Journal archive

Abstract: Special role in a wide variety of works of Alfred Henschke, known as Klabund, is played by the well-known novel «Bracke», resembling «Ulenspiegel novel». The name of the novel comes from the name of the main character. The key figure of the novel is a scoundrel and trickster Bracke, who in the first part of the XVI century becomes famous for his mischievous deeds in the Mark of Brandenburg. Many variants of tricks and cheats are borrowed by the writer from traditional clownish satire and picaresque romance; however he did not use the original sources, but the so-called «folk» variants or new versions of «folk tales». Even these texts are interpreted freely, the plot is transformed, the characters are modified, the language and style of the original text are altered. The expressionist component of the text is especially obvious; this is the so-called «diting style» characterized by parataxis and numerous elliptical constructions being a portrayal of the restless and drifting nature of the protagonist. However most of the storylines and collisions are the result of the author’s imagination, they are not borrowed: though Ulenspiegel-tradition is continued, it is re-written and restructured. Similar to the classical Till Eulenspiegel, Bracke is not a mere scoundrel and trickster, he is also an educated man who is «cleverer than his contemporaries». Klabund goes even further, he sharpens the character and fate of the protagonist. His new Eulenspiegel is an artist in the best tradition of court jesters, who often broke the truth to the Landgrave. Bracke is not just a scoundrel, trickster, fraud and robber who does moral and financial harm to his marrow-minded and stupid fellow countrymen; he symbolizes the figure of radical change, even revolution in its expressionist interpretation. In his unruly behavior, in his merciless truth, in his constant attack on norms and conventions, he is a messenger of the new post-bourgeois epoch. He himself will not live in that epoch, but he is its forerunner. Bracke is not yet a New person of expressionist utopia, but he embodies the features, opportunities and abilities of such.