Reinhard Sorge

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Reinhard Johannes Sorge ([zɒɹ.gə] b. Berlín, January 29, 1892; d. near Ablaincourt, July 20 1916), a German writer. He is considered one of the earliest expressionist dramatists in Germany. Although his death on the battlefield in World War I put an abrupt end to an all-too-brief six-year period of intensive literary productivity, Sorge, who was only twenty-four years old at the time of his death, achieved recognition as one of Germany's foremost religious playwrights and poets, one whose poetic mission was inspired by his fervent quest for God and by an ecstatic mystical faith. Sorge's protagonists are either projections of his own self into a dramatic character who combines the role of the writer as leader and healer with that of the prophet and seeker of God's truth, or personal interpretations of key figures in the history of Christianity such as King David, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Martin Luther. None of his plays was performed during his lifetime.

Contents 1 Writings by the author 1.1 Play productions 1.2 Books 1.3 Selected periodical publications--uncollected 1.4 Papers 2 Further readings about the author

Sorge, the son of a building inspector, Max Sorge, and Helene Sorge, was born on 29 January 1892 in Rixdorf, near Berlin. He was the oldest of three children. He had attended the Luisenstädter high school in Berlin for several years when his father was committed to a mental institution. Sorge had to leave school and work in a hardware store and a bank before he was able to transfer to the Kaiserin Augusta high school. There he read the works of William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Henrik Ibsen and developed a keen interest in the art of ancient Greece.

After the father's death in 1908 Sorge's family moved to Jena, where he attended a local gymnasium and read works by such disparate writers as Oscar Wilde, Georg Simmel, Maurice Maeterlinck, Friedrich Naumann, Knut Hamsun, August Strindberg, Richard Dehmel, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Gerhart Hauptmann. Among the literary figures who particularly shaped the young student's mind were the poets Stefan George and Rainer Maria Rilke. As early as 1910 Sorge expressed what later became the all-encompassing theme of his creative life: a deep longing for the eternal, unchanging, and unworldly. At this early stage the nature of his metaphysical yearning was not yet clearly defined in religious terms.

In April 1911 Sorge took acting lessons, but he soon realized that he would not find fulfillment in an acting career. During the summer he took courses in Greek philology at the University of Jena. In October he began work on Der Bettler (The Beggar; published, 1912; performed, 1917), which would become his best-known play. The first expressionist play to be written, it is about Sorge's own quest and, by extension, about the mission of the writer in general. The central character, "der Dichter" (the writer), pursues his career in almost fanatical fashion. He follows the imperative of his inner voice in an uncompromising, self-assured, and arrogant manner that ill becomes a fledgling playwright. He expects his mentor to build a theater for him and is devastated when the mentor refuses. Sorge's Dichter is never plagued by doubt about his talent or his ability to achieve the renewal of the drama. Literature, according to his idealistic viewpoint, has healing and purifying powers that will have a beneficial effect on the working class. But he fails to explain how literature will solve the social and economic problems of the German proletariat in the early twentieth century. The writer's work remains unpolitical, spiritual, and lofty, anchored in God and not in the teachings or principles of any political party.

This blissful and beatific awareness of being an instrument in God's hands seems to elevate the writer above his fellow human beings. Yet in spite of all his self-assurance he suffers moments of self-doubt and anxious uncertainty about his role in society. He knows that only earthly suffering will yield the experience and maturity without which his writing will be sterile, naive, and shallow. He also knows that he will constantly be called on to justify and legitimize his mission in a social environment hostile to the artistic and creative mind. This lack of social recognition prompts the playwright to try his hand at a "normal" middle-class occupation as a journalist, only to give it up after a brief and frustrating trial period. His frustration results in a sweeping and emphatic rejection of ordinary professions, trades, and crafts, which he associates with aesthetically repulsive images such as mud, morass, rubble, waste, pus, and so forth. After this unsuccessful episode he feels more strongly than ever that his is a higher calling that will lead him toward God. Yet there is one even higher calling from which he feels he is--at least for now--barred: the priesthood. Artists and writers, strive as they may to be close to God, are only half saints or, worse, false saints.

The protagonist's insane father, a mentally deranged Faust figure whose mental energies are absorbed by a project of harnessing the powers of the canals on Mars for agricultural purposes on Earth, begs his son to kill him. The son obliges by making him drink poisoned wine. This incident reflects the autocratic way in which the writer relates to and disposes of his fellow human beings. Another case in point is his relationship with a girl who willingly sacrifices everything, even motherhood, to his career. The play's title expresses the writer's position vis-à-vis God, not his fellow human beings. The "beggar" is the highly stylized "New Man" whose coming would later be proclaimed by countless expressionists. He is the savior, the writer-priest-prophet, the Nietzschean superman who elevates the human soul above the inferior materialistic world of science, technology, and business.

In February 1912 Sorge traveled to the island of Norderney in the North Sea, where he experienced a religious vision that marked him for the rest of his life. He rejected much of the philosophical and religious framework of his younger years, including his Lutheran faith and the teachings--as he understood them--of Nietzsche.

The decision of the S. Fischer publishing house to print Der Bettler was the first sign of public recognition of Sorge's work. In November 1912 Sorge received the prestigious prize of the Kleist Foundation.

Between October and December 1912 Sorge completed his second play, Guntwar (1914), another self-portrait. Whereas the writer in Der Bettler still beseeches God to let him partake in the truth of the divine, Guntwar has already experienced his awakening and his illumination. He has taken on the role of a modern prophet who will work tirelessly toward the purification and sanctification of humanity. The play contains detailed references to Sorge's complex and troubled relationship with his friend and mentor Bernt Grönvold and Grönvold's wife, who are called Peter and Mirjam in the play. While Peter has doubts as to Guntwar's claim to religious leadership and is unable to accept Guntwar's theosophical mysticism (Grönvold's wife had introduced Sorge to theosophy), Mirjam intuitively understands and shares Guntwar's beliefs and aspirations. Mirjam's desperate attempts to draw Peter into their mystical experiences fail. While Guntwar and Mirjam fly to the heights of religious ecstasy, Peter finds Christ only in death. Peter's inability to follow Guntwar and Mirjam on their path toward God is meant to show that the prophet will remain a stranger to most of his fellow humans.

The scenes involving Guntwar, Peter, and Mirjam alternate with interludes in which an imperfect and sinful society reveals its need for redemption. The themes of guilt, redemption, and sinful material greed figure prominently in the play's prelude, which pits Satan against God's love. The interlude that follows the third act develops the theme further by focusing on society's voracity, laziness, and lust for power. These scenes culminate in an apocalyptic vision of the Day of Reckoning, when the sinners pay for their failings with their lives. Their fall is followed by the rise of a new, pure generation of humans bathed in a beam of light, the symbol of God's grace. The visionary modes of presentation and the call for spiritual renewal are expressionist features of the play.

Guntwar's literary production has but one objective: to praise God and his creation. His uncompromising devotion to his calling as a writer-prophet and his claim to be a chosen servant of God lead him to ignore most rules of social behavior. The exceptional man must be judged by exceptional standards.

In late 1912 and early 1913 Sorge read Dante, Luther, the mystics, and the Bible. He married in February 1913 and traveled to Italy, where he was overwhelmed by the liturgical beauty of the Easter service he attended at Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome. On 17 September he and his wife converted to Catholicism. A second journey to Italy in the fall of 1913 was followed by a visit to Lourdes, France. After his return to Germany, Sorge moved to the small town of Flüelen, Switzerland, and considered becoming a priest or a monk.

In January 1914 Sorge wrote a biblical play, König David (King David; published, 1916; performed, 1922), which allowed him to present a variation of his archetypal character: the man of God who devotes his life to the service of God's glory. David is the chosen one, anointed by Jahwe. With Jahwe's help he slays the giant Goliath. King Saul, on the other hand, has fallen from Jahwe's grace because of his disobedience. In a last attempt to force Jahwe to acknowledge his independence, Saul visits a witch who has the power to make Satan appear. But even Satan condemns Saul's refusal to obey God. Desperate and dejected, Saul takes his own life as enemy troops approach.

No sooner has David assumed the throne than his failings begin to appear. His son Absalom extorts from him secret instructions given to David by Jahwe. David also incurs Jahwe's wrath by lusting after Bathseba and having her husband, Uria, killed. Jahwe's punishment is severe. David's son by Bathseba dies, and Absalom disgraces his father by sleeping with David's women. For this transgression Absalom has to pay with his life on the battlefield. Crushed by Jahwe's scorn and filled with contrition, David proclaims that Salomo will be his successor. At the end of the play, which contains several prophetic messages announcing the coming of Christ, David dies, reconciled with his God.

During the summer of 1914 Sorge completed Der Sieg des Christos (Christ's Victory, 1924), which consists of two separate sequences of scenes. The first, Franziskus, der heilige Bettler (Saint Francis, the Holy Beggar), is the story of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis, the repentant sinner, vows to live a life of poverty and gives away all his worldly possessions. After some initial hesitation, the pope recognizes him and his order. The imitation of Christ through poverty, the endurance of physical suffering, celibacy, love, and humility is the guiding principle of Francis's life. Before his death Francis receives the stigmata.

The second sequence of scenes, Martin Luther--der ohne Reichtum (Martin Luther--the One without Wealth), presents a negative image of Luther. The reformer is shown as a guilt-ridden man plagued by fear and shaken by seizures. He is unable to praise God and has no trust in humanity. Because of original sin, Luther believes, the human will is evil and unfree. Luther has discarded theological and philosophical erudition as a path to redemption and is convinced that faith alone can bring salvation. Brother John, Luther's antagonist and Sorge's spokesman in the play, claims that Luther's self-torture, his painful soul-searching with regard to sin and salvation, is useless, since a loving God--through Christ--has already cleansed humanity of its sins. Luther's struggle threatens the church and obscures the idea of redemption. Luther's marriage to Katharina von Bora shows, according to Brother John that the reformer is doing the devil's work. In the last scene the Archangel Michael puts an end to Luther's rebellion.

In early October 1915 Sorge, who had taken a philosophy course at the Maria Hilf Seminary near his Swiss home to prepare himself for the study of theology, volunteered for service in World War I. On 13 July 1916 he was wounded in battle, and he died on 20 July near Ablaincourt, France.

In Sorge's plays realistic scenes often alternate with scenes in which a gradual dissociation from realistic perception, a shift toward an idealized, stylized, even monumentalized presentation, takes place. This stylistic device pertains in particular to the characters who are writer-prophets, saints, seekers of God, the elect. Just as the expressionist preeminence of the idea or essence over the outer tangible reality necessitates an abstract style, so characters such as the beggar, Guntwar, David, and Saint Francis represent the embodiment of the highest ideal of human existence. They are not realistically portrayed people but carriers of noble ideals. In Sorge's language the abstract dominates the concrete; concrete images serve to illuminate abstract concepts. Sorge's religious impetus lends a highly dynamic quality to his imagery of visionary grandeur. Ecstatic mysticism, the exalted quest for a truth that transcends time and space and reaches beyond humanity's mortal and earthly existence, and the symbolic use of the imagery of light, fire, and height are also found in the works of other expressionists. But Sorge's unique fusion of religious fervor and expressionist style earned him a place in the history of twentieth-century German drama.

[edit] Writings by the author

[edit] Play productions

• Der Bettler, Berlin, Deutsches Theater, 23 December 1917.
• Metanoeite, Munich, Kammerspiele, 27 December 1917.
• König David, Zurich, Katholische Jugendpflege, 8 October 1922.

[edit] Books

• Der Bettler: Eine dramatische Sendung, fünf Aufzüge (Berlin: Fischer, 1912).
• Guntwar: Die Schule eines Propheten. Handlung in fünf Aufzügen, einem Vorspiel und einem Nachspiel (Kempten & Munich: Kösel, 1914).
• Metanoeite: Drei Mysterien (Kempten: Kösel, 1915).
• König David: Schauspiel (Berlin: Fischer, 1916).
• Mutter der Himmel: Ein Sang in zwölf Gesängen (Kempten: Kösel, 1917).
• Gericht über Zarathustra: Vision (Munich: Kösel & Pustet, 1921).
• Mystische Zwiesprache (Munich: Kösel & Pustet, 1922).
• Preis der Unbefleckten: Sang über die Begebnisse zu Lourdes (Leipzig: Vier Quellen Verlag, 1924).
• Der Sieg des Christos: Eine Vision, dargestellt in dramatischen Bildern (Leipzig: Vier Quellen Verlag, 1924).
• Werke: Auszug, edited by Martin Rockenbach (Munich-Gladbach: Führer Verlag, 1924).
• Der Jüngling: Die frühen Dichtungen (Munich: Kösel & Pustet, 1925).
• Nachgelassene Gedichte, edited by Rockenbach (Leipzig: Vier Quellen Verlag, 1925).
• Bekenntnisse und Lobpreisungen, edited by Otto Karrer (Munich: Ars Sacra, 1960).
• Sämtliche Werke, 3 volumes, edited by Hans Gerd Rötzer (Nuremberg: Glock & Lutz, 1962-1967).

[edit] Selected periodical publications--uncollected

• "Werden der Seele: Abriss einer Konversion," Hochland (May 1914): 199.
• "Drama des Expressionismus," Nachrichten aus dem geistigen und künstlerischen Leben Göttingens (1920): 170.
• "Eines Narren Narrenlieder," Deutscher Kulturwart (February 1940): 10-16.

[edit] Papers

The papers of Reinhard Johannes Sorge are at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv (German Literature Archive), Marbach am Neckar.

[edit] Further readings about the author

• Michel Becker, Reinhard Johannes Sorge: Versuch einer Deutung (Würzburg: Wolfram, 1924).
• Werner Hüllen, "Der Expressionismus und Reinhard Johannes Sorge," Begegnung, 5 (1950): 198-200.
• Marie S. Humfeld, Reinhard Johannes Sorge: Ein Gralsucher unserer Zeit (Paderborn: Schöningh, 1929).
• Elizabeth Kawa, Reinhard Johannes Sorge (Meitingen & Augsburg: Kyrios, 1949).
• Ward B. Lewis, "The Early Drama of Reinhard Johannes Sorge: A Poet's Search for the Inner Light," Modern Drama, 14 (February 1971): 449-454.
• Peter Lincoln, "Aspects of Sorge's Imagery: A Reappraisal of His Position within Expressionism," German Life and Letters, 34, no. 4 (1981): 374-384.
• O. Linden, "Reinhard Johannes Sorge," Bücherwelt, 26 (1929): 321-327.
• Claire Lucques, Le poids du monde (Paris: Beauchesne, 1962).
• B. Neidhart, "Reinhard Johannes Sorge," Schweizer Rundschau, 26 (1926): 40-46.
• B. O'Brien, "From Nietzsche to Christ," Irish Monthly, 60 (1932): 713-722.
• Martin Rockenbach, Studien zu R. J. Sorges künstlerischem Schaffen unter Berücksichtigung der dramatischen Sendung "Der Bettler" (Leipzig: Vier Quellen Verlag, 1924).
• Hans Schumacher, "Reinhard Johannes Sorge," in Expressionismus als Literatur: Gesammelte Studien, edited by Wolfgang Rothe (Bern: Francke, 1969), pp. 560-571.
• Susanne Sorge, Reinhard Johannes Sorge: Unser Weg (Munich: Kösel & Pustet, 1927).
• Wilhelm Spael, Reinhard Johannes Sorge (Essen: Fredebeul & Koenen, 1920).
• Richard Hinton Thomas, "Notes on Some Unpublished Papers of Reinhard Johannes Sorge: A Contribution Relating to the Genesis of Expressionism," Modern Language Review, 32 (July 1937): 423-429.