Ludwig TieckCritiques

I continue to read lesser-known 19th century German authors because I have found that I enjoy writers from this place and time, though I usually prefer realist writers to romantic writers. Tieck falls clearly in the latter category and so I was surprised to enjoy some of his stories as much as I did. They are, I think, a bit melodramatic and “overdone,” but he is a wonderful storyteller. His stories reminded me of nothing so much as Grimms’ fairy tales turned into short stories. And it turns out that Tieck (1773-1853) and the Grimms were pretty much contemporaries. One of the stories, “The Fair-Haired Eckbert,” is often considered to be the start of German romanticism and all of the stories I read clearly fall into that mode: valuing emotion instead of intellect; emphasizing the beauties of nature and imagination and spiritual truth; and focusing on the hero, his passions and his inner struggles. To achieve this, Tieck relies on folk culture, the story of national/ethnic origins (often illustrated with medieval situations and circumstances) and a lot of the exotic, the mysterious, and the occult. For these reasons, I think, that the Grimms are a good comparison. Because Tieck is largely ignored today (at least in the USA), the only translation I could find was by the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle (done in 1827!); fortunately, Carlyle’s translation is mostly quite good and reads surprisingly easily. It is dated, certainly, but less so than one might imagine. Recommended, but largely for those tempted by this kind of thing.

Esta antología –la más completa y documentada que sobre este tema se ha publicado hasta el momento en español– reúne los mejores textos sobre vampiros desde principios del siglo XIX hasta los comienzos del XX. En cualquiera de sus tres variantes –ya sea como noble perverso e irresistible a las mujeres, como brutal reviniente inspirado en las leyendas eslavas o como bella y fatal vampiresa–, la tempestuosa belleza del vampiro sigue fascinando a través de los siglos. Esa mezcla de horror y atracción, de sangre y erotismo en lo más tenebroso de la muerte no dejan de cautivar a la imaginación humana. El variado conjunto de relatos que forman este libro presenta una imagen completa del vampiro clásico de la literatura. Las notas introductorias del vampirólogo Conde de Siruela nos ayudarán a entender la amplitud y antigüedad de un mito no menos complejo, ni asombroso, que cualquiera de los grandes temas de la literatura.

I read this for my German class. It was pretty enjoyable. But all I can really say is that I did NOT expect it to end with incest! WOW.

A historical novel set in Lisbon, it describes the last days of the poet Luís de Camões, which coincide with the last days of Portugal as an independent nation: King Sebastian engaged on a fatal campaign in Africa, got himself killed, and Philip of Spain took over the kingdom.
I am tempted to say that it is typical of what we expect from the Romantics; everything is larger than life, people more beautiful, feelings more intense, faith more fervent, fates more desperate. Death and the futility of life loom large. There's also the parallel between the nation's ingratitude towards its greatest poet and the decline of Portugal as a great colonial empire, and this was an aspect I found hard to swallow. This fervent nationalism, coupled as it is with the firm belief in white peoples' superiority, is very much a product of its time, a fact I was constantly reminded of by the author's quaint, old-fashioned style. It's so odd that I went to look at a digitised copy of an original printing just to reassure myself that he had actually written it like this.

Possibly my favorite sentence ever written in the German language:

"Eckbert lag wahnsinnig und verscheidend auf dem Boden; dumpf und verworren hörte er die Alte sprechen, den Hund bellen, und den Vogel sein Lied wiederholen."

We've only read the first story, "Der blonde Eckbert", in school and for once I thought it OK. Nothing really special but not too bad to read either.

Not sure if I'll read "Der Runenberg", but I'm at least considering it for a time when I'm in a very good reading mood.

Der Runenberg was the subject of my senior thesis for my B.A. in the Honours Division Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch, at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but I'm sure it had something to do with intrusive narrators in German Romanticism, desire and the subconscious, projection and madness, the high vs. low physical space occupied by angelic/virtuous vs. demonic/sexually desireable women, and music. It probably had a lot of Foucault, Lacan, and Barthes in the list of references. I'm sure it was fascinating....

Goethe, being very sceptical against early Romanticism, writes about this book of a twenty-five years old author: "Too much morning sun, whispering woods, and cloying sentimentality". Perhaps not one of the best texts from German romanticism, but a prime example of the German longing for the South.

This drama is a parody firstly of the theatre as such and of the fairytale "Puss in Boots" in particular and secondly of the audience in the 19th century. At first glance the reader is surprised by the unusual opening which is the talking audience. The special about the public is, that the men are mostly ordinary craftsmen like blacksmith or carpenter and talk about theatre and the drama especially like they were highly academic educated literary scholars. They are interrupting the play all the time and so the author is totally distracted and dispaired.
The fairytale as such is pretty usual, it is in almost the same manner as it is known from Grimm's Children's and Household Tales, but it becomes more and more different in the ongoing of the presentation because of the interruptions from the audience and the improvising of actors and author as well to satisfy the public.
I enjoyed it very well although at the beginning I was very sceptic because it was so different from all dramas I know. It is very recommandable for all who like to read something different from what they are used to or like parodies.½

A charming tale of a simple Jewish tailor who becomes and emperor, sort of, and who can speak all languages, sort of.
This book I could not find in any library on the web!

German Classic