ABSTRACT
Dauthendey, son of a photographer in Würzburg, studied painting before starting to write poetry. In Berlin (1891) he came into contact with Julius and Heinrich Hart, Bruno Wille and Hermann Bölsche (the so-called ‘Friedrichshagener Kreis’), and absorbed their monistic doctrines; his receptivity to the sensuous appeal of colour and light, together with the neo-Darwinism of the Berlin writers, led to the writing of his first novel Josa Gerth (1892), a book very reminiscent of Jens Peter Jacobsen. In the following year his best-known work appeared, Ultra Violett. Einsame Poesien, an impressionistic, Jugendstil concoction where colours are extravagantly flaunted (‘Ultra Violett’ is, apparently, the spirit of loneliness which promises ultimate rapture). In 1895 a cosmic ‘Drama im Him eines Menschen’ Sehnsucht, appeared but Dauthendey was more successful in his poetry: Singsangbuch (1904) and Lusamgärtlein. Frühlingslieder aus Franken (1909). He travelled extensively; a collection of Novellen (again, greatly influenced by Jugendstil topoi) appeared in 1911: Die acht Gesichter am Biwasee. Japanische Liebesgeschichten (it was reprinted in 1953 and was extremely popular). In the same year his second novel, Raubmenschen, was published: the descriptions of Mexico and other countries are little more than travelogues. Dauthendey responded sensitively to the Orient and popularized the culture of the Far East: he was interned in Java during the First World War and died there. Erlebnisse aus Java (1924) and Letzte Reise (1926) appeared posthumously. Walter von Molo described him as ‘ein Punkt in der goldenen Mantelschnalle, die die germanische Dichtkunst in der Nähe ihres Herzens trägt’; his cultivation of the exotic is akin to that of Lafcadio Hearn. His Gesammelte Werke (six vols) appeared in 1925.
