AMANN (Paul). - Lot 14

AMANN (Paul). Born in Prague.1884-1958. Austrian writer and translator. L. dactyl. S. "Paul Amann" to "My dear friend" [writer Pierre Abraham]. S.l., July 19, 1931. 5 pages in-4. Interesting reflection inspired by his study of Goethe: ...". Gegen fremde Vorzüge gibt es nur rein Rettungamittel die Liebe" says our ?eternal friend? Beyond a certain degree, the devotion of a friend like you no longer confounds, because in us, it is immediately transformed into the only solid gold value of this life, love... He asks him ...How can we reconcile the need to speak to an audience that is materially ignorant of Goethe's life with a somewhat profound and substantial explanation of that life [...]. There is only one thing new, I believe, in my account: to have highlighted Goethe's reactions against the politics of 1789-1815 or even 1821 [...]. I wanted to suggest the tragic life and terrible tension of this existence, to avoid the cliché of Götterjüngling and Olympian... Commenting on his consort's book on Balzac ...Along the way, you highlight (and for me, who knows too little of my Balzac, this is very useful) the enormous plastic strength of your author; seeing these microscopic slices, we can better see the strength of his "athletic tissue". Perhaps you show a little too much indulgent understanding for the improperly called "popular novel" side...Beginning research on German storytellers, he came up against ...a very strange difficulty: it's that German literature with Lessing's Laokoon begins with a strong theory that has become very influential, defending direct physical description [...]. Goethe refrains from direct description. In his Prose, Wilhelm Meister and Werther, he observes this rule.... Although busy reading Romain Rolland's war chronicles, he has undertaken the translation... of a new novel by Martin Meurice (who will bring us to life in 1932)... He ends his letter with a political diatribe ...Yesterday in Paris the fate of Europe was decided to some extent; I have not yet seen the newspapers. The end of July since 1870 remains a very critical time; everyone, like us, doesn't give a damn about politics, and the other is going off the rails...