Murke's Collected Silences

Doctor Murkes collected Silence is the title of a short story by Heinrich Böll. It was first published in 1955 in the Frankfurter stitching, an expanded and revised version appeared in 1958 in the anthology Doctor Murkes collected silence and other satires.

Action

Early 1950s: Professor Bur - Malottke, a renowned and influential intellectual giant, who had converted to the religious enthusiasm of 1945, appears in the director of his ' home channel' to manifest that he suddenly had doubts on the religious overlay of broadcasting to be complicit. He had a soon to show upcoming, two half-hour lecture on the nature of art on tape speaking in the previous week, in which he often refers to God reference. He now wants to replace the word "God" in the lecture by the phrase " that superior beings that we worship " that corresponded more to the mentality, to which he had known before 1945. He refuses, however, completely new einzusprechen the lecture, but wants from the tapes the word "God " cut out and replaced by his desired turn. Dr. Murke, a young editor in the department " culture word " gets assigned to this unpleasant task.

At the following work - repeated listening to the speech, cutting out of "God" and preparing the new recording - Murke learns to hate him anyway not very appreciated Bur - Malottke. When that appears for the oppo of the phrase " that superior beings that we worship ", makes him Murke attention that he needed phrase at for 27 passages, distinguishing between nominative / accusative, genitive, dative and vocative ( " O God !") and that the speech would be extended by the re-cuts by one minute, what you 'll have to compensate again by cuts elsewhere. Bur - Malottke had not considered this and regretted in view of the associated troubles that Murke can increase by small baffles yet, but his decision will, not back. On a return visit to the director he gets from this, the permit for an additional minute broadcast and expresses the wish that all of its sound recordings in broadcast archives - will be equally improved - well over 120 hours.

Murke represents the band finished with the revised speech and leaves the band snippets with Bur - Malottkes "God" left. As soon a religious program contribution will be processed in the same studio in which instead of the script checks and realized in the original version repeated " silence " replacing the word "God" is to be inserted, the studio engineer recalls the scraps and mounted them inside.

In addition to this main line of the plot, the story contains some side episodes that may be important for different approaches to interpretation and are taken up partly in the next section.

Topics and Content

Böll based the story on at a unspecified broadcaster, in their culture department her protagonist Murke works. The plot consists of a series of different episodes, one of which held the majority in the broadcasting house. Their effect is achieved on the story " from the rapid succession of scenes ."

In literary studies, the history was mainly interpreted as a satirical caricature settlement with the broadcasting system of the 50s and their dealings with former Nazis and their sympathizers and beneficiaries. It focuses on the figure of the Bur - Malottke in the foreground, asking for post processing is one of him recently recorded voice cultural contribution. The word "God" to be " that higher being that we worship " replaced by the distancing phrase. After the war, the cultural manager was converted to the Christian faith to justify his sudden, anti-Nazi " change of mind ". Well, to the mid-1950s, he believes he can usher in the turnaround of the turnaround and would like to know the expressions of God is withdrawn from a lecture. Zimmermann interpreted Bur - Malottkes action and their function in the text as follows:

"If the belletristic talkers who has converted to the religious renaissance of 1945, in his lectures conjures about the nature of art 27 times God [ ... ], they are thus probably a travesty not only fashionable contemporary trends and their Ritualisierungstendenzen, it is also the situation of broadcasting made ​​conscious that the constraint can not escape to procure these currents due hearing. "

Murke is according to this reading, the opponent Bur - Malottkes. He has worked in broadcasting and was commissioned by the director, the technical implementation of the notion of culture reviewers. In this case, as "young, intelligent and loveable " described Murke escapes the anything. Bur - Malottke had not thought of that " that higher being that we worship " as opposed to "God " must be eingesprochen in different case. The Kasusverschiebungen cause discomfort. Murke uses the sent and lets Bur - Malottke for his hypocrisy atone:

" [ I] t remains a vocative, the place where you: ' oh god ' say. Allow me to propose to you that we leave it in the vocative, and speak, O thou supreme being that we worship! ' "

The various scenes are characterized Murke than one opposing inside counterpart, who lived through the various functional mechanisms of the broadcast operation with some mockery, some with distant fear. So the story takes outset in detail to the nightmares that lived through Murke, during the day he worked Bur - Malottkes lecture. His anxiety he channeled again by collecting and cutting out passages in which mention the speaker. Even his girlfriend he stops to " silence about " him to tapes. He needs the recordings in order to be able to recover from the hollowness and loquacity of the medium, so the soul hygiene, play for the evening.

The story ends pointedly in a dialogue scene between technicians and auxiliary director. Murkes out separate God - Slice can be cut to another radio talk into it. The friend of Murke technician is happy that he can give him for unnecessarily become silent places " throughout nearly a minute ."

Böll himself explains his narrative form of representation by trying to confront a world that " the cries constantly, which is loud and even then it was loud and even louder today." The figure of Murke incumbent is "to build an altar to the silence ."

Reception

The story was 1963/64, with Dieter Hildebrandt as Dr. Murke for television by the Hessischer Rundfunk filmed (director: Rolf Hädrich ). The second part of the two radiations was entitled Doctor Murkes collected obituaries. The radio play version ( 1986 co-production of Südwestfunk and Saarländischem broadcasting) was awarded the 2004 Radio -one audio cinema audience award.

She is also the subject of a song the punk band EA80.

Interpretations

• Erhard Friedrich Meyer: The satirical short stories of Heinrich Böll. Chapel Hill in 1981. Pp. 7-50.
• Erhard Friedrich Meyer: Doctor Murkes collected silence. In: Heinrich Böll, novels and short stories. Edited by Werner Bellmann. . Reclam, Stuttgart, 2000 ( study of literature: interpretations. ), Pp. 149-160.
• John Klapper: Heinrich Boll's "Doctor Murkes collected silence." In: German teaching. The German journal of the Association for Language Learning 5 (1992 ) 5 H. S. 24-29.
• Dieter E. Zimmer: Doctor Murkes collected silence. In: In terms of Böll. Views and insights. Edited by Marcel Reich- Ranicki. dtv, Munich 8th edition 1985. pp. 205-209.
• Werner Zimmermann: Doctor Murkes collected Silence (1958). In: WZ: German prose seals of our century. Interpretations. Part 2 2nd edition of the revised version. Schwann, Dusseldorf 1970. Pp. 239-249.