Rudolf G. Binding
Rudolf G. Binding was a German author and cavalry captain, born into a prominent family in 1877. He grew up in various cities, including Freiburg, Strasbourg, and Leipzig, receiving little guidance from his parents, which shaped his independent character. Binding initially pursued studies in law and medicine but did not complete a degree, instead finding fulfillment in writing, particularly after a health crisis during his early marriage to Helene Wirsing. His experiences in World War I, where he served as a cavalry leader, profoundly influenced his perspective on life and led to the publication of his war diaries in 1925.
Binding's literary contributions include an autobiography published in 1928, detailing his life experiences up to 1920. He had significant relationships throughout his life, including with his cousin Eva Connstein, and later married Hedwig Blaser-Blanc, with whom he had a son. As a member of the German Academy for Literature, Binding supported the idea of a unified Germany during the rise of National Socialism, contrasting with other contemporary authors like Thomas Mann. His works earned him several accolades, including the Goethe Medal and an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt. He passed away in 1938 following minor surgery, leaving behind a legacy marked by his convictions and experiences.
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Subject Terms
Rudolf G. Binding
- Born: August 13, 1867
- Birthplace: Basel, Switzerland
- Died: August 4, 1938
- Place of death: Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany
Biography
Rudolf Georg Binding was the first of five children born to law professor Karl Ludwig Lorenz Binding (1841-1920) and his wife Marie Luise Binding, née Wirsing (1842-1913). In 1870, the family moved to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, in 1872 to Strasbourg, and in 1873 to Leipzig, where Rudolf grew up and went to school. Visits to his grandparents took him to Frankfurt-am- Main, where one grandfather was a goldsmith and the other a judge.
Binding’s parents and grandparents gave him little guidance. He learned to skate by being put down on a frozen pond with skates on his feet. His favorite subjects in school were German and gymnastics, but he felt he learned most from horseback riding: patience, self-control, and discipline of body and soul. After graduating from high school he tentatively studied law, then medicine, at the universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg, and Berlin, without completing a degree. Binding perceived that most people were just going through the motions of their lives. A feeling of stagnation made those of his generation long for the intensity of experience promised by war. He became a cavalry captain in the reserve.
On March 20, 1907, Binding married his cousin Helene Wirsing, whom he called Octavia. Shortly afterwards, he suffered a severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage. While recovering, he found that he could fulfill himself as a writer. In preparation for their trip to Florence he learned some Italian, and was pleasantly surprised when the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio praised one of his translations into German.
In 1909, Binding and his friend Anton Mayer went to Greece. Binding had an epiphany when he saw Praxiteles’ fourth century sculpture of the god Hermes, which to him epitomized the essence of art. Binding also began a long relationship with Anton’s married cousin Eva Connstein, née Annecke (1877-1942), whom he called Joie. In 1910, Binding and Helene moved to Buchschlag, Hesse, where he sometimes served as mayor.
During World War I, Binding led the cavalry of one of the Jungdeutschland (young Germany) divisions from October, 1914, to August, 1916, at which time he became an aide-de-camp. He heard of Germany’s defeat from the military hospital in Baden- Baden, where he was recovering from dysentery. He did not publish his sobering war diaries, Aus dem Kriege, until 1925. In 1928, he published his autobiography, Erlebtes Leben (life experienced), which covers his life up to 1920, the year of his father’s death.
Binding divorced Helene in 1919 and Joie broke off their relationship in 1922 when he married a young Swiss woman, Hedwig Blaser-Blanc. Their son Enzian was born in 1924. Hedwig returned to Bern, Switzerland, and divorced Binding in 1935. He then moved to Starnberg, Bavaria, where he lived until his death with Elisabeth Jungmann, the “Calypso” of his mature poetry.
Binding was accepted into the German Academy for Literature in 1933 and became its acting president in 1934. He took issue with Thomas Mann and other authors who opposed the rise of National Socialism, because Binding wanted to see a strong, united Germany. He died suddenly of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage following minor surgery. Binding wrote with sincerity and conviction. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 1927; the silver medal from the Olympics in Amsterdam for his work on horsemanship in 1928; and the Goethe Medal in 1932.