''The Swiss Dr Seuss'' -- Franz Hohler performs an eco-poem titled THE END OF THE WORLD, first performed in 1974 but still very relevant today. Can someone make a 56-page picture book of this?

Franz Hohler im November 2008

Franz Hohler (* 1. März 1943 in Biel) ist ein Schweizer Schriftsteller, Kabarettist und Liedermacher.

 

 



Professor Heather Sullivan alerted this blog to the work of what I am calling ''a Swiss Dr. Seuss," a performing satirist and poet in Switzerland named Franz Hohler, who in 1974 wrote and performed a cautionary eco-tale that still resonates today in 2017 -- and I have a video of the performance here to prove it. In fact, I am hoping that some savvy publisher in the UK or the USA or other nations will publish a 56 page picture book in the Dr Seuss tradition of picture books for kids and adults.

Mr Hohler has given me his permission to blog and tweet and Facebook this video and translation in the hopes of find a publisher for a 56 page picture book with color illustrations in the English speakign world, with even more translations in other nations. Who will publish this?

I found this English-subtitled translation of Franz Hohler's THE END OF THE WORLD, a short eco poem that he performs here in German (but with convenient English subtitles as well).

http://eco123.info/en/eco-tv-en/the-end-of-the-world/

TO SEE ORIGINAL GERMAN PERFORMANCE on YouTube but no subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49gWmXyaTNk

Here is an informal English translation of the text:
But it's wonderful in German online -- he speaks it himself here! With subtitles:

SYNPOSIS

Franz Hohler, 74, a Swiss writer and poet,  has a satirical tale about the end of the world, frist published in 1974, in this case, a cautionary eco poem. Hohler describes the end of the world as already being underway.

It begins, however, with the extermination of one single species of beetle on a rather small island in the South Pacific.

Everyone is glad, initially, to be rid of such an annoying beetle that brought awful itching when it stung and was always covered with filth.

And yet one day a single species of bird also disappeared, for it relied on the beetles.

Then a species of fish died, a small one, but one that depended on the excrement of the birds falling into the ocean for its nutrients.

The process continues in a cascading tale of death, one species at a time, until it encompasses the world in an ever-growing series of disasters.

The poem ends when the narrator asks: and when will this begin? He replies in his last sentence:

"That makes most of the scientists scratch their heads — they say in ten, in twenty years perhaps in fifty or even only in a hundred but as for me, I have my own way of looking at it. The end of the world, ladies and gentlemen, has already begun."

 

=======================================

 

The End of the World 

 

The end of the world, ladies and gentlemen,

given what we know today will go something like this:

 

In the beginning on a rather small island in the South Pacific

a beetle will vanish

an unpleasant creature

and everybody will say thank God that beetle’s finally gone

it made us itch so much and it was always so dirty.

A little bit later the inhabitants of that island will notice

that in the early morning when the birds sing

one voice is missing a high, rather shrill voice like a cricket

chirping the voice of the bird whose food was, of course, the dirty little beetle.

A little bit later the fishermen on that island

will notice that one species is missing from their nets

the small yet especially tender fish, the one—

here I must stop for a moment

and add that the bird with the rather shrill voice is known, or will have been known,

to swoosh out over the sea in a long loop and on such flights it voided its droppings

and for the small yet especially tender species of fish these droppings were

its daily bread.

 

A little bit later the inhabitants of the continent the rather small island in the Pacific lies near will notice that everywhere on the trees, on the grasses, on their doorknobs on their food, on their clothes, on their skin and in their hair tiny black insects are gathering that they have never seen and they won’t understand what’s going on for they can’t know, can they, that the small yet especially tender species of fish was food for a larger, not at all tender fish which had simply started hunting a different species a little yellow stickleback of the same size that mostly fed on those black insects. A little bit later the inhabitants of Europe that is, you and I will notice that egg prices are rising and quite a bit indeed and the chicken farmers will say that the corn which most of the chicken feed is made of can suddenly no longer be had from the continent the rather small island in the Pacific lies near because of some kind of plague of insects which was successfully headed off with poison but that unfortunately wiped out the corn, too. A little bit later now it gets faster and faster nobody will eat any more chickens. In the search to replace the corn in the chicken feed the amount of fish meal was doubled but it’s just that every fish today has its own particular mercury content it used to be low enough that nobody was contaminated but now the chickens are dying all over the world.

 

A little bit later the inhabitants of that rather small island in the South Pacific will run in horror from the shore into the houses after seeing something never seen before. On that day the high tide and it must also be added that the sky was blue and there was no wind and the waves were low, as they always were when the weather was fine and still on that afternoon the shore of the island was under water and of course nobody knew that on that same day all over the world the people ran from the shores into the houses and saw the rising of the sea for what it was. A little bit later the inhabitants of that rather small island in the South Pacific will climb from the roofs of their houses into the fishing boats to sail toward that continent where earlier the thing with the corn had happened. But there too the sea has already risen and risen and the coastal cities and the harbours, they are already deep under water for the thing of it is that all of the fowl six billion birds given how poisoned they were had had to be burned and the soot from the fires was the proverbial straw for an atmosphere already on the edge from heat and burning. It let the sunlight in as it always had

 

BUT IT DIDN’T LET IT OUT ANYMORE which warmed the air so much the ice at the poles began to melt the cold was no longer cold and the seas rose. A little bit later the people who fled to the mountains in the meantime will spot an odd, pale light beyond the summits far off on the horizon and not know what to think for it’s accompanied by a slight rumbling and if one of the older people now suspects that this is the beginning of the battle between the great powers for the last remaining space for their people then someone else will ask bitterly how in God’s name it came to this. Well, ladies and gentlemen the sea rose because the air grew warmer the air grew warmer because the chickens were burned the chickens were burned because they were full of mercury they were full of mercury because they were fed fish they were fed fish because the corn no longer grew the corn no longer grew because poison was used the poison was needed because there were so many insects there were so many insects because a fish no longer ate them the fish didn’t eat them because it was eaten it was eaten because another fish died out the other fish died out because a bird no longer flew the bird no longer flew because a beetle disappeared that dirty beetle back at the beginning. There’s still another question

 

don’t be too shy to ask it so why’d the beetle disappear?

 

That, ladies and gentlemen hasn’t yet been completely explained

but I’m inclined to believe that it didn’t eat right.

Instead of eating grass, it ate grass with oil instead of eating leaves, it ate leaves with soot instead of drinking water, it drank water with sulfur and in the long run such behavior just comes back to haunt you.

 

But there’s still one more question I’m ready to answer it when will this happen?

 

That makes most of the scientists scratch their heads

they say in ten, in twenty years perhaps in fifty

or even only in a hundred

but as for me, I have my own way of looking at it

 

the end of the world, ladies and gentlemen, has already begun.

 

 

 

° ° ° Note: Franz Hohler drums a rhythm with his fingers on a table when performing ‘The End of the World’. The first of many times he performed this poem was in 1973.

BOOK ON AMAZON: Franz Hohler (2016-01-19). ''At Home: a selection of stories'' (Kindle Locations 1426-1435).   Kindle Edition. 

******************************

I am indebted to Professor Heather I. Sullivan, Ph.D. for this video and news!

Professor of German

​Co-Director, Mellon Initiative for Undergraduate Research in the Arts and Humanities

Director of Interdisciplinary Minor in Comparative Literature
Trinity University

San Antonio, TX 78212

==============================

 

Another version in English text:

 

THE END OF THE WORLD

 

by Franz Hohler

 

The end of the world, ladies and gentlemen,

according to what we know today about as follows:

At the beginning is on a rather small island in the South Pacific a beetle disappear, an unpleasant and all will say:
"Thanks be to God This Beetle finally away
this disgusting itching he brought and he was always full of dirt!" A

little later, the inhabitants of this island remember that early in the morning when the birds sing a voice is missing. A high more strident
as the chirping of a cricket
the voice of bird whose food, it is clear
the small dirty beetle was!

A little later the fishermen in this island noted that in their networks a variety is missing those small but particularly delicate - here I must pause and mention that the bird with the rather pitched voice has the habit, or have had
in a long strap on the sea to return
and during this flight its faeces to empty
and for the small but very delicate type of fish, was this clay
the daily bread!

A little later, the inhabitants of the continent, in the vicinity of the rather small island in the Pacific Ocean, noted that everywhere on the trees, on the grasses, to the jack of your doors, on the food that the garments on the skin and in the hair, tiny black insects to gather together
the you never seen
and they will not understand
because you can not know that the small but particularly delicate type of fish, the food of a larger not delicate fish, which in turn was now simply a different variety pursued
a small yellow stitch ling of the same degree
of especially these black insects devoured!

A little later the inhabitants of Europe, so we know that the eggs prices rise and is enormous and the chicken farm owners will say that the corn, where a large part of the feed for the chickens, from the continent, in the vicinity of the rather small island in the Pacific Ocean is suddenly no longer to wars, for any plague of insects
with toxins intercepted successfully -
unfortunately, the maize top left!

A little later now - is always faster -
is no more chicken on the plate.
In the search for a replacement for the corn in the chicken feed, one has the proportion of fish meal is doubled.
But each fish has today
its very specific mercury content!
Until now he was deep enough to no one to destroy
but now it goes to a world-wide chicken only heirs!

A little later, the inhabitants of the rather small island in the south Pacific is scared of the banks in the houses race
because they have seen what you absolutely do not know.
The flood has today - and it must be noted the sky was blue and there was no wind and the shaft speed was low as always when the weather is nice - and still had this afternoon by the shore of the island under water and of course nobody knew that on the same day to the whole world
the people from the banks ran into the houses
and the slope of the sea at name called!

A little later, the inhabitants of the rather small island in the South Pacific Ocean from the roofs of their houses in the fishing boats up in the direction of that continent to go to where his time the thing happened with the maize. But also there is the ocean already meters high increased and the cities on the coast and the port are already deep under water for the thing is, we had the entire spring cattle, i.e. six billion units, poisoned as it was burned and the coal dust, the idea that gave the atmosphere - by heat and combustion already stretched up to now - the rest. You to let the sunlight as before coming in but not more, reducing the air so hot that the ice to melt at the poles began
the cold came to a halt
and the seas rose!

A little later, the people who are now in the mountains fled far behind the peaks on the horizon, a strange pale light there
and you do not know what you think
as you can hear a slight rumble
and if one of the older now believed that now the battle of the big starts at the last remaining space for their peoples
because another full of bitterness asks:
"How, for heavens sake, it came so far?"

Well ladies and gentlemen:
the sea has increased, because the air is heated
the air is warmer, because the chicken burned
the chicken burned because they had
they had Mercury Mercury, since fish are fed
fish has one lined because the maize will no longer came
the corn came no more because you used
the poison poison was needed because the insects came
the insects came because of a fish you no longer devoured
the fish consumed you not because he was eaten
he was eaten because another krepierte
the other krepierte because a bird is not more flew
the bird flew not more, because a beetle disappeared -
this dirty beetle stood at the beginning!

The question remains, you wholeheartedly
why is this beetle disappeared?

The ladies and gentlemen is unfortunately still not properly clarified -
but I think almost he has fed incorrectly!
Instead of grasses to eat, devoured it grasses with oil
instead of sheets to be devoured, devoured it leaves with soot
instead of water to drink, he drank water with sulfur -
is up to you to the duration to itself also violence!

There would be the question that I set myself a top
When will this be?

As scratching the scientists usually in the hair
you say in ten years, in twenty years -
perhaps in fifty or in hundred!
I found myself otherwise sensible -
I am sure the end of the world, ladies and gentlemen, has already begun!