Editing Gottfried Benn (section)

===Family and beginnings===

Gottfried Benn was born in a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] country parsonage, a few hours from Berlin, the son and grandson of pastors in Mansfeld, now part of [[Putlitz]] in the district of [[Prignitz]], [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]].<ref>cf ''Primal Vision: Selected Poetry and Prose of Gottfried Benn'' edited by E. B. Ashton (NY: Bodley Head, 1961; Boyars, 1971; Marion Boyars, 1984, p. ix. {{ISBN|978-0-7145-2500-6}}</ref> He was educated in [[Zielin, Gryfino County|Sellin]] in the [[Neumark]] and [[Frankfurt an der Oder]]. To please his father, he studied [[theology]] at the [[University of Marburg]] and military medicine at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Academy]] in Berlin.<ref>cf p. x.</ref> After being laid off as a military doctor in 1912, Benn turned to [[pathology]], where he dissected over 200 bodies between October 1912 and November 1913 in Berlin. Many of his literary works reflect on his time as a pathologist.

In the summer of 1912, Benn started a romantic relationship with the Jewish poet [[Else Lasker-Schüler]].

Gottfried Benn began his literary career as a poet when he published a booklet titled ''[[Morgue and Other Poems]]'' in 1912, containing [[Expressionism|expressionist]] poems dealing with physical decay of flesh, with blood, cancer, and death — for example No III — ''Cycle'':

{{Blockquote|''Der einsame Backzahn einer Dirne, / die unbekannt verstorben war, / trug eine Goldplombe. / Die übrigen waren wie auf stille Verabredung / ausgegangen. / Den schlug der Leichendiener sich heraus, / versetzte ihn und ging für tanzen. / Denn, sagte er, / nur Erde solle zur Erde werden.''|Gottfried Benn<ref>Gottfried Benn: ''Morgue und andere Gedichte.'' 21. Flugblatt des Verlages A. R. Meyer, Berlin 1912./ ''Gottfried Benn: Sämtliche Werke'' ('Stuttgarter Ausgabe'), ed. by Gerhard Schuster and Holger Hof, 7 volumes in 8 parts, Stuttgart 2003 p. 12.  {{ISBN|978-3-608-95313-8}}).</ref>}}

{{Blockquote|''The solitary molar of a hooker, / who had died a missing person, / held a gold filling. / As if by silent agreement, the rest / had fallen out. / The mortician knocked out the filling, / pawned it and went dancing. / Because, he said, / only earth should return to earth.''|[[Natias Neutert]] with David Paisey<ref>Translated and recited by Natias Neutert (with revisions added from the recent translation of David Paisey). Cf. ''Foolnotes,'' Booklet, Smith Gallery Performance, Soho New York 1980, p. 21.</ref><ref>Cf. Under the headline ''Latently existing words'' in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Anja Juhre-Wright talks with Natias Neutert about the difficulties of translating Benn. See external links</ref>}}

[[File:Berlin Gottfried Benn Bibliothek 2.jpg|thumb|Library in Berlin named after Gottfried Benn]]

Poems like this "were received by critics and public with shock, dismay, even revulsion."<ref>Reinhard Paul Becker: ''Introduction.'' In: Volkmar Sander (Ed.): ''Gottfried Benn. Prose, Essays, Poems.'' (Foreword by E.B. Ashton). The German L Vol. 73, Continuum, New York, p. XX*.</ref> In 1913 a second volume of poems came out, titled  ''Sons. New Poems''.<ref>Gottfried Benn: ''Söhne. Neue Gedichte.'' Berlin (n.d. [1913].</ref>

Benn's poetry projects an introverted [[nihilism]], that is, an [[existentialist]] outlook that views artistic expression as the only purposeful action. In his early poems Benn used his medical experience, often using medical terminology, to portray humanity morbidly as just another species of disease-ridden animal.<ref>Cf. Twentieth-Century Culture: A Biographical Companion edited by Alan Bullock and R. B. Woodings Harpercollins, 1984, p.61. {{ISBN|978-0-06-015248-2}}</ref>