Paul Karl Wilhelm Scheerbart (8 January 1863 in Danzig – 15 October 1915 in Berlin) was a German author of speculative fiction

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...

and

drawing Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more mod ...

s. He was also published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

''Kuno Küfer'' and is best known for the book ''Glasarchitektur'' (1914). Scheerbart was associated with

expressionist architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Brick Expression ...

and one of its leading proponents,

Bruno Taut Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is kno ...

. He composed aphoristic poems about glass for the Taut's Glass Pavilion at the

Werkbund Exhibition (1914) The first Werkbund Exhibition of 1914 was held at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany. Bruno Taut's best-known building, the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion of which only black and white images survive today, was in reality a brightly colored la ...

Life

Paul Scheerbart began studies of philosophy and

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

in 1885. In 1887 he worked as a poet in Berlin and tried to invent

Perpetual motion Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, a ...

machines. In 1892 he was one of the joint founders of the ''Verlag deutscher Phantasten'' (Publishers of German Fantasists). At this time he was in financial difficulties. After writing in different publications he produced his first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

'Die große Revolution' (''The Great Revolution''), which was published by the Insel-Verlag. The young

Ernst Rowohlt Ernst R. Rowohlt (23 June 1887 in Bremen – 1 December 1960 in Hamburg) was a German publisher who founded the Rowohlt publishing house in 1908 and headed it and its successors until his death. In 1912 he married actress Emmy Reye, but the marri ...

published Scheerbart's bizarre poem collection ''Katerpoesie'' and became his friend. Scheerbart's fantasy essays about glass architecture influenced architects at that time, including the young

. Among his Berlin friends and drinking circle was

Erich Mühsam Erich Mühsam (6 April 1878 – 10 July 1934) was a German-Jewish antimilitarist anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic, for whi ...

, who dedicated a chapter to Scheerbart in his 'Unpolitical Memories' and

Richard Dehmel Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (18 November 1863 – 8 February 1920) was a German poet and writer. Life A forester's son, Richard Dehmel was born in Hermsdorf near Wendisch Buchholz (now a part of Münchehofe) in the Brandenburg Province, Kin ...

. Scheerbart was also an important influence on

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewi ...

who quoted his ideas on glass in his Arcades Project.

Work

"Scheerbart published a long succession of fantasy novels, articles, and poems between 1889 and his death in 1915, in which he insisted that the universe is far too rich and complex to be comprehended by reason alone. Only naive wonder — the basis of the sublime — could promote the development of higher forms of understanding."Iain Boyd White, "The Expressionist Sublime", in Benson et al., p. 126. Very few of Scheerbart's works have been translated into English. Though the following list also gives English translations of the titles, there is usually no English-language edition of the work available. * 1889 ''Das Paradies. Die Heimat der Kunst'' (Paradise. Home of the Arts) * 1893 ''Ja... was... möchten wir nicht Alles!'', (Yes.....What......We wouldn't all like to have!), A Fable * 1897 ''Ich liebe Dich!'', (I love you!), A Novel with 66

Intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

s * 1897 ''Tarub, Bagdads berühmte Köchin'', (Tarub, Baghdad's famous female cook), Arab culture novel * 1897 ''Der Tod der Barmekiden'', (The death of the Barmakids), Arab Harem novel * 1898 ''Na prost!'', (Well, Cheers!), Fantasy King novel * 1900 ''Die wilde Jagd'', (The wild hunt), A development novel in eight stories * 1901 ''Rakkóx der Billionär'', (Rakkóx the trillionaire), An ostentatious novel * 1901 ''Die Seeschlange'' (The Sea Serpent), A

sea novel Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...

* 1902 ''Die große Revolution'', (The Great Revolution), A moon novel * 1902 ''Immer mutig!'', (Always courageously!), A Fantasy novel * 1902 ''Liwûna und Kaidôh'', A Soul novel * 1902 ''Weltglanz'', (World Shine), a sun fairy tale * 1903 ''Kometentanz'', (Comet dance), Astral Pantomime in two acts * 1903 ''Der Aufgang zur Sonne'', (The stairway to the sun), house fairy tales * 1904 ''Der Kaiser von Utopia'', (The emperor of Utopia), a folktale * 1904 ''Machtspäße'', (Jests about power), Arab novellas * 1904 ''Revolutionäre Theater-Bibliothek'', (Revolutionary theatre library), collection of plays * 1906 ''Münchhausen und Clarissa'', Berlin novel * 1907 ''Jenseits-Galeri'' * 1909 ''Die Entwicklung des Luftmilitarismus und die Auflösung der europäischen Land-Heere, Festungen und Seeflotten'', (translated into English as The Development of Aerial Militarism and the Demobilization of European Ground Forces, Fortresses, and Naval Fleets, Brooklyn, New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007, Series: Lost Literature #4, translated by M. Kasper)'' * 1909 ''Kater-Poesie'', (''translatable as'' Tomcat poetry ''or'' Hangover poetry), poems * 1910 ''Das Perpetuum mobile, Die Geschichte einer Erfindung'' (translated into English a
The perpetual motion machine: The story of an invention
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wakefield Press, 2011) * 1912 ''Das große Licht'', (The Great Light) A Munchausen–

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

* 1912 ''Flora Mohr'', A glass flower novella * 1913
Lesabéndio
', an Asteroid novel ; English translation, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wakefield Press, 2012 * 1914 '' Das graue Tuch und zehn Prozent Weiß'', (The grey cloth and ten percent of white), a ladies novel. Translated into English as: '' The Gray Cloth: Paul Scheerbart's Novel on Glass Architecture.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : MIT Press, 2001. * 1914 ''Glasarchitektur'' (Glass architecture) * 1921 ''Von Zimmer zu Zimmer'', (From room to room), letters to his wife

Notes

References

* Josiah McElheny and Christine Burgin eds.: ''Glass! Love!! Perpetual Motion!!!: A Paul Scheerbart Reader''. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2014. * Josiah McElheny: ''The Light Club: On Paul Scheerbart's ''The Light Club of Batavia. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2010. * Timothy Benson et al.: ''Expressionist Utopias''. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001. * Mechthild Rausch: ''Von Danzig ins Weltall. Paul Scheerbarts Anfangsjahre (1863–1895)''. München: Ed. Text und Kritik 1997. * Uli Kohnle: ''Paul Scheerbart. Eine Bibliographie''. Bellheim: Edition Phantasia 1994. * Rosemarie Bletter: "Paul Scheerbart's Architectural Fantasies," Journal of Architectural Historians 34 (May 1975). * Paul Kaltefleiter, Berni Lörwald und Michael M. Schardt (Hrsg.): ''Über Paul Scheerbart. 100 Jahre Scheerbart-Rezeption''. 3 Bände. Paderborn: Igel-Verlag 1998. (Band 1); (Band 2); (Band 3).

External links

* *
Scheerbart bei Edition Phantasia

Project Gutenberg -- Germany
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scheerbart, Paul 1863 births 1915 deaths German poets Expressionist architecture German science fiction writers German fantasy writers Writers from Gdańsk People from the Province of Prussia German male poets