Summary “Long before I met him, I was a reader of his poems; I had his Necropsy beside me in bed: a horrific artistic wonder, a deadly daydream taking shape. Deep agonies that tear throats and become mute, cemeteries transforming into sanatoriums, rising before the beds of immense pain. Pregnant women wailing from his distant chambers until the end of the world [...] Every line of his is a bite from a leopard, a leap of wild game. His pen is the bone with which he resurrects the word.” ELZE LASKER-SYLER.

“Ben’s nostalgia is unquenchable, his thirst for the great tragic epochs of humanity, which were so far from the idea of progress [...] Whoever speaks this way stands isolated. He allows his voice to resonate, yet he no longer expects an answer. What remains is bitterness, loneliness, hatred. But the hatred of such a lonely man is more positive, more fertile, stronger than our own compliments, always willing to compromise.” KLAUS MANN.

“Almost no other German-speaking poet of the 20th century remains so present in the consciousness of the reading public.” MARCEL REICH-RANITZKI.

Contents: Introduction by K. Koutsourelis || Poems || Notes || Appendix: Two essays by G. Benn on expressionism and the mission of literature || Comments || Chronology of Gottfried Benn.

Notes Introduction - Translation - Afterword: Kostas Koutsourelis. Bilingual edition.