Christa Baumberger

Werner Weber

Insights Reading As a Vocation

«Wb.» - Have you forgotten, the initials? I hope not, after all, so much insight and influence, so much knowledge and power of definition are contained in these two simple letters. «Wb» stands for no less a figure than Werner Weber, one of the most influential literary critics in the German speaking feuilletons of the 20th century. In 1946 he started as editor and soon after made his mark as the feuilleton head of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 1973 the University of Zurich offered him a professorship for literary criticism.

Literary criticism is an ephemeral business, a constant writing against oblivion. As soon as the reviews appear they are already being washed away by new publications. In this context, Weber’s oeuvre is all the more important. It is thanks to his wife that it is available in an extensive collection of 28 binders. For 30 years she filed every NZZ article and every book review, and carefully labelled them by hand in a card index box.

«On Reading» - is the title of one of «Wb.’s» articles that appeared on August 10th 1963 in the NZZ. In this text, he retreats from the busy everyday and offers a reflection on his job: What does a critic do? And what makes a critic a good critic?

First and foremost, he is a reader, and as such he is «highly excited and ready» to engage with a piece and its author. However, «meeting the master and his word» leads the reader to a self-encounter; reading is also a sinking into oneself. The task of the professional reader, then, is to mediate: between the past and the present, between the various cultures and literatures.

Reading, mediating – so where is the critique? Is a critic not primarily meant to judge literature? No, Weber does not approve the «judging verdict». «To ask, and to bring forth a sense for the variety of what is possible», that is what his work his about. His professional ethos can be felt here: it is the in-depth dialogue with authors. And this continuous company of the critic, be it public in the NZZ or private through letters and conversations, is what everyone was wishing for. Weber’s openness to dialogue turned his job into a vocation. Next to the huge collection of reviews, a valuable private oeuvre has come together over the decades: his correspondence with entire generations of authors in Switzerland. Both collections can be studied at the Swiss Literary Archives.

This is an article from the series «Insights» by the Swiss Literary Archives SLA. Translated by Anja Hälg. Check back here to see further trouvailles from the archive which are approved by the SLA and the authors. Most recent piece: Jean Starobinski (in french and english).