Else Lasker-Schuler

Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945) was born into an affluent German Jewish family. Following the death of her parents and the dissolution of her marriage, the fledgling poet became notorious in the fashionable cafés of Berlin for appearing in costume as a Persian girl or as an Egyptian boy. Her flamboyance was echoed in her poetry, which combined the sexual with the religious in its exploration of the ecstatic experience. Critics have long dismissed her poetry as decadent in its romantic use of references to moonlight, flowers, and woodland creatures. In his introduction, Haxton addresses such criticism by arguing that what others have termed kitsch and cliché in Lasker-Schüler’s poetry may be understood more fully as a kind of iconoclasm, like that of her Expressionist contemporaries, and as an authentic expression of emotional tenderness. Her poetry also resonates with the cultural moment of Sarah Bernhardt’s gender-bending stage performances and Freud’s sexual interpretations of the subconscious. The poems collected in this bilingual volume represent the full range of Lasker-Schüler’s work, from her earliest poems until her death. Haxton’s translation embraces the poems’ lyrical imagery, remaining faithful to the poet’s vision while also capturing the cadence and rhythms of the poetry.

My Blue Piano

Else Lasker-Schüler

A collection of poems by one of th world's great lyric love poets, offered in a bilingual edition.

Selected Poems

Star in My Forehead

'I am wildly in love with someone, but I'll say no more about it. That way it could always be .. you.' Set around the Cafe des Westens, the epicenter of early twentieth century Expressionist Berlin, Else Lasker-Schuler chronicles the demise of her marriage in a series of letters to her husband Herwarth Walden, publisher of the avant-garde journal Der Sturm. Assuming the guise of alter egos such as Tino of Baghad or the Prince of Thebes, she weaves a web of Oriental fantasies to inform her husband of her infidelities. In so doing, she transforms a personal crisis into a metaphor for the end of an era. Starring a host of leading artists, including Karl Kraus, Alfred Doblin, Oskar Kokoschka, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Emil Nolde and Arnold Schonberg, My Heart offers an unforgettable insider's glimpse into one of Berlin's most artistically vibrant and fascinating periods. This translation by Sheldon Gilman and Robert Levine - the first English-language edition to appear to date - features an introduction by Professor Jakob Hessing of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a glossary of relevant names and places."

A Novel of Love

My Heart

Jane Curtis

Famous for her poetry and infamous for her bohemian lifestyle, as well as her association with political radicals, Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) is only now returning to just renown as one of the few women writers within the Expressionist movement of the early twentieth century. These plays--Dark River, Arthur Aronymus and His Ancestors, and I and I--put Lasker-Schüler on a par with Brecht in her day.

Dark River, Arthur Aronymus and His Ancestors, and I and I

Three Plays

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Else Lasker-Schuler

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