It boosted my morale to learn from Bertil´s posting that there are people who regard EJ so highly like von Erffa and The Independent. In this country where it is so strictly un-PC to admire EJ openly I only dared to say aloud that I can read his writings again and again and always find new ideas and images that impress me deeply. And there are not many authors which I happen to re-read, Goethe, Schopenhauer, Montaigne, Shakespeare and very few others come to mind. The latter are indeed acknowledged "giants of world literature". If EJ belongs to them he probably is the one whose greatness has most furiously been contested by his countrymen.
Let me quote an example for an unforgettable Lesefrucht, the image of the imminent catastrophe, from re-reading STRAHLUNGEN (4 Febr 1942): "Maschinenheizer im Kesselraum, wo hinter den Ventilen ein Druck von vielen Millionen Atmosphären preßt. Die Manometer steigen langsam über den letzten roten Strich. Es wird ganz still. Zuweilen leuchtet hinter den Panzergläsern der Schimmer von Flammen auf." Maybe a dream, maybe a visualization of a presentiment, written when Hitler was triumphant, and Stalingrad, Dresden, Auschwitz and Hiroshima were still under the horizon. Such writing goes under my skin. Moreover, I feel that in such passages EJ has achieved his aim of writing "eine Prosa, die Macht und Leichtigkeit vereint" (30 Jan 1942). Bertil Häggman schrieb: > > Listmembers, > > In 1998 there was a Cultural Counsellor at the German Embassy in New Delhi, > Wolfgang von Erffa, who seems to be a devoted reader of Ernst Juenger. In > the Embassy "German News" he wrote in the March 1998 issue: > > "Ernst Juenger, a giant not only of German, but of world literature, has > passed away at the biblical age of 102 years. Von Erffa writes that EJ had > studied the Indian philosopher Shri Aurobindo and he calls > for Indian specialists in German literature to research this link between > Juenger and India. > > Finally von Erffa quotes the British daily newspaper "The Independent" on > Ernst Juenger. "The greatest writer of the 20th century". Couldn't have > expressed it better myself. > > Juengerian greetings > > Bertil Haggman > > > > ** You are subscribed to ernst-juenger-l. To leave send a mail to > [email protected] containing: unsubscribe ernst-juenger-l ** >
