Bernhard Blume (7 April 1901 in Stuttgart â€" 22 July 1978 in La
Jolla) was an emigre from Nazi Germany who became a professor of
German literature at Mills College, Ohio State University, Harvard
University, and the University of California, San Diego. In addition
to scholarly works, he authored several plays, a novel, and an
autobiography.Blume was born in Swabia to north German parents, Hedwig
(née Grabowsky) and Paul Blume. He was five when the family moved to
Silesia, where his father (1873â€"1931) worked at the Waggon- und
Maschinenbau Görlitz [de], noted for the construction of railroad
cars. Five years later, when his father lost his position due to
excessive drinking, the family relocated for a time from Görlitz to
Bremerhaven and Hanover before finally settling in Esslingen am
Neckar, where his father was employed until his death as a section
chief at the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. His widowed mother
(1876â€"1949) remained in Esslingen until the family home was bombed
out in World War II.[1]Blume attended the humanities-focused
Realgymnasium in Esslingen and during these years saw performances of
Friedrich Schiller’s The Robbers, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s
Nathan the Wise, and Heinrich von Kleist’s Prince Friedrich von
Homburg at the Hoftheater in Stuttgart which he reenacted at home with
a puppet theater for his younger brother. He participated in the
Wandervogel movement and continued hiking with friends after passing
the Reifeprüfung and taking up university studies. From 1919 to 1923,
he matriculated at the universities of Munich, Berlin, and Tübingen,
attending lectures by such luminaries as Ernst Troeltsch, Eduard
Spranger, and Heinrich Wölfflin. His coursework focused on Germanic
and modern Romance languages and literatures, and among his Romance
philology professors were Karl Vossler and the linguist Josef Haas, in
whose house he lived for a time and whose approach to scholarship was
a profound influence.Blume passed the Dienstprüfung required to
embark upon a career in secondary education and also completed the
probationary period of teaching in Stuttgart, but he was drawn to the
theater and at age 22 made a career change. His first play, Tamango,
based on a Prosper Mérimée novella about the 18th-century slave
trade, was written while he was still a student and staged in
Stuttgart. In 1923-24 he worked in Beuthen as dramaturge for the Upper
Silesian Tri-City Theater (Beuthen - Gleiwitz - Hindenburg) and then
was appointed dramaturge of the Stuttgart State Theater.
Jolla) was an emigre from Nazi Germany who became a professor of
German literature at Mills College, Ohio State University, Harvard
University, and the University of California, San Diego. In addition
to scholarly works, he authored several plays, a novel, and an
autobiography.Blume was born in Swabia to north German parents, Hedwig
(née Grabowsky) and Paul Blume. He was five when the family moved to
Silesia, where his father (1873â€"1931) worked at the Waggon- und
Maschinenbau Görlitz [de], noted for the construction of railroad
cars. Five years later, when his father lost his position due to
excessive drinking, the family relocated for a time from Görlitz to
Bremerhaven and Hanover before finally settling in Esslingen am
Neckar, where his father was employed until his death as a section
chief at the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. His widowed mother
(1876â€"1949) remained in Esslingen until the family home was bombed
out in World War II.[1]Blume attended the humanities-focused
Realgymnasium in Esslingen and during these years saw performances of
Friedrich Schiller’s The Robbers, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s
Nathan the Wise, and Heinrich von Kleist’s Prince Friedrich von
Homburg at the Hoftheater in Stuttgart which he reenacted at home with
a puppet theater for his younger brother. He participated in the
Wandervogel movement and continued hiking with friends after passing
the Reifeprüfung and taking up university studies. From 1919 to 1923,
he matriculated at the universities of Munich, Berlin, and Tübingen,
attending lectures by such luminaries as Ernst Troeltsch, Eduard
Spranger, and Heinrich Wölfflin. His coursework focused on Germanic
and modern Romance languages and literatures, and among his Romance
philology professors were Karl Vossler and the linguist Josef Haas, in
whose house he lived for a time and whose approach to scholarship was
a profound influence.Blume passed the Dienstprüfung required to
embark upon a career in secondary education and also completed the
probationary period of teaching in Stuttgart, but he was drawn to the
theater and at age 22 made a career change. His first play, Tamango,
based on a Prosper Mérimée novella about the 18th-century slave
trade, was written while he was still a student and staged in
Stuttgart. In 1923-24 he worked in Beuthen as dramaturge for the Upper
Silesian Tri-City Theater (Beuthen - Gleiwitz - Hindenburg) and then
was appointed dramaturge of the Stuttgart State Theater.
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