On the Marble Cliffs
{{Short description|1939 German novella by Jünger}}
{{Infobox book
| name = On the Marble Cliffs
| title_orig = {{Lang|de|Auf den Marmorklippen}}
| translator = Stuart Hood (1947)
Tess Lewis (2023)
| image = Jünger, Ernst -Auf den Marmorklippen,1939.jpg
| caption = First German edition, 1939
| author = Ernst Jünger
| country = Germany
| language = German
| genre = Speculative fiction
| publisher = {{Ill|Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt|de}}, Hamburg
| pub_date = 1939
| english_pub_date = 1947
| media_type = Print (Hardcover)
| pages = 106
| isbn = 3-608-93485-5
| oclc = 255948132
| preceded_by = {{Ill|Afrikanische Spiele|de}}, (African games)
| followed_by = Heliopolis
}}
On the Marble Cliffs ({{Langx|de|Auf den Marmorklippen}}) is a novella by Ernst Jünger published in 1939 describing the upheaval and ruin of a serene agricultural society. It was published that year by {{Ill|Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt|de}} in Hamburg, Germany.{{cite journal | jstor=40088083 | author1=H. K. L | title=Reviewed work: On the Marble Cliffs, Ernst Juenger | journal=Books Abroad | year=1949 | volume=23 | issue=1 | pages=79–80 | doi=10.2307/40088083 }}{{cite journal | jstor=40097963 | last1=Cooley | first1=John K. | title=The Adventures of Ernst Jünger | journal=Books Abroad | year=1958 | volume=32 | issue=4 | pages=365–368 | doi=10.2307/40097963 }}
Synopsis
The peaceful and traditional agricultural people, located on the shores of a large bay, are surrounded by the rough pastoral folk in the surrounding hills, who feel increasing pressure from the unscrupulous and lowly followers of the dreaded head forester. The narrator and protagonist lives on the marble cliffs as a botanist with his brother Otho, Otho's 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.{{cite book | jstor=10.3138/9781442677838.40 | doi=10.3138/9781442677838 | title=Northrop Frye on Modern Culture | year=2003 | last1=Estate Of Northrop Frye | first1=HG | chapter=Ernst Jüngerʹs on the Marble Cliffs | volume=11 | pages=211–214 | publisher=University of Toronto Press | isbn=9781442677838 }}
The tale may readily be understood as a parable on national socialism, the evil and "jovial" head forester being Hermann Göring. Others see it as a description of Germany's fight against the threat of Stalinism or communism, the head forester (or "chief ranger") being Joseph Stalin. Following this interpretation the book would have predicted in 1939 the ultimate failure of Germany's imminent war against the Soviet Union. The book 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 or description 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's 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.
{{Conservatism in Germany}}
Legacy
The novella was the basis for the 2002 opera Auf den Marmorklippen composed by Giorgio Battistelli.{{cite book |last=Griffel |first=Margaret Ross |year=2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-xEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |title=Operas in German: A Dictionary |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=37 |isbn=9781442247970 }}
Notes
External links
- {{cite book |title=On the Marble Cliffs |publisher=New Directions |year=1947 |translator-last=Hood |translator-first=Stuart |last=Jünger |first=Ernst |url=https://archive.org/details/ErnstJungerOnTheMarbleCliffsbOk.xyz}} English Language copy of the book.
{{Ernst Jünger}}
{{Conservative Revolution}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1939 German-language novels
Category:Novellas by Ernst Jünger
Category:German novels adapted into operas
Category:Novels set in fictional countries
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