Prospero. Rivista di letterature e culture straniere
Abstract
Paul Ernst published his Erdachte Gespräche in 1921. This first edition collects 44 texts, mostly short. In 1931 Ernst publishes the dialogues again in the sixth book of his Gesammelte Werke, which gathers his theoretical writings. Since Ernst writes each piece randomly over time and only publishes them later on, any attempt to recognize an unambiguous intention behind the texts is problematic, as that would imply the existence of an organic thought behind the entire body of work. However, Ernst’s intention to attribute a parareligious value to the form by reconstructing it through the exercise of the plastic skills of an exceptional group of personalities is clear. This aspiration is an element of continuity between Ernst’s later work, such as the Erdachte Gespräche, and the neoclassical cult of ancient tragedy that he cultivated in the turn of the century.
