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Die Erfindung der Poesie: Gedichte aus den ersten viertausende Jahren
536 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Raoul Schrott
53 books18 followersProf. dr. Raoul Schrott, is an Austrian poet, writer, literary critic, translator and broadcast personality.
Schrott was raised in Tunis where his father served as an Austrian sales representative. He attended the universities of Norwich, Paris, Berlin and Innsbruck where he studied comparative literature and linguistics.
He was an assistant to French surrealistic poet Philippe Soupault. He earned his PhD in philology (combining linguistics and literary studies), and currently works as professor on many Austrian and foreign universities. He was very much interested in Dada and surrealism movement, and Schrott completed a thesis on 'Dada 1921 - 1922 in Tyrol'. He translated Homer's writings and modern adaptation of the Babylonian-Assyrian Epic of Gilgamesh into German.
Dr. Schrott is a polyglot, particularly acknowledged for his foreign language skills such as Breton, Basque and Occitan, but he also speaks English, French, Italian, Corsican and Gaelic.
Schrott was raised in Tunis where his father served as an Austrian sales representative. He attended the universities of Norwich, Paris, Berlin and Innsbruck where he studied comparative literature and linguistics.
He was an assistant to French surrealistic poet Philippe Soupault. He earned his PhD in philology (combining linguistics and literary studies), and currently works as professor on many Austrian and foreign universities. He was very much interested in Dada and surrealism movement, and Schrott completed a thesis on 'Dada 1921 - 1922 in Tyrol'. He translated Homer's writings and modern adaptation of the Babylonian-Assyrian Epic of Gilgamesh into German.
Dr. Schrott is a polyglot, particularly acknowledged for his foreign language skills such as Breton, Basque and Occitan, but he also speaks English, French, Italian, Corsican and Gaelic.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 20, 2021
Raoul Schrott greift tief in die Kiste der unbekannten Kulturen und stellt die Dichter vor, die er für die Bedeutensten hält. Dazu muss man wissen, dass er nichts von individueller moderner Poesie hält, sondern diejenigen schätzt, die in der Rolle der klassischen Barden.
Er beginnt mit Enheduanna, der ältesten namentlich bekannten dichtenden Person. Einer sumerischen Priesterin aus dem 24. Jahrtausend vor Christi, gefolgt von der kaum weniger alten sumerischen Dichterin Ilummiya. Beide haben wohl eher kuriositätenwert.
Archilochos, Sapho und Properz sind wohl die Bekanntesten Dichter in diesem Werk.
Völlig neu für mich, die vorislamischen arabischen Dichter, die Dichter des jüdischen Spanien, die letzten Barden von Wales und andere mittelalterliche Randkulturen. Besonders gefallen Raoul Schrott dabei immer die Dichter, die sich thematisch ins Abseits stellen.
Poetologisch war das Werk oft etwas für Fachleute (und zugleich mit benutzerunfreundlichem Register versehen). Literarisch eine Entdeckung. Was ich an Raoul Schrott dabei immer schätze ist die Neugier und Wertschätzung gegenüber fremden Kulturen und ihren uns kaum erklärlichen Eigenheiten.
Er beginnt mit Enheduanna, der ältesten namentlich bekannten dichtenden Person. Einer sumerischen Priesterin aus dem 24. Jahrtausend vor Christi, gefolgt von der kaum weniger alten sumerischen Dichterin Ilummiya. Beide haben wohl eher kuriositätenwert.
Archilochos, Sapho und Properz sind wohl die Bekanntesten Dichter in diesem Werk.
Völlig neu für mich, die vorislamischen arabischen Dichter, die Dichter des jüdischen Spanien, die letzten Barden von Wales und andere mittelalterliche Randkulturen. Besonders gefallen Raoul Schrott dabei immer die Dichter, die sich thematisch ins Abseits stellen.
Poetologisch war das Werk oft etwas für Fachleute (und zugleich mit benutzerunfreundlichem Register versehen). Literarisch eine Entdeckung. Was ich an Raoul Schrott dabei immer schätze ist die Neugier und Wertschätzung gegenüber fremden Kulturen und ihren uns kaum erklärlichen Eigenheiten.
June 23, 2018
Raoul Schrott is now - after he has questioned the location of ancient Troy and the biography of Homer - famous for being a disputatious writer. When he put this anthology of "early" poetry together, he wasn't famous for it yet. But he was already idiosyncratic by then. Actually, on the surface there's nothing to look like dispute in this anthology. It simply looks like a collection of poems from thirteen different ages and from at least nine different cultures / languages. Every poet and her or his context are thoroughly introduced in short essays of Schrott. Each chapter contains one example poem in the original language, the rest is given in Schrott's translation. So far so normal. Now what makes this book so arguable?
It's the selection. You could see it as totally arbitrary, or you could see it coherent and consequent. It's for sure that Schrott is giving you arguments for the latter opinion, but at the first glance you would hardly believe it. Have a look at the list of poets:
* Enheduanna and Ilummiya (Sumerian, 24th century BC)
* Archilochos and Sappho (ancient Greece, 7th to 6th century BC)
* Catullus and Sextus Propertius (ancient Rome, 1st century BC)
* poets of the Mo'allaqt and Abu Nuwas (Arabic, 6th to 8th century)
* Irish monks (9th century)
* Samuel Ha-Nagid ibn Nagrila (Hebrew, 11th century)
* Arab poets of Sicily (11th century)
* Guihelm IX. of Aquitaine (Provençal, 11th to 12th century)
* Giacomo da Lentino (Sicily, 13th century)
* Dafydd ap Gwilym (Wales, 14th century)
In his selection Schrott stresses turning points in the development of poetry, he favors formal innovation, and topicwise he is strongly attracted by salaciousness. Schrott has translated all the poems by himself, though the bibliography in the end reveals that he's often been cross-referencing the work of his predecessors. I believe he's immersed himself in the originals and has learned all those languages more or less, yet he can't be a proficient philologist in all of them. So it's probably better to speak of adaptions rather than translations. But what does it matter? Schrott is a poet himself (check his wonderful Tropen!) and he does a great job here. He's updating three thousand years of mankind's early poetry here and makes them digestible, and most often juicy, to us. A Friedrich Rückert of our time?
It's the selection. You could see it as totally arbitrary, or you could see it coherent and consequent. It's for sure that Schrott is giving you arguments for the latter opinion, but at the first glance you would hardly believe it. Have a look at the list of poets:
* Enheduanna and Ilummiya (Sumerian, 24th century BC)
* Archilochos and Sappho (ancient Greece, 7th to 6th century BC)
* Catullus and Sextus Propertius (ancient Rome, 1st century BC)
* poets of the Mo'allaqt and Abu Nuwas (Arabic, 6th to 8th century)
* Irish monks (9th century)
* Samuel Ha-Nagid ibn Nagrila (Hebrew, 11th century)
* Arab poets of Sicily (11th century)
* Guihelm IX. of Aquitaine (Provençal, 11th to 12th century)
* Giacomo da Lentino (Sicily, 13th century)
* Dafydd ap Gwilym (Wales, 14th century)
In his selection Schrott stresses turning points in the development of poetry, he favors formal innovation, and topicwise he is strongly attracted by salaciousness. Schrott has translated all the poems by himself, though the bibliography in the end reveals that he's often been cross-referencing the work of his predecessors. I believe he's immersed himself in the originals and has learned all those languages more or less, yet he can't be a proficient philologist in all of them. So it's probably better to speak of adaptions rather than translations. But what does it matter? Schrott is a poet himself (check his wonderful Tropen!) and he does a great job here. He's updating three thousand years of mankind's early poetry here and makes them digestible, and most often juicy, to us. A Friedrich Rückert of our time?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews