On the Marble Cliffs
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| On the Marble Cliffs | |
| Author | Ernst Jünger |
|---|---|
| Original title | Auf den Marmorklippen |
| Translator | Stuart Hood |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Genre(s) | Speculative fiction |
| Publisher | Hanseat. Verlag, Hamburg |
| Publication date | 1939 |
| Published in English |
1947 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 106 |
| ISBN | ISBN 3-608-93485-5 |
| Preceded by | Afrikanische Spiele (African games] |
| Followed by | Heliopolis |
Ernst Jünger's novella On the Marble Cliffs (Auf den Marmorklippen), published in 1939, describes the upheaval and ruin of a serene agricultural society. The peaceful and traditional people, located on the shores of a large bay, is surrounded by the rough pastoral folk in the surrounding hills, who feel increasing pressure from the unscupulous and lowly followers of the dreaded head forester. The narrator and protagonist lives on the marble cliffs as a botanist with his brother Otho, his son Erio from a past relationship and Erio's grandmother Lampusa. The idyllic life is threatened by the erosion of values and traditions, losing its inner power. The head forester uses this opportunity to establish a new order based on dictatorial rule, large numbers of mindless followers and the use of violence, torture and murder.
The tale may readily be understood as a parable on national socialism but remarkably was not censored in Nazi Germany, perhaps due to Jünger's significant repute in right-wing circles. Its sharp disapproval of violent masses, as well as its prediction of death camps, was noted and helped Jünger's rehabilitation after the Second World War although he had not gone into exile like most anti-Nazi authors. Jünger himself, however, refused the notion that the book was a statement of resistance, describing it rather as a "shoe that fits various feet".
The work is typical for Jünger Aestheticism that responds to destruction with placidity. It displays the determination to conserve values even in the face of annihilation, perhaps all the more so because the victory of the mindless masses follows brutalization as a virtual force of nature.
