SOURCE: Jones, Malcolm. “The Cult of August Stramm in Der Sturm.” Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies 12, no. 4 (November 1977): 257-69.

In the following essay, Jones examines Stramm's influence on the development of the German literary journal, Der Sturm.

Du großer Künstler und liebster Freund. Du leuchtest ewig. 

Kunst lebt den Künstler, der ihr stirbt. Sie trägt den Tragenden durch das Getragene. Darum soll man das Wunder feiern.¹

Exceptional even for his pronouncements in Der Sturm, such tones of reverence and fervour from Herwarth Walden celebrate his friend and protégé Stramm as a mystical spirit of pure poetry in triumph over the grave. Among other figures linked by friendship with Walden and contribution to Der Sturm (Scheerbart, Lasker-Schüler, and Schwitters), Stramm stands out as the most potent force in the establishment of a definite identity for the periodical. His work embodied Walden's ‘Wunder...