Ernst Stadler — a remark

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“Our age, which has driven artistic craftsmanship further than almost any before it, has shuddered at the profound ambiguity of perfection.”

Original: Unsere Zeit, die das Handwerksmässige der Kunst so hochgetrieben hat wie kaum eine zuvor, hat mit Schaudern die tiefe Zweideutigkeit der Vollendung erkannt. — Questions whether technical perfection alone can make great art · Essay, Die neue französische Lyrik, 1912 (German)

Ernst Stadler

About Ernst Stadler

Ernst Stadler

11 August 1883–30 October 1914

Ernst Stadler was born on 11 August 1883 in Colmar, in Alsace, and was killed on 30 October 1914 near Zandvoorde in Flanders during the First World War. His life lasted little more than thirty-one years, and the body of poetry on which his reputation rests is correspondingly small. Yet his importance in…

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More remarks by Ernst Stadler

“I am astonished and delighted at once. I can hardly have deserved it: my military qualities are certainly not exceptional. I owe it chiefly to the captain's kindness.”

Original: Ich bin verwundert und beglückt zugleich. Habe es wohl kaum verdient: meine militärischen Qualitäten sind ja nicht exorbitant. Ich danke es wesentlich der Güte des Hauptmanns. — His modest and faintly ironic response to receiving the Iron Cross · War diary, 1 October 1914 (German)

“Again an open view of the French mountains. I greet France with almost the same emotion as when I first saw Paris seven years ago. I scarcely remember there is a war. I greet you, sweet soil of France.”

Original: Weiter freier Blick in die französ. Berge. Ich grüße Frankreich beinahe mit solcher Erschütterung wie damals, als ich vor 7 Jahren zum 1. Mal Paris sah. Ich denke kaum mehr, daß Krieg ist. Ich grüße Dich, süße Erde von Frankreich. — Written while serving as a German officer, it reveals his enduring emotional attachment to France despite the war · War diary, 10 August 1914 (German)

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