Transformation of the Old Testament Female Tradition Characters Within the Lyrics of Rose Ausländer

Abstract

Rose Ausländer belongs to the old generation of the German-speaking poets, fostered by multicultural Bukovininan environment. Cultural, literary, and historical context in which she was born and grew up is inherently related to her writing. The poet extensively uses biblical material. It enables profounder portrayal of the real life problems. Universal nature of bible images reveals the most unexpected analogies. Regarding the abundance of traditional biblical stories and characters within Rose Ausländer's oeuvre, the focus was drawn to the Old Testament female characters: fake Moses' daughter and Lot's wife, turned into a pillar of salt. In a poem “I am Moses' daughter”, persona addresses a reader in the name of imaginary daughter of Moses, the bible prophet, who released his people from Egyptian slavery, and led them to the Promised Land. Image of newly invented Moses' daughter might be treated as the author's attempt to construct her own Jewish identity. Analogy in between the Jewish people and persona consists in the motif choice – the crisis of seeker. Inner world of the spiritual frailty is reflected in the image of desert. It is there, that the Jewish people suffer famine, thirst, and the Amalekites attacks. It is there, that the lack of Jewish belief in God fully manifests itself. The intensity of inner and outer disasters escalates into the fossilized echo of sorrow. The mourning song refers to the biblical misfortune of the Jewish people, as well as to unhappiness of the persona.