How Martin Walser gave his archive to Marbach
Giant of post-war literature: Martin Walser
Source: dpa
The writer Martin Walser traveled to Marbach to take part in the ceremony to hand over his estate to the German Literature Archive. Even at the age of 95, he still makes the audience laugh with a cheerful confession.
Dhe scene of Martin Walser being pushed up the muse hill of the German Literature Archive in Marbach am Neckar in a wheelchair even made it into the “Tagesschau” on Sunday evening. The 95-year-old, decrepit writer wears a pink shirt and is the star of the ceremony, which everyone at the German Literature Archive in Marbach (DLA) has been waiting for for a long time. One of the most important German writers, a formative figure in German post-war literature, hands over his legacy, i.e. his literary estate during his lifetime.
DLA director Sandra Richter greets Martin and all the other Walsers with a celebration. There are quite a few of them, in addition to his wife and several daughters, who are very well connected in the literary world (Alissa Walser is married to Sascha Anderson, Theresia Walser to Karl-Heinz Ott), Jakob Walser is also present, the grandson and son of Franziska Walser and Edgar blessed The last three, all actors, later read texts from Martin Walser’s work. The ceremony lasts over two hours, the 95-year-old Walser is brave to cheerful, asks when he will be pushed forward.
Walser with companions
The Who’s Who of Walser companions has gathered, as has the publisher Alexander Fest, who brought Walser from Suhrkamp to Rowohlt after Siegfried Unseld’s death. With plenty of Walser quotes, the keynote speakers aphoristically put the audience in the mood: “Winners don’t gain experience. You only gain experience as a loser.” Or: “You don’t take up the profession of a writer, he takes you on.” What does Martin Walser think of that? He says he only understands half of the acoustics: “I hope I would have liked it.”
Sandra Richter, head of the Marbach Literature Archive, welcomes Martin Walser
Source: dpa
The part of the event that is interesting from the point of view of literary history is the half-hour projector show, which gives a first glimpse of the treasures of the Walser legacy. Of particular interest are the letters between Martin Walser and Ruth Klüger, who were previously completely unknown from this early phase of their friendship. Both studied together in Regensburg in 1947, she the concentration camp survivor, he the mountain infantryman in the Wehrmacht. To a Jewish character in a Walser novella, Klüger recommends: “Don’t make your story so sentimental.” Another time she writes to him towards Lake Constance: “Do you swim, do you write poetry?” Ruth Klüger asks in another letter to direction Lake Constance. In the PS she lets him know: “Since you are apparently waiting for special permission to be able to address me by my first name, I hereby solemnly grant it to you.”
All this and much more will be the subject of the large Walser exhibition that Marbach is planning for its 100th birthday in 2027. Here and now, the 95-year-old is clearly enjoying his performance in front of an audience. When Walser speaks, his hand still twists into the air as energetically and virtuously as it once did during his readings. And the sense of humor is still on his side: “Firstly, I thank you for coming in such large numbers and secondly for staying”.