The Death of Expressionism Yvan Goll (1891–1950)

Yvan Goll briefly joined the Expressionist circles in Berlin in 1914 before moving to Switzerland during the war. Early Expressionist poetry (beginning with ‘Films’ in 1914 and including contributions to ‘Menschheitsdämmerung’) reflects the fragmented state of modern life and nostalgia for a more certain and harmonious past. ‘Der Torso’ (1918) conveys his ambivalent attitude to Expressionism, showing some Nietzschean influence and an almost Romantic attachment to nature. Other poems express Goll’s pacifism and a social conscience, especially the ‘underclass’ in ‘Die Unterwelt’ (1919). Associated programmatic essays, ending with the proclamation of its death in 1921, highlight a strong underlying scepticism about the Expressionist project.