1987 various authors on the golden flood

christian ide hintze: die goldene flut / the golden flood. book. poems. german.
kiepenheuer & witsch. 197 pages. isbn 3-462-01815-9 . cologne 1987
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quotes from reviews:

pindar, klopstock, whitman, rilke, eliot, ginsberg, brinkmann. it is to this tradition that hintze’s book die goldene flut (‘the golden flood’) belongs. what gives these poems their charm and quality is not some meaning that one can confidently take home. the fascination lies in its uniqueness in a contemporary scene where poets are so cheerful, humane and easy to imitate. the impenetrability of the ideas, the difficulty of interpreting the meaning, the sound of the words, the sheen on the surface of things, the madness of experiment in writing a hymn right here and now.
(stuttgarter zeitung, germany, 18.6.1988)

this densely written and heavy tome, which weighs in at 200 pages, is the product of an author who still believes in the "magic of words". (...) in hintze’s case it is hard to decide how far this kind of treatment of the subject is the expression of a sense of mission and how far it is of a purely musical nature. there can be little doubt that what we have here is a highly idiosyncratic poet, very innovative despite all the references he makes, bringing to the light of day a considerable pile of gold.
(neue zürcher zeitung, switzerland, 13.5.1987)

subliminally i recognise a connection to peter sloterdijk’s "fluidalem kosmopolitismus", to his criticism of the contemporary school philosophy, which "with its desire for academic certainty forgets the emergence of burning desire". the concluding (eleven-page) invocation of sappho and her "colourful throne of eternal aphrodite" is magnificent. whether hintze is referred to as a postmodern romantic, a descendant of the expressionists, a new goliard or a shamanistic pop singer, will not worry the enthusiast. he has found his own rhapsodic tone.
(süddeutsche zeitung, germany, 17./18.11.1987)

in the foreword to "the white goddess", his historical grammar of poetic myth, robert graves notes: "the 'present' is a civilization in which the prime emblems of poetry are dishonoured. in which the serpent, the lion and the eagle belong under the circus tent; the ox, the salmon and the wild boar to the cannery; the racehorse and the hunting dog to the betting ring; and the sacred grove to the sawmill". with "the golden flood", ide hintze rescues the honour of those emblems and restores them to the discourse of our days threatened with environmental destruction and, his vocation accomplished for the jubilation of the poet and his adventures, voyages to a night for all times.
(eugenio marrón casanova, poet, essayist, professor of literature, holguin, cuba july 13, 1994)

"among foreign voices from the centre. exciter of poetry. you to whom i bear my woes. / have mercy on this unlyrical world. grant me the founder’s power. let me wish excessively only for nearness. take this pain from the back of my head. let firmaments fall onto the back of neck, stars circle in my breast." what i find fascinating about hintze is the fury and passion with which he begins quite anew. here is a writer who throws caution to the wind, for weal or woe "in my soul the world does not come to an end." here is one who uses "forbidden" expressions, words which "no longer walk", as if he could teach them how to walk again.
(die zeit, germany, 4.12.1987)

the poetry of the austrian author christian ide hintze can now be read in spanish. his poems have appeared in argentina, but only now, for the first time, has a full book been translated into our language. the uruguayan publisher graffiti has just released the volume "la creciente dorada". ide hintze is one of the most original and lyrical voices in contemporary german literature. he combines musicality and philosophy with critical thought and metaphorical inventiveness. perhaps keys to evaluate the true dimension of the cultural event posed by the appearance of his poems in spanish are to be found in the field of comparative literature. his searches have something in common with the best "exteriorismo" of nicaraguan poetry (cardenal, coronel urtecho) or with the striking uninhibitedness of the american "beatnik" movement and its successors (ginsberg, kerouac, bob dylan); in his emphasis, his stress, there is much from rock music and from ballads, and much of the minstrel.
(pedro de la hoz, granma, havana, cuba, july 11, 1996)

his poems, in my opinion, express clearly a sense of humanity. he always stood up for and praised those who held dignity, poverty, humbleness high and fought against the power-abuse of oppression. reading the news and finding out that the american lieutenant william calley had carried out a shameful massacre in son my (my lai) in 1968, he wrote “the kiss i'm missing”, siding with those who were killed in or survived the massacre but dared to condemn the murderers from ancient times.
(vinh khai huynh: preface to "triêu dâng ánh vàng" / "the golden flood". van hoc. hanoi, september 1993)