Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by
Hans Werner Richter
Hans Werner Richter (12 November 1908 – 23 March 1993) was a German writer.
Born in Neu Sallenthin, Usedom, Richter is little known for his own works but found worldwide celebrity and acknowledgment as initiator, moving spirit and " grey e ...
between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a democratic vote titled "Preis der Gruppe 47" (Prize of Group 47), it proved to be excellent for many who were beginning their writing careers.
[Arnold, Heinz Ludwig.]
Aufstieg und Ende der Gruppe 47
. ''Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung'', 6 June 2007. Group 47 had no organizational form, no fixed membership list, and no literary program, but was strongly influenced by Richter's invitations.
In its early days, Gruppe 47 offered young writers a platform for the renewal of
German literature
German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It later became an influential
institution
Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
in the cultural life of the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
, as important contemporary writers and
literary critics
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
participated in the meetings. The cultural and political influence of Group 47 has been the subject of numerous debates. Even after the end of their meetings in 1967, former participants of the group remained influential in the development of German-language literature.
Early history
Background of ''Der Ruf''
In the spring of 1945, ''
Der Ruf, Zeitung der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in USA'' (''The Call: Newspaper of German War Prisoners)'' was begun in a Rhode Island POW camp, Fort Philip Kearny, as part of American re-education for German POWs. It was edited by Curt Vinz, working with Alfred Andersch and Hans Werner Richter. Upon their return to Germany they planned to publish a successor magazine under the title ''Der Ruf – unabhängige Blätter der jungen Generation'' (''The Call – Independent paper of the Younger Generation''), which first appeared on the 15th of August, 1946. The magazine was printed from literary texts, but the publishers (Andersch and Richter) understood it was primarily a political body, in which they argued for a free Germany as a bridge between East and West. They were also critical of the American occupation forces, which led to the prohibition of the April 1947 ''Ruf'' by the Information Control Division of the American Occupation Zone. After the dismissal of the editor, the magazine reappeared with a new political orientation, headed by Erich Kuby. However, it had lost its importance and was finally discontinued.
After ''Ruf'' ceased publication, Hans Werner Richter began to plan a successor magazine, which he wanted to dub ''Der Skorpion'' (''The Scorpion''). On the 6th and 7 September in 1947, Richter held an editorial meeting with authors from the area of the planned newspaper in Ilse Schneider-Lengyel's house, on Bannwaldsee, near Füssen. Their manuscripts were read and discussed together, as well as the private purpose of the future magazine. While ''Der Skorpion'' was never actually published, the first meeting of Gruppe 47 was developed from this meeting near Bannwaldsee. With regard to the group's history, Richter later explained: "The origin of Group 47 was of a political-publicistic nature. It was not created by literati, but by politically committed publicists with literary ambitions."
[Richter (ed.): ''Almanach der Gruppe 47''. 1947–1962. p. 8.]
Historical periodization
Friedhelm Kröll divided the history of Group 47 into four periods:
# Constitutional period 1947–49,
# Ascent period 1950–57,
# High period 1958–63,
# Late and Decay Period 1964–67.
Formation and organization
At the meeting at Bannwaldsee, 16 participants took part. To begin,
Wolfdietrich Schnurre read his short story ''Das Begräbnis'' ("The Funeral"). After this, the other participants expressed open, partly sharp, spontaneous criticism, which was to become the later ritual of group criticism. This form of literary criticism, in which the speaker author always sat on the empty seat next to Richter, jokingly dubbed the "electric chair", remained the form of discussion for Group 47's entire existence. The important maxim was that the lecturer was not allowed to defend himself and that the review of a specific text was the focus of the meeting. Political discussions of literary or political nature, on which the group could have split, were consistently deferred to Richter. Despite the group's preference for realistic ''Trümmerliteratur'' (the post-war "rubble literature"), there was no official literary program, no common poetics and only a few principles about not allowing fascist or militarist texts.
[Blakemore, Erin.]
Gruppe 47: The Group That Made Günter Grass
. ''JSTOR Daily''. 24 April 2015.
The name Gruppe 47 emerged only after the first meeting, as Hans Werner Richter was planning to repeat the event regularly. The author and critic Hans Georg Brenner suggested the name, associating the group with the Spanish ''Generación del 98'' (
Generation of '98 The Generation of '98 ( es, Generación del 98), also called Generation of 1898 ( es, Generación de 1898, links=no), was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish–American War (1898), comm ...
) before. Richter, who rejected any organizational form of the meetings, whether "club, association, or academy", agreed with the proposal, saying "‘Group 47’ – that is without obligation and actually says nothing."
It was only in 1962, on the 15th anniversary of the group’s birth, that Richter retrospectively formulated the "idealistic starting points" of Gruppe 47:
# "Democratic elite education in the field of literature and journalism;"
# "To repeatedly demonstrate the practice of democracy to a circle of individualists with the hope of long-distance and, perhaps much later, latitude and mass action;"
# "To achieve both objectives without a program, without a club, without organization and without any collective thinking to work against."
On the topic of who he invited to the meetings of the group, Richter personally decided: "It is my circle of friends.
..now I hold a meeting once a year,
..this is called Gruppe 47
.. And I invite all the people, who suit me, are friends with me."
0He left nothing to outside influence from the outset, which was later a heavily-criticized referral process. According to Heinz Ludwig Arnold, who wrote several times on Gruppe 47, Richter's strength was his organizational talent, as Richter had gained no importance as a writer or a critic, and had not done well in the two readings he had before the group. Gruppe 47's success became Richter's life task.
The first year
Two months after the first meeting, the second meeting of Gruppe 47 was held, in Herrlingen near Ulm, in which the number of participants had doubled. Among the first-time participants was Richter's colleague Alfred Andersch, whose essay ''Deutsche Literatur in der Entscheidung'' (''German Literature in the Decision'') received a programmatic significance for the group.
Starting from the thesis that "genuine artistry" was always "the same as the opposition to Nazism," Andersch stated that "the younger generation stood before a
tabula rasa
''Tabula rasa'' (; "blank slate") is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Epistemological proponents of ''tabula rasa'' disagree with the doctri ...
, faced with the necessity to accomplish a renewal of German intellectual life, through original creations."
Andersch's future plan remained the only essay that was read in the group for a long time.
In the following years, the meetings took place at different places, during spring and fall. At the seventh session in 1950 in Inzigkofen, the ''Preis der Gruppe 47'' (''Prize of Group 47'') was first launched, which in contrast to the established literary prizes, was intended for as yet unknown authors. Franz Joseph Schneider, who had belonged to the group since the previous year, donated a prize of 1000 Deutsche Marks ($532). After completing the readings, the members of the group present democratically voted on the winner.
The lyricist
Günter Eich
Günter Eich (; 1 February 1907 – 20 December 1972) was a German lyricist, dramatist, and author. He was born in Lebus, on the Oder River, and educated in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris.
Life
Eich made his first appearance in print with some poems ...
was the first to be awarded the prize. He had joined the group during the third meeting in Jugenheim, and was regarded as the most profound author in the group during his early years.
[Wegmann, Nikolaus, and Cornelius Reiber.]
Gruppe 47
". Princeton University Department of German. In the following years, Richter organized awards of varying amounts for publishers and broadcasters, but only granted them irregularly. Richter allowed the participants to conclude whether or not a prize was to be awarded at each meeting.
Founding
The former authors of ''Der Ruf'' met in September 1947 in order to start a new magazine, ''Der Skorpion''. This was not successful because they lacked a sound financial basis. Inspired by the Spanish ''
Group 98'' they founded the ''Gruppe 47''.
Organization
The group met regularly twice a year. Attendance was by invitation only; the organizers would send
postcard
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
s listing the date and location to anyone who was deemed worthy of invitation, and only invitees and their spouses were allowed entry. No consistent membership list was kept, and a member who had been invited in the past could find himself without an invite at the whim of the organizers.
The meetings consisted of readings and criticism. A writer was required to read his own work, and could only read
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
s which had not been published. At every meeting, prizes were awarded to the authors of the most popular pieces.
Founder and organizer Hans Werner Richter described this format as a "private public".
Goals
At first, the expressed goal of the ''Gruppe 47'' was to encourage young
authors, the so-called ''Nachkriegsliteratur'' (post-war literature). In addition, the group openly criticized the idealized, poetic dewey-eyedness of some modern prose, as well as the tendency to write about distant time instead of the here-and-now.
Literature Prize
The Literature Prize of Gruppe 47 was awarded to as yet unknown authors starting in 1950. The money for the first two awards was donated by the American publisher,
Coward-McCann
G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.
History
The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...
. Later it was funded by various publishers and radio stations. Complete list of recipients:
*1950:
Günter Eich
Günter Eich (; 1 February 1907 – 20 December 1972) was a German lyricist, dramatist, and author. He was born in Lebus, on the Oder River, and educated in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris.
Life
Eich made his first appearance in print with some poems ...
, for ''Abgelegene Gehöfte''
*1951:
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
...
, for ''Die schwarzen Schafe''
*1952:
Ilse Aichinger
Ilse Aichinger (1 November 1921 – 11 November 2016) was an Austrian writer known for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry. for the short story "Spiegelgeschichte"
*1953:
Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author.
Biography
Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...
, for ''Die gestundete Zeit''
*1954: , for ''Zu große Gastlichkeit verjagt die Gäste''
*1955:
Martin Walser
Martin Walser (; born 24 March 1927) is a German writer.
Life
Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. He described the e ...
, for the story ''Templones Ende''
*1958:
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was born in the Free City of Da ...
, for ''
Die Blechtrommel''
*1962:
Johannes Bobrowski
Johannes Bobrowski (originally ''Johannes Konrad Bernhard Bobrowski''; 9 April 1917 – 2 September 1965) was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist.
Life
Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). ''S ...
for the poems ''Sarmatische Zeit''
*1965:
Peter Bichsel
Peter Bichsel (born 24 March 1935) is a popular Swiss writer and journalist representing modern German literature. He was a member of the Gruppe Olten.
Bichsel was born 1935 in Lucerne, Switzerland, the son of manual labourers. Shortly after he ...
, for ''Die Jahreszeiten''
*1967:
Jürgen Becker, for ''Ränder''
Decline
The ''Gruppe 47'' quickly gained popularity, partly through the public profile of its well-known members, and was soon part of the literary establishment in Germany. The onset of its decline began just before the student protests in 1968. There were grave differences of political opinion in the group. Public meetings were discontinued in October 1967, and in 1977 the group was officially disbanded.
Well-known members
*
Ilse Aichinger
Ilse Aichinger (1 November 1921 – 11 November 2016) was an Austrian writer known for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry.
*
Alfred Andersch
Alfred Hellmuth Andersch (; 4 February 1914 – 21 February 1980) was a German writer, publisher, and radio editor. The son of a conservative East Prussian army officer, he was born in Munich, Germany and died in Berzona, Ticino, Switzerland. Ma ...
*
Ingrid Bachér
Ingrid Bachér (pen name for Ingrid Erben, born 24 September 1930 as Ingrid Schwarze in Rostock) is a German writer, a former member of the Gruppe 47 and former president of the PEN Germany.
Biography
Ingrid Bachér is a great-granddaughter ...
*
Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author.
Biography
Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...
*
Johannes Bobrowski
Johannes Bobrowski (originally ''Johannes Konrad Bernhard Bobrowski''; 9 April 1917 – 2 September 1965) was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist.
Life
Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). ''S ...
*
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
...
*
Paul Celan
Paul Celan (; ; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a Romanian-born German-language poet and translator. He was born as Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in Cernăuți (German: Czernowitz), in the then Kingdom of Romania (now Chernivtsi, U ...
*
Günter Eich
Günter Eich (; 1 February 1907 – 20 December 1972) was a German lyricist, dramatist, and author. He was born in Lebus, on the Oder River, and educated in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris.
Life
Eich made his first appearance in print with some poems ...
*
Gisela Elsner
Gisela Elsner (2 May 1937 – 13 May 1992) was a German writer. She won the Prix Formentor in 1964 for her novel ''Die Riesenzwerge'' (''The Giant Dwarfs'').
Early life
Elsner was born in Nuremberg, Middle Franconia. In 1959, she went to Vienna ...
*
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022) was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarde ...
*
Erich Fried
Erich Fried (6 May 1921 – 22 November 1988) was an Austrian-born poet, writer, and translator. He initially became known to a broader public in both Germany and Austria for his political poetry, and later for his love poems. As a writer, he mo ...
*
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was born in the Free City of Da ...
*
Peter Handke
Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...
*
Wolfgang Hildesheimer
Wolfgang Hildesheimer (9 December 1916 – 21 August 1991) was a German author who incorporated the Theatre of the Absurd. He originally trained as an artist, before turning to writing.
Biography
Hildesheimer was born of Jewish parents in Hambu ...
*
Walter Höllerer
Walter Höllerer (19 December 1922 – 20 May 2003) was a German writer, literary critic, and literature academic. He was professor of literary studies at the Technical University of Berlin from 1959 to 1988. Höllerer was a member of the Grou ...
*
Walter Jens
Walter Jens (8 March 1923 – 9 June 2013) was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer.
He was born in Hamburg, and attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1941, when he gained his Ab ...
*
Uwe Johnson
Uwe or UWE may refer to
* Uwe (given name)
* University of the West of England, Bristol
* UML-based web engineering
* University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2
* Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese
Blank ...
*
Erich Kästner
Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...
*
Alexander Kluge
Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932) is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director.
Early life, education and early career
Kluge was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt), Germany.
After growing up durin ...
*
Victor Lange
*
Siegfried Lenz
Siegfried Lenz (; 17 March 19267 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's bi ...
*
Reinhard Lettau
*
Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Marcel Reich-Ranicki (; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the fi ...
*
Hans Werner Richter
Hans Werner Richter (12 November 1908 – 23 March 1993) was a German writer.
Born in Neu Sallenthin, Usedom, Richter is little known for his own works but found worldwide celebrity and acknowledgment as initiator, moving spirit and " grey e ...
(initiative and organization)
*
Nicolaus Sombart
*
Martin Walser
Martin Walser (; born 24 March 1927) is a German writer.
Life
Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. He described the e ...
*
Peter Weiss
Peter Ulrich Weiss (8 November 1916 – 10 May 1982) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays ''Marat/Sade'' and ''The Investigation'' and hi ...
*
Gabriele Wohmann
References
External links
Die Gruppe 47Audiomitschnitt einer Diskussionsrunde zum Thema "50 Jahre Gruppe 47 – Die Tagungen als Lesewerkstatt" mit Günter Grass, Peter Bichsel und Walter Höllerer, März 1997
{{Authority control
Cultural organisations based in Germany
Arts organizations established in 1947
1977 disestablishments in Germany
20th-century German literature
1947 establishments in Germany
Organizations disestablished in 1977