Eine Poetologie nach Krieg und Katastrophe : Erich Arendts "Der Albatros" (1951) und Ingeborg Bachmanns "Mein Vogel" (1956)

Abstract

The poems "Der Albatros" by Ernst Arendt and "Mein Vogel" by Ingeborg Bachmann are well known parts of the oeuvre of the two authors. Most interpretations concentrate on their autobiographical or poetological elements, without taking much notice of both texts reflecting the events of the time in a clearly involved manner; this is achieved despite their hermetic characteristics, which are indeed helpful for the authors to devise a poetology that tries to do justice to the facts of World War II and the Shoa. The aim of this article is to give evidence of these aspects by "close reading" of the two texts and to show, by examining a few selected passages, what the poems have in common and where they differ in presenting contemporary events.

Keywords

• poetology after World War II
• hermetic poetry
• Austrian and German literature of the 20th century