<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In comparison to the Transsylvanian-Saxon or to the German-speaking Bukowina literature the modernists exerted a more reduced influence on the literature of the Banat Swabians. Franz Xaver Kappus (1883-1966) influenced the literary modernists in the Western part of Romania especially through his expressionistic texts. He became famous thanks to his correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The masterpiece <italic>Die lebenden Vierzehn (The Fourteeen SURVIVORS)</italic> (1918) is swayed by a collective catastrophe and represents a certain kind of utopia, which anticipates the end of the world. A dread causing image with a peculiar unreality shapes the event. Kappus’ fantasy does not shrink back from images of dread and horror. As in the expressionistic literature any destruction of the harmonious beautiful principle comes about in dread. The grotesque features belong to the expressionistic character of the book. It is interesting that the dreadful and the grotesque show their demonic side and with it they destroy the familiar reality. Such a development demonstrates that Kappus follows a tradition to which also E. T. A. Hoffmann, Frank Wedekind, Franz Kafka or Georg Heym belong. There are also streaks of naturalism in the novel.</p>
</abstract>

In comparison to the Transsylvanian-Saxon or to the German-speaking Bukowina literature the modernists exerted a more reduced influence on the literature of the Banat Swabians. Franz Xaver Kappus (1883-1966) influenced the literary modernists in the Western part of Romania especially through his expressionistic texts. He became famous thanks to his correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The masterpiece Die lebenden Vierzehn (The Fourteeen SURVIVORS) (1918) is swayed by a collective catastrophe and represents a certain kind of utopia, which anticipates the end of the world. A dread causing image with a peculiar unreality shapes the event. Kappus’ fantasy does not shrink back from images of dread and horror. As in the expressionistic literature any destruction of the harmonious beautiful principle comes about in dread. The grotesque features belong to the expressionistic character of the book. It is interesting that the dreadful and the grotesque show their demonic side and with it they destroy the familiar reality. Such a development demonstrates that Kappus follows a tradition to which also E. T. A. Hoffmann, Frank Wedekind, Franz Kafka or Georg Heym belong. There are also streaks of naturalism in the novel.

Der Schriftsteller Franz Xaver Kappus als Vertreter der literarischen Moderne im Banat

Lekt. Dr. Polytechnische Universität Temeswar

Germanistische Beiträge

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In comparison to the Transsylvanian-Saxon or to the German-speaking Bukowina literature the modernists exerted a more reduced influence on the literature of...

Der Schriftsteller Franz Xaver Kappus als Vertreter der literarischen Moderne im Banat

Published Online: Apr 22, 2023

Page range: 84 - 113

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gb-2022-0005

Keywords
Franz Xaver Kappus, expressionistic literature, naturalism, primitiveness, utopia, end of the world, grotesque, dread

© 2023 Roxana Nubert et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Der Schriftsteller Franz Xaver Kappus als Vertreter der literarischen Moderne im Banat

Published Online: Apr 22, 2023

Page range: 84 - 113

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gb-2022-0005

KeywordsFranz Xaver Kappus, expressionistic literature, naturalism, primitiveness, utopia, end of the world, grotesque, dread

© 2023 Roxana Nubert et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Franz Xaver Kappus, expressionistic literature, naturalism, primitiveness, utopia, end of the world, grotesque, dread