Subtile Jagden

by Ernst Jünger

La passione per gli insetti si è destata in Jünger assai presto, sin dagli anni dell’infanzia, quando il padre regalò a Ernst e al fratello maggiore, Friedrich Georg, l’attrezzatura necessaria a questo gioco appassionante. Per i ragazzi, la caccia costituiva il pretesto per marinare la scuola e passare le giornate in campagna o lungo i fiumi, ma offriva anche un’occasione di educazione e di conoscenza. Il giovane Jünger trova sul terreno di caccia una palestra per esercitare l’osservazione della impara i trucchi e le astuzie del cacciatore, legge con passione la letteratura scientifica, consulta le tabelle dei sistemi naturali. Cacce sottili è l’emozionante racconto autobiografico della storia di questa passione e delle avventure in cui l’autore si trova coinvolto. Jünger non cesserà di dedicarsi a questa sua attività in vari momenti della sua negli anni della guerra come nel corso di viaggi in Italia, nel Medio Oriente, in Asia. Inseguiti con l’attenzione dello studioso, i piccoli animali offrono allo scrittore e filosofo occasione di gioco e di meraviglia, di riflessione sul tempo e sul mutare del volto della natura, sui desideri umani, sulla ricerca inesausta, infaticabile, del sapere e del piacere. Il mondo sottile degli insetti, scenario di bellezza e crudeltà, diviene una metafora del cosmo. E non è un’evasione letteraria, si tratta di un microcosmo reale.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Ernst Jünger was a decorated German soldier and author who became famous for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Junger was able to enlist on the outbreak of war. A fearless leader who admired bravery above all else, he enthusiastically participated in actions in which his units were sometimes virtually annihilated. During an ill-fated German offensive in 1918 Junger's WW1 career ended with the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.

Junger served in World War II as captain in the German Army. Assigned to an administrative position in Paris, he socialized with prominent artists of the day such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. His early time in France is described in his diary Gärten und Straßen (1942, Gardens and Streets). He was also in charge of executing younger German soldiers who had deserted. In his book Un Allemand à Paris , the writer Gerhard Heller states that he had been interested in learning how a person reacts to death under such circumstances and had a morbid fascination for the subject.

Jünger appears on the fringes of the Stauffenberg bomb plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (July 20, 1944). He was clearly an inspiration to anti-Nazi conservatives in the German Army, and while in Paris he was close to the old, mostly Prussian, officers who carried out the assassination attempt against Hitler. He was only peripherally involved in the events however, and in the aftermath suffered only dismissal from the army in the summer of 1944, rather than execution.

In the aftermath of WW2 he was treated with some suspicion as a closet Nazi. By the latter stages of the Cold War his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Junger ended his extremely long life as a honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.

Reviews

[Hendrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mein Verhältnis zur Welt der Insekten ist bisher eher durch größtmögliche Distanz geprägt gewesen. Auch stehen Käfer (Coleoptera) bei den meisten Tierfreunden nicht sehr hoch im Kurs. Panda, Elefant und co. habens da meist einfacher. Aber Ernst Jünger beweist mit einer Mischung aus Reise-, Lebens- und Forschungsbericht, daß es sich lohnt einen Blick auf diese vielfältige Welt im Kleinsten zu werfen.

[Hightatras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fick ja, Käfer!

[palastbrand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unerwartet psychedelisch.