 Title page for Der Untergang der Titanic (1978) | |
| Author | Hans Magnus Enzensberger |
|---|---|
| Original title | Der Untergang der Titanic |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | Suhrkamp Verlag |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Publication place | West Germany |
Published in English | 1980 |
| Pages | 114 |
| ISBN | 351802762X |
The Sinking of the Titanic (German : Der Untergang der Titanic) is an epic and allegorical poem by the German poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger, first published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 1978. [1]
The poem is primarily about the failure of Western civilization as an enterprise, a point which Enzensberger makes explicitly in the passage about Icelanders, who, when their properties are threatened by volcanic lava flows, endeavour to stem the inexorable tide with hoses: [2]
- pointing more and more hoses at the advancing fiery lava
- [..] and thus postponing,
- not forever perhaps, but for the time being at least,
- the Decline of Western Civilisation
Similarities and parallels have been frequently drawn between this poem and T. S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land , not only in terms of the subject matter but also in the way in which shifts in mood, perspective, time and voice conspire to move the reader to a single overwhelming point. The poem was adapted into an opera by Wilhelm Dieter Siebert.
