Editing Arno Schmidt

{{Short description|German writer and translator (1914–1979)}}
{{for|the chef|Arno Schmidt (chef)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
[[File:KueheinHalbtrauer.jpg|thumb|Arno Schmidt, from an illustration by {{ill|Jens Rusch|de}} for his story ''Kühe in Halbtrauer'']]
[[File:House of Arno Schmidt.jpg|thumb|Arno Schmidt's house in [[Bargfeld]]]]
[[File:Arno Schmidt - Grave.jpg|thumb|Schmidt's grave in the garden of his house in Bargfeld]]
[[File:Arno-Schmidt-Stiftung.jpg|thumb|{{ill|Arno Schmidt Foundation|de|Arno Schmidt Stiftung}}]]
'''Arno Schmidt''' ({{IPA|de|ˈaʁno ʃmɪt|lang|De-Arno Schmidt.ogg}}; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although not among Germany's most popular authors,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.autoren-magazin.de/die-bedeutendsten-autoren.phtml|title=Autoren-Magazin.de - Die bedeutendsten Autoren - Die bedeutendsten deutschsprachigen Schriftsteller|first=Manfred|last=Plinke|website=www.autoren-magazin.de}}</ref>{{dead link|date=March 2025}} critics and writers often consider him to be one of the most important German-language writers of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.de/zettels-traum-der-dichter-arno-schmidt/a-17365493|title=Zettels Traum: Der Dichter Arno Schmidt - DW - 18.01.2014|website=DW.COM}}</ref>

==Biography==
Born in [[Hamburg]], the son of a police constable, Schmidt moved in 1928, after the death of his father (1883–1928), with his mother (1894–1973), to her hometown of [[Lauban]] (in [[Lusatia]], then [[Lower Silesia]], now Poland) and attended secondary school in [[Görlitz]] as well as a trade school there. After finishing school, he was unemployed for some months and then, in 1934, began a commercial apprenticeship at a textile company in [[Gryfów Śląski|Greiffenberg]]. After finishing his apprenticeship he was hired by the same company as a stock accountant. There, around this time, he met his future wife, Alice Murawski. The couple married on 21 August 1937; they had no children.

At the outset of World War II, in 1939, Schmidt was drafted into the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'', where his mathematical skills led him to be assigned to the artillery corps. He first served in [[Alsace]] and after 1941 in fairly quiet [[German occupation of Norway|Norway]]. In 1945, Schmidt volunteered for active front duty in Northern Germany, in order to be granted a brief home visit. As the war was obviously lost, he used this visit to organise his wife's and his own escape to the west of Germany, in order to evade capture by the [[Red Army]], which was known for its much harsher treatment of prisoners of war and German civilians. Schmidt gave himself up to British forces in [[Lower Saxony]]. As refugees, Schmidt and his wife lost almost all of their possessions, including their cherished book collection.

After an interlude as a British POW and later as an interpreter at a police school, Schmidt began his career as a freelance writer in 1946. Since Schmidt's pre-war home in [[Lauban]] was now under Polish administration, Schmidt and his wife were among the millions of refugees moved by the authorities to numerous places in what was to become [[West Germany]]. During this time of uncertainty and extreme poverty, the Schmidts were sustained by [[CARE Package]]s his sister sent them from the US (his sister Lucie had emigrated to the US in 1939, together with her husband Rudy Kiesler, a Jewish German communist). Temporary accommodations led the Schmidts to Cordingen (near [[Bomlitz]]), [[Gau-Bickelheim]], and [[Kastel-Staadt|Kastel]] (the latter two in the newly formed state of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]). In [[Kastel-Staadt|Kastel]], he was accused in court of [[blasphemy]] and moral subversion, then still considered a crime in some of the Catholic regions of West Germany. As a result, Schmidt and his wife moved to the Protestant city of [[Darmstadt]] in [[Hesse]], where the suit against him was dismissed. In 1958, the Schmidts moved to the small village of [[Bargfeld]], where they were to stay for the rest of their lives, Schmidt dying in 1979, his wife Alice in 1983.

==Writing style and personal philosophy==
Schmidt was a strict [[individualist]], almost a [[solipsist]]. Disaffected by his experience of [[Nazi Germany]], he had an extremely pessimistic world view. In 1951's ''{{ill|Schwarze Spiegel|de}}'' (''Dark Mirrors''), he describes his utopia as an empty world after an [[human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]] [[apocalypse]]. Although he was not a [[deist]] in the conventional sense, he maintained that the world was created by a monster called [[Leviathan]], whose predatory nature was passed on to humans. Still, he thought this monster could not be too powerful to be attacked, if it behoved humanity.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

His writing style is characterised by a unique and witty style of adapting colloquial language, which won him quite a few fervent admirers. Moreover, he developed an [[orthography]] by which he thought to reveal the true meaning of words and their connections amongst each other. One of the most cited examples is the use of ''“Roh=Mann=Tick"'' instead of "Romantik" (revealing romanticism as the craze of unsubtle men). The atoms of words holding the nuclei of original meaning he called Etyme (etyms).

==''Bottom's Dream''==
His theory of etyms is developed in his [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]], ''[[Bottom's Dream]]'' ({{langx|de|Zettels Traum}}), in which a middle-aged writer comments on [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s works in a [[Stream of consciousness writing|stream of consciousness]], while discussing a Poe translation with a couple of translators and flirting with their teenage daughter. Schmidt also accomplished a translation of Edgar Allan Poe's works himself (1966–1973, together with [[Hans Wollschläger]]). Some critics even dismissed ''Bottom's Dream'' as non-art, or sheer nonsense, and Schmidt himself as a "psychopath". But Schmidt's reputation as [[esoteric]], and that of his work as non-art, has faded and he is now seen as an important, if highly eccentric, German writer of the 20th century.<ref>''Arno Schmidt's Zettel's Traum: an analysis'' by Volker Max Langbehn, 2003, page 4</ref>

==Other, minor works==
In the 1960s, he authored a series of plays for German radio stations presenting forgotten or little known and—in his opinion—vastly underrated authors, e.g. [[Johann Gottfried Schnabel]], [[Karl Philipp Moritz]], [[Leopold Schefer]], [[Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow]], and others. These "plays" are basically talks about literature with two or three participants plus voices for quotations (Schmidt lent his voice for his translations from ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'' quoted in ''Der Triton mit dem Sonnenschirm'' [1961]). Eleven of these so-called "Radio-Essays" were republished on 12 audio CDs in 2003.

==The final years==
1971 Schmidt was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] by [[Lars Gyllensten]], a member of the [[Swedish Academy]].<ref>List of [https://www.svenskaakademien.se/search/node/forslagslista candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature 1971] of the Swedish Academy, updated on 3 January 2022</ref>
But as none of Schmidt's works sold more than a few thousand copies (he openly admitted that he only wrote for the small handful of people who could appreciate his work), he lived in extreme poverty. During the last few years of his life, he was financially supported by the [[philologist]] and writer [[Jan Philipp Reemtsma]], the heir of the German cigarette manufacturer Philipp F. Reemtsma. Schmidt's final completed novel was ''Abend mit Goldrand'' (1975) which was praised by some critics for its verbal inventiveness, although many had a difficult time digesting the erotic themes of the book. He died in a hospital in [[Celle]] on 3 June 1979 after suffering a stroke.<ref>{{cite book|title=Review of Contemporary Fiction|publisher=John O'Brien|year=1988|page=142}}</ref>

==Posthumous legacy==
[[Dalkey Archive Press]] has reissued five volumes of Schmidt's work translated by [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]]. The series includes ''Collected Novellas'', ''Collected Stories'', ''Nobodaddy's Children'', ''Two Novels'', and most recently, ''Bottom's Dream''. The reissues were scheduled to coincide with "Rediscovering Arno Schmidt events in the US, UK, and continental Europe."<ref>[http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/?fa=catalog Dalkey Archive Press]</ref>
The Arno Schmidt Foundation (''Arno Schmidt Stiftung'') in [[Bargfeld]], sponsored by [[Jan Philipp Reemtsma]], is publishing his complete works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.complete-review.com/authors/schmarn.htm|title=Arno Schmidt at the Complete Review|first=the complete review - all rights|last=reserved|website=www.complete-review.com}}</ref>

Schmidt is mentioned in the [[Roberto Bolaño]] novel [[2666]].<ref name="Rathjen2020">{{cite book |last1=Rathjen |first1=Friedhelm |editor-last=Rathjen |editor-first=Friedhelm |title=Arno Schmidt global: Eine Bestandsaufnahme der internationalen Rezeption 1952–2010 |date=2020 |publisher=edition text + kritik |isbn=978-3-96707-121-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cPgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 |language=de}}</ref>

===Arno Schmidt Prize===
The Arno Schmidt Prize, awarded by the Arno Schmidt Foundation and awarded from 1981 to 1988, was endowed with DM 50,000 (about €25,000). The prize has only been awarded four times:
*1982: [[Hans Wollschläger]]
* 1984: [[Wolfgang Koeppen]]
* 1986: [[Peter Rühmkorf]]
* 1988: [[Karlheinz Deschner]]

After that the award was converted into the two-year Arno Schmidt scholarship, endowed with 36,000 euros.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.european-funding-guide.eu/scholarship/991105110-stipendien-f%C3%BCr-promovierende|title=Arno-Schmidt-Stiftung Bargfeld - Stipendien für Promovierende - EFG - European Funding Guide|website=www.european-funding-guide.eu}}</ref>

===Arno Schmidt scholarship winners===
* 1992/1993: [[Ulrich Holbein]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.literatur-niedersachsen.de/preise-stipendien/detailansicht/arno-schmidt-stipendium.html|title=Arno-Schmidt-Stipendium: Literatur in Niedersachsen|first=Literaturhaus Hannover|last=e.V.|website=www.literatur-niedersachsen.de}}</ref>
* 1994/1995: [[Andreas Eschbach]]
* 1996/1997: [[Werner Kofler]]
* 2000/2001: [[Kurt Drabert]]
* 2000: [[Georg Martin Oswald]]
* 2002/2003: [[Friederike Kretzen]]
* 2005/2006: [[Reinhard Jirgl]]
* 2007/2008: [[Werner Fritsch]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kulturpreise.de/web/preise_info.php?preisd_id=2208|title=Kulturpreise.de : Arno Schmidt-Stipendien|first=ARCult Media|last=GmbH|website=www.kulturpreise.de}}</ref>
* 2015/2016: [[Andreas Maier (writer)|Andreas Maier]]
*2018/2019: [[Georg Klein (writer)|Georg Klein]]

==Bibliography==
===Novels===

*''Brand's Haide'' (1951). ''Brand's Heath''
* ''Schwarze Spiegel'' (1951). ''Dark Mirrors''
*''Aus dem Leben eines Fauns'' (1953). ''Scenes from the Life of a Faun''
*''[[The Stony Heart|Das steinerne Herz]]'' (1956). ''The Stony Heart''
*''KAFF auch Mare Crisium'' (1960). ''B/Moondocks''
*''Nobodaddy's Kinder'' (1963). ''Nobodaddy's Children''; collects ''Aus dem Leben eines Fauns, Brand's Haide, Schwarze Spiegel''
*''[[Bottom's Dream|Zettels Traum]]'' (1970). ''Bottom's Dream''
* ''[[The School for Atheists|Die Schule der Atheisten]]'' (1972). ''The School for Atheists''
* ''Abend mit Goldrand'' (1975). ''Evening Edged in Gold''
*''Julia, oder die Gemälde'' (unfinished, 1983).

=== Novellas and short stories ===
* ''Leviathan'' (1949). Includes: ''Enthymesis'', ''Gadir'', ''Leviathan''
*''Die Umsiedler – 2 Prosastudien'' (1953)''.'' Includes: ''Die Umsiedler'' (''The Displaced'') and ''Alexander''
*''Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas'' (1955). ''Lake Scenery with Pocahontas''
* ''Kosmas oder Vom Berge des Nordens'' (1955)
* ''Tina oder über die Unsterblichkeit'' (1956)
* ''Goethe und einer seiner Bewunderer'' (1957)
* ''[[The Egghead Republic|Die Gelehrtenrepublik]]'' (1957). ''The Egghead Republic'' (trans. Michael Horovitz, 1979) and ''Republica Intelligentsia'' (trans. John E. Woods, 1994)
* ''Rosen und Porree'' (1959). Collects ''Pocahontas'', ''Die Umsiedler'', ''Alexander'' and ''Kosmas''
* ''Kühe in Halbtrauer'' (1964). Later published as ''Ländliche Erzählungen'' (''Country Matters'')
* ''Trommler beim Zaren'' (1966). Short story anthology.

=== Dialogues ===
* ''Massenbach, Cooper, Brockes, Fouqué, Pape, Schnabel, Europa, Wieland, Meyern, Meisterdiebe, Klopstock, Moritz''
* ''Joyce, May, Stifter, Krakatau, Herder, Vorspiel, Oppermann, Wezel, Kreisschlösser, Müller, Tieck, Schefer, Dickens''
* ''Das Zweite Programm, Joyce, May, Frenssen, Stifter, Gutzkow, Lafontaine, Joyce, Collins, Bulwer-Lytton, Spindler''

=== Literary theory ===
* ''Fouqué und einige seiner Zeitgenossen'', biography of [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]], 1958 (2nd, extended ed. 1960)
*''Dya Na Sore'' (1958)
*''Belphegor'' (1961)
* ''Sitara und der Weg dorthin'', biography of [[Karl May]], 1963
*''Die Ritter vom Geist'' (1965)
*''Der Triton mit den Sonnenschirm'' (1969). ''The Triton with the Parasol''

===English translations===
* ''The Egghead Republic'' – 1979 (''Die Gelehrtenrepublik'', trans. [[Michael Horovitz]])
* ''Evening Edged in Gold'' – 1980 (''Abend mit Goldrand'', trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]])
* ''Scenes from the Life of a Faun'' – 1983 (''Aus dem Leben eines Fauns'', trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]]; revised in 1995)
* ''Collected Early Fiction, 1949–1964'', in four volumes (all trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]]):
** Volume 1: ''Collected Novellas'' – 1994; collects ''Enthymesis'' (1949), ''Leviathan'' (1949), ''Gadir'' (1949), ''Alexander'' (1953), ''The Displaced'' (1953), ''Lake Scenery with Pocahontas'' (1955), ''Cosmas'' (1955), ''Tina'' (1956), ''Goethe'' (1957) and ''Republica Intelligentsia'' (1957)
** Volume 2: ''Nobodaddy's Children'' – 1995; collects ''Scenes from the Life of a Faun'' (1953), ''Brand's Heath'' (1951) and ''Dark Mirrors'' (1951)
** Volume 3: ''Collected Stories'' – 1996; collects ''Aus der Inselstraße'' (''Tales from Island Street'') (16 stories, 1955–1962), ''Stürenburg-Geschichten'' (''Stürenburg Stories'') (9 stories, 1955–1959), ''Country Matters'' (9 stories and the novella ''[[Caliban over Setebos|Caliban über Setebos]]'' (''Caliban upon Stetebos''), 1960–1964)
** Volume 4: ''Two Novels'' – 1997; collects ''The Stony Heart'' (1954) and ''B/Moondocks'' (1960)
* ''Radio Dialogs I'' – 1999 (trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]])
* ''[[The School for Atheists]]'' – 2001 (''Die Schule der Atheisten'', trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]])
* ''Radio Dialogs II'' – 2003 (trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]])
* ''Bottom's Dream'' – 2016 (''[[Zettels Traum]]'', trans. [[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Jörg Drews, Hans-Michael Bock: ''Der Solipsist in der Heide. Materialien zum Werk Arno Schmidts'', Munich 1974 (in German)
* [[Hans-Michael Bock]]: ''Bibliografie Arno Schmidt 1949–1978'', Munich 1979 (in German)
* Karl-Heinz Müther: ''Bibliographie Arno Schmidt 1949–1991'', Bielefeld 1992 (in German, continued)
* Wolfgang Martynkewicz: ''Arno Schmidt''. Reinbek 1992. {{ISBN|978-3-499-50484-6}} (in German)
* Marius Fränzel: ''Dies wundersame Gemisch: Eine Einführung in das erzählerische Werk Arno Schmidts''. Kiel (Ludwig) 2002, {{ISBN|978-3-933598-54-7}} (in German)
* »Arno Schmidt? - Allerdings!« 2006 (Marbacher Kataloge) (Arno Schmidt Exhibition, Marbach 2006).
* Robert Weninger: ''Framing a novelist: Arno Schmidt criticism 1970–1994''. Columbia, S.C., Camden House 1995.
* Tony Phelan: ''Rationalist narrative in some works of Arno Schmidt''. Coventry, Univ. of Warwick 1972.
* Gerhard Charles Rump, "Schmidt, Joyce und die Suprasegmentalien", in: ''Interaktionsanalysen. Aspekte dialogischer Kommunikation''. Gerhard Charles Rump and Wilfried Heindrichs (eds), Hildesheim 1982, pp.&nbsp;222–238

==External links==
* {{Commons-inline|Arno Schmidt}}

{{Arno Schmidt}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Arno}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Hamburg]]
[[Category:English–German translators]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Translators of Edgar Allan Poe]]
[[Category:Trümmerliteratur]]
[[Category:20th-century German translators]]
[[Category:20th-century German novelists]]
[[Category:German male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century German male writers]]