DOI: 10.5279/dk-sa-dda-1471
title: Nelly Sachs brevregister
title: Nelly Sachs Letter Register

description: Nelly Sachs (1891-1970), som i 1966 modtog Nobelprisen for litteratur, er tysk-jødisk lyriker. Hendes værk, der består af digte og lyriske dramaer, bærer præg af forfølgelses- og eksilsituationen, af Bibelens sprog og billeder og af den fremmedartede senjødiske mystik. Når dertil kommer, at hun var modernist i samme betydning som herhjemme fx Bjørnvig eller Gustava Brandt, der bryder de tilvante lyriske former op, er det klart, at hendes digtning er uhyre vanskeligt tilgængelig.
      
      Nu plejer vanskelig litteratur jo ikke at skræmme forskere - nogle vil endda hævde, at de især tiltrækkes af uforståelige tekster! Nobelprisen bevirkede da også for Nelly Sachs en vis forskerinteresse, der dog ophørte næsten totalt efter hendes død. Den sparsomme og sporadiske forskning betyder imidlertid, at man kender meget lidt til hendes biografi. Den er næsten lige så myte-belastet som Karen Blixens, og dette frister naturligvis til opklaringsarbejde. Til dels sammenhængende med biografiens sagnagtige karakter er tilblivelsen af de enkelte værker, den igangsættende inspiration og ydre årsager til emnevalg hidtil blevet behandlet ud fra formodninger om, hvad en jødisk flygtning kunne tænkes at interessere sig for, uden baggrund i reel viden. Dette skyldes ikke, at forskerne har været dovne. De eksisterende afhandlinger bygger i høj grad på interviews med digteren - hun ønskede imidlertid ikke sin person fremhævet, men henviste til den af alle kendte samtid og ville selv blot være et talerør for alle lidende. Denne art af beskedenhed har imidlertid til følge, at digteren kommer til at fremstå som profet, og værket selv bliver historieløst. Når der således lægges slør over til- blivelsesprocessen, samtidig med at man må undvære teoretiske forfatterudsagn om digtningens væsen og digterens rolle, bliver det endnu vanskeligere at læse og forholde sig til digtene.
      
      Det måtte derfor være af stor betydning at inddrage breve i forskningen. Nelly Sachs befandt sig efter flugten til Sverige i 1940 i et land, hvis sprog hun ikke forstod, bundet til hjemmet af omsorgen for sin gamle, svagelige mor. Det vil sige, at brevskrivningen bliver hendes til tider eneste kontakt med omverdenen, først til svenske kulturpersonligheder, der brød den almindeligt afvisende ligegyldighed og gjorde en menneskelig indsats for flygtningene; senere udvidedes kredsen i Sverige ganske betydeligt, og efter krigens ophør kom kontakten til gamle venner, der var undsluppet til andre lande, og venner i det nu splittede og besatte Tyskland. Da hendes digtning i løbet af 50''erne blev kendt i USA, i Frankrig og til sidst også i Tyskland, fik hun endnu flere nye, unge brevvenner.
      
      Det er nødvendigt at gøre sig denne situation klar for at forstå, at brevmaterialet er så overvældende stort. I det indsamlede datamateriale er der taget 3.454 breve under behandling, og flere breve vil nok med tiden dukke op ved donation af efterladte papirer til forskellige arkiver.
      
      De enkelte breves værdi for forskningen er svingende, men tilsammen udgør denne store materialemængde en uvurderlig kilde til digterens biografi, til værkhistorien, såvel tilblivelse som publikation, til værkkommentar og forståelse i bredere forstand. Den udgør desuden basis for en bibliografi såvel over digterens egne værker og oversættelser til fremmede sprog som over sekundærlitteraturen, fx anmeldelser, frem til 1970.
      
      Normalt vil et brevregister indeholde oplysninger om hvert enkelt brevs adressat, skrivested og -dato samt opbevaringssted. Disse oplysninger er naturligvis fuldt tilstrækkelige, dersom materialet findes samlet og offentligt tilgængeligt. Men brevene fra Nelly Sachs findes spredt ud over biblioteker, arkiver, forlag etc. i flere europæiske lande, og hvis et brevregister over således spredte dokumenter skal gavne forskningen, må også brevindholdet anskueliggøres.
      
      Man har fra gammel tid en fremgangsmåde til fastholdelse af dokumentdata, der benytter sig af regest, dvs. en slags referat af dokumentets emner. Noget tilsvarende har været forsøgt på Goethe-breve og resulterede i en arbejdstid på fire timer pr. brev, hvilket ganget med mere end 3.000 ikke var til at overskue. Desuden viste det sig, at nogle breve fra Nelly Sachs indeholdt så fortættede meddelelser, at en fyldestgørende regest ville blive betydeligt længere end brevteksten. Dette forehavende blev da forladt til fordel for et med bistand fra DDA udarbejdet ''spørgeskema'', der optog formaliserede oplysninger fra hvert enkelt brev. Det vil sige, at man ved hjælp af skemaet omformede brevteksten til data. Skemaet blev ret kompliceret, da det skulle optage data af vidt forskellig art og desuden skulle indeholde muligheder for kombination af disse.
      
      Skemaet optager først en detaljeret materialebeskrivelse. Ud over adressat, skrivested og -dato også omfang og art, evt. publikationssted samt opbevaringssted og betingelser for benyttelse. Derefter indholdsdata: personer, litteratur, institutioner, tidsskrifter, geografiske betegnelser, sekundærlitteratur til Nelly Sachs, som er nævnt eller omtalt i det pågældende brev. Desuden egne værker, herunder oversættelser til tysk af andre værker samt oversættelser til andre sprog af Nelly Sachs'' værker. Værk-data er ordnet i en matrix, der giver mulighed for at skelne mellem omtale, egentlig kommentar af det pågældende værk og værkcitat. Måske er det umiddelbart forståeligt, at denne skelnen er af betydning. Hvis man sidder med et meget lukket digt, vil man blive glad for at få at vide, at det bliver kommenteret i dette eller disse breve. Citater vil ofte være ensbetydende med tidligere udgaver af offentliggjorte digte, hvilket muliggør indsigt i tilblivelsesprocessen. Sidst i skemaet er anbragt nogle små ''signalflag'', der kan give et første indtryk af, om det vil kunne betale sig at rekvirere en kopi af det pågældende brev: karakteristik, dvs. om det er et forretningsbrev eller et privatbrev, emner, begrænset i tal, omhandlende biografi, livsanskuelse, litteraturforståelse, tids- eller eksilkommentar, der går ud over den blotte brevdato. Til allersidst er der en rubrik, der kan indeholde hvad som helst af blivende betydning, fx forklaring på en af primærundersøgeren foretagen datering af et udateret brev, eller af midlertidig betydning, fx om der skal søges yderligere oplysninger for en fuldstændig færdiggørelse af skemaet.
      
      Datamaterialet er opbygget i og direkte indtastet i en MLD/ASTRID database. Under indtastningen kunne de til formålet konstruerede programmer tilbyde supplerende og korrigerende oplysninger: uoplyst forfatter til et værk eller ''schweizisk veninde'' kunne identificeres ud fra tidligere omtale, stavemåder og dateringer korrigeres. At denne søgning og korrektion af oplysninger foregik langt hurtigere og mere præcist end ved anvendelse af manuelle kartoteker, siger sig selv. Desuden ville brevfortegnelsen med forskellige registre og af brevene udledte bibliografier kunne leveres som mikrofiche og fotosats til forlaget. Kun derved blev en fuldstændig publicering af arbejdet mulig
description: Nelly Sachs (1891-1970), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1966, was a German-Jewish poet. Her works, which consist of poems and lyrical dramas, are marked by her experience of persecution and of being an exile, by the language and images of 'he Bible, and by the exotic late Jewish mysticism. Moreover, as she was a modernist in the same sense as for instance the Danish poets Thorkild Bjørnvig and Jørgen Gustava Brandt, who break down the normal lyrical forms, it is obvious that her poetry is extremely difficult to access.     #  However, difficult literature usually does not frighten away researchers - on the contrary, some maintain that researchers are especially attracted to incomprehensible texts! And indeed the awarding of the Nobel Prize did give rise to a certain interest in Nelly Sachs, an interest which, however, almost ceased totally after her death. Because of this scanty and sporadic research very little is known about her life, which is almost as myth-ridden as that of Karen Blixen, a fact which, of course, tempts one to try to clear up the 'mysteries'.     #  Partly as a consequence of the mythical character of her life, the creation of the individual works, the initial inspiration, and the influence of the external world on her choice of subject have, so far, been dealt with on the basis of assumptions as to what a Jewish exile was interested in, without this being based on any actual knowledge. This is not because the researchers have been lazy. The existing treatises are largely based on interviews with the poet - however, she did not want to put herself forward but referred to the well-known history of the world during her lifetime and merely wanted to be a spokeswoman for all who suffered. The result of this kind of modesty is, however, that the poet gradually becomes a prophet and that the work itself loses its links with history. Thus, when the creative process is veiled and one has to do without theoretical statements by the author about the poems and the role of the poet it becomes even more difficult to read and interpret the poems.     #  It was therefore of great importance to include letters in the research. After her flight to Sweden in 1940, Nelly Sachs was in a country where she did not know the language, tied to the home by the need to look after her old, weak mother. This meant that letter-writing was often her only contact with the external world, at first with Swedish intellectuals who broke the usual reserved attitude and made personal efforts in connection with the refugees. Later on, the number of her contacts in Sweden was increased considerably, and after the war she came into contact with old friends who had escaped to other countries and with friends in the now divided and occupied Germany. When her works became known in the USA, in France and finally in Germany in the 1950s she got a number of new, young pen friends.     #  It is necessary to know about all this in order to understand why such an overwhelming number of letters exist. This data material deals with 3454 letters, and no doubt more letters will turn up in the future when papers from deceased persons' properties will be donated to various archives.     #  The value of the individual letters for research varies, but altogether this large amount of material constitutes an invaluable source of information about the life of the poet, about the history of the works, i.e. creation as well as publication, about comments on her works and an understanding of the works in a broader sense. In addition, the material forms the basis of a bibliography of Nelly Sachs' own works and translations of the works into other languages as well as the basis of secondary literature, e.g. reviews up to 1970.     #  Usually a letter register contains information about each letter's addressee, about the place where the letter was written, date when the letter was written, and place where the letter is kept. This information is, of course, quite sufficient is the material is kept at the same place and is accessible to the public. But the letters from Nelly Sachs are found in libraries, archives, publishing firms, etc. in several European countries, and if this type of letter register is to be of any use to research it is necessary also to include information on the content of the letters.     #  An old procedure exists for the keeping of document data by means of 'regest', i.e. a kind of summary of the subjects of the document. Something similar has been tried in connection with Goethe's letters and this resulted in four hours' work per letter which made the method impossible as there were more than 3000 letters. Furthermore, it turned out that some of the letters from Nelly Sachs contained such a large amount of information that an adequate summary would become considerably longer than the letter text itself. Thus, this method was abandoned in favour of a 'questionnaire' designed with assistance from the Danish Data Archives. This 'questionnaire' includes formalized information from each letter, which means that it was possible to convert the letter text into data. The 'questionnaire' is rather complicated as it had to comprise widely different data and had to contain facilities for a combination of these data.     #  First, the 'questionnaire' contains a detailed description of the material. In addition to addressee, place where the letter was written and date it also contains extent and type, if possible place of publication, place where the letter is kept and access restrictions, if any. Secondly, the 'questionnaire' contains content data: persons, literature, institutions, periodicals, geographical names, and secondary literature to Nelly Sachs mentioned in the letter in question. Furthermore: own works, including translations into German of other works and translations of Nelly Sachs' works into other languages. The data on the works are organized in a matrix, which makes it possible to distinguish between reference to, actual comments to and quotations from the work in question. The importance of this distinction may be self-evident. If one deals with a very difficult poem, one is grateful for being informed that the poem is commented on in another letter or letters. The quotations often imply that earlier versions of published poems exist which makes it possible to obtain information on the process involved in writing the poem. At the end of the 'questionnaire' there are a number of small 'signal flags' which may give an idea of whether it is worthwhile to order a copy of the letter: type, i.e. whether it is a business letter or a private letter, subjects - limitied in number - concerning biography, philosophy of life, literary appreciation, comments on temporary life or exile comments which exceed the mere date of the letter. Finally, there is a space which may contain anything of lasting importance, for instance an explanation of the primary investigator's dating of an undated letter, or of temporary importance, for instance whether it is necessary to obtain additional information in order to complete the 'questionnaire'.     #  The data material has been built into and entered directly into an MLD/ASTRID data base. During data entry the programs designed for the purpose offered supplementary and corrective information: unknown author of a work or 'Swiss friend' could be identified on the basis of an earlier reference, spelling and dates could be corrected. And it goes without saying that this retrieval and correction went much faster and much more precisely than by using card files. In addition, the letter catalogue with various registers and the bibliographies deduced from the letters could be delivered as microfiches and photocomposition to the publishers. Only in this way it was possible to publish a complete version of the material
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description: See abstract