Animated Women "Your Little Ear"

Closing out the month, here is Gustav Hochstetter's "Your little ear" with it's accompanying illustration by Lotte Reiniger. I'd like to thank everyone for visiting my blog this month to appreciate a little poetry and art from 1919 and for your patience with my imperfect translations. For those who are interested in this subject and would like to read another one of Hochstetter's poems with an accompanying silhouette illustration, I have another blog post from a presentation I gave at ASIFA Central in 2018 where I cover a little about Hochstetter and Lotte's history, the translation process, and the poem "One must be the most beautiful". You can read it here.

 
Your Little Ear 

Your little ear, the ultimate jewel,
Has no place for regulations nor orders.
Entry is strictly forbidden to the nobles;
Your ear hears what it likes to hear.

And yet it opens up the very best round
So nice and kind to my mouth:
For wishes, sparkling like champagne foam,
There is room for a thousand kisses.

Poem by Gustav Hochstetter (1873 - 1944)
Silhouette Illustration by Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)
Originally published in Venus en Seide, 1919
Translation by Charles Wilson, August 28, 2020

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Animated Women "I want you"

Today's poem from Venus en Seide is titled "I want you" and features a larger, one-page silhouette illustration created by Lotte Reiniger.

I want you
 
My yearning breaks all walls and dimensions:
I want you! You!
My longing must endure life and time,
I want you! You!
 
And rocks pile up between us two -
I want you! (emphatically)
And I can forgive those who forgive your sins,
I want you! (emphatically)
 
My yearning does not flag at borders nor barriers,
I want you! You!
I mark this in the heart and in your thoughts:
"I want you! You!"
 
And I stumble, my yearning still called out of the grave:
"I want you! You!“
But I want to live, so I have you!
I want you! You!

Poem by Gustav Hochstetter (1873 - 1944)
Silhouette Illustration by Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)
Originally published in Venus en Seide, 1919
Translation by Charles Wilson, February 22, 2018

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Animated Women: "The Devil in Love"

Continuing my look at Lotte Reiniger's silhouette "illustrations" found in Gustav Hochstetter's 1919 book: Venus en Seide.

The Devil in Love
 
I'll catch that,
That, little witch, is certain,
Great trouble and complaint,
Great escape and obstacle!
 
But fill me with doubt:
What is the future of the womb?
How shall I become a poor devil
You go again later?

Poem by Gustav Hochstetter (1873 - 1944)
Silhouette Illustration by Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)
Originally published in Venus en Seide, 1919
Translation by Charles Wilson, February 22, 2018 

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Animated Women: "Your Red Mouth"

As my women animator interviews are still on hiatus (am hoping to get back to them once things go back to normal next year), for Women's History month, I'd like to share some research that I've been doing into the lesser known aspects of Lotte Reiniger's History.

The following is a poem written by Gustav Hochstetter and published in his book Venus en Seide (Venus in silk). The silhouette illustration was created by none other than German animator Lotte Reiniger.

Your red mouth

Your red mouth is a purple gate,
The multitude of words sounds so bright and happy.
And if the word were full of exuberance -
When you say it, everything sounds nice and good.

Because every word sounds as if it had to
that your red lips kissed it;
Under every word there must be a happy feast
When roaring it dismisses [from] your beautiful mouth.

Poem by Gustav Hochstetter (1873 - 1944)
Silhouette Illustration by Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)
Originally published in Venus en Seide, 1919
Translation by Charles Wilson, August 28, 2020

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