«Vedere Napoli». Das Neapel von Ingeborg Bachmann und Marie Luise Kaschnitz

Abstract

In the post-war period many German-speaking authors choose Italy as the country of their voluntary exile. However, they do not travel to Italy in Goethe’s footsteps, they project instead recent past and present experiences on the land «where lemons blossom». That is why in two of Ingeborg Bachmann’s cycles of poems (Lieder von einer Insel and Lieder auf der Flucht) Naples appears as a «place of joy» and a place of horror at once, where menacing signs of war and destruction are still tangible. In her poetry, Marie Louise Kaschnitz tends to depict Naples in a rather mythical and timeless sense, while in her prose she lays more emphasis on social criticism. On the one hand, Kaschnitz appears to be fascinated by the beauty of the city, but on the other one she harshly criticises its poverty and misery.