Thalassic Regression: The Cipher of the Ocean in Gottfried Benn’s Poetry

Zusammenfassung

Gottfried Benn (1889–1956) ranks among the few German twentieth-century poets who gained international recognition. His poetic oeuvre spans a period of more than four decades (1910-55). While his early poems share certain stylistic and thematic features with German expressionism and while, in later years, he still considered himself a heir of that literary school, he never embraced the idealism and utopian optimism of many expressionist writers, in particular, their belief in the coming of a „new man“ who would rise above a society tarnished by positivism, an all-too utilitarian pragmatism, commercialism, and the dehumanizing effect of modern industry, technology, and war. Benn based his writing on a highly personal philosophy which can be detected in many of his early poems and which — in spite of certain thematic shifts — continues to be present in his later works.