 Title page forDer Untergang der Titanic (1978) | |
| Author | Hans Magnus Enzensberger |
|---|---|
| Original title | Der Untergang der Titanic |
| Language | German |
| Publisher | Suhrkamp Verlag |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Publication place | West Germany |
Published in English | 1980 |
| Pages | 114 |
| ISBN | 351802762X |
The Sinking of the Titanic (German:Der Untergang der Titanic) is an epic andallegorical poem by theGerman poetHans Magnus Enzensberger, first published bySuhrkamp Verlag in 1978.[1]
The poem is primarily about the failure of Western civilization as an enterprise, a point which Enzensberger makes explicitly in the passage aboutIcelanders, who, when their properties are threatened by volcanic lava flows, endeavour to stem the inexorable tide with hoses:[2]
Similarities and parallels have been frequently drawn between this poem andT. S. Eliot's 1922 poemThe Waste Land, not only in terms of the subject matter but also in the way in which shifts in mood, perspective, time and voice conspire to move the reader to a single overwhelming point. The poem was adapted into anopera by Wilhelm Dieter Siebert.
