18. Two National Poets of Austria

Fercher von Steinwand and Marie Eugenie delle Grazie

Silence is one of the most effective means used by our journalism to give prominence only to those literary phenomena that are convenient to it. Our newspaper people no longer recognize the critic's duty to pave the way for important talents to reach the public. One need only possess the nobility peculiar to the true German, who disdains to make an impact through anything other than his work, to hope in vain for the influence he deserves in literature. We remember that an influential Viennese critic, at a time when Hamerling was at the height of his creative powers, spoke of a "certain Mr. Hamerling in Graz", that journalistic impudence even dared, when the "Homunculus" appeared, to write down the words about one of our greatest German spirits: "A poet not unknown in the provinces." This is how one treats the greats who, after decades of struggle, have finally forced recognition upon themselves. These are the fruits of the newspaper system, which has been brought up by liberalism. One of these fruits is that the German people in Austria are virtually unaware that on March 22 a poet celebrated his sixty-second birthday in Vienna who is one of the most national in the noblest sense of the word. Anyone familiar with Hamerling's "Blätter im Winde" will find in it a short poem addressed to Fercher von Steinwand, whose magnificent creation "Gräfin Seelenbrand" pays the tribute of recognition it deserves.

Who is Fercher von Steinwand? We say it freely and openly: one of the most talented and peculiar German poets, who remained unnoticed all his life because he did not know how to win the friendship of the writers. Johann Kleinfercher - his real name - was born on March 22, 1828 in Steinwand in Carinthia. He devoted himself to scientific and philosophical studies in Vienna under the greatest privations. His great talent was recognized by insightful people at the very moment when Fercher was on the verge of perishing in the material hardships of life. The insight of a Viennese scholar, which cannot be valued highly enough, provided Fercher with a carefree life. From this time on, the poet lived entirely according to his literary inclinations. Due to the unfavorable circumstances, he published little. "Dankmar", a tragedy (1867), "Gräfin Seelenbrand", a poem (1874), and "Deutsche Klänge aus Österreich" (1881) are all that we have of him in book form. Individual poems that have appeared in magazines, such as "Chor der Urtriebe", published in the "Deutsche Wochenschrift", are worthy additions to the larger works. Fercher is a German individuality. In him, the folklore appears transfigured into a truly artistic spirituality. His "German Sounds" contain poems that are definitely among the most beautiful in German literature. Depth of feeling and spiritual height of vision are united here with an admirable handling of form. In particular, the high Germanic seriousness of these creations appeals to us. Fercher often rises to a height that we only find in Schiller's "Spaziergang" or Goethe's "Weltseele", for example in the aforementioned "Chor der Urtriebe". Of course, we cannot think of giving an exhaustive characterization of our native poet here; we only wanted to point out the literary recklessness that dominates our time. Fercher certainly still has treasures in his writing desk; but he can hope for no understanding in the neglect of our literary conditions; and therefore he would probably prefer not to publish.

A second talent we would like to mention here is Marie Eugenie delle Grazie. Although the German national provincial press has done its duty here, the Viennese press does not seem to want to behave any differently towards delle Grazie than it did with Fercher. We are dealing here with a personality from whom we can hope the greatest. His works to date, "Poems", "The Gypsy", "Hermann", an epic poem, and "Saul", a drama, are truly more than can be expected from a talent up to the age of 21. "Hermann" is a German epic that is completely imbued with the noble idealism of our people. We attach particular importance to the fact that the world-historical mission of the Germans is presented to our souls with such clarity. "Saul" and "Hermann" complement each other in this respect. In "Saul" we meet a personality in the midst of the Jewish people who wants to preach the God of love to this people. But the people of Jehovah have no understanding for this. Therein lies the tragedy of Saul. Full understanding for the religion of love could only be had by a people who live completely egoistically according to the ideal. This is the case with the Germans. But this is to be shown in delle Grazie's "Hermann". Here, too, we encounter German high-mindedness in masterly form. If we already find much that is admirable in the four works of delle Grazie mentioned above, we find from the poems recently published in various magazines that this talent has only now found its true direction, that in future creations of his we can expect what we must regard as the artistic consequence of the present world view. Of course, it is not at all important how one relates to this world view itself. One can, as for example the writer of these lines, be a decided opponent of it; but one has the duty to describe as such the talent in which this view finds its artistic transfiguration. And it seems to us necessary to emphasize that this transfiguration necessarily had to emerge from the German spirit. The mechanical-naturalistic view of existence requires a state of mind that could only produce the deep pain that delle Grazie's most recent poems present to us in a quintessentially German mind. One must possess the depth of German feeling in order to portray that pain with full dignity. And there is something terribly shattering when we are confronted with the following sentiment: "You play of soulless atoms that conjures up ideals for us that are grand, beautiful and sublime out of purely mechanical causality. You can only make existence seem worthless to me. I float there without support, in the midst of your antics. I recognize it as buffoonery, but I can't get out of your circle. You present your worthless haze to me as the content of my life. You create images of beauty, but in bodies in which decay eats away." Anyone who does not understand this pain has no heart for the bleakness of our current views. Delle Grazie's latest poems are the reflection of the modern spirit from the German heart. What position we take on them is a completely different question; the fact that we must not pass them by as a significant phenomenon seems to me to be an imperative of aesthetic conscience. There are things that every educated person has to deal with. What delle Grazie has in common with all true "natures" is to pose questions to fate, to present us with a "human destiny". Admittedly, there is little understanding for this today, when all we get to hear in the theaters is dramatized nonsense penned by the shallowest journalistic narrow-mindedness.

It is a real consolation to anyone who has a heart and a sense for his people that there are still phenomena like Fercher and delle Grazie in a time when people who lack everything for such a reign dominate our literature. "Saul" by delle Grazie was found by Laube to be perfectly suitable for dramatic performance; in German Vienna, however, they prefer to stage another play by the author of "Wilddiebe", as was recently announced to us. If we wanted to describe the disgrace done to the German people and their art, we would have to use too harsh a tone. So better not ...