Where the Futurist’s City Symphony is a celebration of ‘the Joy of Mechanical Force’, the Expressionist’s is dark and apocalyptic. Cities in this poetry are centres of disease and disgust. They are industrial to the extent that they are equated with factories as pars pro toto. Life in the country-side or in the city could not be more different or the rift between the rich and the poor greater. R.H. Thomas comments that between 1890 and 1912 production in Germany was already industrial, whereas society was still far from industrial. The reason being, that in Germany industrialisation set in much later than in the UK and was compressed into just three decades.
It is a time when the cities were ‘reborn’ and the images of the city changed dramatically, some of which I want to argue still exist in our common imaginary today.
There are several fields of images that contribute to the representation of the city, they are: apocalyptic visions of technology and the decaying body, disease and sexuality, but also the Ich-Zerfall (ego-decay) can be seen as being triggered by the experience of the city as Simmel elaborates and when the Expressionist poets write about nature, it only really exists in relation to that city whose red smoke always lurks in the background, its smoke can be tasted everywhere.
The city is the main theme of all these poems not just the backdrop and they address city issues directly. However, much has been written about the representation of the city in connection with technology, factories and alienating working conditions, which lend themselves to a Marxist analysis. This is not what interests me here, instead I want to approach the city on a sideway, using sociological theory of the body as put forward by Turner and Benthall and later explore the links between ‘body aesthetics’ and ‘machine aesthetics’ and see where they overlap.
Table of Contents
The Diseased, Decaying and Deformed Body
The Dead City
The ‘Gods’ of the City
The Mechanical Body
Research Objectives and Themes
This essay explores the representation of the body and the city in Expressionist and Futurist poetry, moving beyond standard Marxist interpretations of industrialization to analyze the urban landscape through sociological theories of the body and machine aesthetics. The work examines how these poets utilize the "organic analogy"—comparing the city to a diseased or decaying body—to provide aesthetic, ethical, and sociological commentary on the state of society and the alienation caused by modern technology.
- The city as a diseased, decaying, and deformed body in Expressionist poetry.
- The intersection of urban space, social health, and individual identity (Ich-Zerfall).
- Comparisons between Expressionist apocalyptic visions and Futurist technology-worship.
- The aesthetic fusion of organic and non-organic imagery (human as machine).
- The critique of bourgeois decadence through body-centered metaphors.
Excerpt from the Book
The Diseased, Decaying and Deformed Body
Thus “diseases belong inside nature; illnesses inside culture” (Turner 1996, p.200) and “Disease is a social phenomenon” (Turner 1996, p.201). It is this understanding of the body and of disease that makes the analogy of the diseased body such a powerful comment. Even where at first it may seem as though it was expressed only with regard to the individual, like Benn’s ‘drowned beer-truck driver’ from Kleine Aster. In the German as well as in the English translation the link between ‘ersoffen’ and besoffen, ‘drowned’ and drunk is apparent especially because he was not just any kind of truck driver but a beer truck driver; this is one link to disease. The reader also shares the perspective of the pathologist so it can be assumed that he died a violent or unnatural death. In Mann und Frau gehn durch die Krebsbaracke the topos of disease is already given a stronger social aspect. This is far more than a description of a ‘cancer ward’ but rather an inspection of the state of society. But these are bold statements and the medical terminology alone is not proof enough. After all Benn was a army doctor and these poems might even be credible if not quite ‘realistic’ renderings of what are essentially his personal observations.
Chapter Summaries
The Diseased, Decaying and Deformed Body: This chapter establishes the "organic analogy," exploring how poets like Gottfried Benn and Georg Heym use medical imagery and the aesthetics of disease to symbolize the decay of modern society.
The Dead City: This section investigates depictions of the city as a lifeless, corpse-filled space, focusing on how buildings and inhabitants are portrayed as moribund and hollow.
The ‘Gods’ of the City: This chapter analyzes the daemonic character of the city in Expressionist poetry compared to the Futurist celebration of technology and fire, using figures like the volcano and the giant man-like daemon.
The Mechanical Body: This concluding analysis explores the synthesis of body and machine, arguing that while Futurists romanticize technology, Expressionists view the technological invasion of the organic as a primary threat to human identity.
Keywords
Expressionism, Futurism, Urban Poetry, Body Aesthetics, Machine Aesthetics, Organic Analogy, Social Pathology, Industrialization, Ich-Zerfall, Gottfried Benn, Georg Heym, Technology, Modernity, Apocalyptic, Urban Decay.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this study?
The study focuses on the representation of the city and the body in early 20th-century Expressionist and Futurist poetry, highlighting how these movements interpreted urban life through the lens of physical health and mechanical assimilation.
What are the central thematic areas?
The central themes include the analogy between the diseased body and the sick society, the role of technology in alienating the individual, and the symbolic intersection of the human form with urban structures.
What is the primary research question?
The research explores how Expressionist and Futurist poets used "body aesthetics" and "machine aesthetics" to offer sociological and ethical commentaries on the rapid urbanization and industrialization of the era.
Which scientific methodology is utilized?
The author employs sociological theories of the body, specifically referencing Turner and Benthall, to analyze literary texts beyond traditional Marxist perspectives on industrial factory conditions.
What is covered in the main body of the work?
The main body examines poems by authors such as Benn, Heym, and Marinetti, contrasting their diverse portrayals of urban decay, child-birth, labor, and the integration of the human subject into the city's machinery.
Which keywords best characterize this research?
Key terms include Expressionism, Futurism, body aesthetics, urban decay, social pathology, organic analogy, and technophobia versus technophilia.
How does the author distinguish between Expressionist and Futurist views on technology?
The author argues that while Futurism is a largely uncritical celebration of technology as an indomitable force, Expressionism portrays technology as an alienating threat that leads to the "death of the individual" or "Ich-Zerfall".
Why is the "drowned beer-truck driver" in Benn’s poem significant?
This image is significant because it links the individual death to disease and social decay, utilizing the linguistic connection between "ersoffen" (drowned) and "besoffen" (drunk) to suggest a deeper pathology within the working class.
In what way does the author challenge standard interpretations of these "city poems"?
The author challenges the idea that these poems are merely descriptive, arguing that they function as allegorical inspections of societal health, where the city itself becomes a living, breathing, and ultimately sick entity.
- Quote paper
- MPhil Rebecca Steltner (Author), 2004, The diseased city – Images of the body in expressionist and futurist poetry, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/57423
