources of information about all kinds of things that go on in the international global world of books. You’ll always find something there and there.
Beginning today, the first of April 2015, scrolling down the Literary Saloon page, I see phrases like “Chinese fiction in ... Japan”, “Romance-writing in India”, “Writing in ... Zambia”, “Translating from ... Kannada”, “Spring issue of New Books in German”, “Latvijas Literatūras gada finalists“, “Translating from .. Chinese”, “Uday Prakash Q & A”, “Hohenemser Literaturpreis” ; from the 26th of March I see “Peter Pišt'anek (1960-2015)” and “Premio Alfaguara de Novela” and “Orwell Prize longlists” and “The Knight and His Shadow review” ; .... well and but so you get the picture. This is an international global world of books and fiction and literature and things of this nature.
Back to Schmidt. Maybe you’ve not read a thing by James Joyce. Not a thing. But you’ve been reading for a long time. And you’ve heard your friends talking about James Joyce and his books and maybe you’ve heard that Ulysses is really difficult and Finnegans Wake is unreadable. You know something about James Joyce and his books. Maybe you don’t need to read Burgess’s Re:Joyce in order to get an initial grasp of what James Joyce is up to in his books and what to expect. You’ve probably never heard of Arno Schmidt. He’s as huge and as complex as Joyce. You’ll benefit from having some ramp-up to his books. And to him. Because in addition to having written books, Schmidt is a literary figure, a reader, a researcher, even a populizer. A personality. Read his books too. But he is always also a potential fellow=reader. That’s why you’ll want to pick up a copy of this centennial colloquy.
About that. I spent US$10.91 for this 100 page book. That’s almost eleven cents per page. I did it because I want to support this fledgling Anglo=Schmidt cottage industry which ought to be springing up any moment now, now that we have reason to expect an English’ing of his massive Zettels Traum any day now. There’s a pretty thriving Deutsch=Schmidt industry that’s been rolling along very healthily now for decades.
btw, a really well grounded reason to take an interest in Schmidt, in so far as the English reading public goes, is the fact that John E. Woods, he of the fabulous Thomas Mann translations, is the major English’er of Schmidt’s work, and in fact too it was his encounter with Schmidt’s books which led him to his life as translator.
Now, maybe you’re impatient with these introductory kinds of books and want to stroll straight on into Schmidt’s books. Where to begin? Just about anywhere (but soon!). There’s really only a handful of books, and, once the intimidation factor is suitably stowed, just about any one of them would serve as entry point, even that big thing about Atheists. Dalkey has four volumes (pretty cheap) available ::
The Collected Stories of Arno Schmidt
Nobodaddy's Children: Scenes from the Life of a Faun, Brand's Heath, Dark Mirrors
Collected Novellas: Collected Early Fiction 1949-1964
Two Novels: The Stony Heart and B/Moondocks
One of his BIG books, one of his four “typoscript” novels, is really highly to be recommended for readers who have already steel’d themselves upon such as Joyce ::
School for Atheists: A Novella = Comedy in 6 Acts
And for an introduction via Schmidt-as-reader and as SPADE=wielder of the BURIED and/or of the sort who would salvage from the merely POPu-l’aire that which is arguably of some literary merit (image DFW excavating that one Stephen King novel that just really blows you away (in Schmidt circles this is refer’d to as the Karl May conundrum (don’t ask!))) ::
Radio Dialogs I: Evening Programs
Radio Dialogs II
And if you’re of the collector sort, the sort that prizes the object, the craft of the whole thing, then sink your dough into ::
Evening Edged in Gold
A little more cost comparison. I paid US$29.41 for the four Dalkey volumes which together come to 1390 pages which comes to about two cents per page. A pretty good deal. For School for Atheists those numbers are $7.97 (I paid for shipping) and 301 BIG pages, coming to 2.6 cents per page. Not bad.
Compare with the $11.50 I paid for the 1198 pages of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling == penny per page. Or Women and Men‘s 1192 pages @ &$13.95 (those were the days!!! ) == again a pretty penny per page.
Of course those numbers look very different if you grab these books from your Local Lending Library. Thing is, drop that ten’er on this centennial colloquy. You’ll dig it.
March 6, 2016
Just read that Umberto Eco passed. Moments arrive and depart with a languid pulse. Mr. Orthofer reconciles that with the crashing din of a planet of narcissists. His blog and reading compendium are an amazing asset to the book nerd's trek. I highly recommend both ( http://www.complete-review.com/main/m... and http://www.complete-review.com/saloon...).
This is an interesting print-on-demand context for the sublime albeit obscure world of Arno Schmidt. My phone now knows Arno Schmidt, I like that. I had two coworkers tell me today not to read School for Atheists, not for any aesthetic reasons, but for the peril the title boded for my eternal soul. Yes -- in such a world, a pamphlet on a esoteric writer is indeed a political act. The Schmidt-initiated will sweep through the book and smile in appreciation. Novices may just be charmed by the promise. The price point may be an obstacle. I could support the cause with Sierra Nevada-fuelled reading on my porch.
This is an interesting print-on-demand context for the sublime albeit obscure world of Arno Schmidt. My phone now knows Arno Schmidt, I like that. I had two coworkers tell me today not to read School for Atheists, not for any aesthetic reasons, but for the peril the title boded for my eternal soul. Yes -- in such a world, a pamphlet on a esoteric writer is indeed a political act. The Schmidt-initiated will sweep through the book and smile in appreciation. Novices may just be charmed by the promise. The price point may be an obstacle. I could support the cause with Sierra Nevada-fuelled reading on my porch.
November 12, 2015
Begeisterung für das Werk Arno Schmidts zu wecken und dazu beizutragen, dass er nicht in Vergessenheit gerät, ist eine der nobelsten Aufgaben überhaupt, wahrscheinlich sogar die einzige ehrenhafte Aufgabe im Reich der Literatur schlechthin.
Schmidts zahllose Eigenwilligkeiten und sein einzigartiger Umgang mit der deutschen Sprache macht es schon deutschen Lesern nicht leicht, Zugang zu diesem Solipsisten zu finden. Ungleich schwerer muss es sein, den englischsprachigen Leser zu begeistern, obwohl inzwischen ein guter Teil des Schmidtschen Oevres von John E. Woods übertragen wurde, der sogar Zettels Traum in Angriff genommen hat.
Zu Schmidts 100. Geburtstag hat Orthofer im Stile der legendären Radio-Essays ein Lehr-Gespräch geschrieben, das AS dem amerikanischen Leser bekannt machen soll.
Drei Sprecher unterhalten sich in einer Kneipe über den Meister, und die Rollenverteilung entspricht der von Schmidt erprobten:
Der ältliche Sprecher A belehrt den jungen B, und gelegentlich wirft C etwas ein. Das C dabei irgendwie etwas überflüssig wirkt, hat mit einem der größten Mängel dieses Dialogs zu tun:
Während C bei Schmidt oft für eingestreute Zitate des traktierten Autors zuständig ist, verzichtet Orthofer vollständig auf Schmidt-Zitate. Aus meiner Sicht eine nicht gutzumachende Unterlassungssünde, denn Schmidt kann man lieben oder hassen, dazwischen ist wenig. Zitate würden dem zukünftigen Leser einen ersten Anhalt geben, ob dieser sonderbare deutsche Wortmetz etwas für ihn ist, und vor allem würden Zitate dem ganzen Dialog Flair, Witz und Leichtigkeit verleihen.
Inhaltlich fiel mir auf, dass Orthofer einerseits den klassischen "Fehler" begeht, immer mal wieder auf Gewichte und Preise schmidtscher Bücher anstatt auf ihre Inhalte einzugehen, und dass er Schmidts Antiklerikalismus und Antimilitarismus nur am Rande erwähnt.
Auch scheint mir, dass Orthofer Schmidt für einen sehr viel populäreren und geleseneren Autoren in Deutschland hält, als es tatsächlich der Fall ist.
In Details (so werden z.B. Dieter Stündels Übersetzung von "Finngegans Wake" und sein Register zu "Zettels Traum" rückhaltlos gelobt, obwohl es kritische Stimmen genug gab) ist erkennbar, dass Orthofer sich nicht so tiefgehend mit diesem Autoren beschäftigt hat, dem jede Ungenauigkeit ein Graus und Zeichen für Faulheit und Dummheit war - was ich Orthofer keinesfalls unterstelle, nur am Rande erwähnt haben wollte.
Das CENTENNIAL COLLOQUY ist ein lobenswertes Unterfangen, allerdings lange nicht von der Qualität seines Vorbildes. Obwohl lesbare Abhandlungen über Schmidt rar sind (darauf weist Orthofer ganz richtig hin, dass die Rezeption schwerpunktmäßig eine wissenschaftliche ist), ist dies Büchlein für den deutschen Schmidt-Leser keine unverzichtbare Lektüre. Für amerikanische Leser stellt es zumindest ein ausführlicheres Bekanntmachen mit Schmidt dar, ob daraus Liebe erwächst, vermag ich nicht zu beurteilen.
Schmidts zahllose Eigenwilligkeiten und sein einzigartiger Umgang mit der deutschen Sprache macht es schon deutschen Lesern nicht leicht, Zugang zu diesem Solipsisten zu finden. Ungleich schwerer muss es sein, den englischsprachigen Leser zu begeistern, obwohl inzwischen ein guter Teil des Schmidtschen Oevres von John E. Woods übertragen wurde, der sogar Zettels Traum in Angriff genommen hat.
Zu Schmidts 100. Geburtstag hat Orthofer im Stile der legendären Radio-Essays ein Lehr-Gespräch geschrieben, das AS dem amerikanischen Leser bekannt machen soll.
Drei Sprecher unterhalten sich in einer Kneipe über den Meister, und die Rollenverteilung entspricht der von Schmidt erprobten:
Der ältliche Sprecher A belehrt den jungen B, und gelegentlich wirft C etwas ein. Das C dabei irgendwie etwas überflüssig wirkt, hat mit einem der größten Mängel dieses Dialogs zu tun:
Während C bei Schmidt oft für eingestreute Zitate des traktierten Autors zuständig ist, verzichtet Orthofer vollständig auf Schmidt-Zitate. Aus meiner Sicht eine nicht gutzumachende Unterlassungssünde, denn Schmidt kann man lieben oder hassen, dazwischen ist wenig. Zitate würden dem zukünftigen Leser einen ersten Anhalt geben, ob dieser sonderbare deutsche Wortmetz etwas für ihn ist, und vor allem würden Zitate dem ganzen Dialog Flair, Witz und Leichtigkeit verleihen.
Inhaltlich fiel mir auf, dass Orthofer einerseits den klassischen "Fehler" begeht, immer mal wieder auf Gewichte und Preise schmidtscher Bücher anstatt auf ihre Inhalte einzugehen, und dass er Schmidts Antiklerikalismus und Antimilitarismus nur am Rande erwähnt.
Auch scheint mir, dass Orthofer Schmidt für einen sehr viel populäreren und geleseneren Autoren in Deutschland hält, als es tatsächlich der Fall ist.
In Details (so werden z.B. Dieter Stündels Übersetzung von "Finngegans Wake" und sein Register zu "Zettels Traum" rückhaltlos gelobt, obwohl es kritische Stimmen genug gab) ist erkennbar, dass Orthofer sich nicht so tiefgehend mit diesem Autoren beschäftigt hat, dem jede Ungenauigkeit ein Graus und Zeichen für Faulheit und Dummheit war - was ich Orthofer keinesfalls unterstelle, nur am Rande erwähnt haben wollte.
Das CENTENNIAL COLLOQUY ist ein lobenswertes Unterfangen, allerdings lange nicht von der Qualität seines Vorbildes. Obwohl lesbare Abhandlungen über Schmidt rar sind (darauf weist Orthofer ganz richtig hin, dass die Rezeption schwerpunktmäßig eine wissenschaftliche ist), ist dies Büchlein für den deutschen Schmidt-Leser keine unverzichtbare Lektüre. Für amerikanische Leser stellt es zumindest ein ausführlicheres Bekanntmachen mit Schmidt dar, ob daraus Liebe erwächst, vermag ich nicht zu beurteilen.
September 22, 2016
This slim volume is basically the novelization of hanging out with an English major who wants to gush about Schmidt for an hour or so. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it is what it is.
The enthusiasm for the man and work is beyond apparent, and there is a pretty decent overview of both Schmidt's life and work here (probably one of the better biographical overviews in English, though that points more to the paucity of such work more than anything else); but, in the end all it really has to offer is enthusiasm and a biography/bibliography that borders on mythography (I mean, it's basically what I would write if I wrote a book on Schmidt, so I ain't knocking it, I'm just mentally comparing it to the Review of Contemporary Fiction volume VIII I finished earlier today). A reader unfamiliar with Schmidt (but still of an adventurous mindset with regards to literature) might walk away from this book with the desire to read Schmidt, but from a critical perspective this offers little in how one actually reads Schmidt.
For those already bought in to Schmidt, this is mostly preaching to the choir, and really isn't very essential to furthering your Schmidt scholarship. But, if you've already read all the Schmidt stuff, and the, like, four other books dedicated to Schmidt in English (fuck, are there only 4? I'm only coming up with 4), then go ahead, give this a read. "Complete" away. But, other than that, fill in your other gaps first.
The enthusiasm for the man and work is beyond apparent, and there is a pretty decent overview of both Schmidt's life and work here (probably one of the better biographical overviews in English, though that points more to the paucity of such work more than anything else); but, in the end all it really has to offer is enthusiasm and a biography/bibliography that borders on mythography (I mean, it's basically what I would write if I wrote a book on Schmidt, so I ain't knocking it, I'm just mentally comparing it to the Review of Contemporary Fiction volume VIII I finished earlier today). A reader unfamiliar with Schmidt (but still of an adventurous mindset with regards to literature) might walk away from this book with the desire to read Schmidt, but from a critical perspective this offers little in how one actually reads Schmidt.
For those already bought in to Schmidt, this is mostly preaching to the choir, and really isn't very essential to furthering your Schmidt scholarship. But, if you've already read all the Schmidt stuff, and the, like, four other books dedicated to Schmidt in English (fuck, are there only 4? I'm only coming up with 4), then go ahead, give this a read. "Complete" away. But, other than that, fill in your other gaps first.
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April 8, 2023Brilliant primer for those interested in approaching Arno Schmidt (like me)!
September 14, 2016
Glad to have supported Orthofer with my purchase and the read was quick and enjoyable. A bit on the hokey side (especially the bar/drink jokes/comments), and nothing of firm substance, but some nice tid bits along the way and not a bad way to kill an hour of your time.
July 17, 2025
Enthusiastic and interesting introduction to Schmidt, a true Buchmensch. Extraordinary that there's a 732 page bibliography of Schmidt's book collection - Orthofer compares Schmidt to the great reader-authors Borges and Bolano.
A surprisingly good chapter on Schmidt's favourite authors, and an intriguing introduction to both Schmidt's minor works and his magnum opus Zettel's Traum. The dialogue style worked for me: Orthofer's writing is compelling.
A surprisingly good chapter on Schmidt's favourite authors, and an intriguing introduction to both Schmidt's minor works and his magnum opus Zettel's Traum. The dialogue style worked for me: Orthofer's writing is compelling.
April 4, 2017
This is a book for real literature geeks (I'm probably just at the half-geek level, myself), although it's quite an amusing read for someone who knows nothing about Arno Schmidt. Published for the centenary of the German writer Arno Schmidt, Orthofer has composed a "colloquy" between three voices: that of a fiftyish, world-weary devotee of Schmidt's books (Orthofer, no doubt), a more "naive" figure, and a "shadowy" figure. They meet in a pub over whiskeys and bourbons and discuss the renowned German writer who has a reputation of being distinctly reader-unfriendly. (His book "Bottom's Dream," translated into English for the first time and published a few months ago, runs to 1,496 oversize pages.) Although this is definitely not "An Idiot's Guide to Arno Schmidt," it's a welcome and innovative way to introduce the works of a writer to a potentially wary reader. Orthofer makes a great case for dipping into Schmidt's works. One day...
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