Introduction: Authorship and World as Shared Time

Summary

Denn wir schreiben ja nicht, um zu beschreiben, sondern um beschreibend zu verändern.

[For we don't write for the sake of describing [the world], but to change it via description.]

—Anna Seghers, “Kleiner Bericht aus meiner Werkstatt” (1932)

IN 1932, THE GERMAN AUTHOR Anna Seghers published a piece titled “Kleiner Bericht aus meiner Werkstatt” (A Short Report from my Workshop). The “Kleiner Bericht” portrays an imagined dialogue between S., a German writer, and L., a writer from China, as they work together to describe illegal May Day celebrations in prerevolutionary Shanghai. According to S., the writers should strive to portray the events in a way that will make them “gegenwärtig” (present) to readers not from China, and allow them to understand that, as S. puts it, “der erste Mai auf der ganzen Welt gemeinsam gefeiert wird, daß er aber in jedem Land anders gefeiert wird” (3; the first of May is celebrated around the world at the same time, but it is celebrated differently in each country). It is this rendering of shared time linking different spaces that fosters international solidarity.

L. initiates the illustration of May Day in China by describing what life is like for a participant in the celebrations, a textile worker named Yöji. Her depiction is brief. From it, the reader learns only that Yöji lives in “dem tiefsten Arbeiterviertel” (a working-class neighborhood), in “einer schmutzigen, engen Gasse” (a dirty, narrow, alley), in “ihrem kleinen armseligen Zimmer” (12; in her small, wretched room). Providing feedback on this text, S. finds the portrayal too schematic. According to S., it presents only an abstract figure, a “vage chinesische Genossin” (a vague Chinese comrade), who takes part in a “papiernen Zeitungsdemonstration” (15; a newspaper demonstration). Too many details are missing for a reader who knows nothing about China to feel a connection with Yöji.

At first, L. reacts to S.'s desire for a richer description of Yöji's surroundings with skepticism.