Schwarzes Quadrat: Zwei Poetikvorlesungen

by Max Frisch

1981, das Jahr seines siebzigsten Geburtstags, war für Max Frisch biographisch wie literarisch ein ereignisreiches Jahr: Nach der Scheidung von seiner zweiten Frau Marianne lebt er nun in New York - gemeinsam mit Alice Locke-Carey, Frisch-Lesern bekannt als"Lynn"aus der 1975 erschienenen Erzählung Montauk. In Zürich wird an der ETH das Max Frisch-Archiv eingerichtet, und im Sommer und Herbst dieses Jahres entsteht die Erzählung Blaubart. Zur gleichen Zeit schreibt Frisch zwei Vorlesungen, die er Anfang November 1981 in englischer Sprache am City College of New York hält. Beide Vorträge sind eine Reise durchs Werk und zugleich Instrument der Selbstbefragung und -erforschung: Welchen Impulsen folgt der Drang zu schreiben? Was vermag Literatur? Und zu welchem Zweck?
Max Frischs Vorlesungen sind ein Manifest: ein Bekenntnis zur Poesie, die sich nicht abfindet mit dem Machbaren, die nicht lassen kann"von der Trauer, daß das Menschsein auf dieser Erde nicht anders ist". Unter dem Titel Schwarzes Quadrat erscheinen sie jetzt erstmals in deutscher Sprache.

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Max Rudolph Frisch was born in 1911 in Zurich; the son of Franz Bruno Frisch (an architect) and Karolina Bettina Frisch (née Wildermuth). After studying at the Realgymnasium in Zurich, he enrolled at the University of Zurich in 1930 and began studying German literature, but had to abandon due to financial problems after the death of his father in 1932. Instead, he started working as a journalist and columnist for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), one of the major newspapers in Switzerland. With the NZZ he would entertain a lifelong ambivalent love-hate relationship, for his own views were in stark contrast to the conservative views promulgated by this newspaper. In 1933 he travelled through eastern and south-eastern Europe, and in 1935 he visited Germany for the first time.

Some of the major themes in his work are the search or loss of one's identity; guilt and innocence (the spiritual crisis of the modern world after Nietzsche proclaimed that "God is dead"); technological omnipotence (the human belief that everything was possible and technology allowed humans to control everything) versus fate (especially in Homo faber); and also Switzerland's idealized self-image as a tolerant democracy based on consensus — criticizing that as illusion and portraying people (and especially the Swiss) as being scared by their own liberty and being preoccupied mainly with controlling every part of their life.

Max Frisch was a political man, and many of his works make reference to (or, as in Jonas und sein Veteran, are centered around) political issues of the time.

information was taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Frisch

Reviews

[Petya Kokudeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Толкова добре уплътнена идейно книга, до последния ред. Не знам как дишат подобни текстове, в които концентрацията на мисъл е с такива нива. И самоиронична на точните места е книгата, което много ми се нрави.Това са всъщност две лекции, изнесени от Фриш в Ню Йорк.

Ето няколко от любимите ми моменти/теми:

"Хрумвания имат мнозина: талант означава усет какво да направиш със споходилата те идея."

"Онова, което ме интересува при писането, е конфронтацията с езика."

"Изкуството няма за задача да приписва на света някакъв смисъл, който той, като цяло, никога не е имал."

[naaanamariaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

kam mir sehr nahe. vor allem die beschreibung davon, was unter schreiben verstanden wird.
spezifischer:
„unser anliegen (…) lässt sich bestenfalls umschreiben und das heisst ganz wörtlich: man schreibt drum herum. man umstellt es. man gibt aussagen, die nie unser eigentliches erlebnis enthalten, das unsagbar bleibt; sie können es nur umgrenzen, möglichst nahe und genau, und das eigentliche, das unsagbare, erscheint bestenfalls als spannung zwischen diesen aussagen. unser streben geht vermutlich dahin, alles auszusprechen, was sagbar ist (…) und alles sagen bedeutet ein entfernen.“

[Denitsa Voeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Първата среща със стила на писане на Макс Фриш ме остави объркана, но жадна за още от размислите му. Струваха ми се стоманени, като студено, но привличащо съчетание между остър ум, самонадеяност и отстояващи себе си философии за литературата и живота (които отрезвяват погледа върху собствените, без да ги подценяват). Може би, защото, както и авторът пише по отношение на думите, ние (той) изричаме онова, което животът не е.

[Mesonline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bisher die beste Poetikvorlesung (bzw. die, die meinen Gedanken am nächsten kommt) die ich gelesen/gehört habe.

[dv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due lezioni brevi ma incisive, in cui Frisch mette in luce non un metodo ma alcuni capisaldi del proprio scrivere e, più in generale, del senso della letteratura e del ruolo dello scrittore.