Friedrich "Fritz" Georg Jünger (1 September 1898 – 20 July 1977) was a German writer and lawyer. He wrote poetry,

cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions o ...

ism and novels. He was the younger brother of

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomology, entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir ''Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful busin ...

Life and work

The younger brother of

, he volunteered for military service in 1916 and was seriously wounded in the Battle of Langemarck. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

cameralism Cameralism ( German: ''Kameralismus'') was a German school of public finance, administration and economic management in the 18th and early 19th centuries that aimed at strong management of a centralized economy for the benefit mainly of the ...

at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and Halle-Wittenberg. After moving to Berlin, he and his brother became involved with the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

magazine ''

Widerstand German resistance can refer to: * Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government * German resistance to Nazism * Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France ...

'' and the people around it such as

Friedrich Hielscher Friedrich Hielscher (31 May 19026 March 1990) was a German intellectual involved in the Conservative Revolutionary movement during the Weimar Republic and in the German resistance during the Nazi era. He was the founder of an esoteric or Neopaga ...

and

Ernst Niekisch Ernst Niekisch (23 May 1889 – 23 May 1967) was a German writer and political theorist. Initially a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and of the Old Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASP), he later became a prominent exponent of th ...

. In 1926, he published a national revolutionary manifesto, ''Der Aufmarsch des Nationalismus'', where he praised the virility of an envisioned revolutionary state in the following terms: "Let thousands, nay millions, die; what meaning have these rivers of blood in comparison with a state, into which flow all the disquiet and longing of the German being!" His stance against

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

is explicit in the poem "Der Mohn", published in the collection ''Gedichte'' (1934), and he was interrogated by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

because of it. He was interrogated again in 1937 when Niekisch was arrested. The same year he left Berlin to live with Ernst in

Überlingen Überlingen (; ) is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the German-Swiss border, border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second-largest city in the Bodenseek ...

, and two years later the brothers moved to Kirchhorst near

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. Here he wrote ''The Failure of Technology'', a study of mechanization with lines of reasoning that later would become associated with the

ecological movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

. After getting married, he moved back to Überlingen and settled in what had been his parents' house. From there he wrote about Greek mythology and began to work on a translation of the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', eventually published in 1981. Jünger's post-war works include poetry, novels, essays and short stories. These include the monograph ''Nietzsche'' (1949) and the novel ''Heinrich March'' (1979), which traces the experiences of his generation. Important early influences on his thinking and writing had included

Jean Paul Jean Paul (; born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories. Life and work Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Ficht ...

Christian Dietrich Grabbe Christian Dietrich Grabbe (11 December 1801 – 12 September 1836) was a German dramatist of the ''Vormärz'' era. He wrote many historical plays conceiving a disillusioned and pessimistic world view, with some shrill scenes. Heinrich Heine s ...

Georg Trakl Georg Trakl (; 3 February 1887 – 3 November 1914) was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem " Grodek", which h ...

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

and

Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German polymath whose areas of interest included history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best know ...

. Other influences included the poetry of ancient Greece, Icelandic

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

s, the poetry of

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (; 8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used b ...

Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

and

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

, his brother Ernst,

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

, Paul Yorck von Wartenburg and

Rudolf Kassner Rudolf Kassner (11 September 1873 in Velké Pavlovice – 1 April 1959 in Sierre, Switzerland) was an Austrian writer, essayist, translator and cultural philosopher. Although stricken as an infant with poliomyelitis, Kassner traveled widely to n ...

Selected works

* ''Der Aufmarsch des Nationalismus'' (1926) * ''Gedichte'' (1934) – poetry * ''Der verkleidete Theseus'' (1934) – play * ''Der Taurus'' (1937) – poetry * ''Der Missouri'' (1940) – poetry * ''Griechische Götter'' (1943) – essay * ''Die Titanen'' (1944) – essay * ''Die Perfektion der Technik'' (1946) – essay ** English translation: ''The Failure of Technology: Perfection Without Purpose'' (1949) * ''Nietzsche'' (1949) – essay * ''Grüne Zweige'' (1951) – autobiography * ''Iris im Wind'' (1952) – poetry * ''Die Spiele'' (1953) – essay * ''Der erste Gang'' (1954) – novel * ''Ring der Jahre'' (1954) – poetry * ''Erinnerung an die Eltern'' (1955) – autobiography * ''Schwarzer Fluß und windweißer Wald'' (1955) – poetry * ''Zwei Schwestern'' (1956) – novel * ''Gedächtnis und Erinnerung'' (1957) – essay * ''Sprache und Denken'' (1962) – essay * ''Heinrich March'' (1979) – novel * ''Homers Odyssee'' (1981) – translation

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Junger, Friedrich Georg 1898 births 1977 deaths Writers from Hanover People from the Province of Hanover German-language poets German Army personnel of World War I Conservative Revolutionary movement German male poets German male essayists German male novelists German nationalists German technology writers Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Translators of Homer

Life and work

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading

External links