Background

Albrecht Schaeffer was born on December 6, 1885, in Elbing, Prussia (now Elblag, Poland). He was the son of Paul Friedrich and Marie Antoinette Agnes Schaffer.

Education

From 1905 to 1909 Albrecht Schaeffer attended the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Marburg, and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Career

After working briefly as an unpaid apprentice newspaper reporter, Albrecht Schaeffer decided against a conventional career and moved back in with his parents. Drawn to the power of ancient myth throughout his career, Schaeffer borrowed motifs from The Odyssey in his early poetry collection. Die Meerfahrt. Schaeffer translated Homer’s The Odyssey in 1927 and The Iliad in 1929. In 1920 he rewrote the myth of Persephone in Der Raub der Persefone. In addition, he published two volumes of narrative, titled Griechische Heldensagen, in 1929 and 1930.

In 1914 the small publishing house Insel in Leipzig published two volumes of Schaeffer’s poetry, Heroische Falirt, and Attische Dammerung. Schaeffer’s 1914 play, Die Mütter, published as World War I began and its author had been drafted as a desk clerk at the bureau of disabled soldiers, is a traditional nineteenth-century drama. A book of poems, Des Michael Schwertlos vaterländische Gedichte, published the following year, celebrates personal strength during wartime without glorifying battle.

Schaeffer collaborated with friend Ludwig Strauß on Die Opfer des Kaisers, Kremserfahrten und die Abgesänge der hallenden Korridore, a collection of poetic parodies making light of Stefan George’s lesser imitators, published in 1918. A few years later, in 1923, the friends would collaborate on a yearbook, Leucothea.

After relocating to Neubeuren, in the upper Bavarian countryside, with his first wife, Schaeffer saw the publication of his first serious fiction works. Gudula oder Die Dauer des Lebens tracks the Napoleonic wars to the start of the industrial age. The novel Josef Montfort is less romantic than Gudula in tone and language; instead, the tale is Freudian-influenced. Li, the Chinese servant of young and supposedly fearless Baron Josef Montfort, narrates the book. Soon, Josef's look-alike double surfaces, proves himself to be Josef's twin brother, and murders Josef in cold blood.

Elli oder Sieben Treppen, a lengthy narrative consisting of seven sections, is a tragedy tracking protagonist Elli’s numerous upsets and intimate betrayals. Josef Montfort and his murderous twin appear. It was published in three volumes, between 1920 and 1924. Helianth: Bilder aus dem Leben zweier Menschen von heute aus der norddeutschen Tiefebene in neun Büchern dargestellt follows main character Georg as he flirts with perfection via art. Helianth sparked a debate that many consider a prelude to the 1930s debates on expressionism.

Dichtung: Kritische Versuche contains reflections on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Eduard Morike, and Ludwig Strauß, chapters on the ballad, the sonnet, the tragedy, and the epic, and closes with an essay on Stefan George. The 1920s and 1930s were Schaeffer’s most productive years, during which he wrote much poetry, both lyric and meter. Die Saalborner Stanzen: Eine Trilogie, Die Marien-Lieder, and Das Haus am SEE: Zwei Trilogien contain some of these works. Die Wand: Dramatische Phantasmagoric, a one-act play, is also from this period. The story centers around the characters of Goelhe and his friend; the setting is an inn in Zurich. Other longer works published during this prolific time include the epic Gevatter Tod: Märchenhaftes Epoch in vierundzwanzig Mondphasen und einer als Zugabe, a critically praised novel in verse; Parzival: Ein Versroman in drei Kreisen: Der Gäfallige, Schaeffer’s loose adaptation of Diderot’s Est-il bon, est-il méchant?, the comedy Der verlorene Sohn, and the historical novel Der Roßkamm von Lemgo.

Among his most celebrated short-story collections from these decades are Hölderlins Heimgang oder Der goldene Wagen, Der Falke und die Wölfin: Zwei Erzählungen, Mitternacht: Zwölf Novellen, and Die Geheimnisse. Schaeffer's writing career peaked just before the Nazi government took over Germany. Though Schaeffer was not Jewish, Nazi restrictions greatly impeded him. His novel, Cara, a marriage story, indirectly condemns the racist activities of the National Socialists. Ruhland: Lebensbild eines Mannes chronicles the fate of a family living on an old Prussian estate during the Napoleonic era. In 1939 Schaeffer and his second wife went into voluntary exile in the United States, with several children in tow. For several years Schaeffer worked as a freelance writer. During his days in exile, he wrote the novel Rudolf Erzerum, oder Des Lebens Einfachheit. The book captures the intellectual and ethical development in the life of a young man.

During his last decade, Schaeffer devoted much of his time to a philosophical history of civilization, Die Schöpfungsgeschichte der Menschheit. Part of this manuscript was published posthumously under the title Mythos: Abhandlungen über die kulturellen Grundlagen der Menschheit. Schaeffer’s work has not been translated into English, although he translated several English-language works into German, including Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol and two short stories written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Schaeffer also completed Das Kleinod im Lotus: Die Buddha-Legende adapted from Edwin Arnold’s blank verse epic, The Light of Asia.

Achievements

• Albrecht Schaeffer is best remembered as the author of Hölderlins Heimgang oder Der goldene Wagen, Der Falke und die Wölfin: Zwei Erzählungen, Mitternacht: Zwölf Novellen. His works received high praise from critics. He was named an honorary professor of literature by Oberlin College. Sigmund Freud's last letter was addressed to Schaeffer, in which Freud addressed him as "my poet."

Works

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  • Heroische Fahrt 1914
  • Des Michael Schwertlos vaterländische Gedichte 1915
  • Gudula oder Die Dauer des Lebens 1918
  • Josef Montfort 1918
  • Elli oder Sieben Treppen 1919
  • Der Raub der Persefone: Eine attische Myth 1920
  • Helianth: Bilder aus dem Leben zweier Menschen von heute aus der norddeutschen Tiefebene in neun Biicheru dargestell 1928
  • Der göttliche Dulder 1920
  • Die Treibjagd: Novelle 1923
  • Die Marien-Lieder 1924
  • Mitternacht: Zwölf Novellen 1928
  • Greichische Heldensagen: Neu erzählt nach alten Quellen 1930
  • Cara 1936
  • Rudolf Erzerum oder des Lebens Einfachheit 1945

Membership

In 1950 Albrecht Schaeffer became a member of the West German Academy of Sciences and Literature.

Interests

• Writers

  Stefan George

Connections

In 1918 Albrecht Schaeffer married Irma Beck. They had two children: Klaus, Marlies. In 1929 the couple divorced. In 1931 he married Olga Elisabet Heymann. They had three children: Dirk, Angelika, Veit (later called David).

Father:

Paul Friedrich Schaeffer

Mother:

Marie Antoinette Agnes Schaeffer

Spouse:

Olga Elisabet Heymann

ex-spouse:

Irma Beck

Son:

Klaus Schaeffer

Daughter:

Marlies Schaeffer

Son:

Dirk Schaeffer

Daughter:

Angelika Schaeffer

Son:

David Schaeffer

Friend:

Ludwig Strauss

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2011