BISMARCK- THE STORY OF AFIGHTER By EMIL LUBWXG. Text extracted from
opening pages of book: Foreword: A chiaroscuro form, fully
equipped, shines forth from the twilight. Bismarck resembles the
faces painted by Rembrandt, and must be so depicted. For the last
eighty years, partisan hatred has flashed its lightnings round him.
In his lifetime he was little loved, because he loved little; after
his death he was condemned to figure as a statue, because his inner
man remained hard to penetrate. Thus among the Germans he became a
Roland carved out of stone. The aim of this book is to limn the
portrait of a victorious and errant warrior. Here Bismarck is
depicted as a character filled with pride, courage, and hatred the
basic elements from which his actions resulted. To-day, when part
of our nation ad mires him with partiality while another part
condemns him, we must make a profound study of the history of his
spirit. Since Bismarck, as a personality, played the part of
destiny to the Germans, the German nation must learn to understand
the char acter of this man, to understand him as he really was, and
not as distorted by worship and by hatred. The historical man is
always more organic than his system, and more complicated than his
monument. Instead of following the academic method, and burdening
the portrayal with notes, we think it proper in our day to make
public characters plastic, as an example and a warning to every
one. The man and the politician are inseparable; feelings and
actions determine one another mutually; private life and public
life run concurrently. The task of the artist is to construct a
whole out of the data furnished by the investigator. By the
beginning of the thirties, Bismarck's inner development was
practically finished. During a decade and a half prior to that time
he had had to endure the most violent agitations. All that
followed, throughout his career, was no more than a deepening viii
Foreword of the elementary lines already traced. That is why his
youth, which most of the biographers dismiss in a few pages, must
be dealt with at considerable length his youth, the time before his
political activities began. The only writer who has succeeded in
producing a psychography of Bismarck is the misunderstood
Klein-Hattingen, who had to work with the documents that were
available in his day. In the year 1911 I myself tried, in what I
called a psychological attempt, to counteract the legend of the
Iron Chancellor by the depiction of an enigmatic nature. Ten years
later I wrote a trilogy wherein I hoped to present Bismarck
dramatically on the German stage. This new likeness is entirely
different from my earlier attempt, which was non-political. Nothing
that I wrote in that first book is reproduced here, where the
figure is presented in a new light. The only common element in the
two works is the fundamental concept of an enigmatic character.
Besides, various circum stances have rendered a new and more
critical depiction neces sary; the post-war epoch has brought with
it a fuller knowledge of what was involved in Bismarck's career; a
number of memoirs and other relevant documents have been published;
and the per sonal development of the author has contributed to the
need for a fresh presentation. By the new lights, the chiaroscuro
surroundings of Bismarck's figure have become even more striking.
One who is not trying to carve a monument but to trace thecareer of
a fighter, stands amazed before this life, which was perpetual
struggle, occasional victory, unceasing passion, never
satisfaction, for the most part sagacity, at times error, but
invariably characterised by genius even when mistaken. Contents
include: FOREWORD vii LIST or ILLUSTRATIONS xi CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
xiii BOOK ONE: 1815-1851 THE WANDERER 1 BOOK TWO: 1852-1862 THE
STRIVER 121 BOOK THREE: 1862-1871 THE BUILDER 201 BOOK FOUR:
1872-1888 THE RULER 399 BOOK FIVE: 1888-18
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