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Paul Zech

パウル・ツェッヒ

Pauru Zech

Pen Names: Michel Michael（Pseudonym used for publishing pacifist poems in 1919）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1881-02-19 （Briesen, West Prussia (now Wąbrzeźno, Poland)）
Died
1946-09-07 （Buenos Aires, Argentina） age 65
Nationality
German
Languages
German
Residence History
Briesen (birthplace) → Berlin (main place of activity) → Vienna (temporary residence) → Trieste (temporary residence) → Montevideo (residence in South America) → Buenos Aires (lived until his death) → Near Lake Bestensee (small house near Berlin)

Career

Occupations
poet, novelist, dramatist, translator, journalist
Active Years
1901-1946
Influenced By
Herwarth Walden, Arthur Rimbaud, Else Lasker-Schüler (contemporary poet, acquaintance)

Awards

Kleist Prize
1918
Organization: Kleist Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Iron Cross
Organization: German Imperial Army
Result: 受勲

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Das schwarze Revier

1912 poetry

An early collection of poems portraying mines and working-class life, dealing with the darker aspects of city and labor.

citymineslaboralienation

Der feurige Busch: New Poems (1912–1917)

1919 poetry

A collection of poems from the World War I period, containing expressionist themes.

warsufferingexpressionism

Das törichte Herz

1925 novel / autobiographical stories

A collection with autobiographical elements, depicting postwar turmoil in personal life and creative work.

autobiographypsychological distressurban life

Nachmittagstraum / L'Après-midi d'un faune (German version)

1922 translation / poetic adaptation

A German poetic rendition/translation of Stéphane Mallarmé's 'L'Après-midi d'un faune'.

translationsymbolismpoetic form
Adaptations
  • [theatre / stage] Trunkenes Schiff (stage adaptation of Rimbaud's 'Le Bateau ivre') (1926)
Translations
  • German rendition of Mallarmé

Bibliography

  • Das schwarze Revier (1912)
  • Der feurige Busch (1919)
  • Nachmittagstraum (1922, German version of Mallarmé)
  • Das törichte Herz (1925)
  • The Ballads and Debauched Songs of François Villon (translation, various editions)
  • Vom schwarzen Revier zur Neuen Welt – Collected Poems (1983, ed.)

Adaptations

  • Trunkenes Schiff stage adaptation (theatrical version of Rimbaud's work)

Translations by Author

  • German rendition/translation of Stéphane Mallarmé's 'L'Après-midi d'un faune' (1922)
  • Versified translations of François Villon's ballads

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Expressionist tendencies combined with classical formsRealist depictions of urban and working-class life
Recurring Motifs
cityminesalienationwar and its aftermathexile / life abroadsexuality and erotic themes (in some works)

Health

  • mental illness (severe psychiatric problems)
    1920年代（数か月の精神病院入院）
    Temporarily affected his creative work and personal life significantly; led to a double life

Legacy

Paul Zech is regarded as an important expressionist poet and writer in Germany. Through themes of the city, labor, war experience and exile he left a notable mark on interwar German literature. He was awarded the Kleist Prize and was active among anti-Nazi circles in Argentina. His urn was moved to an honorary grave in Berlin in 1971.

Trivia

  • Awarded the Kleist Prize in 1918.
  • Served in World War I and was decorated with the Iron Cross (exact year uncertain).
  • Published pacifist poems under the pseudonym Michel Michael in 1919.
  • Left Berlin in 1933 and eventually settled in Buenos Aires.
  • Died in Buenos Aires in 1946; his urn was moved to Berlin in 1971.