Helmut Eisendie: zur Verteidigung eines Sprachterroristen

The predominating question emerging from the oeuvre of the controversial Austrian author Helmut Eisendle concerns the stand he adopts as a literary artist. Because Eisendie is relatively unknown, the aims of this article are to introduce him to South African readers as well as to stimulate interest in his works which have often been subjected to harsh and somewhat prejudiced criticism. For the above-mentioned reasons the basic characteristics of Eisendle's literary oeuvre (up to 1981) are briefly discussed, with special attention being paid to the essay “Rosenquarz und Hirnmechanismen” (1972) as a basis for the discussion of his essay anthology Der Narr auf dem Hiigel (1981), the reason being that Eisendle’s essaying language in 1972 - apart from the more serious atmosphere - is hardly any different from that in 1981 when he undermines, through the guise of a fool, the seemingly unassailable stance of realism. The hypothesis that Eisendle’s literary engagement is based on the concept of playing (“Spielen”) with language seems once more confirmed by his creation of a literary fool. The image of the fool openly presents Eisendle’s tongue-in-cheek attitude while he is sabotaging scientific facts and conventions - an aspect which is often overlooked by especially his harsher critics