In September 1930 Erich Kästner published the poetry collection Ein Mann gibt Auskunft. One of its poems is titled Und wo bleibt das Positive, Herr Kästner?, and where is the positive, Mr. Kästner? It begins: Und immer wieder schickt ihr mir Briefe, in denen ihr, dick unterstrichen, schreibt: And again and again you send me letters in which you write, heavily underlined. The letters ask him for something positive. Teaching materials list the poem for pupils from grade 11.
literature
Is One Lying in German When One Is Polite?
In the second part of Goethe’s Faust, published in 1832, Mephisto tells a former student: Du weißt wohl nicht, mein Freund, wie grob du bist? You do not seem to know, my friend, how rude you are. The young man, the Baccalaureus, answers: Im Deutschen lügt man, wenn man höflich ist. In German, one lies when one is polite. The line became a common quotation about German bluntness, but the scene mocks the arrogant young man who says it. In 1986 the linguist Harald Weinrich received the Konrad Duden Prize. His speech asked whether one lies in German when one is polite, and he argued that politeness is part of normal language use.
The Critic Who Refused the Prize
Marcel Reich-Ranicki hosted the television program Das Literarische Quartett from 1988 to 2001 and was known as the Literaturpapst, the pope of literature. On 11 October 2008 he was to receive the German Television Prize for his life’s work. On stage, he refused it. He cited the Blödsinn, den wir hier heute Abend zu sehen bekommen haben, the nonsense we have seen here this evening.
Enough Words
In the prelude to Goethe’s Faust, a theater director talks with his poet and his comic actor about the play they must put on. He cuts the discussion short. Der Worte sind genug gewechselt, / Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn! / Indes ihr Komplimente drechselt, / Kann etwas Nützliches geschehn. Enough words have been exchanged, let me at last see deeds! While you are turning compliments, something useful could be done. The first two lines are often quoted.
Late, But You Came
Friedrich Schiller’s play Die Piccolomini, first performed in Weimar on 30 January 1799, opens with a greeting. Spät kommt Ihr – Doch Ihr kommt! You come late, but you come! The line became a common German saying. It is said, half as a reproach and half as a welcome, to someone who arrives late.
Three Days, Until Sunset
In Friedrich Schiller’s ballad Die Bürgschaft, published in 1799, a man condemned to death asks the tyrant: Ich flehe dich um drei Tage Zeit, I beg you for three days’ time. His friend stays behind as a pledge and will die if he does not return. On the way back, floods and robbers hold him up. He keeps going, because the bloody tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that the friend broke his duty to the friend. Und die Sonne geht unter, da steht er am Tor. And the sun is setting as he stands at the gate. Da bin ich, für den er gebürget! Here I am, the one he stood bail for! The tyrant concludes: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. And loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.
Do Not Talk Too Much About Yourself
Adolph Freiherr Knigge’s Über den Umgang mit Menschen, on dealing with people, first appeared in 1788. Knigge advises: Rede also nicht zu viel von Dir selber, außer in dem Zirkel Deiner vertrautesten Freunde. So do not talk too much about yourself, except in the circle of your most trusted friends. He gives two reasons for not being too open with people. The first is the fear of revealing one’s weakness and being misused. The second is that once people are used to being told everything, they zuletzt von jedem unsrer kleinsten Schritte Rechenschaft verlangen, end up demanding an account of our smallest steps.
A Friendship in Sie
The friendship between Goethe and Schiller is one of the best known in German literature. They addressed each other as Sie. Goethe told Schiller: Sie haben mir eine zweite Jugend verschafft und mich wieder zum Dichter gemacht. You have given me a second youth and made me a poet again. The music writer Graham Johnson notes that Goethe never said du even to Schiller. Goethe did move to du with the composer Carl Friedrich Zelter. This happened in 1812, when Zelter’s stepson had shot himself. In his reply to Zelter’s letter, Goethe addressed him for the first time with the brotherly du.
In Black and White
In the study scene of Goethe’s Faust I, a young student asks for advice. Mephistopheles tells him to take notes as if the Holy Spirit were dictating. The student answers: Denn, was man schwarz auf weiß besitzt, / Kann man getrost nach Hause tragen. For what one has in black and white, one can carry home with confidence. Schwarz auf weiß, black on white, is the everyday German phrase for something in writing.
In the play the line is usually read as ironic. Mephistopheles is teasing a student who trusts paper.
Lessing Against Gottsched
In 1759 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing published the 17th of his Briefe, die neueste Litteratur betreffend, letters concerning the newest literature. In it he attacked Johann Christoph Gottsched, who had led the reform of the German theater. Lessing wrote: Es wäre zu wünschen, dass sich Herr Gottsched niemals mit dem Theater vermengt hätte. It would have been better if Mr. Gottsched had never involved himself with the theater.