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Вогонь і кров
Вперше перекладена українською мовою збірка «Вогонь і кров» присвячена фронтовим переживанням німецького письменника, філософа, ідеолога консервативної революції Ернста Юнґера під час його участі у Першій світовій війні. Натхненні та захопливі тексти звично для автора ведуться у формі щоденника, що, разом із листуванням з ріднею письменника, є логічним продовженням осмислення Юнґером феномену війни, побратимства та нового світового порядку з часу написання першого роману «В сталевих грозах». Книга призначена для всіх, хто палає серцем і на чиїх плечах лежить важкою ношею доля всього світу. Перекладач – Олександр Андрієвський.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1925
10 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Ernst Jünger
251 books915 followersErnst Jünger was a decorated German soldier and author who became famous for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Junger was able to enlist on the outbreak of war. A fearless leader who admired bravery above all else, he enthusiastically participated in actions in which his units were sometimes virtually annihilated. During an ill-fated German offensive in 1918 Junger's WW1 career ended with the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.
Junger served in World War II as captain in the German Army. Assigned to an administrative position in Paris, he socialized with prominent artists of the day such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. His early time in France is described in his diary Gärten und Straßen (1942, Gardens and Streets). He was also in charge of executing younger German soldiers who had deserted. In his book Un Allemand à Paris , the writer Gerhard Heller states that he had been interested in learning how a person reacts to death under such circumstances and had a morbid fascination for the subject.
Jünger appears on the fringes of the Stauffenberg bomb plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (July 20, 1944). He was clearly an inspiration to anti-Nazi conservatives in the German Army, and while in Paris he was close to the old, mostly Prussian, officers who carried out the assassination attempt against Hitler. He was only peripherally involved in the events however, and in the aftermath suffered only dismissal from the army in the summer of 1944, rather than execution.
In the aftermath of WW2 he was treated with some suspicion as a closet Nazi. By the latter stages of the Cold War his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Junger ended his extremely long life as a honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.
Junger served in World War II as captain in the German Army. Assigned to an administrative position in Paris, he socialized with prominent artists of the day such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. His early time in France is described in his diary Gärten und Straßen (1942, Gardens and Streets). He was also in charge of executing younger German soldiers who had deserted. In his book Un Allemand à Paris , the writer Gerhard Heller states that he had been interested in learning how a person reacts to death under such circumstances and had a morbid fascination for the subject.
Jünger appears on the fringes of the Stauffenberg bomb plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (July 20, 1944). He was clearly an inspiration to anti-Nazi conservatives in the German Army, and while in Paris he was close to the old, mostly Prussian, officers who carried out the assassination attempt against Hitler. He was only peripherally involved in the events however, and in the aftermath suffered only dismissal from the army in the summer of 1944, rather than execution.
In the aftermath of WW2 he was treated with some suspicion as a closet Nazi. By the latter stages of the Cold War his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Junger ended his extremely long life as a honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 18, 2025
a ogni libro di Jünger letto, l'asticella si alza sempre più. libro dopo libro riesce sempre a superare se stesso, non importa di cosa parli. quando scrive di guerra però tocca vette vertiginose. c'è un lirismo fra le sue parole che rasenta l'erotismo. quest'uomo aveva la poetica della scrittura, e della sua forza immaginifica, nel sangue.
August 19, 2022
Ernst Jünger is both famous and notorious -- famous as a chronicler of his own experiences as a German storm trooper during WW1, and as a daring novelist with no regard for genre boundaries or rules of storytelling; notorious as the so-called "intellectual godfather of fascism," a title which was not entirely fair to him and one which he eventually shed with some success. Indeed, Jünger, who lived to be 103, eventually became a literary titan in Europe and was particularly admired in France for the depth of his thinking. He was in life a soldier, an adventurer, a philosopher, an entomologist, a social scientist, a political writer, novelist, anthropologist and a student of the human condition.
"Fire and Blood" is one of five books of radically varying length which Jünger wrote about his experiences in WW1. They were:
1920, In Stahlgewittern (In Storms of Steel)
1922, Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis (War as an Inner Experience)
1932, Sturm (novella)
1924, Das Wäldchen 125 (Copse 125)
1925, Feuer und Blut (Fire and Blood)
The first of these became an international bestseller and established E.J. as a major literary figure. It stood with such books as "All Quiet on the Western Front," "A Farewell To Arms," "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer," "Good-bye To All That" and various other classics of the Great War. Many years later, when Hitler took power, its unrelentingly pro-German outlook and refusal to dismiss war as pointless carnage but rather "an incomparable schooling of the heart" drove the book out of fashion, and it remains controversial to this day. Indeed, if anything defines E.J., it is his unconventional view of war: while fully recognizing its destructiveness and horror, he also sees it as a fiery test of the human condition, a place where civilized man evolves under the intense pressure of mechanized warfare into a new race of being, one defined by his ability to withstand pain.
It should be noted that "Fire and Blood" is not a full-length book, nor is it entirely original. E.J. kept extensive diaries during his four years in the trenches, which supplied material for his many works on the war. "Storm of Steel" covers the entire war, and its last chapters are devoted to the first days of the huge German offensive of 1918, which made Jünger a famous hero. In "Fire and Blood," he takes one or two of those chapters and expands on them to tell what might be called 'the story of an event,' in that there is no real arc, no development of character or story, but simply a relation of the eve of the attack and the 36 or so hours he spent in it before he was shot in the chest and then again in the head and had to be evacuated. I mention this because anyone who read "The Storm of Steel" will likely find some of what transpires here very familiar. To use Hollywood parlance, this short book is basically a Director's Cut of its parental work's final act.
Jünger's writing style was a curious animal. He tended to straddle the line between brilliant, poetic prose in the romantic-pathetic style, and dense, involuted philosophical dithyrambs meant for their original language, German, rather than English translation. For this reason, reading his books is like listening to the eloquent but occasionally turgid ramblings of a brilliant drunk. The question in a Jünger book is simply which side of the line he spends more time upon. "Fire and Blood" actually straddles the line, but ultimately comes down on the side of beauty. The opening sequence, in which he sits beneath a tree smoking his pipe on the eve of the huge offensive, knowing full well these could be his last hours on earth, is stunning. And indeed, much of the combat that eventually follows is also stunning. The savage slaughter is presented without romance, yet in Jünger's mind, it is entirely justifiable: the sheer size and brutality of the event is awesome enough to justify itself: a kind of autopoiesis or Causa sui or aseity ("The property by which a being exists of and from itself. It refers to the Christian belief that God does not depend on any cause other than himself for his existence, realization, or end, and has within himself his own reason of existence.")
Some people find Jünger, despite the extremely chivalrous attitude he has toward his enemies, curiously inhuman. He finds beauty in almost everything. He is the man who, in 1944, watched an American bombing raid on Paris, from a rooftop, through a glass of wine with strawberries in it, marveling at the way the bombers looked reflected in the sun-lit rosé while they blasted the outskirts of the city with high explosives. A man like that is bound to repulse sensitive-minded readers who just want the usual view of war as a monstrous obscenity. And of course "the usual view" is almost certainly right: witness Ukraine. But, and I want to stress this, "Fire and Blood" is not only interesting in itself, it is extremely valuable as means of understanding the Nazis who came after Jünger: while far more cruel, they saw the same beauty in the tyranny of military discipline and the apocalyptic fury of battle. They genuinely loved to fight, and in a sense, to bleed. The title of this book was no accident.
"Fire and Blood" is one of five books of radically varying length which Jünger wrote about his experiences in WW1. They were:
1920, In Stahlgewittern (In Storms of Steel)
1922, Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis (War as an Inner Experience)
1932, Sturm (novella)
1924, Das Wäldchen 125 (Copse 125)
1925, Feuer und Blut (Fire and Blood)
The first of these became an international bestseller and established E.J. as a major literary figure. It stood with such books as "All Quiet on the Western Front," "A Farewell To Arms," "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer," "Good-bye To All That" and various other classics of the Great War. Many years later, when Hitler took power, its unrelentingly pro-German outlook and refusal to dismiss war as pointless carnage but rather "an incomparable schooling of the heart" drove the book out of fashion, and it remains controversial to this day. Indeed, if anything defines E.J., it is his unconventional view of war: while fully recognizing its destructiveness and horror, he also sees it as a fiery test of the human condition, a place where civilized man evolves under the intense pressure of mechanized warfare into a new race of being, one defined by his ability to withstand pain.
It should be noted that "Fire and Blood" is not a full-length book, nor is it entirely original. E.J. kept extensive diaries during his four years in the trenches, which supplied material for his many works on the war. "Storm of Steel" covers the entire war, and its last chapters are devoted to the first days of the huge German offensive of 1918, which made Jünger a famous hero. In "Fire and Blood," he takes one or two of those chapters and expands on them to tell what might be called 'the story of an event,' in that there is no real arc, no development of character or story, but simply a relation of the eve of the attack and the 36 or so hours he spent in it before he was shot in the chest and then again in the head and had to be evacuated. I mention this because anyone who read "The Storm of Steel" will likely find some of what transpires here very familiar. To use Hollywood parlance, this short book is basically a Director's Cut of its parental work's final act.
Jünger's writing style was a curious animal. He tended to straddle the line between brilliant, poetic prose in the romantic-pathetic style, and dense, involuted philosophical dithyrambs meant for their original language, German, rather than English translation. For this reason, reading his books is like listening to the eloquent but occasionally turgid ramblings of a brilliant drunk. The question in a Jünger book is simply which side of the line he spends more time upon. "Fire and Blood" actually straddles the line, but ultimately comes down on the side of beauty. The opening sequence, in which he sits beneath a tree smoking his pipe on the eve of the huge offensive, knowing full well these could be his last hours on earth, is stunning. And indeed, much of the combat that eventually follows is also stunning. The savage slaughter is presented without romance, yet in Jünger's mind, it is entirely justifiable: the sheer size and brutality of the event is awesome enough to justify itself: a kind of autopoiesis or Causa sui or aseity ("The property by which a being exists of and from itself. It refers to the Christian belief that God does not depend on any cause other than himself for his existence, realization, or end, and has within himself his own reason of existence.")
Some people find Jünger, despite the extremely chivalrous attitude he has toward his enemies, curiously inhuman. He finds beauty in almost everything. He is the man who, in 1944, watched an American bombing raid on Paris, from a rooftop, through a glass of wine with strawberries in it, marveling at the way the bombers looked reflected in the sun-lit rosé while they blasted the outskirts of the city with high explosives. A man like that is bound to repulse sensitive-minded readers who just want the usual view of war as a monstrous obscenity. And of course "the usual view" is almost certainly right: witness Ukraine. But, and I want to stress this, "Fire and Blood" is not only interesting in itself, it is extremely valuable as means of understanding the Nazis who came after Jünger: while far more cruel, they saw the same beauty in the tyranny of military discipline and the apocalyptic fury of battle. They genuinely loved to fight, and in a sense, to bleed. The title of this book was no accident.
September 27, 2023
«Дорогі батьки!
Я на фронті недовго, а вже герой! Всіх навколо убили, а я не злякався навіть вивернутих нутрощів. Вишліть терміново сала і ковбаси. Ваш Ернст!»
Збірка яку видав «Пломінь» виявилась значно живішою і цікавішою за розтиражовані «Сталеві грози». Якщо останні більше нагадують сухий звіт німецького лейтенанта, то «Вогонь і кров» це вже спроба передати глибину переживань молодого хлопця, який дивується що він вже кілька років як ветеран, а в цивільному житті не закінчив би досі і університету. Збірка включає в себе дві новели що в деталях описують два епізоди із «Сталевих гроз» - початок останньої великої контратаки німців яка увійшла в історіографію як «Битва Кайзера», а також локальну сутичку за «перелісок 125», яку в 2023 (я впевнений!) перекладач назвав би «посадка 125». В кінці збірки приводиться переписка родини Юнгерів яка яскраво розкриває розвиток персонажу від юнака який в кожному листі бахвалиться батькам жорсткою зарубаю і просить вислати сала і ковбаси до дорослого ветерана що телеграфічне доповідає батькам новини з фронту і заспокоює за долю брата, який паралельно теж потрапляє на фронт.
Загальний висновок: тим хто війни не знав і не бачив навіть чи ця книга видасться цікавою. Вона не цікава. Вона точна. Точна в опису пейзажів війни які ми тепер можемо легко спостерігати в Україні, точна в опису ночей солдатів в окопах і відтінків страху перед битвою, точна в описі війни яка ВИЯВЛЯЄТЬСЯ така різна і така однакова у всі часи.
Я на фронті недовго, а вже герой! Всіх навколо убили, а я не злякався навіть вивернутих нутрощів. Вишліть терміново сала і ковбаси. Ваш Ернст!»
Збірка яку видав «Пломінь» виявилась значно живішою і цікавішою за розтиражовані «Сталеві грози». Якщо останні більше нагадують сухий звіт німецького лейтенанта, то «Вогонь і кров» це вже спроба передати глибину переживань молодого хлопця, який дивується що він вже кілька років як ветеран, а в цивільному житті не закінчив би досі і університету. Збірка включає в себе дві новели що в деталях описують два епізоди із «Сталевих гроз» - початок останньої великої контратаки німців яка увійшла в історіографію як «Битва Кайзера», а також локальну сутичку за «перелісок 125», яку в 2023 (я впевнений!) перекладач назвав би «посадка 125». В кінці збірки приводиться переписка родини Юнгерів яка яскраво розкриває розвиток персонажу від юнака який в кожному листі бахвалиться батькам жорсткою зарубаю і просить вислати сала і ковбаси до дорослого ветерана що телеграфічне доповідає батькам новини з фронту і заспокоює за долю брата, який паралельно теж потрапляє на фронт.
Загальний висновок: тим хто війни не знав і не бачив навіть чи ця книга видасться цікавою. Вона не цікава. Вона точна. Точна в опису пейзажів війни які ми тепер можемо легко спостерігати в Україні, точна в опису ночей солдатів в окопах і відтінків страху перед битвою, точна в описі війни яка ВИЯВЛЯЄТЬСЯ така різна і така однакова у всі часи.
August 1, 2025
La metafisica della guerra in Jünger
Pensare di recensire un libro di un autore come Jünger, riducendo la sua visione della guerra e della battaglia a quella di un giovane e semplice soldato esaltato dall'estetica e dall'eroismo spicciolo, è un grave errore. Per Jünger, l'esperienza della trincea è il crogiolo in cui l'uomo si trascende e si supera. La sua è una visione metafisica della battaglia come esperienza interiore e spirituale, dove l'uomo incarna un nuovo archetipo (al di là dell'uomo borghese, che Jünger disprezza) che vince la morte nella morte stessa. La morte, soprattutto la morte eroica, è per Jünger un atto di estrema affermazione dell'esistenza, un modo per trascendere la morte stessa. È l'affrontare il nichilismo nella sua dimensione più terrificante: l'annientamento.
"[…] destino del guerriero non è quello di morire in un letto: il suo letto è il campo di battaglia sul quale morendo viene generato, generato attraverso la lotta e il tramonto."
Qui, la morte non è concepita come la fine, ma come atto creativo, di "generazione" spirituale. Il fatto che Jünger, nel suo intenso lirismo, descriva paesaggi ardenti e "uccelli d'acciaio" non deve trarre in inganno sulla profondità della sua visione, che lo ha reso uno dei maggiori pensatori del Novecento.
Pensare di recensire un libro di un autore come Jünger, riducendo la sua visione della guerra e della battaglia a quella di un giovane e semplice soldato esaltato dall'estetica e dall'eroismo spicciolo, è un grave errore. Per Jünger, l'esperienza della trincea è il crogiolo in cui l'uomo si trascende e si supera. La sua è una visione metafisica della battaglia come esperienza interiore e spirituale, dove l'uomo incarna un nuovo archetipo (al di là dell'uomo borghese, che Jünger disprezza) che vince la morte nella morte stessa. La morte, soprattutto la morte eroica, è per Jünger un atto di estrema affermazione dell'esistenza, un modo per trascendere la morte stessa. È l'affrontare il nichilismo nella sua dimensione più terrificante: l'annientamento.
"[…] destino del guerriero non è quello di morire in un letto: il suo letto è il campo di battaglia sul quale morendo viene generato, generato attraverso la lotta e il tramonto."
Qui, la morte non è concepita come la fine, ma come atto creativo, di "generazione" spirituale. Il fatto che Jünger, nel suo intenso lirismo, descriva paesaggi ardenti e "uccelli d'acciaio" non deve trarre in inganno sulla profondità della sua visione, che lo ha reso uno dei maggiori pensatori del Novecento.
January 16, 2025
Top Buch für jeden der eine sehr detaillierte Beschreibung eines deutschen Stosstrupps lesen will. Zwischenzeitlich geht es neben dem eigentlichen Kampf auch um etwas spirituelle Themen und den Kampf an sich als inneres Erlebnis.
Mir gefiel das Ende besonders.
Mir gefiel das Ende besonders.
March 16, 2019
Feu et sang est le titre français. Paru dans la Pléiade. Encore un superbe récit après Orages d'acier, plein de bruit et de fureur. Le grand écrivain nationaliste qui a vécu la guerre comme une expérience intérieure et dans l'exaltation trouve ici les mots pour raconter l'horreur comme l'avait déjà si bien fait Maurice Genevoix.
July 31, 2023
Important.
March 7, 2023
Often poetic, and even bordering on the spiritual, Jünger's descriptions of his experiences at times require one to pause to absorb them. This is a heroic and manly story of brutal conflict, adventure, loss, and of the deadly monotony of life in the shelled and gassed trenches of WWI. I highly recommend this to anyone who has read and enjoyed Jünger's first book, The Storm of Steel. This book covers a portion of the events of The Storm of Steel but in much greater detail.
A particularly striking scene. Jünger's men, are heading to their post at night and pause to rest in a large shell crater when they hear a noise.
A particularly striking scene. Jünger's men, are heading to their post at night and pause to rest in a large shell crater when they hear a noise.
July 18, 2024
Sostanzialmente una rielaborazione sotto forma di romanzo delle esperienze autobiografiche durante la Prima Guerra Mondiale già raccontate nelle opere precedenti del giovane Junger: lui è indistruttibile e continua a combattere come nulla fosse nonostante le ferite orribili che si causa, vede la guerra non come una necessità dettata da concetti nazionalistici, patriottici o legati ad un ipotetico onore ma come un'azione metafisica esistenziale data dalla sua natura, un gioco cosmico. Naturali di conseguenza riferimenti al misticismo e alla filosofia orientale. Questa Weltanschauung però rende la lettura tanto affascinante a livello di concetto quanto non del tutto soddisfacente, dando l'idea di una visione (seppur apparentemente) superficiale di un evento così drammatico e universalmente importante allo stesso tempo come se certe vicende drammatiche non fossero state vissute davvero ma solo riportate senza una vera partecipazione emotiva né umana. 2* e mezzo perché la scrittura dell'autore è sempre di altissimo livello.
May 20, 2020
Один з моїх улюблених письменників. У даній, вперше перекладеній українською мовою, збірці видавництва Пломінь є повісті "Вогонь і кров: маленький уривок великої битви", "Перелісок 125 (З хроніки окопної війни 1918-го)" та листи з фронту до родини (1915-1918). Як і в попередньому творі, "В сталевих грозах", у книзі описано життя та переживання письменника і філософа у окопах першої світової війни. Написано дуже цікаво, дозволяє збагнути побут позиційної війни та запал перед наступом, прості речі які робили щасливими поміж пекла артилерійських обстрілів та жахливі одномоментні втрати друзів від розриву снаряда.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews