Market gleaning on 9.9.2023 at 12:30: Arno Schmidt – “Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas”

“Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas” – a turbulence in the literary world of the 50s.

Arno Schmidt occupied a unique position in German post-war literature. From “Leviathan” (1946) to “Zettels Traum” (1970), his works formed the avant-garde of literary writing.
The publication of his story “Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas” (Seascape with Pocahontas) in the journal “Texte und Zeichen” (1955), edited by Alfred Andersch, prompted two lawyers to file criminal charges against the author, editor and publisher for “blasphemy” and “dissemination of lewd writings.” It was not until 2013 that it became known that behind this attempted censorship were the highest authorities of the Catholic clergy in the Rhineland, who had close ties to the federal government under Adenauer at that time.
Even though the case was dropped by the public prosecutor’s office after a year of back and forth, it influenced the subsequent publication of Schmidt’s novel “Das steinerne Herz”…

Rainer Beuthel presents the case and reads excerpts from the incriminated story.