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Gottfried Benn eLibrary
Gottfried Benn (1886-1956) was by training a doctor who came to specialize in the treatment of venereal diseases. An ambivalent figure who stayed in Germany under the Nazis but was himself repressed by them, Benn came to be considered a great national writer after the war.
While Supervert considers Benn mostly overrated, his early Expressionist verse particularly the Morgue cycle is matchless for its economy, precision, and irony. Walter Kaufmann, the famous translator of Nietzsche, wrote that its "shocking power," which was "far greater than that of most beatnik poetry," was due to the "brutal honesty of an unprecedented perception."
Downloads
Gottfried Benn, Morgue & Expressionist Verse (zipped PDF, 40k)
Poems include: Little Aster (Kleine Aster), A Fine Childhood (Schöne Jugend), Cycle (Kreislauf), Nigger Bride (Negerbraut), Requiem (Requiem), Appendectomy (Blinddarm), Man and Woman Go Through the Cancer Ward (Mann und Frau Gehn Durch die Krebsbaracke), Labor Room (Saal der Kreissenden Frauen), Night Cafe (Nachtcafe), Express Train (D-Zug), Subway Train (Untergrundbahn), Before a Cornfield (Vor Einem Kornfeld).
Recommended Reading at Amazon
Benn, Primal Vision
Benn, Prose, Essays, Poems
For a writer so highly regarded in his native country, there's not much of Gottfried Benn available in English translation. These are the two major collections of prose and poetry. If you dig around you can find a few plays and other assorted tidbits in other books.
More Gottfried Benn books on amazon.com
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