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Ludwig Hohl
Bergfahrt
Bibliothek Suhrkamp, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1978, 98 pp.
A forgotten gem of Swiss literature – an exquisite novella about the power, the beauty, the lure, and the meditative quality of mountains. Ludwig Hohl (1904 – 1980) started work on Bergfahrt in 1926, but it was to be thirty years before the work matured into its final form. Mountain expedition, trek, journey – the word Bergfahrt has a slightly old-fashioned and poetic quality to it. It conjures up a string of images and associations. The journey through Hohl’s precise and yet redolent prose draws the reader into the particular hardship, the rawness, the spiritual beauty and the dangers of the Alpine experience. There is a distant echo of Petrarch’s revelation on Mont Ventoux. Two very different young men strike out for a mountain peak – one a natural leader, the other a follower. The expedition is doomed, and the peculiar strength of this novella lies in the handling of its descent to oblivion. One major theme explored is how the manner of a person’s death may be linked to that in which his or her life was lived. Another question probed is the old favourite: ‘Why climb a mountain?’ The answer here is a far cry from Hilary’s ‘Because it is there.’ Hohl’s response is, ‘To escape the prison that is life.’ Both answers of course refer to mountains as human challenges. Hohl’s inspired novella is imbued with a misleading simplicity, reminiscent of the ancient texts of Chinese sages meditating in their mountain retreats. Hohl’s story may be set in the early years of the twentieth century but it has an older underlying tone. This beautifully balanced, profound mix, combined with the descriptive capturing of the timeless lure of the Alps is what gives this book that extra something that makes it call out for translation. As Friedrich Dürrenmatt said: ‘Hohl is absolutely vital, we are incidental. We document history, he establishes it.’
Contributed by Daniel Haener, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of Switzerland, London.
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