Joachim Ringelnatz is the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

author and painter Hans Bötticher (7 August 1883,

Wurzen Wurzen () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig on the main line via Riesa to Dresden. It has a cathedral datin ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

– 17 November 1934,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

). His pen name ''Ringelnatz'' is usually explained as a dialect expression for an animal, possibly a variant of ''Ringelnatter'', German for

grass snake The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recogniz ...

or more probably the

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

for winding ("ringeln") its tail around objects. The seahorse is called Ringelnass (nass = wet) by mariners, an occupation to which he felt kinship. He was a sailor in his youth and spent the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the Navy on a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

. In the 1920s and 1930s, he worked as a ''Kabarettist'', i.e., a kind of satirical

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

. He is best known for his wry poems using

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

and sometimes bordering on

nonsense poetry Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature. Limericks are probably the b ...

. Some of them are similar to

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

's, but more satirical in tone and occasionally subversive. His most popular character is the anarchic sailor ''Kuddel Daddeldu'' with his drunken antics and disdain for authority. In his final thirteen years Ringelnatz was also a dedicated and prolific

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

. The bulk of his art went missing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but over 200 paintings and drawings survived. In the 1920s some of his work was exhibited at the Akademie der Künste along with that of his contemporaries

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George ...

and George Grosz. Ringelnatz illustrated his own novel called "''...liner Roma...''" (1923), the title of which is a doubly truncated "''Berliner Roman''" (Berlin novel), for "Berlin novels usually have no decent beginning and no proper ending." ("Berliner Romane haben meist keinen ordentlichen Anfang und kein rechtes Ende."Projekt Gutenberg-DE - Kultur - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
at gutenberg.spiegel.de) In 1933, he was banned by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

government as a "degenerate artist". Ringelnatz's widow Leonharda Pieper married Julius Gescher after Ringelnatz's death, and their son

Norbert Norbert is a Germanic given name, from '' nord'' "north" and ''berht'' "bright". Norbert is also occasionally found as a surname. People with the given name Academia * Norbert Angermann (born 1936), German historian * Norbert A’Campo (born 19 ...

managed Ringelnatz's legacy and assembled a collection. Norbert donated the collection to the Joachim Ringelnatz Museum in

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

in 2019.

Works

*1910 ''Gedichte'' *1911 ''Was ein Schiffsjungen-Tagebuch erzählt'' *1912 ''Die Schnupftabakdose. Stumpfsinn in Versen und Bildern von Hans Bötticher und

Richard Seewald Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

'' *1913 ''Ein jeder lebt's. Novellen'' (digital reconstruction:
UB Bielefeld
*1920/1923 ''Turngedichte'' *1920 ''Kuttel Daddeldu oder das schlüpfrige Leid'' *1921 ''Die gebatikte Schusterpastete'' *1922 ''Die Woge. Marine-Kriegsgeschichten'' *1923 ''Kuttel Daddeldu'' (digital reconstruction: ''Kuttel Daddeldu. Neue Gedichte der erweiterten Ausgabe''
scans of a 1924 edition at the library of the university of Bielefeld
*1924 ''...liner Roma...'' With 10 pictures by himself. *1924 ''Nervosipopel. Elf Angelegenheiten'' *1927 ''Reisebriefe eines Artisten'' *1928 ''Allerdings'' (digital reconstruction
UB Bielefeld
*1928 ''Als Mariner im Krieg'' (under the pen name Gustav Hester) *1928 ''Matrosen. Erinnerungen, ein Skizzenbuch, handelt von Wasser und blauem Tuch'' *1929 ''Flugzeuggedanken'' *1931 ''Mein Leben bis zum Kriege'' (

Autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

) *1931 ''Kinder-Verwirrbuch'' with many pictures *1932 ''Die Flasche und mit ihr auf Reisen'' *1932 ''Gedichte dreier Jahre'' (digital reconstruction
UB Bielefeld
*1933 ''103 Gedichte'' (digital reconstruction:
UB Bielefeld
*1934 ''Gedichte. Gedichte von einstmals und heute'' Posthumously *1935 ''Der Nachlaß'' *1939 ''Kasperle-Verse'' Electronic Edition *2005 ''Joachim Ringelnatz - Das Gesamtwerk''. The total work edited by

Walter Pape Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

is published on CD-ROM by

Directmedia Publishing Directmedia Publishing is a German publishing, publishing house created in January 1995 by Ralf Szymanski and Erwin Jurschitza as a publisher of digital media. The emphasis of the publishing house's content lies within the field of digital library, ...

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

, Most of Ringelnatz's paintings were lost during the Second World War; one of them at the ''

Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is in terms of area the biggest art museum of Switzerland and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over the years by the local art association called '. The collection spans from the Medi ...

'' is not on display. The Ringelnatz-Museum in

, managed by the Ringelnatz-Stiftung (see below) shows many of his paintings. Most came from private owners, whose paintings survived

Notes

External links

Ten of Ringelnatz' best-known works (in German)

Joachim Ringelnatz - Biografie - Gedichte - Hörbuch - Links
at www.ringelnatz.net
Ringelnatz-Stiftung
at www.ringelnatzstiftung.de * *

at gutenberg.spiegel.de * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ringelnatz, Joachim 1883 births 1934 deaths People from Wurzen People from the Kingdom of Saxony Writers from Saxony German male poets 20th-century German poets 20th-century German male writers