Gottfried Benn (May 2, 1886 – July 7, 1956) was a German essayist, novelist and expressionist poet. A doctor of medicine, he became an early admirer, and later a critic, of the National Socialist revolution. May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Poet is a term applied to a person who composes poetry, including extended forms such as dramatic verse. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ...

Benn has had a literary influence on German verse immediately before and after the Third Reich. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Biography

He was born in Mansfeld, Prignitz, the son of a Lutheran pastor. He was educated in Stellin (Neumark) and Frankfurt-am-Oder before studying theology at the University of Marburg and military medicine at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy in Berlin. Mansfeld can refer to: Ernst, Graf von Mansfield, a general of the Thirty Years War Mansfelder Land, a district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Prignitz is a Kreis (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Neumark can refer to a region in western Poland, see Neumark (region) a city in Thuringia, see Neumark, Thuringia a municipality in Saxony, see Neumark, Saxony the former German name of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Poland This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It can also refer to the study of other religious topics. ... The University of Marburg, officially called Philipps-Universität Marburg after its founder, the Landgrave Philipp I of Hesse (usually called the Magnanimous), was founded in 1527 and is the worlds first and oldest Protestant university. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Benn started as an expressionist author before World War I when he published a small collection of poems (Morgue, 1912) concerned with the physical decay of the flesh. Combatants Entente Powers Central Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties > 5 million military deaths > 3 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars, was a world...

His poetry offers an introverted nihilism: an existentialist philosophy which sees artistic expression as the only purposeful action. In his early poems Benn used his medical experience and terminology to portray a morbid conception of humanity as another species of disease-ridden animal. —John Collins (Bullock & Woodings, 1984, p.61) The nonexistence of God is a quintessential nihilistic concern. ... Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. ... A number of well-known people have been named John Collins. ...

Benn enlisted in 1914, spent a brief period on the Belgian front, and then served as a military doctor in Brussels. Benn attended the trial and execution of Nurse Edith Cavell. He worked as a physician in an army brothel. He then moved to Berlin and practiced as a dermatology and venereal disease specialist. Bold textItalic textBold text // Headline text Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium, the French community of Belgium, the Flemish community and of the European Union. ... Edith Cavell Statue in memory of Edith Cavell, opposite the National Portrait Gallery, London A propaganda image of Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell (December 4, 1865 - October 12, 1915) is one of the few famous heroines of World War I. Edith Cavell was born at Swardeston in Norfolk, where her... Brothels are establishments (usually illegal) specifically dedicated to prostitution and may be confined to special red-light districts in large cities. ... Dermatology (from Greek derma, skin) is a branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its appendages (hair, nails, sweat glands etc). ... Sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), also known as sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), are diseases that are commonly transmitted between partners through some form of sexual activity, most commonly vaginal intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex. ...

Hostile to the Weimar Republic, and rejecting Marxism and Americanism, Benn began to sympathize with the Nazis as a revolutionary force. He hoped that National Socialism would exalt his aesthetics, that Expressionism would become the official art of Germany, as Futurism had in Italy. Benn was elected to the poetry section of the Prussian Academy in 1932, and appointed head of that section in February 1933. In May he defended the new regime in a radio broadcast saying "the German workers are better off than ever before". The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (German Weimarer Republik, IPA: []). It is named after the city of Weimar where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Monarchy and German Empire were abolished following the nations... Marxism is the social theory and political practice based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Futurism may refer to: Future studies, the philosophical or academic study of the medium to long-term future also known as futurology. ...

The cultural policy of the new State didn't turn out the way he hoped and, in June, Hans Friederich Blunck replaced Benn as head of the Academy's poetry section. Appalled by the Night of the Long Knives, Benn abandoned his support for the Nazi movement. He decided to perform "the aristocratic form of emigration" and joined the Wehrmacht in 1935 where he found many officers sympathetic to his disapproval of the régime. He temporarily retired to write his only novel The Trainee Man. In May 1936 the SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps attacked his expressionist and experimental work as degenerate, Jewish, and homosexual. In the summer of 1937, Wolfgang Willrich, a member of the SS, lampooned Benn in his book Säuberung des Kunsttempels; Heinrich Himmler, however, stepped in to reprimand Willrich and defended Benn on the grounds of his good record since 1933 (his earlier artistic output being irrelevant). In 1938 the Reichsschriftumskammer (the National Socialist authors' association) banned Benn from further writing. The Night of the Long Knives (June 30 and Sunday July 1, 1934) (German, Nacht der langen Messer), also known as Reichsmordwoche or the Blood Purge, was a lethal purge of Adolf Hitlers potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA; also known as storm troopers or brownshirts). ... Wehrmacht â–¶ (help· info) was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... Das Schwarze Korps (The Black Corps), the official SS newspaper. ... The word degeneracy has more than one meaning: In general, degeneracy means reverting to an earlier, simpler, state In mathematics, a limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ... Heinrich Himmler â–¶ (help· info) (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ...

During World War II, Benn was posted to garrisons in eastern Germany where he wrote poems and essays. After the war, his work was banned by the Allies because of his initial support for Hitler. Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII or World War Two), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the... Garrison House, built 1675, Dover, NH, USA In the military, garrison is the collective term for the body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base. ... When spelt with a capital A, Allies usually denotes the countries supporting the Triple Entente who fought together against the Central Powers in World War I and against the Axis Powers in World War II. For more information, see the related articles: Allies of World War I and Allies of... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ...

Benn favorably reviewed Julius Evola's Revolt Against the Modern World. Julius Evola, born Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola, aka Baron Giulio (May 19, 1898-June 11, 1974), was a controversial Italian esotericist, who wrote prolifically on matters political, philosophical, historical, and religious from a Traditionalist point of view. ... Revolt Against the Modern World (La Rivolta contro il Mondo Moderno) is a book written by Julius Evola in 1934. ...

He died in West Berlin in 1956, and was buried in Dahlem Waldfriedhof, Berlin. Boroughs of West Berlin West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ...

The Trainee Man, the one and only novel by Benn

As well as those, he wrote his novel, Der Kursteilnehmermann from November 15, 1935 and finished it on December 31 1935. It was first illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg on the January 1 1936 and first published on January 2. November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Fritz Eichenberg (October 24, 1901–November 30, 1990) was a German-American illustrator who worked primarily in wood engraving. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Works

• Morgue und andere Gedichte [Morgue and other Poems] (Berlin, 1912)
• Fleisch (1917)
• Die Gesammelten Schriften [The collected works] (Berlin, 1922)
• Schutt (1924)
• Betäubung (1925)
• Spaltung (1925)
• Nach dem Nihilismus (Berlin, 1932)
• Der Neue Staat und die Intellekuellen (1933)
• Kunst und Macht (1935)
• Statische Gedichte [Static poems] (Zürich, 1948)
• Ptolemäer (Limes, 1949); Ptolemy's Disciple (edited, translated and with a preface by Simona Draghici, Plutarch Press, 2005, ISBN 0943045207 (pbk).
• Doppelleben (1950); autobiography translated as Double Life (edited, translated, and with a preface by Simona Draghici, Plutarch Press, 2002, ISBN 0943045193).
• Stimme hinter dem Vorhang; translated as The Voice Behind the Screen (translated with an introduction by Simona Draghici (Plutarch Press, 1996, ISBN 094304510X).

A limes is a Roman wall marking the boundaries of the Roman Empire. ... Double Life is a 2-CD compilation album of songs by Värttinä. It includes the entire 6. ...

Collections

• Sämtliche Werke ("Stuttgarter Ausgabe"), ed. by Gerhard Schuster and Holger Hof, 7 volumes in 8 parts, (Stuttgart 1986-2003, ISBN 3608953132).
• Prose, Essays, Poems by Gottfried Benn, edited by Volkmar Sander; introduction by Reinhard Paul Becker (Continuum International Publishing Group, 1987, ISBN 0826403107 & ISBN 0826403115 (pbk.)
• Selected Poems (Clarendon German series) by Gottfried Benn (Oxford U.P., 1970, ISBN 0198324510)
• Gottfried Benn in Transition by Gottfried Benn, edited by Simona Draghici (Plutarch Press, 2003, ISBN 0943045215)
• Poems, 1937-1947 (Plutarch Press, 1991, ISBN 0943045061)

Books

• The Trainee Man (Der Kursteilnehmermann), 1936 (Buchhandel, 1936, ISBN 4512738960)

References

• German Dreams and German Dreamers: Gottfried Benn's German Universe by Henry Grosshans (Wyndham Hall Press, 1987, ISBN 1556050011 (pbk.).
• Gottfried Benn: The Unreconstructed Expressionist by J. M. Ritchie (London: Wolff, 1972, ISBN 0854960465).
• Beyond Nihilism: Gottfried Benn's Postmodernist Poetics by Susan Ray (Oxford; New York: P. Lang, 2003, ISBN 3039100068 & ISBN 0820462756 (pbk.).
• Gottfried Benn's Static Poetry: Aesthetic and Intellectual-Historical Interpretations by Mark William Roche (University of North Carolina Press, 1991, ISBN 0807881120).
• Primal Vision: Selected Poetry and Prose of Gottfried Benn edited by E. B. Ashton (NY: Bodley Head, 1961; Boyars, 1971; Marion Boyars, 1984, ISBN 0714525006)
• Twentieth-Century Culture: A Biographical Companion edited by Alan Bullock and R. B. Woodings (Harpercollins, 1984, ISBN 0060152486)
• German Literature Under National Socialism by J.M. Ritchie (London: C. Helm; Barnes & Noble, 1983, ISBN 0389204188).
• The Appeal of Fascism: A Study of Intellectuals and Fascism, 1919-1945 by Alastair Hamilton, foreword by Stephen Spender (London: Blond, 1971, ISBN 0218514263).
• Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 by Philip Rees (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990, ISBN 0130893013).
• Reason and Energy: Studies in German Literature by Michael Hamburger (London: Routledge & Paul, 1957; New York: Grove Press, 1957; London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970, revised ed., ISBN 0297002678).
• Encyclopedia of the Third Reich by Louis L. Snyder (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976, ISBN 0070595259; London: Blandford, 1989, ISBN 0713721677; New York: Paragon House, 1989, 1st pbk. ed., ISBN 1557781443; New York: Marlowe, 1998, ISBN 1569249172)

Wolff is the surname of: Albert Wolff, Dutch conductor and pianist. ... The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is the eleventh-oldest institution of higher education (and the oldest public institution) in the United States. ... Bodley Head has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House. ... A boyar (also spelt bojar; Romanian: boier) was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Ruthenian (Russian) and Romanian aristocracy, second only to the ruling princes, from the 10th through the 17th century. ... Lord Bullock Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock of Leafield (December 13, 1914 - February 2, 2004), British historian, was the author of an influential biography of Adolf Hitler and many other works. ... A typical Barnes & Noble bookstore. ... The Appeal of Fascism: A Study of Intellectuals and Fascism 1919-1945 is a book by Alastair Hamilton, examining poets, philosophers, artists, and writers with fascist sympathies and convictions in Italy, Germany, France, and England. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender (February 28, 1909 – July 16, 1995) was an English poet and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ... Brazilian woman with natural blond hair. ... Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 is a reference book edited by Philip Rees. ... Philip Rees is an writer and Librarian in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. ... Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ... Michael Hamburger (born 22 March 1924) is a noted British translator, poet, and academic, known in particular for his translations of Hölderlin, Paul Celan and W. G. Sebald from German, and his work as a literary critic. ... Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. ... The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich is a two volume text edited by Christian Zenter and Friedemann Bedurftig. ... The McGraw-Hill Companies logo. ... The town hall Blandford Forum, or Blandford is a town on the River Stour in Dorset, England. ... Paragon House is an independent publisher of quality scholarly books and serious non-fiction. ... Christopher Marlowe (baptised February 26, 1564–May 30, 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. ...

External links

• Gottfried Benn eLibrary at Supervert.
• Gottfried Benn at NNDB.
• Gottfried Benn Society, German language site.
• Gottfried Benn en español, Gottfried Benn into Spanish Official website.
• México Volitivo, this is the only monographic publication dedicated to Gottfried Benn, outside of the German and English linguistic environment. It was coordinated by the only one true specialist in Gottfried Benn work in Latin America. The author of all translations and work edition is the Senior Editor from Gottfried Benn into Spanish Project. This electronic magazine it can only be read in Spanish.