LETTERS
447
sin of The Enemy. I didn't
at
all mean
that
one can distinguish, inside Germany,
Nazism from 'real' fascism.-D.M.
ON
STEFAN GEORGE
Sirs:
Allow me to add a few words to the
article on Stefan George 1n the July-Aug-
1111
PARTISAN REVIEW. They may serve
to correct some of Mr. Bentley's state·
ments and concern only facts. They do
not deal with any opinions.
(1)
In 1889 George had neither writ–
ten nor published
"sev~ral
volumes of
distinguillhed lyrics." At that date not a
line of his had been printed, only a few
juvenilia circulated in a college maga–
zine.
(2) George's father was not an inn–
keeper, but a wine-expert in the vine–
growing Rhenish district of Bingen. The
family were farmers and vintners, not
small bourgeois.
(3) Mr. Bentley's rendering of my rec–
ollections (they cover a few days) con–
veys the impression that the poet wore a
toga. I merely stated that during one
symposium, followed by a reading of
poems, he and the very few friends pres–
ent donned something like togas, as for
a solemn occasion. And I never meant
that the four books that chanced to lie
on his shelf during the week I visited
George, represented any "choice."
(4) The line in George's poem on Leo
XIII, "New salvation comes only from
new love," is an allusion to one of the
Pope's Latin hymns, and certainly no ex–
pression of George's love-doctrine. Its
meaning is the simplest.
(5) George was the exclusive owner
and editor of the
Blaetter fuer die Kunst.
This publication never served any com–
mercial purpose, and ceased when he
wished it to cease, with the Twelfth Vol–
ume. Mr. Bentley's statement that it
"lived
'1:1
years because George allowed
no brother near the throne" makes as
much sense as if I said that a relative of
mine died at the age of 95
because
he
had only one child.
(6) The selection of names of those
constituting the "nucleus formed in 1893"
i&
arbitrary. Baron Leopold Andrian–
Werburg is not "a Viennese Jew," but
the son of one of the oldest families of
South Tyrolese or Friulian aristocracy.
His mother was Giacomo Meyerbeer's
daughter. He was a distinguished mem–
ber of the old Austrian diplomacy. George
admired his poetry. Their personal con–
tacts were few and loose.
(7) George's remark to me, "Look
what I have made of Gundolf," was said
in a kind and admiring, certainly in no
"arrogant" spirit. And Gundolf always
felt he owed everything to George. ·
(8) Mr. Bentley says, "George had this
at least
in
common with Jesus, that he
lived on his friends." As far as I know–
[ have never heard a different version–
the poet lived on an allowance from his
father, and later on his own means, being
modest
in
his demands. At times he stayed
with friends, as many of us have done.
(9) Lothar Treuge wrote lyrical poems
and translated Horaca He remained
quite aloof from the public. Where did
he ever seek "to give George's life-view
wider currency"?
(10) Mr. Bentley's information on
George and the Nazis may in a small
part derive from a conversation he had
with rna
If
so, I welcome this oppor–
tunity to state that I was mistaken.
I have
rea~on
to believe, that some of the
facts will in due course be published.
I do not belong to George's "circle,"
and I do not approve of Friedrich Wol–
ter's biography. But I can't admit Mr.
Bentley's claim that his essay "presents
the story of George . .
:
in something like
its true proportions."
NEw YoRK CITY
HERBERT STEINER
REPLY
Sirs:
It
is not of course possible for an out–
sider like myself to put together any au–
thoritative or definitive work on George.
Not
all
Mr\ Steiner's comments are with–
out force; yet I still think that my essay
presents more of the truth than any other.
Nor am I surprised if some are piqued by
my hostility to George's philosophy. To
deal with M{. Steiner's points:
1. My date is wrong. But I didn't say
GeOrge
published
his early volumes. They
circulated privately.
2. The English authority, Jethro Bith–
ell, says that George's family was small
bourgeois. The picture of G.'s birthplace
