Claire Goll (born Clara Aischmann) (29 October 1890 in
Nuremberg,
Germany – 30 May 1977 in Paris,
France)
was a German-French writer and journalist; she married the poet
Yvan
Goll in 1921. Partner Elisabeth Bergner
Queer Places:
Cimetière du Père Lachaise
Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France
Claire Goll (born Clara Aischmann) (29 October 1890 in
Nuremberg,
Germany – 30 May 1977 in Paris,
France)
was a German-French writer and journalist; she married the poet
Yvan
Goll in 1921.
In 1911 Goll married the publisher Heinrich Studer (1889–1961) and lived with him in Leipzig. In May 1912 she gave birth to their daughter Dorothea Elisabeth, her only child. In 1916 she emigrated in protest of World War I to Switzerland, where she studied at the University of Geneva, became involved in the peace movement, and began to work as a journalist. In 1917 she and Studer divorced, and she met the poet Yvan Goll, to whom she became engaged. At the end 1918, she had an affair with Rainer Maria Rilke and they remained friends until his death. In 1918 she debuted as a writer with the poetry collection Mitwelt and the novella collection Die Frauen erwachen.
The actress Elisabeth Bergner was a prominent figure in Berlin literary and artistic circles. She lived in Zurich, Switzerland, with Goll during World War I. In 1919, under the impact of her relationship with Bergner, Goll wrote Der Glaserne Garten, a celebration of lesbian love remarkable for its period. Unlike Die Frauen erwachen, it is written in a style which resonates with Rilkean cadences, reflecting her recent encounter with him. It tells the story of a love triangle between two women and a man.
In 1919, she travelled with Goll to Paris, where they married in 1921. Her short stories, poems, and novels also appeared in French. She wrote her poetry collections Poèmes d'amour (1925), Poèmes de la jalousie (1926) and Poèmes de la vie et de la mort together with her husband as a "shared song of love" ("Wechselgesang der Liebe").
The pair, both of Jewish origin, fled from Europe to New York in 1939, but returned in 1947. Yvan died in 1950. From then on, Goll dedicated her work to her husband. Her autobiographical novels Der gestohlene Himmel (1962) and Traumtänzerin (1971) did not receive much attention. However, her battle with Paul Celan over copyright and plagiarism, known as the "Goll Affair", caused a significant stir.
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