Musik, Gesellschaftskritik und utopische Vision in Menschheitsdämmerung und Geist der Utopie

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This article is about two important texts of German expressionism: Ernst Bloch’s The Spirit of Utopia (1918/1923) and Kurt Pinthus’ Dawn of Humanity (1919). The Spirit of Utopia is considered Ernst Bloch’s most important early philosophical work. Dawn of Humanity is regarded as the most representative and influential anthology of German expressionist poetry. Its editor is Kurt Pinthus. The aim of this article is to explore thematic affinities between The Spirit of Utopia and Dawn of Humanity. This article is divided into three parts: Introduction, main part and conclusion. The main part is subdivided into three sections: The first section deals with the conception of Dawn of Humanity as a symphony and with Bloch’s views on music. Special attention is given to the importance of the socalled humanity melody by Ludwig van Beethoven for Bloch and Pinthus. The second section focuses on social critique in The Spirit of Utopia and selected poems of Dawn of Humanity. The poems selected for discussion are: Alfred Wolfenstein’s City Dwellers and The Heart, Georg Heym’s The War, and Karl Otten’s Worker!. Special attention is given to the problems of isolation, alienation, exploitation and war. The third section attempts to trace utopian vision in selected poems of Dawn of Humanity and in The Spirit of Utopia. The poems selected for discussion are: Johannes R. Becher’s Human, Rise, Kurt Heynicke’s Gethsemane and Ernst Stadler’s Dialogue. This section pays special attention to the themes of brotherhood, reconciliation, communion, redemption, the cultural heritage and home.