Theodor Däubler (17 August 1876 – 13 June 1934) was a poet and cultural critic in the German language. He was born in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
, then part of
Austro-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
and has been described as "Trieste's most important German-speaking writer".
Early life and career
Däubler travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean and European countries. His major poem "Das Nordlicht" was first published in 1910. He was close to several participants in Berlin
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
, notably
George Grosz
George Grosz (; ; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Obj ...
and
Hans Richter, on whom he wrote the first critical appraisal in
Die Aktion
''Die Aktion'' ("The Action") was a German literary and political magazine, edited by Franz Pfemfert and published between 1911 and 1932 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf; it promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing politics. To begin with, ' ...
.
In May 1922 he attended the
International Congress of Progressive Artists
International Congress of Progressive Artists was organised by Young Rhineland (Junge Rheinland), with help from the November Group, the Darmstadt Secession and the Dresden Secession in Düsseldorf, 29-31 May 1922. The aim of creating an intern ...
and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists".
His influence on wider culture include
Theodor Adorno
Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor.
List of people with the given name Theodor
* Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher
* Theodor Aman, Romanian painter
* Theodor Blue ...
in
Minima Moralia (paragraph 122) and Adorno set three of his poems to music in "Drei Gedichte von Theodor Däubler" (Opus 8) and
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt (11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, author, and political theorist.
Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. An authoritarian conservative theorist, he was noted as a critic of ...
.
However, it appears that none of his major poems has ever been translated into English.
Death
Däubler died at
Sankt Blasien
St. Blasien (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Blasien) is a small town located in the Waldshut (district), Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Southern Black Forest, 17 km northeast of Waldshut-Tieng ...
and is buried in
Friedhof Heerstraße
The Friedhof Heerstraße cemetery is located at Trakehnerallee 1 (''Trakehner avenue No.1''), district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin, Germany, to the east of the Olympic Stadium (Berlin), Olympiastadion. It covers an area of 14 ...
in Berlin.
References
External links
Das Nordlichtat
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daubler, Theodor
1876 births
1934 deaths
Writers from Trieste
German art critics
German Expressionist writers
German male poets
German male non-fiction writers