Anja Keith, Detlev Schöttker (ed./eds.)

Einer der Spiegel des Anderen
Briefwechsel 1922–1960
[One as the Mirror of the Other. Letters 1922–1960]

Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2021, 720 pages
ISBN 978-3-608-93953-8

The exchange of letters between Gretha and Ernst Jünger far exceeds a mere correspondence between spouses. Not only does this exchange give insight into the private and everyday lives of a couple caught between Bohemia and family, but it also acts as a first-rate historical and literary document.
This multilayered correspondence between Gretha and Ernst Jünger spans four decades. Following the initial displays of affection, the letters of the 1920s focus on the organization of family life, the circle of friends, the political situation, and, not least, on Ernst Jünger’s works. The correspondence during the Second World War is particularly intense. Jünger was part of the Wehrmacht’s high command in Paris while his wife experienced the bomb war at their home in Kirchhorst near Hannover. Thus, Gretha Jünger becomes a chronist of events, a circumstance which makes Ernst Jünger’s diaries (Strahlungen) appear in a new light. From the approximately 2.000 surviving writings, Anja Keith and Detlev Schöttker selected and exemplified 350 letters from the years 1922 to 1960. One focus lies on the time of the Second World War, a focus which turns the couple’s correspondence into a unique mirror of history.

 

Media Response

15 Sep 2023
Einer der Spiegel des Anderen. Briefwechsel 1922–1960

Review by Marc Ortmann, in: H-Soz-Kult, 15 Sep 2023

16 Feb 2023
Warum sollte man heute noch Ernst Jünger lesen – vor allem als Frau?

Essay by Erhard Schütz, in: Der Freitag 7 (2023)

30 Oct 2022
Schöner schreiben. Der womöglich kälteste Liebesbrief der Literaturgeschichte

Column by Hauke Goos, in: Spiegel, 30 Oct 2022

01 Apr 2022
Großes Kino, das auf Antwort wartet

Review by Christophe Fricker, in: literaturkritik.de, 1 Apr 2022

31 Mar 2022
Schreiben an der Klippe

Review by Erik Zielke, in: Neues Deutschland, 31 Mar 2022

23 Dec 2021
Wir schätzen beide das Alltägliche nicht

Review by Katharina Teutsch, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 299 (23 Dec 2021), 10

11 Nov 2021
Liebe im Kältebad

Review by Jens Jessen, in: Die Zeit 46 (11 Nov 2021), Feuilleton, 61

08 Nov 2021
Gretha und Ernst Jünger: “Einer der Spiegel des Anderen. Briefwechsel 1922–1960”

Review by Wolfgang Schneider, in: Deutschlandfunk, Büchermarkt, 8 Nov 2021

29 Oct 2021
Ein weicher, verletzlicher Mann

Review by Jörg Magenau, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung 251, 29 Oct 2021, Feuilleton, 9

26 Oct 2021
In Stilgewittern

Review by Hendrikje Schauer, in: Tagesspiegel, 26 Oct 2021

21 Oct 2021
Gretha und Ernst Jünger: “Einer der Spiegel des Anderen”

Review by Jörg Magenau, in: rbb, program: Der Morgen, 21 Oct 2021

17 Oct 2021
“Bleibe in Babel”

Preprint in: Welt am Sonntag 42 (17 Oct 2021), 47, department: Kultur