Abstract:

This article is about two important texts of German expressionism: Ernst Bloch’s The Spirit  of Utopia (1918/1923) and Kurt Pinthus’ Dawn of Humanity (1919). The Spirit of Utopia is  considered Ernst Bloch’s most important early philosophical work. Dawn of Humanity is  regarded as the most representative and influential anthology of German expressionist  poetry. Its editor is Kurt Pinthus. The aim of this article is to explore thematic affinities  between The Spirit of Utopia and Dawn of Humanity. This article is divided into three  parts: Introduction, main part and conclusion. The main part is subdivided into three  sections: The first section deals with the conception of Dawn of Humanity as a symphony  and with Bloch’s views on music. Special attention is given to the importance of the socalled  humanity melody by Ludwig van Beethoven for Bloch and Pinthus. The second  section focuses on social critique in The Spirit of Utopia and selected poems of Dawn of  Humanity. The poems selected for discussion are: Alfred Wolfenstein’s City Dwellers and  The Heart, Georg Heym’s The War, and Karl Otten’s Worker!. Special attention is given to  the problems of isolation, alienation, exploitation and war. The third section attempts to  trace utopian vision in selected poems of Dawn of Humanity and in The Spirit of Utopia.  The poems selected for discussion are: Johannes R. Becher’s Human, Rise, Kurt Heynicke’s  Gethsemane and Ernst Stadler’s Dialogue. This section pays special attention to the themes  of brotherhood, reconciliation, communion, redemption, the cultural heritage and home.

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