IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM

Richard Brinkmann

Professor of German, Emeritus

Berkeley

1921—2002

Richard Brinkmann, Professor of German, Emeritus, who held joint appointments at the University of Tübingen (Germany) and at the University of California, Berkeley, died November 2, 2002 at the age of 81. He was born in Elberfeld, Germany, June 16, 1921, where he attended high school until his graduation in 1939. Drafted into the army for compulsory military service shortly thereafter, he was severely wounded on the Russian front, suffering a fractured skull and the loss of his right arm. Upon his recovery in 1944, he returned to his studies. After a short brush with art history, classical philology, philosophy and theology, he settled upon German studies. His initial disinclination to devote himself exclusively to German literature was caused by his deep-seated abhorrence of the Nazi ideology and the distortion of the “Germanic” past. Due primarily to the influence of two of his mentors, Hugo Kuhn (who remained a lifelong friend), and Paul Kluckhohn, he finally resolved himself to take up his early interest in German literature. He received his Dr. Phil. from the University of Tübingen in 1948, with a thesis on the foremost novelist of German realism, Theodor Fontane, to whose works he returned frequently later in life. In l955, he received his habilitation from Tübingen, while his Habilitationsschrift (that is, the scholarly work, which, if accepted, qualifies the writer for lecturing at a university) turned out to be an epoch-making, now classic investigation of the content and extent of the concept of literary realism. Published in 1957 under the title Wirklichkeit und Illusion, this book launched a new philosophical perspective on the literature of the turn of the century, anticipating later expressionism. It also established Brinkmann’s reputation as a distinguished, international scholar. As his career developed, his interests broadened, ranging over nineteenth century German literature, the age of Goethe, romanticism and expressionism. In 1958, he accepted the offer of a professorship at the University of Tübingen, a chair which he held until his retirement in 1986.

From 1967 on, he shared the appointment with the University of California, Berkeley, teaching for a quarter (then, semester) every other year, alternating with Tübingen. He was also a visiting professor at several other universities – Columbia University, Texas, Wellington (New Zealand), Göttingen and Munich. He had numerous students, both graduate and undergraduate, but he never wanted to form a "school" of students, that is, of those following his methods or accepting his conclusions. Rather, he sought to teach them to follow their own intellectual directions, as he put it: "die Erziehung zum selbständigen Verstandesgebrauch." Ten of his students are now professors in German universities and those of other countries.

Richard Brinkmann belonged to a generation of Germanists of international renown who helped reshape the discipline of literary studies and intellectual history in both Germany and the United States in the aftermath of the Third Reich. He considered the internationalizing of the study of German literature his primary responsibility. His influence was enormous and widespread. He held the position of editor of Germany's most prestigious journal of literary scholarship, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, which has promoted interdisciplinary criticism in the humanities for the past 75 years. He certainly shaped its direction and public profile. He was also presiding officer from 1976 to 1984 of the Germanist Committee of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which oversees and supports virtually all major research projects in the humanities and social sciences, as well as individual academic careers in Germany, a tremendously influential position. (That organization is roughly the German equivalent of the National Science Foundation in the United States.) He was a member of the Austrian and Heidelberg Akademie der Wissenschaften, vice president of the Internationale Vereinigung der Germanisten and a member of the selection committee of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. Even after his retirement, he reestablished the Heinrich-Fabri-Institut and here successfully furthered the interdisciplinary connection between the natural sciences and the humanities.

For his 60th and 70th birthdays, he received extensive Festschriften; and, for his eightieth birthday the University of Tübingen organized a touching ceremony, for which his earlier account (presented on the occasion of his induction into the Heidelberg Academy in l987) of the development of his career and the foundations of his research was republished. The well-known German critic, scholar, and former president of the Berlin Akademie der Künste, Walter Jens, delivered a witty, yet insightful description, from his own viewpoint, of Brinkmann's career. Jens ends by saying that if he were to award Richard Brinkmann with an honorary title, summing up all of his varied capabilities, it would be "Mediator between science and poetry" ("Mittler zwischen Wissenschaft und Poesie"). The little booklet containing the words of this celebration concludes by listing Richard Brinkmann's publications -- the titles alone comprise 23 pages.

Those of us who knew Richard well will never forget his sparkling wit, and his anecdotes, sometimes delivered in an adopted, thick Swabian dialect. His humor was often self-directed, never malicious. And, who could forget his rendition of "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen," played by tapping his pipe on the steel plate, which replaced a part of his demolished skull! He drove his car skillfully, by means of a knob on the steering wheel, and the only criticism which the DMV's instructor had on Richard's left-handed driving test was that he took the corners too fast. He was very much attached to Berkeley, to his friends, colleagues and students. One of his students gladly remembered his characteristic introductory words to a seminar: “Most German professors have a panic-stricken fear of being understood.” Our own vivid, often nostalgic memories include his regular forays to the Bay Area's excellent wine shops, to the beaches where he would walk for hours, and to bargain hunting in art galleries and department stores with his wife, Ursula. But his last years at his home in Tübingen were troubled by his physical suffering from a severe case of Parkinson's disease, while emotionally he was distressed by Ursula's death in April 1999, following two years of a coma, during which time he lovingly cared for her at home.

He is survived by two daughters, Ursula Delbrück in New Zealand and Brigitte Brinkmann-Siepmann in Germany, as well as a son, Fritz Brinkmann, in Germany.

Hinrich C Seeba

Frederic C. Tubach

Blake Lee Spahr