Ernst Stadler

Ernst Stadler (1883–1914) embodied a spiritual Europe that was far ahead of its time in his short life. Born in Colmar to German parents, he was drawn to French literature from an early age and held republican views. After studying in Munich and Strasbourg, he went to England, where he worked in Oxford on his habilitation about Wieland's translations of Shakespeare. He then became a lecturer at the University of Brussels, where he taught German philology and translated French literature. With his own lyrical creations, he joined the internationally minded circle around the expressionist magazine "Aktion." However, after the shots fired in Sarajevo, Stadler experienced the fatality of old Europe firsthand: having become an officer for social reasons, he had to report for duty as a reserve lieutenant on the very first day of mobilization; after three months, he fell in the Battle of Ypres on Belgian soil. From this too-short life remains a slender lyrical work that still counts as a core part of early expressionism. After the symbolist beginnings of his first poetry collection "Präludien" (1904), which Stadler himself soon rejected, he took entirely new paths. With free-rhythmic long-line poems and the vitality of his imagery, he broke the constraints of fixed verse without succumbing to the clichéd "Oh man" pathos that complicates the perception of expressionism today. In his collection "Aufbruch" (1914), the premonition of an impending apocalypse stands starkly alongside a burning hope for existence – akin to the art of Ludwig Meidner, from whom Stadler attempted to acquire a painting at that time. Albert M. Debrunner once again fills a significant gap in literary historiography with Stadler's biography. Like the successful biography of Hermann Kesten, this new work is narrated in an equally engaging and knowledgeable manner.