Novellentheorie: The practicality of the theoretical 9783111341958, 9783110991024

Citation preview

EE PROPRIETATIBUS LITTERARUM edenda curat

C. H. VAN SCHOONEVELD Indiana University Series

Minor,

4

NOVELLENTHEORIE The Practicality of the Theoretical by

DONALD L o C I C E R O

1970

MOUTON THE HAGUE * PARIS

© Copyright 1970 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 73-120349

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague.

To Cecelia

Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went. Rubäiyät XXVII (Edward Fitzgerald's translation)

PREFACE

During the course of my studies in German literature, I have become increasingly aware of the controversy which surrounds the short prose form called the Novelle. Again and again I have read and heard reference to such terms as "unerhörte Begebenheit", "Falke", "Wendepunkt", etc., without ever seeing a satisfactory explanation of their origin or meaning. A graduate course dealing specifically with the Novelle served to further my interest in the subject. My attention became focused particularly on the theoretical statements made in connection with the genre, as these were related to the practical efforts. I decided to make this relationship the topic of this book. The method I have chosen to employ in this undertaking is to analyze the three major theories of the Novelle - those of Goethe, Tieck and Heyse - from the standpoint of their historical origin and their applicability to the actual works in the genre. I have also decided to include a discussion of the theoretical comments made by Adalbert Stifter in the preface to Bunte Steine. Although these comments deal with life and literature in general, and make no specific mention of the Novelle, they are nevertheless of importance to my topic because of their opposition to the basic nature of the Novelle as this is expressed in the major theories. And yet they were written by a man known widely for his Novellen, and placed in preface to a collection of Novellen! It is my hope that the results of this investigation will, while providing no final solutions to the intricate problems involved, illuminate the questions and further the constructive discussions

10

PREFACE

on the subject. To Dr. Kenneth Negus of Rutgers University I extend my deep appreciation and thanks. His limitless patience and unfailing willingness and capacity to assist me in my research were indispensible. I should also like to thank Dr. Joseph Thanner for his many valuable suggestions, and the other members of the German department staff of Rutgers University for their confidence and support.

CONTENTS

Preface I.

9

The Diversity of Definition

13

II.

Goethe: "Die unerhörte Begebenheit"

27

III.

Ludwig Tieck: "Wendepunkttheorie"

46

IV.

Paul Heyse: "Falkentheorie"

66

Adalbert Stifter: "Das Sanfte Gesetz"

84

V. VI.

Conclusion

109

Bibliography

115

Index

118

I THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

The increase in the number of the educated, as well as the improved and less expensive printing methods which were developing in the nineteenth century, were reflected in the growing size of the reading public. Now literature was available to the middle class, not only through books, but also via newspapers and magazines. Since in these latter media space was limited, it was only natural that the short literary forms should come into prominence. Thus, it is not surprising to learn that the Novelle saw its greatest development during this period. And with the increased popularity of this genre came the inevitable desire on the part of authors and scholars to define the Novelle, one of the primary reasons being, perhaps, that it is one of the most difficult literary forms to place into a definite theoretical framework. In a prodigious piece of scholarship, Arnold Hirsch records the most important of these efforts.1 The significant and interesting aspect of the Novelle dilemma is the body of theoretical comments made by leading authors of Novellen as compared to their actual artistic productions. The range goes full circle; from complete disregard of the term "Novelle" to the elevation of this particular genre above others. Heinrich von Kleist, for example, chose to label his short prose works "moralische Erzählungen",2 and yet is considered by many scholars to be the leading nineteenth-century author of Novellen. Other extremely important contributors to the genre, 1

Arnold Hirsch, Der Gattungsbegriff Novelle (Berlin, 1928). Ε. Κ. Bennett, A History of the German Novelle (Cambridge, 1961), p. 37. 8

14

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

like Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and Gottfried Keller, chose to avoid any inclination they may have had to define or reject the Novelle as a distinct form. At the other end of the spectrum are those, quite equal in stature and contribution, who attempted to clarify and elevate the genre. Goethe, Tieck and Heyse are the most important representatives of this group, and will be discussed in detail in the ensuing chapters. They were not, however, the only important literary figures to view the Novelle as a separate, distinct form. Theodor Storm, one of the leading representatives of German Poetic Realism, considered the Novelle to be a literary form equal in stature to the drama: . . . die heutige Novelle ist die Schwester des Dramas und die strengste Form der Prosadichtung. Gleich dem Drama behandelt sie die tiefsten Probleme des Menschenlebens; gleich diesem verlangt sie zu ihrer Vollendung einen im Mittelpunkt stehenden Konflikt, von welchem aus das Ganze sich organisiert, und demzufolge die geschlossenste Form und die Ausscheidung alles Unwesentlichen; sie duldet nicht nur, sie stellt auch die höchsten Forderungen der Kunst.* This exalted view of the Novelle was not shared unanimously by men of letters, although it was not original with Storm.4 Nor was Storm the last to elevate the Novelle in this manner, comparing it with the drama in merit. As recently as 1928 we see this line of thinking pursued in Paul Ernst's work, Der Weg zur Form: In den redenden Künsten sind ihrer Natur nach am stärksten durch Gesetze eingeengt Drama und Novelle . . . Wie das Drama eine abgezogene Kunstform ist, solche wichtige Inhalte des Lebens, das heisst Punkte, um welche sich bei den Menschen Kräften lagern, in einem sinnlichen Gewand gibt, durch dessen Anblick diese Kräfte gelöst werden . . . so ist auch die Novelle.5 '

Theodor Storm, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Köster, VIII, 122. Ε. K. Bennett, op. cit., p. 163: "The writer Georg Ebers had unwisely, in publishing a short story, stated that the writing of Novellen was a suitable occupation for a man who was convalescing after an illness. This evoked from Storm the following pronouncement with regard to the Novelle: (he quotes here the passage in our text, but in English translation).... This statement of Storm is neither so novel nor so profound as he no doubt imagined: indeed it reveals a certain amount of unjustifiable self-satisfaction." « Paul Ernst, Der Weg zur Form (München, 1928), p. 68. 4

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

15

Aside from these purely qualitative judgments, be they positive or negative, there also exists a definition of the Novelle which sees outer form as the primary determining attribute. Ernst, like Storm, sees the Novelle and the drama as very closely related forms. The relationship seen is a formal-aesthetic one, in that both genres are declared to be governed by definite internal and external rules. Reduced to its essence, Ernst's statement is simply an elevation of the Novelle to the heretofore exclusive realm of the drama, long presided over by the precepts of Aristotle. To the group of theorists who see a more quantitative distinction in the Novelle also belong some important names. In the following statement by Christoph Martin Wieland, we see a combination of the qualitative and quantitative views: Novellen werden vorzüglich eine Art von Erzählung genannt, welche sich von den grossen Romanen durch die Simplizität des Planes und den kleinen Umfang der Fabel unterscheiden oder sich zu denselben verhalten wie die kleinen Schauspiele zu der grossen Tragödie oder Komödie.* Wieland seems to reduce the problem of determination to length and simplicity of plot alone, a Novelle being in his estimation nothing more than a short, uncomplicated novel. It is interesting to note here that Wieland, who wrote primarily novels, sees the shorter form as a kind of stepchild of the longer, and does not put it on an equal footing with the drama as do Storm and Ernst, each of whom was the author of many Novellen. Emil Staiger directly expressed his belief that length is the leading criterion for determining a Novelle. He did so in one of his seminars on the subject, calling the Novelle " . . . eine Erzählung mittlerer Länge.. .".7 Serious difficulties begin to arise, however, if we accept length as the sole criterion, for there are many short forms other than the Novelle; the short-story, fairytale and anecdote to name but a few. Where, then, is the line to • Christoph Wieland, Don Sylvio de Rosalva (1772). As quoted by Benno von Wiese in Die deutsche Novelle (Düsseldorf, 1962), p. 14. 7 Stated in a seminar, as reported by Bernhard von Arx, Novellistisches Dasein, Spielraum einer Gattung in der Goethezeit (Zürich, 1953), p. 8.

16

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

be drawn between these forms? Or more important still, do any distinct lines exist? Johannes Klein believes they do, and sets about to indicate them in his work, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle.8 A close examination of this work, however, demonstrates that the matter is not nearly so uncomplicated as Klein would have us assume. Certain revealing passages indicate that Klein considers the Novelle to be the most important of all prose forms. He begins his work with a short history of the genre, taking it through Boccaccio to Cervantes and then on to the German authors who contributed to the genre. Next he makes the attempt to separate the Novelle from the other short prose forms, and it is here that he meets with difficulty. This section begins with a discussion of the novel and the Novelle, in which it is pointed out that the former has a much greater latitude for the development of characters through a series of incidents, while the latter form is concerned primarily with a single incident, and does not have the scope for the depiction of character development. (This is in keeping with the major theories of the Novelle.) The comparison of the novel and the Novelle is then followed by a section concerned with the nature of the Novelle as distinguished from that of the tale (Erzählung). Klein states: Die Erzählung steht zwischen Roman und Novelle. Mit dem Roman teilt sie den Reichtum der Handlung, aber nicht die Verknüpfung verschiedener Handlungs-Umkreise. Mit der Novelle teilt sie die Kürze der Szenen, aber nicht deren Ausrichtung auf einen Mittelpunkt... Die Kraft der Novelle liegt in den Grundlinien, die sich auch bei den verschiedensten Novellentypen ähneln. Die Eigenart der Erzählung liegt oft in feinen Einzelheiten.* The difficulty here is obvious. The nebulous nature of this distinction between the Novelle and the tale is demonstrated by Klein's choice of works to represent the two categories. For example, he calls Adalbert Stifter's work, Aus der Mappe meines Urgrossvaters, a tale, explaining that the main character of the 9

Johannes Klein, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1960). » Ibid., p. 9 ff.

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

17

work is portrayed by means of a series of incidents, rather than through a single, concentrated event. Using this standard, one would be at a loss to explain how Klein can consider Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas, with its intricate plot structure and character development, an exemplary Novelle! Nor does it seem possible to justify or explain how Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Jürg Jenatsch10 and Der Heilige earn inclusion in Klein's work on the Novelle, since both of these works contain manifold incidents of importance, rather than focusing their attention on an isolated event. While it is true that Klein does recognize the fact that there are many borderline cases, he explains this as the inability of the particular authors to adhere to a strict form, rather than admit that the form itself is of an indefinite character: Nun gibt es Fälle genug, die der allgemeinen Unsicherheit über die Grenzen zwischen Novelle und Erzählung recht geben. Aber gerade dort liegt oft eine Unzulänglichkeit im Künstlerischen vor.11 Following this puristic view through to its logical conclusion, we would have to say that Michael Kohlhaas and Der Heilige, to name but two borderline cases, are inferior literary productions. And yet during the course of his study Klein states the opposite. The dilemma grows as we come to the section in which Klein attempts to distinguish the boundaries between the Novelle and the fairy-tale (Märchen). After stating that definite lines exist between the two forms, he proceeds to illustrate how INDEFINITE these lines are: Die Novelle reicht an die Grenze des Überwirklichen; die Legende überschreitet diese Grenze im Sinn der Religion, das Märchen nach der Seite des Wunderbaren überhaupt1* In order to remain loyal to this postulate, however, Klein is forced to label such works as Eichendorffs Marmorbild, Chamis'· Ibid., p. 382 ff. Klein admits that Jürg Jenatsch is not strictly a Novelle, and even goes as far as to call it a "Romannovelle", citing the fact that Meyer himself was not decided on whether to call the work a novel or a Novelle. » Ibid., p. 11. » Ibid., p. 15.

18

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

so's Peter Schlemiht, and Ε. T. A. Hoffmann's short prose works (in all of which the supernatural plays an important role), Märchen-Novellen. Such a course of action would be completely unnecessary were the boundaries between the two forms so distinct. And it seems rather inconsistent to have such works as Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert, which tells of witches and jewel-producing birds; part Π of Michael Kohlhaas, with the magical lead-capsule episode; and Hoffmann's Rat Krespel, the tale of a magic violin, included in his history of the Novelle. Nevertheless, Klein continues to insist that the differences between the two genres are unmistakable: Im ganzen aber ist die Grenze zwischen Novelle und Märchen so eindeutig, dass eine Novelle, die ins Wunderbare hinüberführt, damit auch ihren Novellen-Charakter verliert.. . Das Kunstmärchen gehört nicht in die Geschichte der deutschen Novelle.18 In his discussion of the Novelle as distinguished from the short story Klein meets his most difficult task. Prefacing his discussion with the admission that it is an extremely difficult undertaking, since the two forms are so similar, he then proceeds to demonstrate the superiority of the Novelle to the sister-form. He points out proudly that the short story underwent development during a period when there were no established standards of form. His belief that the Novelle is on a higher level than the short story is clearly indicated by the fact that he goes as far as to call the latter " . . . ein illegitimes Kind der Novelle.. .",14 and continues to stress this qualitative judgment by discussing the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Wilhelm Schäfer, both of whom are known primarily for their short stories: Gewiss ist die Kurzgeschichte Edgar Allan Poes etwas ganz anderes als die Kurzgeschichte Wilhelm Schäfers,. .. Dies Gemeinsame ist der Zweifel am Sinn des Lebens, und aus ihm können sich zwar Spielarten von Formen ergeben, aber keine echte Form mehr . . . Was die Kurzgeschichte . .. von echter Form hat, hat sie von der Novelle.15 1S

'« 15

Ibid., p. 16. Ibid. Ibid., p. 17.

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

19

What Klein has said about the Novelle and the short story up to this point is, then, that although they are almost identical genres and virtually impossible to distinguish from each other, the Novelle is nonetheless superior in every way. In other words, any Novelle which Klein considers to be of inferior quality he regards as a short story, while a good short story could possibly earn the right to be called a Novelle. The careful reader, however, would probably not be fooled by the following clever play on words: N o c h gilt mit Einschränkung, was vielleicht ausser Geltung geraten wird: eine Novelle ist gut, wenn sie etwas Überraschendes hat. Eine Kurzgeschichte ist überraschend, wenn sie gut ist.1*

Such an assertion does little to clarify the issue, since it is a personal judgment unsupported by logic or factual evidence. Ε. K. Bennett, in his work The German Novelle," expresses an opposing opinion. Bennett sees the task of distinguishing the Novelle from the short story as an impossible one: It is difficult, probably impossible, to formulate a priori definitions of the Novelle and the short story which can separate them satisfactorily . . . A theoretical definition of the Novelle, such as those attempted from the time of Goethe and Tieck onwards, will hardly cover all types of Novelle . . . on the other hand many good English or American 'short stories' fulfil admirably the traditional requirements of the nineteenth-century Novelle. Similarly, most definitions of the short story can also be applied to the Novelle. 1 9

This is a tacit admission that the two forms are related so intimately as to make them virtually indistinguishable in a great many instances. Klein has also admitted as much in his work, however much he may attempt to cover this conclusion with a coating of verbosity. He continually relegates the short story to an inferior status when comparing it to the Novelle, but at no time does he convincingly differentiate between them. An extremely interesting work on the Novelle, less a critical than a creative piece of writing, Kunst der Novelle by Nino Erne, »· Ibid., p. 25. 17 Bennett, loc. cil. 18 Ibid., pp. 244 ff.

20

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

also flirts with the idea that the Novelle and the short story are one and the same. The work is written in dialogue form, consisting of a series of conversations between a professor of literature and his students. These discussions are held in the privacy of the professor's home as the war rages without. It is in one of these exchanges of thought that the following observation occurs: "Immer wieder wird behauptet, die Novelle sei tot. Untergetaucht im Chaos kleinerer Erzählformen, die unser Jahrhundert kennzeichnen. Man spricht von Kurzgeschichte, Short Story, Erzählung oder einfach Geschichte. Und man sagt: die Novelle — vieux jeux. Altmodisch. Überlebt. Biedermeier . . . Aber die Novelle ist keineswegs tot. Oder zumindest das vielgestaltige Gebiet der 'Novellistik' nicht. Sie hat sich nur gewandelt, wieder einmal, wie sich jedes künstlerische Gebilde wandeln muss, um lebendig zu bleiben . . . Es mag sein, dass sie sich gelegentlich Kurzgeschichte nennt oder Short Story oder Geschichte schlechthin. Warum nicht?" »· This passage is in striking contrast to Klein's concept of the Novelle. The primary difference is that Επιέ holds an organic view of the genre; he sees it as an ever-changing and developing literary form, and goes on to intimate that terminology is of secondary importance to literary worth. Thus, he would discourage any strenuous efforts to draw distinct lines between such similar genres. In view of Klein's inconsistencies, some of which we noted in the preceding pages, it must be concluded that he has been less than successful in his attempt to give a precise definition of the Novelle, an attempt which Erne considers unnecessary. Benno von Wiese, in his recent publication, Die deutsche Novelle, takes Klein to task for these obvious deficiencies: Kleins Abgrenzungen zu Beginn seiner Darstellung: zum Roman, zur Erzählung, zur Anekdote, zum Schwank, zur Facetie, zur Legende, zum Märchen, zur Kurzgeschichte, zur Skizze, zur Ballade haben alle etwas von mehr oder weniger beliebigen Einfällen, die nur im Zusammenhang einer weit zurückgreifenden geschichtlichen Untersuchung grösseres Gewicht und Beweiskraft bekommen könnten. Daran aber fehlt es durchaus. So ist denn das Buch hier nicht, wie es vorgibt, '·

Nino Επιέ, Kunst der Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1956), p. 99.

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

21

eine "Geschichte" der deutschen Novelle, sondern bringt ein etwas wahlloses Potpourri von zahlreichen Novellen sehr verschiedenen Ranges, deren Inhalt kurz, aber nicht immer richtig zusammengefasst wird. 80

Von Wiese's approach to the subject diametrically differs from that of Klein, although he too succumbs to some of the stronger temptations inherent therein. The principal difference is that he is far less dogmatic and self-assured than Klein, and is aware that he has not furnished the final solution to the problem. The main body of his two-volume work consists of critical essays on individual Novellen. Of importance to this study, however, are the introductions to the two volumes, since they contain von Wiese's thoughts on the Novelle as a genre. The introduction to Volume I begins with a criticism of previous works on the Novelle. It becomes clear, however, that von Wiese's view of the genre is not as parochial as Klein's: Unbeschadet, ob eine Geschichte Erzählung oder Novelle heisst oder heissen sollte, das Entscheidende ist, wie erzählt wurde u n d was in dem Wie dieses Erzählens zur Aussage kommt. 1 1

Thus, unlike Klein, who stresses purity of form, considering it a weakness when the "established" form is violated, von Wiese places a higher value on the general aesthetic merit of the literary creation. In fact, he considers it a mark of talent when an author is able successfully to transgress the accepted boundaries of genre, although these are not always firmly established. At one point, for example, he asserts unequivocally: " . . . ein Erzähler von Rang lässt sich hier niemals ein bindendes Gesetz vorschreiben"." In order to substantiate this assertion he cites a passage from Lessing's Hamburgische Dramaturgie, a passage in which the earlier critic scoffs at the attempt to chain a man of genius to a prescribed formula.18 Nevertheless, von Wiese does not declare that an absolute definition of the Novelle is unnecessary or impossible, but begins instead to give a recapitulation of the extant theories, " " " »

Benno von Wiese, Die deutsche Novelle (Düsseldorf, 1962), p. 12. Ibid., 1,13. Ibid. Ibid.

22

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

attempting to fuse them together into a single concept as he progresses. He finally manages to do this to his own satisfaction by narrowing it down to a single factor: Ausdrücke wie "Leitmotiv", "Falke", "Silhouette", "Wendepunkt" usw. sind alle nur Umschreibungen für diese durchgängige Stiltendenz, die einzelne Begebenheit in ihrer besonderen Prägnanz herauszuheben und ihr über das subjektiv Bedeutsame hinaus eine objektive Geltung zu verschaffen.14

Von Wiese has taken the terminology employed in the major theories of the Novelle, theories which will be discussed at length in the following chapters of this study, and has reduced them to the single common denominator he can find; namely, that the Novelle is primarily concerned with the single external event. This is merely a paraphrase of the Goethean definition of the genre.15 One is a bit disappointed to find that von Wiese is unable to maintain his original intention of concentrating on the individual works to the exclusion of any theoretical considerations. The fact that he chose to call his work Die deutsche Novelle, and the continual references in his discussion of the individual works to "Falken", "Silhouette", and "Wendepunkte", demonstrate that his intention has not been entirely fulfilled. In the introduction to Volume Π of his work, von Wiese again emphasizes that he is less concerned with the theoretical aspect of the Novelle than with the individual effort. He laments that so much time and effort have been expended in the search for falcons and turning points, continuing to stress that one characteristic alone distinguishes the Novelle from other genres - that it is concerned primarily with an event. We see, however, a temporary lapse into the type of dilemma which Klein often created, when von Wiese speaks of the Novelle as it compares to the tale: Novelle und Erzählung sind nicht immer streng gegeneinander abgrenzbar. Manche Geschichten, die die Dichter selbst "Novellen" nennen, sind oft blosse "Erzählungen" und auch so umgekehrt.1·

» Ibid., p. 25. u

M

See chapter Π. Benno von Wiese, loc. cit., II, 22.

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

23

He has so far admitted that there are no definite lines between the two forms, but now seems to recognize them as somewhat separate, although often mistaken for each other. He intimates that there are criteria for each, and his next step is to supply these criteria: Die Erzählung darf sehr viel unbekümmerter ihr Garn spinnen. Sie bietet weit weniger den isolierten "Fall" und ist daher der Welt als Ganzem gegenüber offener und nicht so sehr gegen sie abgegrenzt. 17

Once more, then, he seems to indicate that the sole distinguishing characteristic of the Novelle is its concentration on the isolated event. No sooner, however, does the reader feel he has been given a yardstick, flexible to be sure, when von Wiese reverts to the defensive: Die von uns herausgehobenen spezifischen Momente novellistischen Erzählens können natürlich auch in Erzählungen der verschiedensten Art gelegentlich vorkommen, aber sie bestimmen dann nicht von vornherein die Struktur des Erzählens, sondern lassen sich dort mehr zufällig beobachten. 88

Once more there is doubt as to whether the one quality he stressed as characteristic of the Novelle - the concentration on the single event - is indeed a proper yardstick for the genre. What von Wiese has said, in simplified terms, is that the Novelle and the tale are not always separable, but are often mistaken for one another through an error on the part of the individual making the determination. For, the proper manner of distinguishing the true Novelle from the tale is, according to von Wiese, by examining the work in order to see if an isolated event is central. If the finding is positive in this regard, it may be concluded that the work in question is a Novelle, although many tales could possibly "accidentally" deal with an isolated event. Unfortunately, he does not instruct us on how to determine whether or not such an event is accidental. At this point von Wiese falls into the most common trap the " »

Ibid. Ibid.

24

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

Novelle critic must always attempt to avoid - he formulates his own theory. Whereas he previously had warned of the danger in searching out the Heysean Falcon, the Tieckean Turning Point and the Goethean Unheard of Event, von Wiese now introduces his own mighty triumvirate: "Ironie, Zufall and Zeichen". These three ingredients are peculiar to the Novelle, he states, but in so doing merely presents the possibility that they will become the object of as much controversy as the previous abstractions. He modestly expresses his hope that this will not be the case: Keineswegs möchte ich jedoch den Leser dazu verleiten, jetzt in der Novelle Uberall nach Ironie, Zufall und Zeichen zu suchen statt wie früher nach Wendepunkt und Falken.2* It seems presumptuous indeed that he could think his theory might possibly begin such a search. Nor is it an unknown technique, to make a suggestion which is the opposite of that which is intended. The last critical work on the Novelle to be examined here will be Bennett's A History of the German Novelle. It is relatively free from pretention and invention, and presents a refreshing approach to the subject. Bennett sees the Novelle as an evolving genre, one which has taken on different aspects with the various literary movements and individual authors. Thus, his definitions are very broad, and admittedly open to question. The major difficulty of such an approach is that it tends to incorporate all previous statements about, and definitions of the Novelle, and as a result adds nothing new to the subject. It is far too concentrated an effort in spots, as for example in the opening chapter. In the summary of this chapter, "The Novelle as a Literary Genre", he spends two entire pages in merely paraphrasing the many theories of the Novelle. Briefly outlined, his summary is that the Novelle: 1. 2. 3. 4. "

Is an epic form, in prose. Essentially deals with a single event, conflict or situation. Is fatalistic in tone and therefore irrational. Usually deals with an unusual event, which is presented as if it were in keeping with reality. Ibid., p. 25.

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

25

5. Is severe in form and artistry. 6. Has a central turning point. 7. Has a definite and striking subject matter which separates it from all other Novellen. 8. Contains a striking subject which is frequently a concrete object. 9. Is outwardly objective, but inwardly very subjective. 10. Deals with few characters. 11. Has a cultured society for a setting. In this outline, Bennett not only includes the three major theories of the Novelle - those of Goethe, Tieck and Heyse, but also the theoretical pronouncements of other litterateurs such as Friedrich Schlegel'0 and Friedrich Spielhagen.»1 In attempting to reconcile all of the existing views of the Novelle, however, Bennett has unwittingly affirmed the idea that there is a distinct, separate genre. In so doing he has in turn refuted his own contention that the Novelle is an evolutionary form, ever-changing and ever-developing. Nor can any of the characteristics he has listed be applied solely to the Novelle. It will be our purpose here to examine carefully and critically the three major theories of the Novelle, while taking into account peripherally the other, less known and important definitions and theories. Reference will be made to the actual creative works of the major authors - works which are generally called Novellen in order to determine the degree of conformity to the theoretical position taken by the authors. Other works will also be discussed - works which supposedly are representative of other short prose genres. An attempt will be made to determine how these differ from the "Novellen", and whether any such determination is in M

Friedrich Schlegel, in his essay on Boccaccio, "Nachricht von den poetischen Werken Johannes Boccaccios", had said: "Die Novelle ist besonders geeignet . . . eine subjektive Stimmung und Ansicht, und zwar die tiefsten und eigentümlichsten derselben indirekt und gleichsam sinnbildlich darzustellen." 51 Friedrich Spielhagen, Beitrage zur Theorie und Technik des Romans (Berlin, 1883), p. 245.

26

THE DIVERSITY OF DEFINITION

any way valuable. In all likelihood, were there no such form as the Novelle, the critic would eventually invent one. There will be no conscious attempt at invention in this study, but rather a search for the basic causes of the existing dilemma, and possibly for a slight alleviation of this dilemma.

II GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

Of all the well-known definitions and theories of the Novelle, none is more frequently quoted and applied than that expressed by Goethe in a conversation with Eckermann on January 29, 1827. During the course of this conversation Goethe made the following remark: " . . . denn was ist eine Novelle anders als eine sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit".1 What is little discussed, in modern criticism, is the context of this statement, and the relationship it bears to Goethe's literary production in this particular area. Klein, for example, merely refers to the Goethean definition in passing, assuming that the reader is familiar with it: Das zentrale Geschehnis heisst bei Goethe, der mit seinem Blick für die Urformen der Dinge auch der Novelle eine Sonderform zuwies, die "unerhörte Begebenheit" . . ,2

Nevertheless, throughout his history of the German Novelle, Klein applies the Goethean standard more frequently than any other. Benno von Wiese merely quotes the single phrase in his discussion of Goethe's defintion: Das klingt auch noch in der berühmten, wenn auch immer wieder umkämpften Definition des alten Goethe nach: "Denn was ist die Novelle anders als eine sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit". 8

Bennett, too, quotes the single phrase, making no effort to relate it to its historical or subjective context.4 1 1 5 4

Conversation with Dr. Eckermann on January 27, 1827. Johannes Klein, op. cit., p. 5. Benno von Wiese, op. cit., I, 15. Ε. K. Bennett, op. cit., p. 9.

28

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

In a very recent study on the Novelle, Hellmuth Himmel, the author, takes a different approach to the famous definition. He refuses to accept it as either a definition or a theory of the Novelle, claiming instead that the statements found in Goethe's Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten more fully outline the Goethean concept of the Novelle: Hierin eine Definition oder gar eine Theorie zu sehen, ist kaum möglich, wenn man damit vergleicht, wieviel Mühe Goethe an der obererwähnten Stelle [this refers to the statements made in the Unterhaltungen] auf die Charakteristik der "moralischen Erzählung" verwendet· 5

At no time, however, does Goethe refer to the "Novelle" in his Unterhaltungen, using instead such terminology as "moralische Erzählung" and simply "Geschichte" to refer to the individual works. Himmel indicates this in the above passage, but nonetheless chooses to apply what Goethe says to the Novelle per se. As an example of the type of statement one finds in the Unterhaltungen there is the following observation by one of the characters: Geben Sie uns zum Anfang eine Geschichte von wenig Personen und Begebenheiten, die gut erfunden und gedacht ist, wahr, natürlich und nicht gemein, soviel Handlung als unentbehrlich und soviel Gesinnung als nötig, die nicht still steht, sich aber auch nicht übereilt, in der die Menschen erscheinen, wie man sie gern mag, nicht vollkommen, aber gut, nicht ausserordentlich, aber interessant und liebenswürdig.*

If, as Himmel asserts, it is scarcely possible to see the simpler, far more concise statement as a definition, one wonders how such vague, indeed superficial remarks as the above, which are not even directly related to the Novelle, can be considered more applicable. It is the contention here that Goethe DID intend his succinct remark to Eckermann to be a definition of the Novelle, and in order to place it in its proper perspective it will be necessary to examine the context in which it was made and the pertinence it might have to Goethe's creative efforts in the area of the Novelle. Early in 1794, Schiller asked Goethe to contribute a piece to 5

•

Hellmuth Himmel, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Bern, 1963), p. 30. Goethes Werke, Hamburger Ausgabe (Hamburg, 1958), VI, 161.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

29

his newly founded periodical, Die Hören. Goethe immediately assented and began work on his project. Combining his knowledge of the Spanish Novelle of Cervantes 7 with that of the works of Boccaccio, the latter of which he had encountered in his early student days in Leipzig,8 Goethe wrote a framework series of stories intended primarily to entertain and to instruct.· The six stories contained in this work, Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten, vary in theme and in length, and are held together by a loose framework, much in the same manner which Boccaccio used to unify his Decameron. As in the Italian work, there is a background of suffering and death, contrasted with the relative calm among the small group of aristocrats involved in the story-telling.10 The tone in the Unterhaltungen, however, much more closely resembles the moralizing tone of Cervantes, whom Goethe greatly admired,11 than it does the non-moralizing, playfully sensual tone of Boccaccio. Erich Trunz sees the finished product as directly descended from the genre as it was developed in the Romance countries: Dies alles hat Goethe genau dem romanischen Vorbild nachgebildet und damit die Struktur der alten italienischen und französischen Novellen sich zu eigen gemacht. 12

In this Statement, Trunz makes two basic assumptions. First, he intimates that there exists a specific Romance model of the Novelle, and second that Goethe adheres to that model in the Unterhaltungen. That, indeed, there is any such Romance model Novelle is open to serious doubt, as indicated by Walter Pabst in his work Novellentheorie und Novellendichtung: Zur Geschichte ihrer Antinomie in den romanischen Literaturen. First, Pabst I

Ibid., p. 604. β Ibid. • Ibid. 10 It is interesting to note the similarity here with Goethe's epic poem, Hermann und Dorothea, which has a similar setting. There is much in this work which seems in accord with the Goethean definition of the Novelle, although the work is not written in prose. II Goethes Werke, op. cit., p. 604. " Ibid., pp. 603-604.

30

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

traces the Novelle as a genre in the various Romance countries, revealing that there is as much difference in the execution and definition of the Novelle in these lands as there is in Germany. His statement, which occurs in the concluding section of this work, has become a minor classic, and seems to cast doubt on the validity of Trunz' first assumption: Es gibt weder die romanische Urform der Novelle noch die Novelle Uberhaupt. Es gibt nur Novellen.1»

Trunz further states that Goethe's Unterhaltungen is a particularly important work since it marks the beginning point of the German Novelle of the nineteenth century. This statement is, at best, only partially true. Trunz asserts it in the following manner: Das kleine Werk, das 1795 als Unterhaltungsstoff in den "Hören" erschien, hat den Anfang der deutschen Novellenkunst des 19. Jahrhunderts gemacht. Nicht nur Goethes eigene spätere Novellen gehen von hier aus, sondern auch die der Romantiker. Man kannte zwar die Form der Rahmengeschichte von Boccaccio her, aber in Deutschland war sie noch nicht versucht.14

While it cannot be disputed that the Unterhaltungen provided a starting point in Germany for the "Rahmennovelle" (frameworkNovelle), neither can it be denied that the framework technique is but one aspect of the entire genre. Heinrich von Kleist never once used the framework method in his Novellen, nor is this method of execution to be found in many of the most famous works which are usually considered members of the genre. In reply to the other point made by Trunz, it must be noted that Goethe's Unterhaltungen was not the first recognized German "Novelle".16 Oddly enough, Schiller had written a short prose work some ten years before Goethe's; a work which has been considered as having many characteristics of the Novelle, Der 13 Walter Pabst, Novellentheorie und Novellendichtung (Hamburg, 1953), p. 245. 14

15

Goethes Werke, op. cit., pp. 604-605.

Himmel, for one, sees the origin of the German Novelle in the short epic poems of the Middle Ages, but does not claim them as true Novellen.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

31

Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre.1* Another interesting fact to be remembered is that Goethe at no time referred to the Unterhaltungen as a collection of Novellen, terming the individual works simply "Erzählungen" or "Geschichten". And of the six short prose works contained within this frame, only three are generally considered to be representative of the Novelle genre. Two of the six are less than four pages in length, and are little more than anecdotes,17 while the final story is clearly labeled "Märchen". It is fairly obvious that Goethe intended this latter work to be representative of the entire genre, just as his later work, Novelle, is generally accepted to be his intended model for the entire genre.18 The remaining three works in the Unterhaltungen seem to approximate more closely the requirement which Goethe later set down for the Novelle. One of these, Der Prokurator, is not an original work, but an adaptation of a French piece contained in the fifteenth-century collection entitled Cent Nouvelles. The original version of the story is a short anecdote, and cannot be judged in relationship to Goethe's definition.1· In this version, a young wife is tricked into remaining faithful to her husband, whose business commitments make it necessary for him to take an extended journey. She is tricked by a potential lover. Goethe alters the plot by having the potential lover teach the young wife that abstinence and faithfulness are the highest of virtues, the practice of which brings more happiness than sacrifice. Applying the Goethean definition, one would be hard pressed to deny that the display of self-control on the part of the young hero and heroine " Benno von Wiese includes Schiller's work in his study on the Novelle, qualifying his choice thus: "Zwar ist sie noch keine Novelle im eigentlichen Sinne, zeigt aber doch bereits einen profilierenden novellistischen Erzählstil" (I. 45). 17 Of course, one could very well argue that length does not determine whether a work is a Novelle or not, and could further include these works in the discussion. This is completely open, and not a categorical statement. The point is that absolute definitions are impossible. 18 Exchange of letters between Goethe and Schiller, Goethe and Humboldt, and Goethe and Cariyle show that this was his intention with regard to Märchen (Goethes Werke, op. cit., pp. 596 if.). " Ε. K. Bennett, op. cit., p. 31.

32

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

of the work is a "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", although technically it is "eine Begebenheit, die sich nicht ereignet". The renunciation of a basic desire, especially since advocated by a young, virile male, is far more "unerhört" than, for example, the complete abandon of a Werther. But it is not the fact that it contains an unheard-of event which makes Der Prokurator a Novelle, since the original anecdote from which it was taken contains no less such a factor. For, while in Goethe's version the possibility exists that the young wife will have her desire fulfilled, in the original version the young hero leaves no such possibility. This is hardly the usual conduct expected from a young male, and we must therefore conclude that the "unerhörte Begebenheit" is not the sole determinant of the genre, since its existence in other forms (here the anecdote), is also possible. The two remaining stories, Die Sängerin Antonelli and Ferdinand und Ottilie were, as far as can be determined, original creations. In examining these two short prose works, the dilemma of relating Goethe's particular definition of the Novelle to his own works becomes evident. The former work has been virtually ignored by most scholars, and from the standpoint of literary merit rightly so. There is little substance to the story of Antonelli, and one is left with the feeling that Goethe merely wrote it as a "filler" for Die Horen. Even the unfailingly reverent Klein must admit that this is not one of Goethe's most dazzling successes: Die erste Geschichte, von der Sängerin Antonelli, ist eine Bagatelle und keine Novelle. Goethe nimmt sie so wenig ernst wie später Oscar Wilde seinen "Geist von Canterville".2® One assertion in this short passage is important and relevant to the subject at hand. Klein has made the flat pronouncement that the story of Antonelli is not a Novelle. His reasoning is that " . . . die Gegenüberstellung eines flachen Charakter führt zu keinem wirklichen Ereignis".11 His objection to the classification of this work as a Novelle would seem to be, upon first glance, a result of its failure to conform to the Goethean definition. Since » "

Johannes Klein, op. cit., p. 63. Ibid.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

33

the basis of the story is not an event (Klein substitutes the term "Ereignis" for "Begebenheit"), it must be excluded from the genre. An examination of the work itself, however, fails to substantiate this. The young, lovely Neopolitan singer Antonelli finds a needed friend in a young man from Genua. It is not long before the bonds of friendship become, on the part of the young man, a passionate love which threatens to consume him. Antonelli, however, desires above all else to retain her freedom and as a result repels his ardent advances. He seeks vainly to win her love, but this merely causes her to reject him completely. When she refuses to see him again, he falls ill. She even denies him his deathbed wish that she visit him for the last time that he might bid her goodbye. He dies in sorrow. Hereafter begins a series of incidents which invariably send the young singer and her companions of the moment into spasms of terror, and more often than not into a swoon. The beginning of this unusual course of events is the sound of an eerie voice, which is always heard exactly at midnight. This is soon replaced by the unexplained sound of a shot at repeated intervals, becomes next the clapping of invisible hands, and finally resolves itself into the strains of a pleasant melody. Finally, the melody ceases and no one ever learns the origin or cause of the mysterious sequence. Applying Goethe's definition of the Novelle to this work, the reader must conclude that the reason given by Klein for calling it a "Bagatelle" rather than a Novelle is not sufficiently grounded in fact. The central emphasis of the work is on the mysterious and unexplained noises which plague Antonelli. It is obvious that these noises are made by her departed would-be lover - and who can deny that the transformation of a departed lover into an annoying poltergeist is in fact an "unerhörte Begebenheit"! The reason for the summary dismissal is more probably a result of Klein's attitude to the Novelle as discussed in the beginning chapter of this study. He simply cannot include in the genre any work which lacks merit, since he views the Novelle as an exalted form." Bennett 21 See chapter I of this study, p. 16.

34

GOETHE: " D I E UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

avoids any discussion of the work by stating succinctly: "Die Sängerin Antonelli is a ghost story, which is neither very convincing nor very thrilling." Most readers will find this judgment valid. The remaining selection, Ferdinand und Ottilie, is accepted consistently as a representative of the Novelle genre.83 Klein sees this as an unquestioned fact, and rather than discuss the formal aspect of the work, he spends his efforts on an interpretive essay concerned primarily with the question of guilt and atonement; a question which he finds to be the basis of the work. It is extremely odd, however, that Ferdinand und Ottilie, so readily accepted as a Novelle, should so little conform to the definition which Goethe put forth for the genre. It must be kept in mind that Goethe chose to use the adjective "unerhört", and not a weaker term such as "ungewöhnlich", or "ausserordentlich". There is a difference in degree among these adjectives, the one employed by Goethe being of much stronger connotation than the others. The events in Ferdinand und Ottilie, however, fail to meet this more extreme degree. Very briefly, it is the story of a young man who falls in love with an unworthy girl, resorts to theft in order to win her by means of lavish gifts, becomes conscience stricken as his dishonesty continues, repents, and makes good for his mistake. The story ends as the young man, Ferdinand, finds and marries a girl more suited to his regenerated moral character. While much has been made of the incident which leads to Ferdinand's initial theft, one can hardly justify employing the term "unerhört" to refer to it. Ferdinand, while doing an errand for his father, discovers that a sharp blow on the corner of his father's desk causes the money-drawer to spring open. This is, to be sure, an unusual discovery, but hardly unheard-of or fabulous. Nor does the boy's subsequent behavior strike the reader as unexpected, since Goethe has carefully prepared the latter in the opening remarks about the relationship between father and son. Ferdinand is portrayed as having very little respect for his father, whom he " Tieck uses Ferdinand und Ottilie as the model for his theory of the Novelle genre. See chapter III.

GOETHE: " D I E UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

35

feels to be stingy. Thus, the theft is simply an open expression of Ferdinand's inner attitudes, and of a basic weakness in his character. The emphasis here, and in the entire remainder of the work is, moreover, on the psychological, and not on external occurrence. Klein is therefore correct in concentrating his attention on the aspect of guilt and atonement, but the fact that he does not question the classification of the work as a Novelle is further evidence that his criterion for classification is arbitrary. Bennett, like Klein, spends most of his discussion of Ferdinand und Ottilie on content, rather than on form, characteristically refusing to make any categorical statements about the latter. He refers to the work successively as a "story" and a "short story", but never directly as a Novelle. The caution which Bennett consistently displays in his use of dogmatic terminology indicates that he is ever aware of the difficulties, and of the disparity between theory and practice in the area of the Novelle. One would never, for example, see a work which Klein considered a Novelle referred to as a short story, since Klein sees the two forms as so distinct.24 The disparity between theory and practice is particularly evidenced by one of Goethe's most enigmatic works, Novelle, the work which he chose to represent the genre for which it was named. The interpretations and evaluations of Goethe's Novelle have been as divergent as they are numerous. Bennett, usually very sparing in his praise, sees Novelle as the ultimate in the genre, the Novelle "par excellence". Kurt May, in his work Form und Bedeutung, discusses it completely from a point of view of its language and not its genre, finding it to be a triumphant effort: "Er [Novelle] ist aus der tiefsten Schicht des Welterlebens entsprungen, und er triumphiert am Erde." 85 Emil Staiger concentrates primarily on content, forwarding the thesis that in Novelle Goethe has sought and found a new harmony.84 On the other hand, Walter Silz says the following: "Yet I venture to say that no one would ever have thought of calling this a Novelle had 14

" M

See chapter I of this study, p. 18. Kurt May, Form und Bedeutung (Stuttgart, 1957), p. 136. Emil Staiger, Meisterwerke deutscher Sprache (Zürich, 1948).

36

GOETHE: " D I E UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

Goethe not so designated it." He gives his reason for this conclusion as being that: "Here the Novelle is caught in the stagnant pool of allegory, while the live stream of development has taken a different course."*7 Andr6 Gide also has a less than positive opinion of Novelle, flatly stating it to be: " . . . von einer unglaublichen (einer glückseligen) Albernheit".28 Gide concedes that the work is formalistically well executed, but asserts that a literary work needs more than adherence to the rules of form in order to be regarded as truly great. He firmly asserts that Novelle is a dated work, claiming: "Goethe hätte sie in unseren Tagen nicht schreiben können." ** Another less than laudatory view of Novelle was expressed by Friedrich Gundolf in his biography of Goethe. In the section dealing with this particular work, Gundolf criticizes the motives of the poet in writing Novelle: Sie gehört zu den absoluten Bildungspoesien, die aus der ästhetischen Freude an der gattungsmässigen Ausfaltung eines Motivs, nicht aus einer seelischen Erschütterung oder einem Zweck stammen. Schon der abstrakte Titel, Novelle, verrät, dass Goethe hier das Muster einer Gattung hat aufstellen wollen, nicht ein Erlebnis gestalten. 30

There is little doubt that Gundolf is correct in assuming that Goethe intended to have Novelle represent the genre, as no other explanation seems plausible. One must assume that Goethe was well aware of his influence in literary matters at this time, and therefore that he knew how important such a title would be. It is a well-documented fact that form was the primary consideration in the writing of Novelle, as shown by Benno von Wiese in a commentary on the work.'1 Statements made by Goethe himself indicate that there was no hesitation or ambivalence on the choice of title. For instance, we have these lines from a letter which he wrote to Reichel, the publisher, in answer to the tatter's suggestion that he call the work Die Novelle, or perhaps Eine Novelle: "

M

» » "

Walter Silz, Realism and Reality (North Carolina, 1962), p. 3. As quoted in Goethes Werke, op. cit., p. 713. Ibid. Friedrich Gundolf, Goethe (Berlin, 1918), p. 743. Goethes Werke, op. cit., pp. 713-716.

GOETHE: " D I E UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

37

Die Überschrift der kleinen Erzählung, welche das Ganze scbliesst, hiesse ganz einfach: "Novelle". Ich habe Ursache, das Wort Eine nicht davorzusetzen.31

His reason is obvious. Silz indicated that he saw this reason, and Gundolf expressed it directly - Goethe wanted Novelle to stand at the head of the genre as an example of what the genre should aspire to be. It was not simply a Novelle, but the classical representative of the form. If Goethe had succeeded in his intention, Gundolf would have no grounds for criticism, for a value jugdment of a literary work has no relationship whatsoever to the author's intention. That Goethe did not succeed in writing a model Novelle is attested to, however, by the fact that the genre has continued to evoke great controversy. The conversation with Eckermann, quoted in part at the beginning of this chapter, had Novelle as its primary subject. The problem of naming the short prose work he had just completed had arisen, and in answer to the queries put to him by his secretary, Goethe made the now famous remark: . . . wir wollen es die "Novelle" nennen; denn was ist eine Novelle anders als eine sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit. Dies ist der eigentliche Begriff, und so vieles, was in Deutschland unter dem Titel Novelle geht, ist gar keine Novelle, sondern bloss Erzählung oder was Sie sonst wollen. In jenem ursprünglichen Sinne einer unerhörten Begebenheit kommt auch die Novelle in den "Wahlverwandtschaften" vor.»»

There are three major assumptions contained in this short passage. First, that he, Goethe, had a definite idea of what the Novelle should be in terms of content (he makes no specific reference to form); second, that he was well aware of the difficulty others had had in determining the exact nature of the Novelle as a genre; and third, that he himself had written at least two exemplary Novellen, the one being Novelle, and the other being Die wunderlichen Nachbarskinder, the latter of which is contained in the larger work, Wahlverwandtschaften. In order to substantiate the " u

Letter to Reichel on March 4, 1828. Conversation with Eckermann on January 29, 1827.

38

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

claim that Goethe did little to solve the dilemma of the Novelle, an examination of this last point is necessary. The story of the young couple in Die wunderlichen Nachbarskinder is very simple and direct. It is, in short, the depiction of the normal maturation processes of a young boy and girl. The two, childhood neighbors, display the natural distaste for each other when very young children, delighting greatly in playing mischievous pranks on each other. As the years pass, their ways part, the young man leaving the place of his birth in order to pursue a military career. During his absence, the girl is wooed by another, and soon gives her consent. The entire situation changes abruptly, however, when the young man comes back home on furlough. Our young heroine, despite her efforts to convince herself otherwise, realizes that she is desparately in love with her former tormentor, and is beside herself with confusion. Her confused state of mind grows to the extent that she contemplates suicide, seeing no other way to terminate her seemingly insoluble predicament. She is unable to control her emotions any longer, as, during a boating excursion in which they both take part, the young man of her secret dreams treats her with indifference. In an outburst of despair she throws herself into the water, but is not permitted to drown by the young hero. He plunges in after her, and soon has conveyed her onto the safety of the shore. They make their way to an isolated hut, which is occupied by a young married couple, and are given dry clothing. (Appropriately, the clothing given them was the wedding apparel of the other couple.) Before long, the girl's distraught parents and fiance make their way to her and her rescuer and learn, amidst a shower of tears and supplication, that they are in love with each other and want to marry. Their pleas do not meet with indifference, for as Goethe expresses it: " . . . und wer hätte den [Segen] versagen können?" M Since Goethe has stated that this work contains the essential characteristic of the Novelle, the "unerhörte Begebenheit" as he understood it,38 a close examination is mandatory. No one can M u

Goethe, Wahlverwandtschaften See note 33.

(Stuttgart, Reclam Verlag, 1960), p. 253.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

39

argue with the contention that it is a part of the normal course of maturation when a young boy and girl demonstrate animosity toward each other in the years before heterosexual attraction begins to manifest itself in the more conventional manner. Nor is it out of the ordinary for a young girl to become engaged, only to learn later that she has made a mistake. To a girl of such solid "middle-class" upbringing as that accorded the heroine of Goethe's story, the realization that she loved another could result in nothing other than a confused and distraught state of mind. To this point, then, there would seem to be nothing in the way of the "unerhört", and so our attention must be directed toward three incidents which occur at the end of the work. The attempted suicide and resultant rescue are not presented as particularly "unerhört", especially since Goethe has taken pains to describe the confused mental condition of the girl just prior to the excursion: "Dieser seltsame Wahnsinn begleitete sie überall hin. Sie verbarg ihn unter allerlei Formen.. .".*· Nor would we expect the young man to allow her to drown, even were he not in love with her. This event, then, is probably not to be considered "unerhört". Slightly more unusual is the fact that they should chance upon a hut inhabited by a lone young couple, particularly a couple whose clothing size should coincide with theirs. That the occurrence is merely an obvious symbolic device demonstrates, however, that the emphasis is less on the external event than on the more profound significance. The happiness of the isolated couple is simply a premonition of the future life of the two young visitors, emphasized by the fact that the wedding apparel happens to be available. The allegory here far overshadows the external event. The incident which most nearly seems to fit the adjectival description "unerhört" is the reaction of the young girl's fianc6 when he learns that his bride-to-be has fallen in love with the dashing young officer. Several seconds before the declaration, he is described in the following manner: " . . . den liebenden Bräutigam M

Wahlverwandtschaften,

op. cit., p. 249.

40

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

hatte fast die Besinnung verlassen".*7 And yet he is able, seconds later, to give his blessings to the pair. One would at least expect to read of his sad departure, head bowed and cheeks moist with tears. Taken together, these last scenes would possibly form an "unerhörte Begebenheit", although only in a very vague and loose sense. What is demonstrated more clearly is the extreme difficulty in attempting to determine the coincidence of theory and practice. Were a theory or definition substantially valid, no such difficulty would exist. As stated and explored earlier in this chapter, there has been a wide variety of opinion concerning the merit of Goethe's Novelle. It would be expected, though, that since Goethe intended this work to be representative of the genre after which it was named, such great divergence should not exist with regard to genre classification. Given the complexity of the problem, however, the matter loses its simplicity, since no generally accepted definition of the Novelle exists. When Bennett refers to Novelle as an excellent representative of the genre, Α Novelle par excellence, he does so not on the basis of Goethe's definition, but rather on the basis of his own concept of the genre. Unlike many other scholars who have concentrated their effort on this particular area of study, Bennett has an organic, and not a categorical view of the Novelle.38 He sees Novelle as a transitional work, a particular phase of the genre which must lead to a following phase. He readily admits that the work does not appear to be a Novelle at first reading: . . . Goethe has already moved away from the basic form of the Novelle as it appears in Boccaccio... Thus baldly stated the story does not appear to contain the elements of a first-rate Novelle.3· He goes on to explain the seeming paradox which his comments provoke: "

Ibid., p. 253. The very nature of his work, The German Novelle (op. cit.) attests to this. He arranges the chapters as to the various developments in the history of the genre; e.g., "Classical Novelle", "Metaphysical Novelle", etc. » Ibid., p. 33. 88

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

41

The centre of gravity has been shifted from the external events related to the inner significance of those events. The symbolical, the allegorical, that which is postulated as one element in the Novelle by Schlegel has here become the predominant element.40 If, like Bennett, one accepts the contention that the Novelle is an evolving form, then there can be no argument with the above passage. On the other hand, however, if one considers Goethe's definition of the Novelle, or any other categorical definition, as valid in all cases, then Bennett's contention must be at least partially rejected. For, as stated previously, Goethe says nothing of symbolism or inner significance, but speaks rather of external event or content. He does not discuss inner meaning, but the "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", the event which DOES occur, and not an inner truth which can be interpreted only allegorically. A scrutiny of the content of Novelle shows that Bennett is correct in finding the center of gravity to be the allegorical,41 and since this is the case, the Goethean definition of the Novelle is not applicable to it. The plot of Novelle is briefly this: A young duchess bids temporary farewell to her husband, who is going out on a hunting expedition with a group of noblemen. She then sets out with the duke's uncle on a tour of their territory, visiting the market place as well as the beautiful forest region. During the course of this excursion Goethe paints a beautiful word picture, rich in symbolic allusion. The following passage is an example of this. The uncle is describing the scene to the duchess: Hier, wo man, den Hohlweg durch die äussern Ringmauern heraufkommend, vor die eigentliche Burg gelangt, steigt uns ein Felsen entgegen von den festesten des ganzen Gebirgs; hierauf nun steht gemauert ein Turm, doch niemand wüsste zu sagen, wo die Natur aufhört, Kunst und Handwerk aber anfangen . . . Es ist eine Wildnis wie keine, ein zufällig einziges Lokal, wo die alten Spuren längst verschwundener Menschenkraft mit der ewig lebenden und fortwirkenden Natur sich in dem ernstesten Streit erblicken lassen.42 40 41

"

Ibid., p. 34. See note 27. Goethes Werke, op. eil., p. 493.

42

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

It is beyond the scope of the present study to give either a critical evaluation or an interpretation of the symbolism in Novelle, but it must be pointed out here that the emphasis is not on the external event, as it would have to be if the work was to be in keeping with Goethe's definition of the genre. The emphasis, as pointed out by Silz and Bennett, is on the symbolic - the allegorical. The story continues as the beautiful young noblewoman, accompanied by the old man and a young page named Honorio, ascends a steep hill. Suddenly they spy smoke and flames coming from the direction of the market place. The duke's uncle leaves the duchess in the charge of Honorio and rides off to see if he can be of any assistance. While making their way slowly back, Honorio and the duchess see a tiger coming toward them. The young page immediately takes out his pistol and shoots the animal to death. An old woman appears next, and upon seeing the slain tiger begins to weep and wail violently. We learn that she was the owner of the beast, and that there is also a lion loose, its cage having been burned during the fire in the market place. The woman implores the duchess and Honorio not to harm her other pet, assuring them that it can be induced back into captivity by means other than force. This is accomplished by her small son, who leads the lion into a cage by means of his melodic fluteplaying and singing. Obviously, the content of Novelle viewed purely from an external standpoint is both weak and unimaginative. There is little tension, even in the final scene where the lad leads the lion away with the strains from this profound song: Und so geht mit guten Kindern sel'ger Engel gern zu Rat, Böses Wollen zu verhindern, Zu befördern schöne Tat. So beschwören, fest zu bannen Lieben Sohn ans zarte Knie Ihn, des Waldes Hochtyrannen, Frommer Sinn und Melodie.48 "

Ibid., p. 513.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

43

The intrusion of poetry, when not an integral part of the action, tends to divert the concentration from the course of events. This is a further demonstration that the center of gravity, in Bennett's terms, is not on the "Begebenheit", but on an inner, allegorical message. In answer to the possible contention that the episode of the lion and tiger does seem to qualify as a "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", one can cite the fact that the animals are described as tame, docile beasts. The owner's words, uttered upon viewing the slain tiger, attest to this: Sie haben dich ermordet, armes Tier! Ermordet ohne Not! Du warst zahm und hättest dich gern ruhig niedergelassen und auf uns gewartet; denn deine Fussballen schmerzten dich, und deine Krallen hatten keine Kraft mehr! Die heisse Sonne fehlte dir, sie zu reifen.44 No, it is not the external event which is of prime importance in Novelle, but the allegorical meaning. Goethe himself made this clear in another conversation with Eckermann: Zu zeigen, wie das Unbändige, Unüberwindliche oft besser durch Liebe und Frömmigkeit als durch Gewalt bezwungen werde, war die Aufgabe dieser Novelle, und dieses schöne Ziel, welches sich im Kinde und Löwen darstellt, reizte mich zur Ausführung.45 Again it is clear that Novelle is primarily allegorical, almost Biblical in tone. That the symbolism is slightly weak (it would have been more effective had the tamed beast been less docile, as was the case of Androclus' lion), serves to strengthen the contention that Novelle does not conform to the Goethean definition, since it tends to make the incident lose any quality of the "unerhört" which it might otherwise have had. Even Klein, who adheres strictly to the definition which Goethe set down for the Novelle, sees the inherent dilemma which the work presents. His method of escape from the encircling horns is weak and ineffectual. There is no attempt on his part to deny the fact that the allegorical plays a central role in Novelle, nor can he contradict the equally obvious fact that external event plays an unimportant role. It would 44 45

Ibid., p. 504 (Novelle). Ibid., p. 714.

44

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

seem, then, that being a literary purist, Klein would necessarily exclude Novelle from the genre, and one is led to believe that he is willing to take this step when one notes that his discussion of the work is labeled "Die sogenannte Novelle".4« Nor is the reader mistaken, regardless of the attempts Klein makes to soften this denial. He does this by heaping praise upon Novelle, while at the same time attempting to explain that the work is not in complete accord with the requisites of the genre: Die "Novelle" ist ein Meisterstück in Goethes Alterswerk; ein Muster der echten Novelle ist sie nicht. Denn sie ist allzu aufgelockert, allzu sehr von formfremden Dingen durchgesetzt.47

To Klein, formlessness is a grave shortcoming, and although he seeks to mitigate the connotation of this charge he makes, by the use of a laudatory term (Meisterstück), his position remains difficult. Unable to maintain his slightly blasphemous stance, however, he recants: Und doch ist sie der erste Fall in der Geschichte unserer Novelle in der das eigentliche Ereignis im Frieden besteht, in der menschliche Leidenschaft und Wildheit der Natur überwunden sind . . .4S

Thus, Klein states that although Novelle is not a genuine representative of the genre, it is nevertheless a milestone in the history of the genre. It seems as if Klein has escaped the horns of the dilemma merely to slide beneath the hoofs. Two major points have emerged from this chapter. First, it has become evident that like beauty, the Novelle is more often than not in the eye of the beholder. This is clearly demonstrated from viewing the statements of Bennett and Klein, among others, concerning Novelle and its status in the genre. While the former scholar sees the work as an excellent representative of the genre, the latter only grudgingly and unconvincingly allows it entrance into the genre, giving it but "so-called" status at that. The second point is a very central one, and will be evidenced in the following «·

Johannes Klein, op. cit., p. 75.

Ibid., p. 76. « Ibid.

GOETHE: "DIE UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT"

45

chapters - that is, that an author's intention is not necessarily in accord with his finished work, nor is his appraisal of his own creation always valid. This is true, but not unique, in the case of Goethe's Novelle.

in LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

It is ironic that Ludwig Tieck, so prolific and famous during his own lifetime (he succeeded Goethe as literary mentor of Germany, and was THE dramaturge of the famed Dresden theater), should now be relegated primarily to the pages of literary histories and other reference works, while, for example, the few works of a writer such as Heinrich von Kleist, relatively unknown and unsung during his lifetime, should live on today in increasing popularity. It is here neither the intention nor the desire to reawaken fervor for Tieck's literary accomplishments, but rather to examine and discuss one particular area of his activity - his theoretical writings on the Novelle and his practical efforts in the genre. Himmel, a recent scholar in the area of Novellentheorie, makes the following statement: Prinzipiell ist damit die Theorie der Novelle abgeschlossen, als deren Begründer also die Brüder Schlegel, Tieck und Mündt erscheinen . . . Auch vereinzelte Äusserungen bedeutender Novellisten, etwa Kellers und Storms, tragen nichts Neues bei.. -1 While disagreeing emphatically with this unconventional statement of Himmel's, which counts Tieck as one of the four leading contributors to Novellentheorie, one can nevertheless not deny his historical importance in our discussion. It is also disconcerting to note that Himmel chooses to include Theodor Mündt, whose efforts are but minor, in the upper echelon of Novelle theoreticians, while ignoring the far more important contributions of Goethe and Heyse. Moreover, Himmel does not even deem it ne1

Hellmuth Himmel, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Bern, 1963), p. 38.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

47

cessiry to justify such an unusual position, leaving it to the discretion of the reader to accept or reject the quartet at will. Undoubtedly, of the four, Tieck's Novellentheorie is most worthy of our :ritical attention. His more significant statements are to be found in the introduction to volume eleven of his collected works, published in 1829. 2 Tieck begins his discussion of the Novelle by presenting the then current conception of the genre: Wir brauchen jetzt das Wort Novelle für alle, besonders kleineren Erzählungen; manche Schriftsteller scheinen sogar in diese Benennung eine Entschuldigung legen zu wollen, wenn ihnen selbst die Geschichte, die sie vortragen wollen, nicht bedeutend genug erscheint.* From this passage we see that Tieck is especially aware of the Novelle as a distinct form, and that he feels that this title should not be indiscriminately applied, nor used merely to elevate the status of an inferior work. The result of such careless prostitution of the appellation "Novelle" has, according to Tieck, led to its becoming synonymous with inferior quality. Next, he presents a short survey of the genre as seen by men in other countries. He observes that England chooses to employ the term "Novelle" for all prose works, while in Italy any tale with an original twist or thematic is referred to as a Novelle. Cervantes, he continues, wrote different types of Novellen than did the Italians, placing as he did the primary stress on the moralizing tone. It becomes evident as one continues to study Tieck's remarks that he is convinced that the Novelle is not a vague concept, but a clearly-defined entity. And now he names the three men most eminent in the history of the genre: Boccaz, Cervantes und Göthe sind die Muster in dieser Gattung geblieben, und wir sollten billig nach den Vorbildern, die in dieser Art für vollendet gelten können, das Wort Novelle nicht mit Begebenheit, Geschichte, Erzählung, Vorfall, oder gar Anecdote als gleichbedeutend brauchen.4 2

Ludwig Tiecks Schriften, ed. G. Reimer (Berlin, 1828-55), XI. Ibid., lxxxiv. * Ibid., lxxxv. s

48

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

It is interesting to note here that although Tieck lauds Goethe the writer of Novellen, his theoretical remarks are at variance with Goethe's definition of the genre. For, while Tieck explicitly states that the Novelle must not be confused with "Begebenheit", etc., Goethe had just as clearly asserted that the Novelle and the "Begebenheit" are synonymous.5 In the following passages Tieck continues to emphasize the distinct nature of the various forms, and it is here that we find the core of the Tieckean Novellentheorie: Eine Begebenheit sollte anders vorgetragen werden als eine Erzählung; diese sich von Geschichte unterscheiden, und die Novelle nach jenen Mustern sich dadurch aus allen andern Aufgaben hervorheben, dass sie einen grossen oder kleinern Vorfall in's hellste Licht stelle, der, so leicht er sich ereignen kann, doch wunderbar, vielleicht einzig ist.· Up to this point, then, Tieck has stated that a Novelle, a tale, etc., must have specific characteristics, and not be haphazardly written. But only for the Novelle does he explain exactly what these characteristics are. Upon closer scrutiny, his requisites for the Novelle prove to be strikingly similar to those expressed by A. W. Schlegel many years before. Schlegel had said: Die Novelle ist eine Geschichte ausser der Geschichte; sie erzählt folglich merkwürdige Begebenheiten, die gleichsam hinter dem Rücken der bürgerlichen Verfassungen und Anordnungen vorgefallen sind.7 Schlegel's main stress is on the unusual subject matter of the Novelle. What he asserts is similar to the Goethean definition, the exception being that where Goethe speaks of the single "Begebenheit", Schlegel uses the plural. Tieck in turn applies the term "Vorfall". All three, moreover, insist that the event or events in the Novelle are of extraordinary nature - Schlegel employs the 5

Goethe's famous conversation with Eckermann took place two years before Tieck wrote his introduction, but was in itself not particularly original (see note 8). Tieck was familiar with A. W. Schlegel's work, but could not possibly have known of Goethe's statements on the subject. • Ludwig Tiecks Schriften, op. cit., lxxxv-lxxxvi. 7 A. W. Schlegel, Vorlesungen über schöne Literatur und Kunst (Heilbronn, 1884). Quoted by Dr. R. Mitchell in Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory of the Novelle (Frankfurt, 1915), p. 16.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

49

adjective "merkwürdig" to the event, Goethe "unerhört", and Tieck "wunderbar". 8 Thus, we must look further into Tieck's writings on the Novelle in order to find the reason for Himmel's high evaluation of them.· So far we can credit Tieck with neither clarity nor originality. Tieck continues his remarks with the passage which has come to be known as the "Wendepunkttheorie", which, as is the case with all theories and definitions of the Novelle, has been received and interpreted with varying degrees of enthusiasm. He states: Diese Wendung der Geschichte, dieser Punkt, von welchem aus sie sich unerwartet völlig umkehrt, und doch natürlich, dem Charakter und den Umständen angemessen, die Folge entwickelt, wird sich der Phantasie des Lesers um so fester einprägen, als die Sache, selbst im Wunderbaren, unter andern Umständen wieder alltäglich sein könnte. 1 '

An event or "Vorfall" is then, according to Tieck, the pivotal point of a Novelle, and although this event is of a remarkable nature it remains internally consistent. This is parallel to the statements of A. W. Schlegel and Goethe, both of whom stress that although the event or events in the Novelle be of an extraordinary nature, they must be accomplished in fact. Schlegel speaks of the events which "vorgefallen sind". Goethe of the "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", and Tieck of the "Vorfall, der leicht ereignen kann". That Tieck considers the presence of a "Wendepunkt" as the most significant characteristic of the Novelle becomes clear a bit further on in his commentary. He reiterates: Bizarr, eigensinnig, phantastisch, leicht witzig, geschwätzig und sich ganz in Darstellung auch von Nebensachen verlierend, tragisch wie komisch, tiefsinnig und neckisch, alle diese Farben und Charaktere lässt die echte Novelle zu, NUR W I R D SIE I M M E R JENEN SONDERBAREN 8

See discussion on Schunicht's appraisal of the word "wunderbar" as employed by Tieck, pp. 53-54. • Himmel, op. cit., p. 30. Speaking of the Goethean definition of the Novelle as "eine sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", Himmel says: "Hierin eine Definition oder gar eine Theorie zu sehen, ist kaum möglich . . . 10 Ludwig Tiecks Schriften, op. cit., lxxxv-lxxxvi.

50

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

AUFFALLENDEN WENDEPUNKT HABEN, DER SIE VON ALLEN ANDERN GATTUNGEN DER ERZÄHLUNGEN UNTERSCHEIDET. 1 1

Thus, we have no criterion save that the Novelle contains a central turning-point. Theme is unimportant, length and scope are unmentioned and seemingly arbitrary,11 so long as the turning-point is present. Reduced to its essence, the above "Wendepunkttheorie" can be stated in the following manner: It is the central turningpoint which characterizes the Novelle; thus any work with a central turning-point is a Novelle. Viewed in this way, the Tieckean pronouncement seems superficial indeed, and one must agree with Klein that: Jedenfalls ist diese Auffassung vom Wendepunkt, wenn man sie bloss technisch versteht, viel zu oberflächlich, um der tiefen Problematik gerecht zu werden . . . und die Kritik hat ihm dies auch mit vollem Recht vorgeworfen.1* Himmel sees the difficulty of accepting Tieck's statement literally, since he recognizes that every work which contains a central turning-point is not necessarily a Novelle. He therefore seeks to convince the reader that Tieck did not intend to give such an impression: Wenn Tieck den Wendepunkt als Unterscheidungszeichen der Novelle von "allen anderen Gattungen der Erzähiung" ansieht, ist ja keineswegs gesagt, dass Entsprechendes nicht auch in anderen Dichtarten, also etwa in der Dramatik auftreten könne.14 Unfortunately, though, Himmel does not explain the basis of his conclusion that Tieck would have included other genres in this manner. Indeed, the latter states quite the opposite by calling the "Wendepunkt" that quality which does distinguish the Novelle .. von allen andern Gattungen der Erzählung". Nor can Tieck be credited here with any great degree of originality, either, since 11

Ibid., Ixxxvii. (Emphasis mine.) " Tieck included several works in his collected "Novellen" which exceeded two hundred pages in length, and others which were less than fifty. u Johannes Klein, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1960), p. 165. " Himmel, op. cit., p. 36.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

51

A. W. Schlegel had made very similar remarks about the nature of the Novelle more than twenty years before. In another section of his series of lectures from the years 1801-04, Schlegel made this observation: So viel ist gewiss; die Novelle bedarf entscheidender Wendepunkte, so dass die Hauptmassen der Geschichte deutlich in die Augen fallen. 15

While it is true that Schlegel spoke not of a SINGLE turning-point, but rather of the plural, the idea is still basically the same. In fact, when Tieck comes to give a model example of the genre he cites not one, but TWO turning points!18 Himmel, nonetheless, believes that Tieck's efforts mark a great step forward in Novellentheorie, claiming that: Die Einschränkung auf einen Wendepunkt gegenüber A. W. Schlegels gliedernden "Wendepunkten" ist sehr bedeutsam: Schlegel gab nur ein Hilfsmittel übersichtlichen Vortrags, die Absetzung der Episoden voneinander . . . Tieck ein Strukturmerkmal. 17

It is unclear, however, what exactly Himmel means when he asserts that Tieck has provided a structural element by limiting the concept of turning-points to the singular. Nor does he attempt to clarify his position with any pertinent example, thus leaving the reader with a feeling that no such example could be found. Such an omission can hardly be regarded as a mark of sound scholarship. The similarity between the theoretical writings of Tieck and those of A. W. Schlegel does not end with the substitution of singular terms for their plural counterparts. The parallel between Tieck's statement that the Novelle should deal with a situation which is "wunderbar" and yet "unter andern Umständen wieder alltäglich sein könnte", and a remark made by Schlegel years before is evident. Schlegel had stated it: "Das Unwahrscheinliche darf dabei nicht vermieden werden, vielmehr ist es oft gerade das Wahrste, und also ganz an seiner Stelle."18 In view of the similar18

'·

1T 19

Mitchell, op. cit., p. 17. See p. 56. Himmel, op. cit., p. 36. Mitchell, op. cit., p. 20.

52

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

ity of Tieck's statement to this, as well as the previous similarities cited, it would seem as if Tieck has not really contributed anything really original or substantial to Novellentheorie, Himmel's judgment notwithstanding. An entirely different approach to Tieck's theory has recently been taken by Manfred Schunicht, however, whose article "Der 'Falke' am 'Wendepunkt'", deserves special attention.18 Schunicht begins his study by meeting head-on the most evident problem. He notes that there are too many abstract theories on the nature of the Novelle, and that these have all failed to define the genre adequately. The greatest danger facing the scholar in the area of Novellentheorie is seen by Schunicht to be that: Allzu oft bringt die Beschäftigung mit dem Phänomen "Novelle" nolens volens eine neue Theorie hervor . . . Immer neue begriffliche Merkmale werden in die Diskussion geworfen; die dichterisch wertvollen Werke entziehen sich aber weiterhin einer Katalogisierung durch die landläufig benutzten Begriffe der Novellentheoretiker.** Rather than having solved the dilemma, most works on the Novelle have resulted, according to Schunicht, in the addition of new theories and abstract terminology,81 which prove to be of little value in the discussion and understanding of important literary works. Schunicht next registers the complaint that most works on the Novelle begin with reference to Boccaccio, and do not seek an indigenous origin for the genre. He praises Walter Pabst for doing much to dispel the myth that there is such a "romanische Urform", 11 and rejects completely the " . . . ärgerliche Erkenntnis, dass sich die reiche Vielfalt deutscher Novellen den aus dem Decamerone abgeleiteten Merkmalen 'der Novelle' beharrlich entzieht". M He believes that future scholarship on the Novelle should ' · Manfred Schunicht, "Der 'Falke* am 'Wendepunkt'", Germanischromanische Monatsschrift, X (1960). » Ibid., p. 44. 11 See chapter I, discussion of Klein and von Wiese. " Walter Pabst, Novellentheorie und Novellendichtung (Hamburg, 1953). See pp. 22-23 above. a Schunicht, op. cit., p. 45.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

53

treat the German representative of the genre as an indigenous phenomenon, similar in certain respects to the form as it appears in other countries, but nevertheless independent. It is in this frame of thought that he turns his discussion to Tieck's "Wendepunkttheorie". Although he recognizes and affirms that A. W. Schlegel had predated Tieck with similar conclusions about the nature of the Novelle, Schunicht nevertheless, like Himmel, credits Tieck with having taken a step forward with his theoretical writings: Die "Wendepunkte" bleiben ihm [Schlegel] Hilfskonstruktionen, mit denen er die nach seiner Ansicht wesentlichen Analogien zwischen Novelle und Drama aufdecken will . . . Tieck hingegen verabsolutiert den Wendepunkt zu einem entscheidenden formalästhetischen Begriff und füllt ihn darüber hinaus mit eigener Bedeutung.14 This is very similar to the statement made by Himmel, cited earlier, to the effect that Tieck has elevated the turning-point to an important determinant of the genre (Himmel calling it a "Strukturmerkmal"; Schunicht, a "formalästhetischer Begriff'), but unlike Himmel, Schunicht proceeds to explain his basis for making this claim. One cannot, he contends, justify the separation of the Tieckean "Wendepunkt" from the author's concept of the "Wunderbaren" which he expresses in the same piece. Any attempt to regard them individually serves to mislead the reader and detract from Tieck's accomplishment: "So würde der Wendepunkt - konsequent genommen - zu einem technischen Trick degradiert, mit dem der harmlose Leser zu düpieren ist." " Only when combined with his concept of the fabulous, then, can Tieck's "Wendepunkttheorie" be properly understood; this concept is, in Schunicht's view, widely misinterpreted. He poses the following questions: Es bleibt eine merkwürdige Tatsache, dass sich der grösste Teil der Interpreten mit einem verschwommenen Begriff des Wunderbaren behilft, ohne die naheliegende Frage zu stellen: was versteht Tieck selbst unter dem Wunderbaren der novellistischen Begebenheit, das im Wendepunkt in Erscheinung tritt?*· " » «

Ibid., p. 47. Ibid., p. 48. Ibid., p. 50.

54

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

In addressing himself to this question, Schunicht makes a careful distinction between Tieck's early works and those of his later years. The former, he says, do not apply to the concept which was expressed in 1829, and one must not confuse the heterogeneous reality and fantasy present in those works, such as Der blonde Eckbert for example, with the miraculous element in his later productions. And we cannot, he continues, understand Tieck's statements on the Novelle if we do not recognize the influence of the philosopher Karl Solger17 on his thinking: "Denn ohne Einsicht in die Rezeption der Solgerischen Philosophie durch Tieck muss die Theorie des Wendepunktes unverständlich bleiben." i% Where Solger's philosophical system is most relevant to Tieck's theory of the Novelle is in the concept he calls "Punktualität". Solger teaches that the conventional separation of the absolute and the finite is not a valid concept, but rather that the two are intimately intertwined. Since the absolute has the capacity to and actually does enter into the sphere of the finite, reality thus acquires a new validation. For, the reality of human experience is no longer insurmountable, but a mark at which the absolute becomes instantaneously transparent. The moment in which the absolute enters into the sphere of the finite is called PUNCTUALITY. According to Schunicht, this elevation of the absolute into finite reality is what Tieck has in mind when he speaks of "das Wunderbare". The major change which he makes, however, is that while Solger demands an accompanying action on the part of the individual to effect this fusion of the absolute and the finite, Tieck does not see the need for this subjective intervention. Thus, the finite subject (the individual) does not come into being for the sake of the absolute, but merely becomes absolute as a result of objective reality (the absolute) entering into the finite (subjective reality). The moment of this entrance is, in Schunicht's view, the Tieckean "Wendepunkt". Having equated Tieck's Novellentheorie with the Solgerian con17

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Solger (1780-1819). Studied under Schelling at Jena; later became professor of philosophy at Frankfurt and then Berlin. 18 Schunicht, op. cit., p. 51.

LUDWIG t i e c k :

"wendepunkttheorie"

55

cept of punctuality, Schunicht concludes that we must now study the former in a completely new manner: Der "Wendepunkt" ist auf solch unauflösbare Weise mit Tiecks Weltansicht verflochten, dass es immer problematisch bleibt, diesen Begriff für eine Interpretation der Werke anderer Novellisten zu bean* spruchen. Tiecks Wendepunkt kann nur aus der Kenntnis des Solgerschen Begriffs der Punktualität verstanden werden. Von dort her allein definiert sich sein Zusammenhang mit dem Wunderbaren der novellistischen Begebenheit.1» If one accepts this alleged ultra-subjectivity of the Tieckean Novellentheorie, no other course is open but to admit with Schunicht that: "Der 'Wendepunkt' wird aus der Nomenklatur der Gattungstheorie zu streichen sein." ,n But however erudite and imaginative Schunicht's arguments may be, they strike one as highly exaggerated. Schunicht includes no direct reference by Tieck to Solger, and although the influence of the philosopher cannot be denied, it is not likely that Tieck simply decided to paraphrase the theory of punctuality and apply it to the Novelle. Evidence suggests rather that A. W. Schlegel's lectures on the Novelle gave him the basic ideas. The conclusion reached by Schunicht on the basis of his discussion - namely that Tieck's theory of the Novelle is too subjective to be applied to the works of other authors - finds little correspondence with the author's intention. Indeed, the reason Tieck wrote the 1829 introduction was quite the contrary! From the very outset of his discussion it is clear that he believes the Novelle to be a distinct, clearly-defined genre, and that he intends to determine exactly what the requisites for the genre are. Any suspicion in the reader's mind that he means simply his own Novellen is dispelled by the example by which he illustrates his theory - that is, Goethe's work, Ferdinand und Ottilie, from the Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten. Briefly reviewed, this work is about the following: Ferdinand is the son of a wealthy merchant, a boy who has not learned to care »

Ibid., p. 52.

so jbid.

56

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

about anything other than his own personal pleasure. By chance one day he discovers that he is able to open the cash-drawer of his father's desk by striking the corner of the desk sharply. He uses the money he steals from his father in order to buy lavish gifts for the fickle Ottilie. Sent on a business trip by his father, however, Ferdinand begins to learn responsibility, and undergoes an inner change. He decides to return all he has stolen, does so after almost being discovered by his father, and eventually learns Ottilie's true character and marries a more worthy young lady. Tieck illustrates his concept of the Wendepunkt in the following passage: Um uns an ein Beispiel zu erinnern. So ist in jener Göthischen Novelle in den Ausgewanderten der sich aufhebende Ladentisch, der das Schloss überflüssig macht, welches der junge Mann eine Zeitlang benutzt, um sich mit Geld zu versehen, ein solcher alltäglicher Vorfall, eben wie die Reue und Besserung des Jünglings, die in eine Zeit fällt, dass sie fast unnütz wird." Earlier in this chapter, we took issue with Himmel's statement that Tieck had made a great step forward by limiting to one A. W. Schlegel's several turning-points in the Novelle. In view of the passage just cited, however, we see that any step forward resulting from such a limitation has been canceled by Tieck's own explanation and application. For, viewed accurately, Tieck gives not one, but rather TWO turning-points in Ferdinand und Ottilie. He first selects the incident in which Ferdinand discovers the secret method of opening his father's cash-drawer without a key, and directly after this he points out as equally important the inner change which Ferdinand undergoes. The inconsistency is striking. Either Tieck did not mean to place on Schlegel's idea the limitation which Himmel sees as such a great contribution, or he desired in theory to set such a limit, but contradicted himself in application. It is thus understandable, that scholars are divided as to what constitutes the actual turning-point in Ferdinand und Ottilie. An example of this is Paul Arnold's statement concerning the work, in S1

Ludwig Tiecks Schriften, XI, op. cit., lxxxvi-lxxxvii.

LUDWIG T1ECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

57

which he insists that the incident with the money-drawer is not as pivotal as the inner development of Ferdinand: Das wesentliche und kräftig betonte Merkmal der Goethischen Novelle ist also die seelische Entwicklung. Die äussere Handlung, die "Begebenheit", an der sie aufgezeigt wird, muss also so beschaffen sein, dass sie den "ganzen Charakter ins Licht setzt"

This is hardly an appropriate observation, since Tieck himself had included both incidents in his discussion. It seems as if Arnold has merely selected the one which suits him best. Unlike Himmel, however, Arnold sees Tieck's Novellentheorie not as a step forward, but quite the reverse: Die Beispiele, die Tieck aus Goethe nimmt, können seine Theorie nicht stützen. Der Grund dafür liegt eben darin, dass Goethe die Novelle schon vollkommen aus dem Gebiete des Wunderbaren heraus ins Rein-Menschliche gehoben hat und Tiecks Ansicht somit einen Rückschritt bedeutet.»

Surely, as a result of the preceding comparisons with A. W. Schlegel's remarks, and the examination of Tieck's own application of his theory, one can hardly deny that the "Wendepunkttheorie" is, if not a backward step, at least little more than marking time. The second major point, the question as to whether Tieck's theory is ultra-subjective and impossible to apply to the works of other authors, as Schunicht claims, can best be established through an examination of his own Novellen. If Schunicht is correct, there should be little difficulty in finding an agreement between theory and practice. In accord with Schunicht's suggestion, we will limit our discussion to the works of the elder Tieck.' 4 And since it would be impossible to discuss even a small fraction of the thirtyodd works which were written during the latter part of Tieck's life, the only practical course here is to select some representative samples. In virtually every study of Tieck's theoretical and creative ef31 35 54

Paul Joh. Arnold, 'Tiecks Novellenbegriff·, Euphorion (1921), p. 267. Ibid., p. 269. See page 54.

58

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

forts in the area of the Novelle, the term "Diskussionsnovelle" (Discursive Novelle), is employed to refer to a particular type of work which Tieck seemed particularly to favor. Bennett gives the following definition of this type of Novelle: In this type of Novelle the source of inspiration is not the event . . . but the discussion of some abstract idea, or more frequently some topical question of the day, some literary or social tendency. The characters and incidents are then constructed to illustrate the ideas, usually to demonstrate the ill-effects of the tendency which is being attacked.85 Thus, we have in the Discursive Novelle a shift from concentration on external events to propagation of ideas. If this is the case, there would seem to be a conflict between such a work and the theoretical writings of Tieck, the latter of which stress the central importance of an illuminating "Vorfall".8· Since Tieck wrote the bulk of his Discursive Novellen at approximately the time when he was developing his Novellentheorie, the situation seems yet more interesting. One such work was written in the early eighteentwenties, only several years before Tieck wrote his Novellentheorie. The title of this work is Die Verlobung, the plot is as follows: A pious, widowed baroness lives with her four daughters on a large estate. Dorothea, the eldest girl, is at odds with her mother and sisters because of her stolid individuality, as well as for her refusal to marry the rich Graf von Wallen - a marriage they deem of utmost importance since their financial future is in serious doubt. To get her to change her mind, they arrange a birthday party for her at which they shower her with affection and gifts. In a moment of weakness she agrees to marry the count. Suddenly, a new figure appears on the scene - the dashing Graf Brandenstein, an old acquaintance of the baroness whom the latter scorns because of his so-called impiety. Dorothea immediately falls in love with the articulate Brandenstein, and after an altercation with « Ε. K. Bennett, A History of the German Novelle (Cambridge, 1961), p. 88. " See footnote 16.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

59

her mother, flees from her home to the estate of a friend. She tearfully divulges her plight to this friend, an older woman. Coincidentally, Brandenstein is also at this estate, and overhears her declaration of love for him from an adjoining room. He makes his presence known, gives Dorothea a letter to bring to her mother a mysterious missive in which he threatens the baroness, warning that she should not force Dorothea to marry or: " . . . es möchte sonst manches bekannt werden, was sich nicht zu dem Tugendbilde eignet, das die Welt in Ihnen bewundert". The warning is heeded, and the following day sees Dorothea back home. A letter from Brandenstein arrives that afternoon, in which he tells her that his employer, an American millionaire, desires to marry her. She is plunged into despair once more, not understanding how the man she loves can see her wed to another, but the story ends happily as Brandenstein arrives and declares that the American employer is a fiction, and that he, Brandenstein, desires to be her husband. They are wed immediately, and are followed soon afterward by the baroness and Graf von Wallen, who have decided to spend their remaining years together. It is not very difficult to understand why Die Verlobung is considered a Discursive Novelle, when, for example, one finds that a particular conversation on the subject of the nature of piety extends for a full twenty pages! Nor are the remaining pages free from long, drawn-out philosophical discussions. The events, few as they are, are singularly lacking in drama and importance. If, as Schunicht suggests, the theory is so personal and individual, we ought to be able to apply it to Die Verlobung with little difficulty. Unfortunately, no such definite coincidence of theory and practice is evident in this instance. Only three events seem worthy of mention as such, and none of these appear to qualify as a pivotal "Wendepunkt". These incidents are the birthday party at the beginning, the scene in which Brandenstein overhears Dorothea declare her love for him, and the "surprise" ending, which is much more of a relief than a surprise to the clich6-weary reader. Indeed, the very nature of the Discursive Novelle would tend to be in opposition to the postulates which Tieck set down for the

60

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

genre. For, in a work which concentrates primarily on the development of ideas, the actual plot or external event content must be molded to fit these ideas. This is exactly the case in Die Verlobung, and is the reason, perhaps, why the obvious artificiality of the external plot could be overlooked by the reading public of Tieck's day, who were oriented to this particular type of literature. A work which was written even closer chronologically to his Novellentheorie is Der Gelehrte, first published in 1828. Although one scholar has seen fit to designate this work a " . . . höchst anmutige und reizende Schilderung des Professorentums.. .",*7 a more appropriate appellation would be "farce" or "caricature". The traits inherent in Tieck's professor are little, hopefully, in correspondence with reality. The story is the following: The youngest daughter of a privy-counselor, Helene, secretly worships her father's tenant, a middle-aged professor of classical literature. The professor, however, is oblivious to everything except his studies, knowing only from "Hörensagen" of the existence of Helene or the other three girls downstairs. A friend of his, a doctor, convinces the professor that it would be best for him to marry one of the four daughters of his landlord, and suggests the vivacious Antoinette. Before long the arrangements are made. The day of the betrothal arrives, and as the whole family eagerly awaits the arrival of the future bridegroom, Helene is no longer able to endure her extreme disappointment and sorrow. She silently withdraws to the kitchen. The professor, who has never seen his bride-to-be, makes his way slowly to the lower apartment, deciding for some strange reason to enter through the kitchen. He opens the door, sees Helene, and before long has proposed to her (he thinks that she is his intended bride), and slipped the ring on her finger. When the others learn of the "mistake" they attempt to set it right, but the professor has given his word and refuses to change the situation. He appeases the others with a few lavish gifts, and soon he and Helene are wed. " Tiecks Werke, Bibliographisches Institut, cd. Jakob Minor (BerlinStuttgart), Π, p. 194.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

61

The story ends with the baptism party of their first son. As was the case with Die Verlobung, the primary focus in Der Gelehrte is on an idea or moral, and not on any particular event. The message Tieck wishes to convey is the need for moderation in all things, but at times his means of transmission sink to the level of farce. The professor, for example, is portrayed as a man who is so involved with his academic work that he cannot stand the slightest sound. For this reason he dislikes all coppersmiths and drummers, and refuses to let his housekeeper cook in the apartment because the sound adversely affects his ability to study, and drives him to frenzy. He becomes irate if one piece of scrap paper is removed from the wastepaper basket in his study, and finds it degrading to his profession that one of his colleagues grinds coffee beans for his wife. He knows nothing of the life going on about him, and never leaves his apartment (with the exception of one trip) except to attend class. And yet Tieck would have us believe that such a man could suddenly become so forward as to propose to a girl he had never seen, and to undergo such an immediate and complete transformation in the course of little over a year, as to become the "life of the party". Applying the Tieckean Novellentheorie, one could well assert that these events are "wunderbar", although it does not seem as certain that they could, under other circumstances, "wieder alltäglich sein". Nor is Himmel's claim that Tieck has limited the emphasis from several to a single turning-point evident in Der Gelehrte. How can one be expected accurately to decide whether the very first incident of the work, when Helene enters the apartment of her father's tenant, or the sudden decision the professor makes to get married, or the scene of mistaken identity in the kitchen - is THE "Wendepunkt" upon which the entire work hinges? The difficulty of applying Tieck's theory is evident, especially in the case of the Discursive Novelle, since the events in such a work are deliberately subordinated to the idea which the author is attempting to convey. Perhaps, though, something of the claims of Himmel and Schunicht, claims that Tieck's theory of the Novelle is original and ultra-subjective, can be salvaged by an examination of that

62

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

group of Tieck's Novellen which Klein designates "Novellen mit echterem Wendepunkt".88 During the early nineteenth century there was a short-lived vogue in German drama which has come to be known as the fate-tragedy (Schicksalstragödie).8· Ludwig Tieck also contributed two works to this genre, Der Abschied, and Karl von Β erneck; but unlike the other authors, who restricted this type of literary work to the drama, Tieck also carried it over into the area of the Novelle. This is evidenced by a work he wrote in 1827, Der fünfzehnte November, about which Klein says the following: Tieck hätte als Novellist keinen solchen Einfluss gehabt, wenn er die Diskussion immer übertrieben hätte. Zwar fehlt das Gespräch fast nie, aber in einigen Fällen wird das Geschehnis wichtiger, und der Wendepunkt, den er sonst so äusserlich fasst, tritt in organisches Verhältnis zum inneren Verlauf. Das zeigt Der fünfzehnte November This observation is only partially correct, since it indicates that there is a single turning-point in the work. That this is not the case will be demonstrated by a brief summary and discussion. The old van der Winden couple and their adopted daughter, Elsbeth, warmly greet an old family friend, the seacaptain Thomas, whom they have not seen for many years. The mood changes from joy to gloom, however, when Thomas asks about Fritz-Wilhelm, the van Windens' son. He is told of the mysterious attack which the promising child suffered on his tenth birthday (the fifteenth of November), an attack which has left the boy with impaired mental capacity. Unable to mutter more than single words 58

Klein divides his discussion of Tieck's Novellen into three sections: "die eigentlichen Diskussionsnovellen", "Novellen mit echterem Wendepunkt", and the humorous Novellen. That he should feel the need for the second category demonstrates that not all scholars feel Tieck's theory to be in accord with his actual Novellen. ** Zacharias Werner and Adolf Müllner were the two leading names associated with this particular type of drama, although Franz Grillparzer also wrote such a work (Die Ahnfrau, 1817). That Tieck even got the title from the earlier works of Werner and Müllner is obvious. Werner had written a drama entitled Der vierundzwanzigste Februar in 1810, while Müllner imitated with Der neuenundzwanzigste Februar. M Johannes Klein, op. cit., p. 172.

LUDWIG T1ECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

63

or phrases, Fritz-Wilhelm does nothing else but work on the construction of a huge boat, which, despite his lack of knowledge of shipbuilding, is adjudged excellent by the captain. Fritz-Wilhelm increases his efforts as the fifteenth of November draws near, seemingly engaged in an aimless race against time. On the fifteenth a violent storm strikes, and through the boy's superhuman efforts the family and many others find deliverance from the elements, in the boat finished on that very day. After this monumental event, Fritz-Wilhelm is miraculously cured, and before long he and Elsbeth become man and wife. While Klein is justified in stating that Tieck concentrates more on the actual events in Der fünfzehnte November than he does in many of his other works, his implicit correlation of this fact with the "Wendepunkttheorie" falls short of the mark. If, indeed, this work is in accordance with any particular theory or definition of the Novelle, it would seem that Goethe's "unerhörte Begebenheit" would have to be chosen as the one. Moreover, it is unclear exactly what Klein means by the term "Wendepunkt" as indicated by the following passage: . .. dann erreicht die Geschichte . . . ihren Wendepunkt: Fritzwilhelm wird zum einzigen Wissenden. Dass er Unheil ahnt, verraten seine abgebrochenen Äusserungen schon vorher, dass er es weiss, sein Verhalten in der Unglücksnacht. Damit leitet der Wendepunkt, der sich in diesem Fall ganz mit dem zentralen Ereignis der echten Novelle deckt, auf die Idee hin. An einem 15. November begann und endet Fritzwilhelms Unheil.41 If, as it appears upon first glance, Klein considers the boy's acquisition of the knowledge of impending disaster the turning point of the work, it would then become necessary to include the entire work, up to the actual occurrence of the storm, within this terminology. For, as Klein himself indicates, Fritz-Wilhelm seems to sense the reason for his actions from the very outset, though until the night of the storm he does not demonstrably indicate that he has any concrete knowledge. The development from premonition to perception is therefore gradual, and does not take "

Ibid., p. 173.

64

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

place at any one point in time. Upon closer examination, however, it appears as if Klein would include as turning-points two separate events which are closely related, but nevertheless distinct. Both occur on the fifteenth of November, and both have to do with a change in the mental and physical condition of FritzWilhelm - his loss of reason and simultaneous acquisition of physical strength, and the subsequent reversal of this condition. Thus, it would seem to be more accurate to speak not of a single "Wendepunkt", but rather of TWO separate "Wendepunkte". In other words, accepting these two events as the crucial points of the work, Tieck's Novelle fits A. W. Schlegel's stipulation rather than that which he himself had put forward for the genre. The second important characteristic which Tieck ascribed to the Novelle - namely, that it be "wunderbar" and yet, under other circumstances "alltäglich", - is also very difficult to apply to the work under present discussion. It is evident that Tieck considered this difficulty while working on Der fünfzehnte November, but his attempts to make it comply with the theoretical mold he established seem very weak and forced. The following passage from the work is such an attempt. Fritz-Wilhelm has just recovered his rationality, to the unconcealed amazement of his family: "Es ist wohl nicht möglich!" rief der Vater und fiel entsetzt in seinen Stuhl zurück. Aber der Sohn kam völlig geheilt, ruhig, besonnen, aber ganz in Liebe aufgelöst . . . Der alte Arzt fand den Fall wunderbar, aber nicht unbegreiflich und macht durch seine Zusicherung, dass die Genesung nicht zu bezweifeln sei, das Glück aller zu einem dauerhaften.« The doctor's words are an obvious paraphrase of Tieck's theoretical statement, and seem to indicate that the work was written at the time when Tieck was formulating his Novellentheorie. That, however, he should expect the reader to believe that the events in Der fünfzehnte November are "wunderbar, aber nicht unbegreiflich" seems slightly demanding. Even accepting the fact that the audience of Tieck's time would more readily accept the bizarre, it would seem that it is just a bit too coincidental that Fritz"

Tiecks Werke, op. cit., II, p. 442.

LUDWIG TIECK: "WENDEPUNKTTHEORIE"

65

Wilhelm should lose his reason on a particular date, proceed to build a magnificent craft without ever having studied the skill, finish just before the terrible storm and flood, and then regain his reason on the exact date that he had lost it years before. Most readers are left with the distinct impression that such things happen only in fairy tales or Novellen. The three works discussed in this chapter were selected because they are representative of the great bulk of the elder Tieck's literary production, and particularly because they were written at the time his Novellentheorie was taking shape. As a result of the examination of these works, along with that of the theoretical piece of 1829 and the various scholarly evaluations of it, certain conclusions can be drawn. These are: (1) Tieck's Novellentheorie is neither unique nor very useful in characterizing the genre. (2) His theory is not ultra-subjective in the sense that it can be easily applied to his own Novellen. (3) Tieck's relatively obscure recognition among modern readers of Novellen is not completely undeserved, while his elevated rank in the history of Novellentheorie is. It is very unlikely that, as Schunicht suggests: "Der 'Wendepunkt' wird aus der Gattungstheorie zu streichen sein",45 because it has about it all the trappings of a clever, useful tool for the scholar. That it is little more than a catchword, however, becomes evident upon closer examination; in this respect Tieck's Novellentheorie is very similar to the theoretical remarks of Paul Heyse, which have come to be known as the "Falkentheorie".

"

See footnote 30.

IV PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

One of the few writers whose productivity surpassed that of Tieck was Paul Heyse, who produced more than one hundred and fifty Novellen, some fifty-odd dramas, several full-length novels, countless lyric poems and translations, and assorted published letters. Ironically enough, Heyse's literary fate has been as proportionately illfamed as he was fecund, and his descent into obscurity has been more complete even than Tieck's. This is all the more striking in that Heyse enjoyed his peak of fame in relatively modern times - the closing years of the nineteenth, and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. It is surprising that Heyse was, during so recent a period, looked upon by scholar and author alike as the peer of such presently esteemed literary figures as Gottfried Keller, C. F. Meyer and Theodor Storm.1 Doubly ironic is that so prolific and talented a creative writer should be remembered in the history of the Novelle primarily for a brief, unassuming theoretical passage - the famed "Falkentheorie" - rather than for his Novellen themselves. This "theory" of the Novelle is probably the most popular and well known of all, and certainly the most overemphasized and misunderstood. Typically, there is a great deal of diversity of opinion in the critical evaluations of Heyse's statements on the Novelle. Mitchell clearly indicates that he considers Heyse's contribution the most important theoretical work on the Novelle, in that he calls his book on the subject Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory 1

Ε. K. Bennett, A History of the German Novelle (Cambridge, 1961), p. 206 ff.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

67

of the Novelle.l He expresses the opinion that Heyse's Novellentheorie is the ultimate of its kind on the very first page of his work, adding that any further efforts to define the Novelle would be completely superfluous. He says: "Heyse... may be said to have closed a long discussion which had gone on intermittently for three quarters of a century in Germany. . .".s Unfortunately, as has been demonstrated above, this has hardly proven to be the case. If anything, the "Falkentheorie" has merely increased the confusion already present. An example of this is a comparison of the above statement of Mitchell with the more recent declaration by Himmel, who only grudgingly admits that Heyse's theoretical remarks on the Novelle are worthy of mention: Erwähnung verdient jedoch die sogenannte "Falkentheorie" Heyses, weil sie, die unklarste und unoriginellste von allen, den weitesten Ruhm errang.4 Before citing any further evaluations of Heyse's theory, it would undoubtedly be more profitable to examine the text of his remarks, and the peripheral observations which Heyse made in reference to it. All too often scholars have depended primarily upon previous scholarship, instead of subjecting the original text to a careful scrutiny. This is especially true in the case of Heyse's "Falkentheorie", for reasons which will soon become evident. Together with his friend and contemporary, the author Hermann Kurz, Paul Heyse began work on an anthology of Novellen in the year 1871. This was to be a collection of German Novellen, and was to be called Deutscher Novellenschatz. Upon the death of Kurz two years later, the work was continued first by Heyse alone, and later with the aid of Ludwig Laistner.5 In the introduction to volume one of the anthology, Heyse states his reason for its inception: Der Gedanke nun, das Beste was in dieser Gattung geleistet ist, nach 1

Robert Mitchell, Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory of the Novelle (Frankfurt aJtf., 1915). » Ibid., p. 1. * Hellmuth Himmel, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Bern, 1963), p. 39. 5 Ε. K. Bennett, op. cit., p. 208 ff.

68

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

Art der lyrischen Anthologien zu sammeln und in übersichtlicher Folge herauszugeben . . .* The sole criterion which Heyse sets for the admittance of a work into the Novellenschatz is literary merit, the fame of its author playing no part at all in the selection or rejection. A brief glance at the table of contents confirms the fact that this resolve was followed in the latter regard, although the intervening years have not testified to the accuracy of Heyse's critical perception.7 It is not, however, Heyse's selection of works which makes the Novellenschatz so important for this present study, but rather the introduction itself, for it is this introduction that contains the theoretical comments popularly known as the "Falkentheorie". He begins his introductory remarks traditionally, giving a brief summary of the historical development of the genre. Boccaccio and Cervantes are cited as the two authors who did most to establish the Novelle as an important literary form, and after the discussion of their contribution, the focus is shifted to the development of the genre in Germany. It is incorrect, he states, to speak of the Novelle in Germany before the work of Goethe in the genre: "Nicht früher nämlich als zu Ende des vorigen Jahrhunderts und durch Goethe wurde dieselbe [die Novelle] in unsere Dichtung eingeführt." 8 Next to Goethe, Heyse sees Tieck as the leading contributor to the genre in Germany, the true significance of the latter's progressive contribution becoming evident only now, in Heyse's time: Die grosse Wirkung, welche Tieck's Novellen auf ihre Mitwelt ausgeübt haben, ist der heutigen Nachwelt kaum noch begreiflich . . . zu ihrer Zeit waren sie eine That; ein entschiedener Bruch mit der falschen Kunst, zwei für sich gleichberechtigte Erzählungsgebiete, das Wunderbare und das Natürliche, das Märchen und die Wirklichkeit, zu beiderseitigem Schaden mit einander zu vermengen . . . Jetzt führte er die Novelle in das helle Tageslicht heraus.* " Deutscher Novellenschatz, ed. Paul Heyse & Hermann Kurz (München und Leipzig, 1871), I, xx. 7 Among others are such unknown authors as Franz Berthold, Adolf Widmann, August Kopisch, Friederike Lohmann, Leopold Kompert, etc. 8 Novellenschatz, op. cit., vii. • Ibid., vüi.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

69

Heyse's concern in the above passage is primarily with content, and not with form. He praises Tieck for separating realism from fantasy, and not for adhering to any particular formalistic requirements. Evidentally he is speaking here of Tieck's later works, as one could hardly believe that such a statement was inspired by such earlier productions as Der blonde Eckbert, Die Elfen, Der Runenberg, etc., all of which evidence the concomitance of the realistic and the fantastic. That Tieck's later works do not always live up to this separation has been demonstrated in chapter three of this study,10 and it therefore seems extremely arbitrary that Heyse should on the one hand credit to Tieck the establishment of a definite boundary between the natural and the fabulous in the Novelle, while simultaneously passing over the contribution of Heist's Novellen in this regard. Although it cannot be denied that Kleist allowed the miraculous to intrude into his works at times,11 it is generally recognized that he contributed greatly toward the development of the realistic Novelle. It also seems inconsistent with this high regard of the separation of the realistic and the miraculous that Heyse and Kurz should have included such works as Brentano's Kasperl und Annerl, Arnim's Der tolle Invalide and Chamisso's Peter Schlemihl in the Novellenschatz, since all of these otherwise realistically written works contain definite intrusions of the miraculous. The most probable explanation is that Heyse regarded these intrusions as weaknesses - a result of the literary fashion of the time in which they were written. He intimates that this is the case when he makes the observation that certain "Rückfälle" continue to appear in the Novelle, although in decreasing frequence, as the trend towards realism gains momentum. Heyse next notes the role which the growth of journalism has played in advancing the tide of realism in literature. He points out that the novel and the Novelle have gained most from this trend, since authors who would formerly have turned their efforts 10

See chapter three above, the discussion of Der fünfzehnte November. One very obvious example is Das Bettelweib von Locarno. Also, the lead-capsule episode from Michael Kohlhaas. 11

70

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

to "höheren Formen" are now writing prose, enticed by the possibility of swiftly gained fame: So wurde zunächst mit einem Nachtheil für die sogenannte "hohe Poesie", die der rhythmischen Form nicht entbehren kann, der Gewinn für die Ausbildung einer künstlerischen Prosa bezahlt 12 This advantage which the novel and the Novelle have gained, however, is accompanied by the danger that the quality tends to suffer as the quantity increases. The easily and quickly won fame of many authors brings with it the probability that the process will be reversed just as swiftly. 18 A t last, Heyse focuses his discussion on the Novelle in particular. From the very first concrete statement he makes on the Novelle, we see that Heyse's concept of the genre is not static. He begins with the Goethean definition, and while not denying that Goethe might well have given a valid definition of the Novelle of his own time, Heyse clearly indicates his belief that the genre, as well as the times, has undergone a change: Von dem einfachen Bericht eines merkwürdigen Ereignisses oder einer sinnreich erfundenen abenteuerlichen Geschichte hat sich die Novelle nach und nach zu der Form entwickelt, in welcher gerade die tiefsten und wichtigsten sittlichen Fragen zur Sprache kommen.14 Thus, Heyse does not view the Novelle as a literary form rigidly bound by unchanging formalistic requirements, but as an organically developing genre. No longer does the Novelle merely relate an account of some remarkable event, he asserts, for it has not remained so limited in scope. It has reached the stage of its growth where its task is to deal with the most important SOCIAL, or SOCIO-ETHICAL PROBLEMS of the day. The only other requisite Heyse sees for the genre is that the author demonstrate individualism in his production: "Hier sind alle jene Mittel höchst individueller Vortragsweise nicht nur erlaubt, sondern sogar geforNovellenschatz, op. cit., xL This is ironic in view of the fact that Heyse himself was subjected to such a fate. 14 Novellenschatz, op. cit., xiv. 11 u

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

71

dert..." (and he finds that no particular German author has met these requisites so well: .. wie sie einigen der französischen Erzähler und in noch höherem Grade dem russischen Meister der Seelenkunde, Iwan Turgenjew, in so bewundernswerthem Masse zu Gebote stehen").1* The importance, as stressed by Heyse, of Turgenev's place in the history of the genre has been almost totally neglected in scholarly works on the subject. A close examination of this point is, however, crucial to an understanding of Heyse's true concept of the Novelle. This reference to the Russian author is not merely offhand, as it was not the only one of its kind made by Heyse. Many years later, in the autobiographical work Jugenderinnerungen und Bekenntnisse (1900), he reiterates and expands this judgment, making it evident that he feels a particular kinship with Turgenev. It is in the chapter entitled "Meine Novellistik" that he discusses those authors who, he feels, have attained the highest degree of literary achievement in their Novellen: Meister in dieser Kunst waren bei den Franzosen Prosper Merimee, Alfred de Musset, Guy de Maupassant, bei den Russen Turgenjew .. During the course of this chapter, Heyse continues to single out Turgenev for praise, and at one point mentions the particular work of the Russian author which he feels to be most worthy of discussion. Heyse considers this work, Sportsman's Sketches, to be extremely beautiful, especially in its simple descriptive power. Heyse finds this quality to be in accordance with the basic nature of the Novelle: Turgenjew, selbst in seinem Tagebuch eines Jägers, in dem freilich die Naturstimmungen einen breiten Raum einnehmen, immerhin aber durch die Klarheit und Schärfe des beobachtenden Jägerauges einen grossen Reiz erhalten und schliesslich doch nur als Hintergrund von menschlichen Erlebnissen erscheinen, die nur aus solchen Naturbedingungen zu verstehen sind.17 15

"

17

Ibid., xv-xvi. Paul Heyse, Jugenderinnerungen und Bekenntnisse (Berlin, 1900), p. 345. Ibid., p. 356.

72

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

In view of the intrinsic nature of the Sportsman's Sketches, it is puzzling that Heyse should have given it special mention in that chapter of the Jugenderinnerungen dealing specifically with the Novelle. One must assume that since he considered Turgenev to be one of the foremost authors of Novellen,18 an opinion which did not change with the passage of time, and since he singles out this particular work in his remarks on the genre, he must have considered it to be a fairly representative example of the genre. An examination of Turgenev's work therefore seems essential to any discussion of Heyse's concept of the Novelle. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was the first Russian author to gain a wide reading public in Europe, where he spent the greater part of his adult life.1· Sportsman's Sketches was completed in 1847, just months before he was to leave Russia for the lure of "enlightened Europe". His previous stay in Germany (he had studied philosophy and literature at the University of Berlin from 1838 to 1841), had acquainted him with the literature of the continent, particularly with German literature,'· but this is hardly evident in the Sketches, which is a completely Russian work. D. S. Mirsky says of it that it: ". . . belongs to the highest, most lasting, and least questionable achievement of Turgenev and Russian realism".41 He further notes the particularly Russian character of the Sketches, in that: "Like most Russian novelists he makes character predominate over plot, and it is the characters we remember." ** The fact that this work is so random in plot construction makes it doubly paradoxical that Heyse, whom Bennett calls the "Aesthete of the Novelle", and who is often criticized for his too-perfectly worked out plots, should see it as even a remote representation of the Novelle.

18

See page 71, footnote 16. His last visit to Russia was in 1880, three years before his death. 10 His later works are filled with references to German literature, particularly to the works of Goethe and Schiller. His short Novelle, Dr. Faust, is the most obvious example. » D. S. Mirsky, A History of Russian Literature (New York, 1949), p. 189. " Ibid., p. 192. "

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

73

In all, there are twenty-four separate episodes and a concluding epilogue in the Sportsman's Sketches. These range in length from more than fifty pages to less than twenty, most being between twenty-five and thirty. They are all narrated in the first person, bound together loosely by a common narrator. Dramatic motivation is conspicuously lacking in the majority of the sketches, as for example in the one entitled Byezhin Meadow. The setting is, as in practically all the other sketches, the hunt. The author narrates how he had accidentally strayed from his district during a very successful day of partridge hunting, and was faced with the prospect of spending the night out of doors. He continued to wander about until he finally regained his bearings and recognized the area as the beautiful Byezhin Meadow, one of the most picturesque spots in that part of the country. Spotting a campfire a short distance away, he decided to join the group about it for the night. It turned out to be four young lads, busy grazing the village horses. The remainder of this episode is devoted to a recapitulation of the animated conversation among the lads - a device employed by Turgenev to give the reader insight into the thinking of the Russian peasant youth of the period. Their main topic of interest is the supernatural, and their conversation centers on the various ghosts, water sprites and goblins either seen or rumored to be in the vicinity. The mood is eerie, heightened by the blackness of the night. No real action is depicted, the concentration being on the evocation of a tender, sympathetic feeling for the lads, simple though they may be. This is also the case in the great majority of the Sketches, from the very first one, entitled Khor and Kalinitch, which simply portrays the diversity of character of two serfs, to the final episode, Death, a series of shorter vignettes depicting the dignified and courageous manner in which various Russian peasants meet their end. Even in the few episodes containing a genuine dramatic event - such as the one Turgenev calls Tryst, a brief description of a meeting between a peasant girl and her lover in which the latter, also a peasant but the servant of a nobleman, cruelly casts her aside; or in the final episode, The Rattling, which relates the narrow escape of the author and his

74

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

peasant driver when, while out for a drive one day, they are accosted by a band of robbers - even in these episodes, the actual event is employed solely to illuminate certain traits of the characters involved. In The Tryst, for example, the tearful scene in the forest is Turgenev's manner of illustrating the full range of character type among the Russian peasant, from the nobility of spirit which Akulina displays in her selfless love, to the harsh, empty pride and baseness of Viktor, who feels superior to her because she is a common house serf and he is the personal valet of a nobleman. Nor is the primary focus of The Rattling on the incident which takes place on the road, but rather on the manner in which the simple driver, Filofei, reacts to it. He expresses neither fear for his life, which he considers lost, nor concern for his family's future, which he entrusts to God, but does express his sorrow at the fact that his treasured team of horses will now fall into the hands of robbers. It is clearly evident that Sportsman's Sketches bears little resemblance to the more dramatically oriented German Novellen discussed up to this point, even those which were shown not to have their primary focus on the events per se. The question remaining, then, is exactly how Heyse was able to view this work as a representative of the Novelle. A re-examination of certain passages cited earlier, plus other pertinent statements which appear in the later Jugenderinnerungen, appear to supply the answer. It will be recalled that in his praise for Tieck's efforts in the area of the Novelle, Heyse stressed the fact that it was the separation of "true reality" from fantasy that insures Tieck his place of importance in the history of the genre. a Thus, literary realism ranks high on Heyse's list of requisite qualities for the genre. This particular quality, as Mirsky so emphatically stated, characterizes Turgenev's Sportsman's Sketches.u Next, Heyse noted that the Novelle has developed from its earlier simplicity to the point where its concern should now be with " . . . die tiefsten und wich** See page 68, footnote 9. " See page 72, footnote 21.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

75

tigsten sittlichen F r a g e n . . T h e subject of Turgenev's Sketches, the humanity of the Russian serf, was one of the most important socio-ethical questions of his day. Such was the impact of this work, to us seemingly uncontroversial and innocuous, that it is credited with having been instrumental in bringing about the abolition of serfdom in Russia.2' The two specifications which Heyse set for the Novelle - realism, and concentration on social and ethical problems - are the two qualities central to Sportsman's Sektches. This is the primary reason why Heyse chose to give particular mention to this Russian work in his discussion of the Novelle, but these qualities are hardly peculiar to, or representative of any one genre, and are of virtually no use in determining the Heysean Novellentheorie. Indeed, Turgenev himself would probably have taken issue with anyone who designated the Sketches as Novellen. According to Mirsky: They [Turgenev's works] were divided by the author himself into two categories: novels and nouvellas . . . The difference between the two forms in the case of Turgenev is not so much one of size or scope as that the novels aim at social significance and at the statement of social problems, while the nouvellas are pure and simple stories of emotional incident, free from civic preoccupations.17 If we accept Mirsky's distinction, it is likely that Turgenev would have regarded the Sketches as a novel rather than as a series of Novellen. In view of this discussion, then, it is apparent that up to this point Heyse's remarks on the Novelle are, at best, vague. In a later remark from the Jugenderinnerungen, we find an idea which is similar to those cited before, but with a slight change in emphasis. Heyse is again speaking of the qualities he feels are requisite to the Novelle: Denn von einer Novelle, der wir einen künstlerischen Werth zuerkennen, verlangen wir wie von jeder wirklichen dichterischen Schöpfung, dass sie uns ein bedeutsames Menschenschicksal, einen seeli" Sec page 70, footnote 14. ** D. S. Mirsky, op. cit., p. 185. "It [Sportsman's sketches] is said to have produced a strong impression on the future Emperor Alexander Π and caused in him the decision to do away with the system." " Ibid., p. 191.

76

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

sehen, geistigen oder sittlichen Conflict, vorführe, uns durch EINEN NICHT ALLTÄGLICHEN VORGANG eine neue Seite der Menschennatur offenbare.*8 Again, unfortunately, the actual meaning of Heyse's qualification is nebulous. To demand that a literary work deal with the deepest spiritual, socio-ethical or intellectual problems is high-sounding and impressive, but it is a questionable criterion, since these qualities are so general and subjective as to be indeterminable. Nor does Heyse single out the Novelle as the sole genre in which these qualities should be present, but refers to "allen wirklichen dichterischen Schöpfungen". The very last phrase of this passage, however, contains a concept which is very familiar to Novellentheorie. Heyse demands at that point that the Novelle " . . . uns durch einen nicht alltäglichen Vorgang eine neue Seite der Menschennatur offenbare". This statement is clearly little other than a paraphrase of the two previously discussed declarations - the Goethean "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", and the Tieckean call for the event (Vorfall), which is "wunderbar, aber unter anderen Umständen wieder alltäglich". In the introduction to the Novellenschatz he says approximately the same thing in greater detail, in his discussion of the differences between the novel and the Novelle: . . . so hat die Novelle in einem einzigen Kreise einen einzelnen Conflict, eine sittliche oder Schicksals-Idee oder ein entschieden abgegrenztes Charakterbild darzustellen und die Beziehungen der darin handelnden Menschen zu dem grossen Ganzen des Weltlebens nur in andeutender Abbreviatur durchschimmern zu lassen. Die Geschichte, nicht die sich in ihm spiegelnde Weltanschauung, sind hier die Hauptsache.2* Once again he places the stress on the need for a specific conflict, clarifying this demand by stating that it is the event, and not the philosophical idea mirrored in that event (although he gives no hint as to how the two can properly be separated), which is of most importance in the Novelle. And although the terminology is slightly different, it is clear that Heyse has added little, if any» w

Jugenderinnerungen, op. cit., p. 344. (Emphasis mine.) Novellenschatz, op. cit., xviii.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

77

thing, to the observations of Goethe and Tieck. Since Heyse approaches the subject with a degree of intellectual humility not present in all other works on the subject, however, he makes no glaring categorical errors. Continuing his introductory remarks to the Novellenschatz, Heyse next proceeds to explain his method of selection for the anthology. The following passage is one of the most frequently quoted of the work: Im Allgemeinen aber halten wir auch bei der Auswahl für unsern Novellenschatz an der Regel fest, der Novelle den Vorzug zu geben, deren Grundmotiv sich am deutlichsten abrundet und — mehr oder weniger gehaltvoll — etwas Eigenartiges, Specifisches schon in der blossen Anlage verräth. Eine starke Silhouette — um nochmals einen Ausdruck der Malersprache zu nehmen — dürfte dem, was wir im eigentlichen Sinne Novelle nennen, nicht fehlen, ja wir glauben, die Probe auf die Trefflichkeit eines novellistischen Motivs werde in den meisten Fällen darin bestehen, ob der Versuch gelingt, den Inhalt in wenige Zeilen zusammenzufassen .. .so A careful examination of this passage reveals it to be a masterpiece in caution. Such expressions as "Im allgemeinen", "mehr oder weniger", "wir glauben", "in den meisten Fällen", - these indicate that Heyse was well aware of how difficult it was adequately to characterize the Novelle. In his caution, however, Heyse has failed to provide any original or applicable insights into the nature of the genre, and thus defeats his purpose for writing such an introduction in the first place. He calls for works with an individual, specific character; works which have a basic plot which, although clearly delineated (the term Silhouette is at best shadowy), are nevertheless capable of succinct summarization. Indeed, he says nothing here which could not be considered valid for all other short literary forms, even for the poetic genres such as the ballad and the epic poem. As an example of his intended meaning in this passage, Heyse cites Boccaccio's work, the Decameron, singling out the ninth story of the fifth day. It is this particular section of the introduction to Novellenschatz which has 30

Ibid., xix.

78

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

been termed the Heysean "Falkentheorie". Briefly summarized, Boccaccio's tale is the following: The young Tuscan nobleman, Federigo Alberighi, spends his entire fortune in a vain attempt to win the affection of the beautiful and indifferent Madam Giovanna. His only remaining possession is his prized hunting falcon, which Madam Giovanna's son secretly covets, so much so that he falls seriously ill with longing. Upon learning the cause of her son's malady, Madam Giovanna (now a widow) sets out for Federigo's home in order to obtain the falcon from him. Federigo, unable to believe that his beloved has finally decided to visit him, and lacking the means to provide a proper banquet for so illustrious an occasion, has the falcon killed, cooked and served. It is only after the tasty meal that he is told the reason for her visit. Her son is so broken by the news of the falcon's untimely demise that his condition deteriorates and he dies. Madam Giovanna, realizing the greatness of Federigo's sacrifice, consents to marry him. Boccaccio's falcon, so ironically central in this short tale, bringing as it does both death and happiness, is used by Heyse as an example of what he has in mind when he calls for simplicity and individuality in the Novelle. It is the distinguishing feature of an otherwise not very original or interesting story, the fate of the hapless bird being the unique twist, "das Specifische". Heyse applies it to the genre in general in the following manner: Wir wiederholen es: eine so einfache Form wird sich nicht für jedes Thema unseres vielbrüchigen modernen Kulturleben finden lassen. Gleichwohl aber könnte es nicht schaden, wenn der Erzähler auch bei dem innerlichsten oder reichsten Stoff sich zuerst fragen wollte, wo "der Falke" sei, das Specifische, das diese Geschichte von tausend anderen unterscheidet11 That Heyse is formulating no rigid Novellentheorie here is indisputable, and yet from this short, seemingly innocuous statement has arisen the prolonged debate over the merit, shortcomings and profound meaning of the "Falkentheorie". The interpreters "

Ibid., τχ.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

79

have defined the Heysean bird alternately as a "Dingsymbol'V* and as a concrete object or leit-motif.8· It was long the fashion, and remains so to a certain extent, to read a short prose work with an eye open for the possible falcon, be it a bird of flesh and blood or a symbolic representation. Theodor Storm, a friend and contemporary of Heyse's, cared little for the restless hunt for the theoretical falcon, as indicated by a remark he made in a letter to Gottfried Keller. At one point in this letter Storm states: "Den Boccaccioschen Falken lasse ich unbekümmert fliegen." 84 Manfred Schunicht registers his more emphatic distaste for the Heysean falcon in more recent days, suggesting as he does so a final solution: Die Bewertung der Falkentheorie Heyses ist in einem Vorschlag zusammenzufassen: die Novellentheorie in Deutschland sollte sich endlich entschliessen, dem Vorbild Friedrichs degli Alberghi folgend, den Falken zu schlachten; mag es auch nach der Zähigkeit ihres Festhaltens scheinen, als sei er wie dort ihr letzter Besitz.*5 Another present day scholar, Walter Silz, sees the falcon as a frequenter of other genres, and not restricted to the Novelle. In fact, he asserts, not all Novellen are necessarily the nesting place of a falcon: Α Novelle does not have to have a "falcon"; only a few of Boccaccio's do, and not very many such central symbols occur in German Novellen by actual count. On the other hand, a novel may have one.. . s ·. 52

Reallexikon der deutschen Literatur, Begründet von Paul Merker und Wolfgang Stammler (Berlin, 1963), Zweiter Band, Achte Lieferung. In an article by Johannes Klein the following passage appears: "Das ist aber ein besonderer, deutlicher Fall von Leitmotiv, weil es gegenständlich wird, und da es ein 'symbolhaftiges Element' enthält, nannte Hermann Pongs diesen Falken ein 'Dingsymbol'." p. 689. 38 See above footnote. M Storm/Keller: Briefwechsel, ed. V. A. Köster, 1909. Letter of September 13, 1883. « Manfred Schunicht, "Der 'Falke* am 'Wendepunkt'", Germanischromanische Monatsschrift, X (1960), p. 9. >· Walter Silz, Realism and Reality (North Carolina, 1960), p. 9. It is clear from this short passage that Silz considers the "Falke" to be a concrete object - a "Dingsymbol" in the sense that Pongs uses the term.

80

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

This observation does not prevent Silz, however, from spending a great deal of effort in searching out these unnecessary falcons in his discussions of various German Novellen,57 and as a result presents the further temptation to the overly-zealous scholar to begin a similar quest in the novel. It is the contention here, however, that an eagle has been made out of a falcon. For, closely examined, the "Falkentheorie" is neither concerned with ferreting out any central "Dingsymbole" or leit-motifs from any particular Novelle, nor with establishing any iron-clad theory for the genre. Heyse merely suggests to any prospective author that "es würde nicht schaden" if particular attention were concentrated on making the specific, unique feature of the work being made more outstanding. Schunicht approaches this conclusion in his study, but continues to evade a direct admission of this by shrouding his thoughts in erudite circumlocution. He reduces the fraction somewhat by pointing out that Heyse could very well have used any other of Boccaccio's tales as an illustration, but fails to find the common denominator: Die eigentliche "Falkennovelle" bleibt ihm in diesem Zusammenhang unwichtig. Nur die ihr vorangestellte Inhaltsangabe ist interessant, denn sie hebt das Spitzenmotiv der Novelle deutlich heraus. Und allein um ein Beispiel für ein klares Spitzenmotiv geht es Heyse, nicht um ein Symbol.»8 As he did in the case of Tieck's writings on the Novelle, Schunicht merely substitutes one term for another, seeing the true element of the Novelle to be a "Spitzenmotiv". This is not sufficiently philosophical or abstract for Schunicht, however, so he proceeds to interpret the newly introduced terminology in terms of Hegelian dialectic: 37

His pattern is to introduce the remarks of a particular work by mentioning one, two, or more possible "Falken". For example, in the chapter dealing with Grillparzer's Novelle, Der arme Spielmann, Silz says: " . . . it has a falcon* in Jacob's violin" (p. 67). Or, in his discussion of Meyer's Der Heilige: "Α 'Falke' is present in the person of Becket's daughter Gnade . . . " (p. 95), etc. 38 Schunicht, op. cit., p. 57.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

81

Die Novelle erzählt — alte Einsicht zahlloser Novellentheorien — auf eine Spitze hin. Diese Gipfelbildung des Geschehens bedarf allerdings nicht, wie Heyse annimmt, eines einzelnen Spitzenmotivs, dem alle übrigen Motive eindeutig untergeordnet sind. Es gibt zahlreiche Novellen mit anderem Aufbau . . . Und doch kommt es auch hier zu einer Gipfelbildung in der Kommunikation der Motive: die heterogensten Motive offenbaren plötzlich eine ihnen imanente, geschickt verborgene geheime Dialektik; ihre innere Zusammengehörigkeit erweist sich beim verstehenden Einblick in die Gesamptkomposition . . . So besitzt das Spitzenmotiv selbst eine innere Dialektik, oder eine latente Dialektik liegt in der besonderen Kombination der verschiedensten Motive.'* Schunicht has done little more here than to engage in an adroit exercise of verbal gymnastics. He first reduces the falcon concept to the inanimate "Spitzenmotiv", and then attempts to infuse new life into this concept with a transfusion of Hegelian dialectic. What he seems to be overlooking completely, however, is that he is no longer taking issue with Heyse's ideas, but rather with his own. Heyse at no time asserted or even intimated that a Novelle must have a "Gipfelbildung des Geschehens", with one leading motif at the apex and a series of supporting motifs in descending scale. Heyse states only that IT WOULD DO NO HARM if the author of a Novelle were to ask himself if he has fully exploited the unique, individual character of his subject. This is neither philosophical nor theoretical, and no amount of verbosity can make it so. It is plainly and simply a reiteration of the call for individuality in the Novelle (and other genres), which Heyse makes repeatedly, and must not be considered an attempt to supply a set of formalistic criteria for the genre. On the contrary, he is always careful to qualify any statements which may be interpreted as dogma, as has been indicated in this chapter. He allows the greatest latitude in choice of both theme and form, to the extent that he does not even limit the Novelle to prose! Thus, Heyse is also able to speak of Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea as a Novelle: . . . der deutschesten aller Dichtungen trotz der antiken Form. Auch »

Ibid., p. 61.

82

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

dies herrliche Gedicht ist bei aller Nachempfindung Homerischer Kunstmittel nur eine Novelle in Versen . . .4C This broad view of the Novelle explains how Heyse, whose own Novellen are so tightly knit and meticulous, could praise the disorganized genius of Turgenev's work; how he was able to include such dissimilar creations (both in content and form) in his Novellenschatz as Brentano's Kasperl und Annerl and Chamisso's Peter Schlemihl, both of which abound in the element of the supernatural, as well as the more realistic Verlobung in St. Domingo of Kleist, and Der arme Spielmann of Grillparzer, and also the naturalistic/surrealistic work of Droste-Hülshoff, Judenbuche. Nor is it inconsistent to find among Heyse's own Novellen such varied ones as the short, realistic L'Arrabiata, with its concentration on external event; the fairy-tale type story of Niels mit der offenen Hand·, or the work entitled Vetter Gabriel, which shares with many of Storm's Novellen the concentration on the evocation of mood rather than on external event. It is both sad and ironic that Heyse should be charged today with the very shortcomings which he so desperately wanted to eliminate from the literature of his day, and that as a result should be relegated to obscurity. Perhaps it was the very lack of individuality in his own works, either consciously or subconsciously recognized, which induced him to call repeatedly for this trait. Perhaps it was the trivial subject matter which he himself chose to exploit, which led him to advocate from others the concentration on the "tiefsten und wichtigsten" problems of man. Perhaps it was his exaggerated sense of form, displayed by the many artificialities in his own works, which made him so appreciative of the more natural, organic writings of a Turgenev. One thing seems fairly certain, however, though much has been said and written to convey the contrary opinion - Heyse wrote no "Falkentheorie"! He merely mentioned one particular work of Boccaccio's, and used the falcon contained in that work to illustrate what he meant in his call for individuality. That he did not intend to precipitate the Jugenderinnerungen,

op. cit., p. 361.

PAUL HEYSE: "FALKENTHEORIE"

83

great falcon-hunt which followed is evidenced by the fact that he never, either in his comments on his own Novellen or those on the Novellen of other authors, refers to any specific "Falken". The bird which has occasioned such energetic search, praise and condemnation is not of Heyse's creation, for, although he displayed many imperfections as an author, Heyse made no pretenses of being a critic. He neither claimed nor insinuated that he had written THE theory of the Novelle to end all theories, and must not be judged responsible for any contrary claims if he is to be judged fairly.

ν ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

Whatever their differences in approach may have been, Goethe, Tieck and Heyse all seem to have agreed upon one primary criterion for the Novelle. Goethe called this the "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit", Tieck referred to it as "das Wunderbare", while Heyse employed such terms as "das Specifische" and "etwas Eigenartiges" in describing it. None of these terms - the unheardof, the miraculous, that which is specific or unique - necessarily precludes the presence of the non-violent and the undramatic in the Novelle, but they certainly eliminate the possibility that the commonplace and the uneventful can be given a DOMINANT role in the genre. This is echoed in almost every scholarly work connected with the Novelle, regardless of the author's orientation toward Novellentheorie. Wolfgang Kayser offers the following definition of the Novelle in Das Sprachliche Kunstwerk: Im weiteren erfasst sie [die Novelle] es als EREIGNIS, das heisst nicht als geradlinige Durchführung einer Absicht, sondern gerade als plötzliche, unerwartete Fügung, die die Absicht durchkreuzt. Überall gibt es solche seltsamen Punkte, die geheimnisvoll aufeinander bezogen sind, bis das Ereignis auf dem Höhepunkt wieder schicksalsbestimmend ist. Diese Form heisst Novelle.1 Such adjectives as "plötzlich", "unerwartet", "seltsam", etc., are scarcely ever absent in a discussion of the Novelle. Indeed, the very name "Novelle" means unique, or new. Walter Silz explains the derivation of the name as the following: 1

Wolfgang Kayser, Das Sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1960), p. 355.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

85

The German Novelle gets its name from the Italian novella, which in turn goes back to the Latin adjective novus. This form of narrative should then be essentially the account of a new, surprising treatment of matter already known.2 Since this is the case, then, it would seem only logical that the absence of the unheard-of, the strange, the unique or the novel would eliminate a literary work from inclusion in the genre. And, following this line of reasoning, any literary theory which tended to shift the center of attention away from such qualities in the literary work would certainly appear to be antagonistic to the genre as stated above. Oddly enough, however, such a shift of emphasis is expressed by one of the leading nineteenth-century authors of Novellen, Adalbert Stifter. In 1852, Stifter had a volume of short prose works published under the title Bunte Steine. In the short introduction to the volume he states his reason for this selection of title, explaining that it has been his hobby since boyhood to collect colorful stones, and that his short narratives will hopefully be as bright as the stones in his collection. With characteristic humility he adds: Es wird der Fall nicht eintreten, dass ein Juwel in der Sammlung sei, sowie kaum die Gefahr vorhanden ist, dass ich unter meinen Steinen einstens etwa einen ungeschliffenen Diamant oder Rubin gehabt habe und ohne mein Wissen unermesslich reich gewesen sei. Wenn aber manches Glasstück unter diesen Dingen ist, so bitte ich meine Freunde zu denken, wie ich bei meinem Glase gedacht habe: es hat doch allerlei Farben und mag bei den Steinen belassen bleiben.* Of much more importance and relevance to our subject, however, is the detailed preface to Bunte Steine, in which Stifter offers some of his thoughts on the nature of literature in general. This preface was written primarily in answer to the scathing criticism which * Walter Silz, Realism and Reality (North Carolina, 1962), p. 1. Benno von Wiese, in his latest study on the Novelle, entitled simply Novelle (Stuttgart, 1963), traces the origin of the term back to the days of Justinian. At that time, he notes, appendages to the legal code were called "Novellen", p. I. ' Adalbert Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, ed. Michael Benedikt and Herbert Hornstein (1956), III, 16.

86

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

Friedrich Hebbel leveled at him, calling him a superficial thinker and a writer of trivia.4 Thus, it must be kept in mind that the preface to Bunte Steine was not written in connection with the Novelle as a genre (the term is not once mentioned by Stifter), but rather as a retort to Hebbel's criticism, and as a self-vindication. The bearing of Stifter's remarks on Novellentheorie is indirect, but nevertheless important, for these remarks do preface a series of Novellen. Certainly, Stifter is no less an author of Novellen as a result of these theoretical pronouncements. Although he does not mention Hebbel by name, it is obvious from the outset that Stifter is referring to his assailant. He states that the collection of works to follow will be yet more insignificant than his previous efforts, and will deal with those subjects suitable only for "junge Herzen". He modestly adds that if, as stated, he lacks the ability to deal with the exalted, this will become evident regardless of his choice of subject matter. Next he expresses his high regard for literature, placing only religion in a more elevated position in his scale of values. This provides him with an opportunity to demonstrate his own sense of modesty, while at the same time subtly replying in kind to his critic: Dichter gibt es sehr wenige auf der Welt, sie sind die Hohenpriester, sie sind die Wohltäter des menschlichen Geschlechts; falsche Propheten aber gibt es sehr viele.5 His purpose will be fulfilled, he adds, if his works provide a few happy hours for those of his friends who share his own attitude. It is at this point that an extremely interesting and important passage appears. Stifter is explaining his conception of greatness: 4

Eric Blackall, in his work Adalbert Stifter (Cambridge, 1948), gives the epigram which Hebbel wrote to launch his attack on Stifter: "Die alten Naturdichter und die neuen" Wisst ihr, warum euch die Käfer, die Butterblumen so glücken? Weil ihr die Menschen nicht kennt, weil ihr die Sterne nicht seht! Schautet ihr tief in die Herzen, wie könntet ihr schwärmen für Käfer? Säht ihr das Sonnensystem, sagt doch, was wär' euch ein Strauss? Aber das musste so sein; damit ihr das Kleine vortrefflich Liefertet, hat die Natur klug euch das Grosse entrückt, (p. 258) 5 Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. eil., m , 7.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

87

Das Wehen der Luft, das Rieseln des Wassers, das Wachsen des G e treides, das Wogen des Meeres, das Grünen der Erde, das Glänzen des Himmels, das Schimmern der Gestirne halte ich für gross: das prächtig einherziehende Gewitter, den Blitz, welcher Häuser spaltet, den Sturm, der die Brandung treibt, den feuerspeienden Berg, das Erdbeben, welches Länder verschüttet, halte ich nicht für grösser als obige Erscheinungen, ja ich halte sie für kleiner, weil sie nur Wirkungen viel höherer Gesetze sind. Sie kommen auf einzelnen Stellen vor und sind die Ergebnisse einseitiger Ursachen.·

In effect, Stifter has attempted simultaneously to defend and to attack. By stressing the greater importance of the serene and the commonplace he answers the criticism of his own creative efforts, while his deprecation of the violent and the extraordinary is aimed at detracting from the stature of Hebbel, whose predilection was for the dramatically striking in transitional periods of history. Of greater importance to the subject of Novellentheorie, however, is the fact that such a view, if applied to the Novelle, would eradicate the one attribute of the genre upon which there has been general agreement. For, as previously stated, the one element which all of the major theoreticians of the genre demand is the element of the exceptional: the unheard-of. It would therefore be impossible to reconcile Stifter's view with the theoretical Novelle of Goethe, Tieck, or Heyse. Stifter emphasizes his point in the following manner: Ein ganzes Leben voll Gerechtigkeit, Einfachheit, Bezwingung seiner selbst, Verstandesgemässheit, Wirksamkeit in seinem Kreise, Bewunderung des Schönen, verbunden mit einem heiteren gelassenen Sterben, halte ich für gross. 7

Thus, it is not the striking which Stifter seeks to present, but the calm and routine aspects of life. His goal is to discover the underlying law of existence - the "sanftes Gesetz": "Wir wollen das sanfte Gesetz zu erblicken suchen, wodurch das menschliche Geschlecht geleitet wird." 8 This is not to be found, in his opinion, •

Ibid., p. 7 ff. Ibid., p. 9. β Ibid., p. 10. 7

88

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

in the extraordinary or the unique episodes and experiences of life, but rather in the ordinary, daily activities of man: . . . so sind es hauptsächlich doch immer die gewöhnlichen, alltäglichen, in Unzahl wiederkehrenden Handlungen des Menschen, in denen dieses Gesetz am sichersten als Schwerpunkt liegt, weil diese Handlungen die dauernden, die grünenden sind, gleichsam die Millionen Wurzeifasem des Baumes des Lebens.* Since Stifter has placed this particular essay in preface to a collection of Novellen, it would be most interesting to compare its content and connotation with the theories of the Novelle already discussed in this study. It is instantaneously apparent that the concept of the "sanftes Gesetz" is diametrically opposed to the Goethean "unerhörte Begebenheit" and other concepts of the Novelle we have seen. Descriptive words such as "unerhört", "plötzlich", etc., have been replaced by the counterparts "gewöhnlich", "alltäglich", "gelassen", and others similar in meaning. Johannes Klein attempts to circumvent this obvious fact in the following manner: Seit Grillparzer bis hin zu Adalbert Stifter, Theodor Storm, Wilhelm Raabe, wird das Thema der Novelle vom Ungewöhnlichen äusserer Art auf das Ungewöhnliche innerer Art verschoben.10 In effect, Klein is seeking a way to maintain his strict adherence to the Goethean definition of the Novelle while at the same time admitting Stifter's prose works into the genre. He is forced to give way, however, and indirectly concedes the point that the Novelle is not a static genre, but one which has undergone a natural development during the years: Melodie der leisen Dinge und Kunst des Auges, die das Einzelne erfasst: Stifter ist der Novellist der kleinen Welt als Spiegel der grossen. Dass die Novelle eine unerhörte Begebenheit sein soll, gilt bei Stifter nicht mehr. Weltgeschichte der Stille hat man seine Werke genannt11 •

10

Ibid., p. 11 ff.

Johannes Klein, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1960),

p. 227. " Ibid., p. 229.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

89

And now, Klein executes a complete about-face from his previously indicated puristic view of the Novelle: Gewiss sind es Grenzfälle zur Erzählung hin, namentlich, wenn die Beschreibungen sich verdrängen. Aber im Leben wie in der Kunst tragen sich in den Grenzbereichen die wichtigsten Dinge zu.11 Thus, although he had previously indicated that he viewed the inexactness of form as an artistic shortcoming," Klein now seems to have decided that he was in error, and that the great artist must sometimes flout adherence to a rigid standard of form.14 This quality of Stifter's work had been noted and commended many years before, moreover, as the following passage from an article on his Novellen indicates: Im ganzen lehrt uns die Untersuchung, dass Stifter in seiner Novelle einen Ausgleich zwischen epischer und lyrischer Haltung, eine Verschmelzung beider Gesinnungen anstrebt . . . Das Dramatische liegt ihm nur selten, nie schliesst oder beginnt er mit grossen Akzenten.1* In view of Stifter's own statements and those of the scholars stated above, there seem to be two courses open to us. We must either discard the one surviving yardstick for the determination of a Novelle (namely, the predominance of the unheard-of: the extraordinary), or we must eliminate the short prose works of Stifter from inclusion in the genre, the latter step hinted at, unexpectedly enough, by the very undogmatic Bennett: In the writings of Adalbert Stifter the actual incidents are reduced to a minimum of importance, and if Heyse's test were applied to them the result in most cases would be extremely disappointing, for the element of the exceptional, the extraordinary is almost entirely lacking. Indeed, in Stifter's Novellen, the form has so fundamentally changed that it is at least doubtful whether they can really be classed as Novellen.1« '« 1S

Ibid.

See chapter 1, footnote 11. 11 See page 20. 15 Alfred Ehrentreich, "Zur Gestalt der Novelle bei Adalbert Stifter", Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, XXIII (1935), p. 200. 14 Ε. K. Bennett, A History of the German Novelle (Cambridge, 1961), p. 135.

90

ADALBERT STIFTER: " D A S SANFTE GESETZ"

One is left at this point with the paradoxical situation that perhaps Stifter's Novellen are not really Novellen at all. Whereas Bennett has heretofore consistently avoided subscription to any particular categorical definition or theory of the Novelle, he now appears to have accepted the Goethean definition as the valid one. In so doing, he is faced with the dilemma of reconciling Stifter's works to this definition, and his first instinct is to reject them as incompatible with the genre: In view of the essential nature of the Novelle, which consisted in the striking event, the Begebenheit, the something startling and exceptional which, falling like a bolt from the blue, befalls the characters, it may well be asked whether Stifter's whole conception of what is worth recording does not in itself constitute a rejection of the Novelle as a form. 17

This line of reasoning is seen in a later passage of Bennett's work, where it is even more evident that he is employing the Goethean definition: In all the other writers of this period the "event" is accorded much greater importance, and is frequently of so striking and even sensational a character as to serve very well for the "UNERHÖRTE BEGEBENHEIT" WHICH IS REQUISITE FOR THE NOVELLE. 18

What Bennett leaves unexplained, however, is just exactly when one is justified in calling an event "unerhört", nor is it clear how he was able to classify Goethe's Novelle as a "par excellence" model for the genre if, as he repeatedly asserts here, the requisite for the genre is concentration on the striking event.18 It is true that he later recants somewhat and admits that the form had changed from the time of Romanticism to Stifter's day: " . . . in its choice of subject matter it is much less concerned with the extraordinary and exceptional than it was during the Romantic period".20 It has become clear, however, that Bennett essentially agrees with the major Novellentheorien on the one point where there is virtually unanimous agreement - namely, that a Novelle "

18 19 M

Ibid., p. 138. Ibid., p. 141. (Emphasis mine.) See chapter Π. Bennett, op. cit., p. 141.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

91

deal primarily with an event which is extraordinary in nature. As a result of this fixed view, he feels constrained to adopt a negative attitude toward Stifter's Novellen, finding them relatively lacking in that one requisite. The basic flaw in this attitude, however, is that it is based to a greater extent on the preface to Bunte Steine than on the works in the collection themselves. It is merely another example of the confusion which occurs when one attempts to judge the literary works which an author produces by the author's abstract theoretical remarks on literature. As we have seen before, the two phases of an author's activity may well be independent of each other, and certainly need not coincide. In all, there are six short prose works in Bunte Steine, completely independent of each other in both theme and execution. Stifter made no attempt to superimpose an artificial framework on the collection to give the individual works more semblance of unity,41 but as with the stones in his collection, he presents each on its own merit. The first selection, entitled Granit, is narrated in the first person. The basic plot of the work is uncomplicated and apparently little related to the extraordinary. It is, briefly, the recounting of a trick which was played on the author in his youth by an old man who earned his livelihood selling axle grease. One day the old peddler Andreas approaches him and asks him if he would like to have his feet smeared with grease, and upon receiving an affirmative answer from the unwitting lad, he proceeds to do just that. Both soles of his shoeless feet properly "greased", the unwitting lad runs into his house to display the wonderful accomplishment to his mother, who has just finished washing all of the floors. As a result of this, she is less than overjoyed by her son's all-too-visible entrance, and reacts quite predictably under the circumstances. It is left to the kindly grandfather to salve the boy's wounded pride (as well as those other areas of his anatomy which failed to escape his mother's ire), a task which the old man accomplishes quickly. He then takes his grandson 21 As, for example, in Tieck's Phantasus and Ε. T. A. Hoffmann's Serapionsbrüder, the frameworks of which were artificially contrived to unite a group of otherwise unrelated Novellen.

92

ADALBERT STIFTER: " D A S SANFTE GESETZ"

out for a walk, during the course of which he relates the story of Andreas' ancestry. The story ends on a note of reconciliation, as the mother tiptoes into her son's room, and to demonstrate her forgiveness, sprinkles holy water over his head. As unstriking as the plot of this tale might seem to be, interspersed as it is with long descriptions of nature and comments on the various geographical sites, there is nevertheless an undercurrent of the unusual and the remarkable. This is indicated at the very outset by the description given of old Andreas: Unter den Dingen, die ich von dem Steine aus sah, war öfter ein Mann von seltsamer Art. Er kam zuweilen auf der Hossenreuther Strasse mit einem glänzenden schwarzen Schubkarren heraufgefahren. Auf dem Schubkarren hatte er ein glänzendes schwarzes Fässchen. Seine Kleider waren zwar vom Anfange an nicht schwarz gewesen, allein sie waren mit der Zeit sehr dunkel geworden und glänzten ebenfalls. Wenn die Sonne auf ihn schien, so sah er aus, als wäre er mit öl eingeschmiert worden." Through the juxtaposition of the adjectives "schwarz", "glänzend", "dunkel", "seltsam", Stifter has presented an almost sinister description, which although mitigated by the fact that the viewer is a small boy, nevertheless has the effect of setting a mysterious tone. This tone is heightened by other passages in which the author calls back memories of the old peddler: "Ich hatte den Mann stets für eine grosse Merkwürdigkeit gehalten .. .",!S he remarks when describing the incident of the smeared feet. This underlying mood of the unusual is not maintained throughout Granit, being forgotten in many instances because of the long and detailed descriptions of nature which Stifter inserts, but one can sense its presence just below the surface, and it is no surprise that it continually emerges. One such instance is the point at which the grandfather begins to tell the boy of the unusual heritage of Andreas. He begins with the following remark: In allen diesen Wäldern und in allen diesen Ortschaften RAT SICH EINST " Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. eil., III, 18. «* Ibid., p. 19.

ADALBERT STIFTER: " D A S SANFTE EINE MERKWÜRDIGE TATSACHE EREIGNET,

GESETZ"

93

und es ist ein grosses Unge-

mach über sie gekommen.24 The similarity between this statement and Goethe's definition of the Novelle is striking, and it might even be asserted that it is a conscious paraphrase on Stifter's part. In addition, Stifter is employing here another literary device often associated with the Novelle - the framework technique. The story which the grandfather relates becomes, therefore, a Novelle within a Novelle, and in terms of the major theories, is more representative of the genre than the primary frame. The grandfather's story is essentially the following: Many years before, there was in the region a devastating plague which threatened to eradicate the entire population. A family of pitch-burners fled to the forest in order to escape the malady, but all with the exception of a single little boy perished. One day, while searching for food, the little lad chanced upon a yet younger child, an extremely ill girl. He nursed the little girl back to health, and they both managed to sustain themselves in the forest until finally finding their way back to civilization. The boy was united with his uncle and family, while some distant relatives came to take the girl with them to their distant village. Years passed without their seeing one another again, until one day when a coach arrived in the boy's village (he was now a handsome young man), bearing within it the forest companion of his early childhood. They were soon afterwards married, and became wealthy and respected in the whole region. The boy's uncle continued the trade of his ancestors (pitch-burning), and it was from this branch of the family tree that the old peddler Andreas is descended. The element of the extraordinary is very marked in this short narration - the plague, the lone child able to brave the elements and save a fellow creature in the process, the overcoming of class prejudices and its subsequent results - and although this mood is often countered by descriptive passages such as the following,

"

Ibid., p. 29. (Emphasis mine.)

94

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

which depicts the first night the children spend together in a newly-discovered cave: . . . so sassen die Kinder in der Höhle, wenn der Tag über den Wald hinüberzog und das Grüne beleuchtete, die Vöglein sangen, die Bäume glänzten und die Bergspitzen leuchteten; oder sie schlummerten, wenn es Nacht war, wenn es finster und still war oder der Schrei eines wilden Tieres tönte oder der Mond am Himmel stand und seine Strahlen über die Wipfel goss. 25

— such passages notwithstanding, the extraordinary nature of the events is clearly emphasized, and is even heightened by the contrast. Framed as they are by the serenity and gentleness of Stifter's descriptive power, the suffering and death brought about by the plague seem to stand out more distinctly, and appear yet more extraordinary as a result. Hein, in his study on Stifter,29 recognizes this to be the case, although he does not state it directly. He first begins his discussion of Granit by attempting to reconcile it with Stifter's "sanftes Gesetz": "Schon in der ersten Erzählung des Buches tritt uns die sanfte Schönheit entgegen, welche auf das Kunstmittel des Affektes völlig verzichtet." 27 He soon admits, however, that the work transcends the realm of the ordinary and the natural, and laments the fact that Stifter did not choose the fairy-tale form to execute his purpose: Wir aber müssten alle Bedenken [he refers here to any doubts the reader might have with regard to the credibility of the events in Granit] ... verstummen, wenn Stifter, rasch entschlossen, seinen überweltlichen Stoff in das allem Wunderbaren und Abenteuerlichen angepasste Gewand des Märchens gekleidet hätte, statt den Leser durch den novellistischen Rahmen zu Erwägungen über Möglichkeit und Wahrscheinlichkeit zu veranlassen!28

Paradoxically, it is this very factor - the element of the extraordinary - which places Granit within the traditional bounds of Novellentheorie. And since this is the case, it is equally valid to "

Ibid., p. 45. A. R. Hein, Adalbert Stifter. Sein Leben und seine Werke (Wien, Bad Bocklet und Zürich, 1952), II edition. " Ibid., p. 412. 28 Ibid., p. 417.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

95

assert that this dement is in conflict with the basic nature of Stifter's "sanftes Gesetz". The second selection from Bunte Steine is Kalkstein, a work which appears to be more in accord with Stifter's theoretical statements than was Granit. Indeed, we see this indicated at the very outset of the work: Ich erzähle hier eine Geschichte, die uns ein Freund erzählt hat, IN DER NICHTS UNGEWÖHNLICHES VORKOMMT und die ich doch nicht habe vergessen können.88 If, as suggested earlier, Stifter consciously paraphrased the Goethean definition of the Novelle in Granit,39 it may be asserted that he reverses it in the above passage. Klein seeks to reconcile this obvious contradiction to traditional Novellentheorie by dividing the selections from Bunte Steine into two groups. He includes Kalkstein in the first of these groups, calling it one of Stifter's Novellen "mit stillem Geschehen". As in the case of Granit, Stifter employs the framework technique in the composition of Kalkstein. In fact, there is a double framework present - a story within the story being told - the plot being the following: The narrator, a surveyor, tells of a shabbily dressed Catholic priest whom he met at a dinner party one afternoon, and then did not see for several years. At this later date, the author was out on an assignment in a desolate area called Steinkar, and it was there he met the priest again. They soon became fast friends, and it was to the author that the humble priest entrusted his last will and testament. At the death of Iiis friend, the author had the will probated, and learned that the former had lived frugally for so many years in order to save money for the building of a new school in the community. The old school, located on the opposite side of a dangerous stream, presented a danger for the children, who had to cross over every day in order to attend their classes. Although the money he had saved was insufficient for the intended project, M 50

Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. cit., ΙΠ, 52. (Emphasis mine.) See chapter I, footnote 24.

96

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

the townspeople were moved by his example of self-sacrifice, and soon managed to raise the difference. This is the main body of the story as told in the first person by the surveyor. It is clear at this point that the emphasis is not on any particular striking or unusual event, but rather on the abstract concepts of love and self-sacrifice. We have in addition, within this framework, the narration of the priest's earlier life story as he relates it one evening to his friend. It seems that he had been one of twin brothers, and that in his youth he displayed no particular talent for either the commercial or the academic life. After his brother's untimely death, the business they had inherited from their father deteriorated completely, and after an unrequited love affair he decided to join the priesthood. In this new life he found his true vocation, achieving his place in the world at long last. In order to reconcile this relatively uneventful work with the unanimous demand of Novellentheorie for stress on the extraordinary event, Klein offers the following explanation: Das Leben des Pfarrers ist ein Ereignis; die Testamentseröffnung macht es klar. Es ereignet sie die Liebe·, die weit zurückliegende Jugendliebe ist deren Vorform gewesen . . . Auf das Seltene kommt es nicht an, sondern auf das, was immer wieder vorkommen kann: die Bewahrung. Dass sie trotzdem so selten ist, ist eine ernste Ironie. Durch das scheinbar Alltägliche hindurch gelangt der Pfarrer in ein tieferes Reich.»1 Thus, although he makes the attempt to alter his puristic view at the outset on the chapter on Stifter," Klein cannot think in terms other than those of the major theories - Goethe's in particular. The above passage illustrates the difficulty he encounters in attempting to force Kalkstein into the mold of the "unerhörte Begebenheit", as does his very method of dividing the works from Bunte Steine into categories based on the role of the events therein. He does not, as does Bennett, conclude that Stifter's Novellen are dubious representatives of the genre, but in attempting to view them traditionally he unconsciously infers as much. In actuality, 31

"

Klein, op. cil., p. 251. See chapter I, pp. 88-89.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

97

however, there is much which can be said for the accordance of Stifter's Novellen with the major theoretical criterion for the genre. For, it is a demonstrable fact that Stifter had a very strong predilection for the depiction of the extraordinary episodes of existence, and was not at all limited to idyllic nature description. The first lines of Turmalin indicate the nature of the story to follow: "Der Turmalin ist dunkel, und was da erzählt wird, ist sehr dunkel."" The reader is immediately prepared for the unusual and the mysterious, an atmosphere which Stifter carefully develops by degree. The description of the old pensioner, the central figure of the book, and especially that of his extraordinary home, make the tone of the work almost macabre: In der Stadt Wien wohnte vor manchen Jahren ein wunderlicher Mensch . . . In dem Zimmer waren alle Wände ganz vollständig mit Blättern von Bildnissen berühmter Männer beklebt. Es war kein Stückchen, auch nur handgross, das von der ursprünglichen Wand zu sehen wäre.*4 As can be seen from the above passage, Turmalin is begun in the third person. We learn that the strange old man had a wife and daughter, and that the former had become involved in an amorous affair with a famous actor. Upon learning of his wife's infidelity, he had first vowed to kill her lover, but had later forgiven them both. Unable to bear her shame, however, the distraught wife disappeared suddenly one day. All efforts to find her again, those of the police as well as those of the pensioner, were in vain she was never seen again. This strange event is described by Stifter in an almost matter-of-fact manner: "Eines Tages verschwand die Frau des Rentherm. Sie war ausgegangen, wie sie gewöhnlich auszugehen pflegte, und war nicht wiedergekommen." 85 At approximately this point, Stifter shifts his method of presentation from the third person narrative to the framework technique, having the remainder of the story related by a young woman who is acquainted with the further life history of the pensioner and »

M

«

Stifter, Gesammelle Werke, op. cit., III, 116. Ibid. Ibid., p. 124.

98

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

his daughter. This second half of the work proves to be no less extraordinary in nature than the first, as indicated, for example, by the description which the woman gives of her initial contact with the old man and his daughter. She sees them while out on a stroll with her husband, and in Hoffmannesque terms records her impressions of the occasion: Ein Mann . . . schon ziemlich bejahrt, mit einem dünnen gelben Moltonröckchen, blassblauen Beinkleidern, grossen Schuhen und einem kleinen runden Hütchen angetan, ging auf der Strasse dahin; er führte ein Mädchen, das ebenso seltsam gekleidet war in einem braunen Überwurf, der ihr fast wie eine Toga um die Schultern lag. Das Mädchen hatte aber einen so grossen Kopf, dass es zum Erschrecken gereichte und dass man immer nach demselben hinsah.'· She learns that this unusual pair live in a large, old house where the pensioner serves as porter. Their dwelling is in the basement. After seeing them only on several other occasions, the narrator hears suddenly one day that the old man has fallen from a ladder and has died from injuries sustained in the accident. She immediately hurries to the basement apartment, where she finds the little girl alone. Having obtained her husband's consent, she takes the orphan to her home, while a futile attempt is made to locate any living relatives with whom she can be placed. All inquiries are in vain. As the narrator comes to know the little girl more intimately, moreover, she begins to notice still more extraordinary characteristics. The child speaks perfect literary German, but her statements, when taken together, are completely incoherent. All questions about her past are answered with bizarre and indecipherable phrases, particularly those which are concerned with her father. A typical response to such a query is the following: "Wenn ich fragte, was ich für eine Aufgabe habe, während er nicht da sei, antwortete er [she refers to her father]:'Beschreibe den Augenblick, wenn ich tot auf der Bahre liegen werde und wenn sie mich begraben'; und wenn ich denn sagte: "Vater, das habe ich schon oft beschrieben', antwortete er: 'so beschreibe, wie deine Mutter von ihrem "

Ibid., p. 129.

ADALBERT STIFTER. "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

99

Herzen gepeinigt in der Welt herumirrt, wie sie sich nicht zurückgetraut und wie sie in der Verzweiflung ihrem Leben ein Ende

macht'."'7

Turmalin ends as the girl, a bit older now, is established in an apartment of her own, and is able to lead an independent life with the proceeds she earns from taking in sewing. Blackall gives the following evaluation of this work: Turmalin is not a success, because it lacks any focus of artistic intention. There is no concentrated centre of interest. . . There is a blatant lack of proportion in the story. 88

Whether or not one agrees with this evaluation, and it is difficult to criticize Blackall for his conclusions, it is nevertheless evident that in Turmalin the concentration of effort is not on the constancy of nature or the daily activities of life. On the contrary, the element of the extraordinary predominates throughout - the element of the "unerhört". The primary focus, moreover, is on the events, and it is therefore misleading of Bennett to assert that other writers of the period all attribute greater importance to the event than does Stifter." In actual fact, it is stressed again and again in Turmalin that the accent is on the event. For instance, we have the statement appearing after the sudden disappearance of the pensioner's wife: "Aber es kamen andere Ereignisse der grossen S t a d t . . . und nach kurzem war der Rentherr und seine Begebenheit vergessen."40 And after the narrator of the second half sees the old man and his daughter she remarks: "Nach dieser Begebenheit verging wieder eine geraume Zeit." 41 At another point she remarks: "Desohngeachtet fragte ich den Professor, als er das erstemal nach dieser Begebenheit zu uns kam, ob er das Buch erhalten habe . . .".42 And again later: "Ich fing nun an, die Begebenheiten zu verbinden." 4 ' Or at the inquiry into the old «

Ibid., p. 150 f. Blackall, op. cit., p. 267. 3 » See chapter V, footnote 18. 40 Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. cit., ΠΙ, 128. « Ibid., p. 132. Ibid., p. 137. « Ibid., p. 138. 39

100

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

man's accidental death: "Ich würde auch die Begebenheit meinen Freunden und Bekannten anzeigen...". 44 Clearly then, Turmalin displays the one characteristic of the Novelle which in terms of Novellentheorie, can be regarded as traditional. And conversely, the world portrayed in this work is far removed from the world of the "sanftes Gesetz". It is a world of strange disappearance, incoherence and deformity, and not one of gentle continuity. Klein recognizes this quality in Turmalin and as a result places it in the second category, "Geschichten mit lebhafterem Geschehen". Bergkristall, the next selection from Bunte Steine, is certainly one of Stifter's greatest successes in the short prose form. Eric Blackall calls it a "masterpiece", a judgment echoed by Bruno Adler, who deems it the " . . . von höchster Kunst und tiefster Weisheit geschaffenen Meisterwerk seiner Prosa.. ,".45 Stifter himself was also aware of the high merits of Bergkristall, although modesty tempered his evaluation. In a letter to a friend he wrote: Hätte ich nur zum Bergkristall, der erst durch die Revision einen Schliff bekommen hat, die Möglichkeit, in späterer Zeit ihn noch einmal zu reinigen und zu fassen, bei allen Himmelsmächten ich bilde mir ein, er könnte noch ein Diamant werden.4· Hein, however, feels that no further revision is necessary to make of Bergkristall a precious gem, considering it, in its published form "Das kostbarste Juwel unter den 'Bunten Steinen'.. ,".47 It would seem as if time has proven this evaluation to be valid, for, like a precious gem, Bergkristall has demonstrated itself to be many-faceted and durable. The actual plot of this work is uncomplicated in the extreme, but nevertheless majestic in execution. The two young children of a cobbler and his wife from Gschaid set out to visit their grandparents on the other side of a high mountain ridge. It is the day before Christmas, and their journey » Ibid., p. 143. " Urban Roedl, Adalbert Stifter (Berlin, 1936), p. 280. (Roedl is a pseudonym for Bruno Adler.) " Quoted by Adler, op. cit., p. 280. 47 Hein, op. cit., p. 436.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

101

is happy and uneventful. The return trip is not to be so pleasant, however, for Konrad and his little sister Susanna (Sanna), encounter a terrifying snowstorm and become lost in the glacial area of the mountains. They manage to find shelter in an icy cave, however, and in the morning are found by the searching party from Gschaid, which returns them to their thankful parents. In no other single work of Stifter's is there evidence of such a clear illustration of his literary "sanftes Gesetz" as that which occurs in Bergkristall. And yet, paradoxically enough, the work simultaneously fulfills the traditional call of the Novelle theoreticians for the extraordinary event, the "unerhört". There is a constant play of contrasts present - a continual alteration of the fury and the tranquil beauty of nature. The former is represented by the detailed and powerful description of the blizzard, a description which has earned its author much deserved commendation. Blackall calls it: .. . one of those great moments in Stifter's work, moments of blinding intensity and vivid power, caught in suspended time, when all the world sinks into a hush, falling away in wonderment.48 Hein is equally aware of the beauty and importance of this description, and expresses this awareness in terms similar to those of Blackall: .. .die Schilderung des Schneefalles findet in der gesamten Literaturgeschichte nicht mehr ihresgleichen; sie allein sichert dem Namen Stifter einen hervorragenden Platz in den Reihen der Klassiker.49 The powerful fury of unleashed natural forces is countered, however, by the inner calm of the two lost children. Beside the depiction of swirling, blinding snow we see the contrast offered by the depiction of the serene and gentle aspect of nature, as, for instance, in the passage describing the arrival of evening, witnessed by the two children from their icy, but comfortable shelter: Wie die Kinder so sassen, erblühte am Himmel vor ihnen ein bleiches Licht mitten unter den Sternen und spannte einen schwachen Bogen 48

"

Blackall, op. eil., p. 268. Hein, op. cit., p. 452.

102

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

durch dieselben. Es hatte einen grünlichen Schimmer, der sich sachte nach unten zog. Aber der Bogen wurde immer heller und heller, bis sich die Sterne vor ihm zurückzogen und erblassten . . . Dann standen Garben verschiedenen Lichtes auf der Höhe des Bogens wie Zacken einer Krone und brannten . . . Nach und nach wurde er schwächer und immer schwächer,die Garben erlöschten zuerst, bis es allmählich und unmerklich immer geringer wurde und wieder nichts am Himmel war als die tausend und tausend einfachen Sterne. 50

As memorable and moving as such descriptive beauty may be, however, it is nevertheless the violence and extraordinary power of the blizzard which is central in Bergkristall. Klein calls it: " . . . ein 'unerhörtes Ereignis'". 51 It is clear that he is employing the Goethean standard for the Novelle in his choice of terminology, and, in the case of Bergkristall the work itself substantiates Klein's choice. In one instance, the storm is referred to as an "unerhörter Schneefair, 52 and in another, the adjective "fürchterlich"5® is used to portray the event. At still another point one of the characters is made to say the following about the recently experienced storm: Hundert Jahre werden wieder vergehen, dass ein so wunderbarer Schneefall niederfällt, und dass er gerade niederfällt, wie nasse Schnüre von einer Stange hängen. Wäre ein Wind gegangen, so wären die Kinder verloren gegangen. 54

This short remark accentuates the paradoxical nature of the entire work. In familiar theoretical terms it represents the fusion of the "sanftes Gesetz" as explained by Stifter, and the Goethean "sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit". For, while the proportions of the blizzard were so great that a recurrence is deemed unlikely in a century, at the same time there was an equally extraordinary windless calm during the height of the storm. It is well understandable under these circumstances that: Das Ereignis hat einen Abschnitt in die Geschichte von Gschaid geM

"

51

"

54

Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. cit., p. 197 ff. Klein, op. cit., p. 252. Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. cit.. III, 197. Ibid., p. 201. Ibid., p. 206. (Emphasis mine.)

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

103

bracht, es hat auf lange den Stoff zu Gesprächen gegeben, und man wird noch nach Jahren davon reden . . In view of the central position played by the blizzard in Bergkristall, a storm called alternately "unerhört", "fürchterlich", and "wunderbar", it is difficult to understand how Bennett is able to deny that Stifter's short prose works lack what he considers the prime criterion for the Novelle: " . . . the striking event, the Begebenheit, the something startling and exceptional which, falling like a bolt from the blue, befalls the characters". 5 · Indeed, Bergkristall, at any rate, demonstrates quite the opposite. By far the most enigmatic and unusual selection from Bunte Steine is the story entitled Katzensilber, which Stifter regarded as one of the two best works in the collection.57 The theme is extremely loose in construction and has provoked criticism from some scholars. Hein makes the following observation: Die Fabel der Geschichte ist überaus dürftig; sparsames Haushalten wäre daher doppelt geboten gewesen, weil bei der übermässigen Ausdehnung der Erzählung der dünne, über seine Kraft gespannte Faden an vielen Stellen abzureissen droht.58 Katzensilber tells of a wealthy businessman and his family, who spend their summers in a beautiful country home. The three children, two girls and a boy, especially delight in their annual escape from the city, and together with their grandmother, who lives in the country the entire year, enjoy the beauty and tranquility of nature. The daily hikes which the grandmother leads never become tiresome to the children, enlivened as they are by the countless stories the old lady tells to them. It is on one such outing that the group comes upon an unusual little stranger. They call this child "das braune Mädchen", and before long the latter becomes a regular participant in their outdoor activities. It is this youngster who saves the other four from serious injury during a furious hailstorm. And it is also she who appears miraculously while a 55 M 57 ω

Ibid., p. 208. (Emphasis mine.) See chapter V, footnote 17. Hein, op. cit., p. 454. Ibid., p. 454 ff.

104

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

fire is raging in the family's summer home, and saves the little boy from the threatening flames. With no apparent or determinable origin or home, she is adopted into the family, where she plays, lives and learns with the other children until one day she disappears as suddenly as she had first appeared. As is the case in almost all of Stifter's works, Katzensilber is permeated with many long and detailed nature descriptions. There is little doubt, however, that the primary focus of the work is NOT on "Das Wehen der Luft, das Rieseln des W a s s e r s . . . etc." Not the simple, everyday activities and events of life, but the extraordinary, uncontrollable, and in great part incomprehensible aspects of existence demand the reader's central attention. Blackall asserts the following in this regard: This is a real fairy-story. Scorning logic, it hints symbolically at those dark forces which are the essence of all folklore. The "braunes Mädchen" of Katzensilber . . . is a living embodiment of the mysterious, unfathomable poetry of nature. 5 ·

Hein's findings are very similar, although he does not feel that Stifter has written a genuine fairy-tale in Katzensilber: Diese Erzählung enthält eine so grosse Menge des Rätselhaften und Unwahrscheinlichen, dass man an das Eingreifen übernatürlicher Mächte zu glauben gezwungen wird, so sehr der Dichter auch hier, wie früher im Granit, vermeidet, seine Darstellung in das Gewand des Märchens zu kleiden.· 0

Stated in terms of Novellentheorie, then, Katzensilber is a work in which the emphasis is on the unusual, the supernatural - "das Wunderbare", "das Eigenartige", "das Unerhörte". Even in those instances where the presentation is purely realistic, the stress is on the underlying element of the extraordinary. This is evident in the two major incidents of the work, each of which has about it the aura of the unheard-of. The first of these, the hailstorm, is described in one of the most striking and forceful passages in any of Stifter's works: "

,0

Blackall, op. cit., p. 272. Hein, op. cit., p. 461.

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

105

Im Augenblicke kam auch der Sturm, er fasste die Büsche, dass sie rauschten, Hess einen Atemzug lang nach, dass alles totenstill stand, dann fasste er die Büsche neuerdings, legte sie um, dass das weisse der Blätter sichtbar wurde, und jagte den Hagel auf sie nieder, dass es wie weisse, herabsausende Blitze war. Es schlug auf das Laub, es schlug gegen das Holz, es schlug gegen die Erde, die Körner schlugen gegeneinander, dass ein Gebrülle wurde, dass man die Blitze sah, welche den Nussberg entflammten, aber keinen Donner zu hören vermochte. Das Laub wurde herabgeschlagen, die Äste wurden abgebrochen, der Rasen wurde gefurcht, als wären eiserne Eggenzähne über sie gegangen. Die Hagelkörner waren so gross, dass sie einen erwachsenen Menschen hätten töten können. Sie zerschlugen auch die Hageln, die hinter den Bündeln waren, dass man ihren Schlag auf die Bündel vernahm . . . Was Widerstand leistete, wurde zermalmt, was fest war, wurde zerschmettert, was Leben hatte, wurde getötet.· 1 The incredible character of this storm is stressed repeatedly in the subsequent pages of the work. It is described as "ein grosses, ausserordentliches Gewitter" by the grandmother, who never witnessed its equal in all her many years in the country, and the fact that she and the children manage to escape serious injury is called miraculous. In view of the preceding observations, it is difficult to undersand Bennett's claim that Stifter was inadequate or disinclined to deal with the extraordinary - how at one particular point he feels justified in making the following comment: Stifter would make the Novelle describe a long uneventful summer day, the sky cloudless from morning to evening, passing imperceptibly from one shade of colour to another. But actually it is the business of the Novelle to describe the thunderstorm, which arising unexpectedly shatters suddenly the calm and serenity and then passes away leaving crops beaten down and houses destroyed by lightning.·8 If "the business of the Novelle" is, in fact, that which Bennett suggests in the above passage, one is then faced with the inescapable conclusion that Stifter has made the Novelle his business. We saw the snowstorm in Bergkristall, the thunderstorm in Kalkstein, which one scholar deemed important enough to warrant almost 41

«

Stifter, Gesammelte Werke, op. cit., ΠΙ, 228. Bennett, op. cit., p. 140.

106

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

an entire chapter of discussion,· 4 and in Granit, although no such storm appears, there is an equally tumultuous upheaval of the forces of nature in the form of the plague. What has caused the most difficulty in discussions of Stifter's works is the confusion of the theoretical remarks in the preface to Bunte Steine, which are as much an expression of his philosophy of life as of literature, and his practical efforts, which present quite a different picture of the world. The second major incident in Katzensilber, the fire, also has an air of the "unerhört" about it. The little boy, Sigismund, is trapped on the top floor of the burning house, and all efforts to rescue him from the peril have met with failure: Ein Mann, der, in eine nasse Decke gehüllt, es gewagt hatte, war durch den heissen Atem umgeworfen worden, und man konnte ihn nur mittelst eines Feuerhakens retten, mit dem man ihn aus der heissen Luft zog. Im nächsten Augenblick hatte auch das Leiterdächlein Feuer gefangen, und dasselbe und die Leitern brannten.*4 All seems to be lost at this point, and the only thing which the distraught mother can do is to throw herself onto her knees and pray for a miracle: Und ehe man sich's versah, huschte eine dunkle Gestalt gegen das Haus und kletterte wie ein Eichhörnchen an dem Weingeländer empor und war in dem nächsten Augenblicke durch das Fenster verschwunden.« A small ladder is just as miraculously provided for the descent of the "braunes Mädchen" and Sigismund, and they come safely down from the flaming house. One might well agree with Blackall at this point that: The first half of the story reaches its climax in the magnificent description of the hailstorm and the return of the children to their anxious parents. The second half is really quite a new story . . . This action is too sensational and melodramatic to flow naturally from M

Hans Wysling, Stifter

und Gotthelf,

ein Vergleich

weise (Zürich, 1953), chapter II. M

«

Stifter, Gesammelte Ibid.

Werke, op. cit., III, 263.

ihrer

Darstellungs-

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

107

Stifter's pen. It is sentimental and forced, its sole purpose being to bring the "braunes Mädchen" back into the story.·· Accepting Blackall's premise that Katzensilber, although not externally, is in effect divided into two halves, we see an interesting parallel. The hailstorm of the first half is balanced by the fire of the second, which although not as artistically successful, is yet similar in many respects. Both are extraordinary events, and both involve the miraculous intervention of the mysterious "braunes Mädchen". The so-called "sanftes Gesetz" is overshadowed by these disruptive events, making it fairly obvious that Katzensilber is more in accord with the standard of traditional "Novellentheorie", than with Stifter's own theoretical concept as expressed in the preface to Bunte Steine. The final selection from the collection, Bergmilch, was actually the first to be written,·7 and although Stifter revised it extensively before including it in the collection, it remains the weakest effort of the six. The story is set against the background of the Napoleonic wars, and deals primarily with one striking event in the lives of a German family. A French officer enters their ancestral castle one evening, forces the owner to take him up to the tower, makes careful sketches of the Russian army positions, visible from this elevation, and then bravely fights his way back to the French lines in order to deliver the information. His gallant behavior is in striking contrast to the rough and rude actions of the Russians, who later use the castle for a headquarters. Several years after the war, the Frenchman returns to visit the family, woos the young daughter, and soon afterwards marries her. The critical evaluation of Bergmilch has been almost unanimously negative. Blackall calls it a " . . . slight w o r k . . . no writing of any power or distinction... one of Stifter's most unsatisfactory productions".68 Hein calls it " . . . eine Almanacherzählung, und noch dazu eine von der seichtesten Sorte!", adding that " . . . die «·

Blackall, op. cit., p. 272. It first appeared as Wirkungen eines weissen Mantels in Witthauer's "Wiener Zeitschrift", 1843. (See footnote in Blackall, op. cit., p. 273.) 68 Blackall, op. cit., p. 273. 67

108

ADALBERT STIFTER: "DAS SANFTE GESETZ"

Erzählung... hätte jeder andere Schriftsteller von mittelmässiger Begabung auch machen können".·· Most critical works express their low regard for the work by merely ignoring it completely. It is important for this present study to examine Bergmilch, however, since it is yet another example of the coincidence of Stifter's Novellen to traditional theory, and at the same time an illustration of the gap between the literature he produced and the theoretical statements he made. For, emphasize as he did in the preface to Bunte Steine that the common, everyday and unstriking are the truly great and important qualities of existence, Stifter nevertheless finds himself, in his Novellen at any rate, continually drawn to the irrational, the devastating, the "unerhört und wunderbar". His Bunte Steine are cast in blizzards, plagues, hailstorms and war, and although there is a veneer of tranquility and continuity over it all, one senses that the uncontrollable powers are lurking just below the surface, waiting for the moment to emerge in full fury. In view of the preceding chapter, one must conclude that the evaluation of Stifter's Novellen must not be made on the basis of the preface to Bunte Steine. For, while the latter does express a personal philosophy of life, and its relevance to literature in general, the series of Novellen which follow often do NOT serve to illustrate his statements. Instead, they more often than not seem to fulfill the primary and only unanimously agreed upon requirement for the Novelle, notwithstanding the fact that Stifter at no time makes reference to the concept of genre. Thus we see a reversal of the situation which was met with in the studies of Goethe, Tieck, and Heyse, whose preoccupation with genre did not result in practical demonstrations of their theoretical statements in their literary productions.

"

Hein, op. cit., p. 465.

VI CONCLUSION

This study has attempted to illustrate the extreme difficulty in the application of theory to practice in the area of the Novelle. These difficulties are so great, moreover, that the efforts to draw theoretical formalistic lines between the various short prose forms are both presumptuous and futile,1 since no such sharp distinctions exist in practice. The major theoretical statements dealing with the Novelle have been carefully examined and discussed, both in relationship to the creative efforts of their respective authors, and also with regard to their actual originality and/or their practical applicability in general. Several conclusions can be drawn from this examination and discussion. In the case of Goethe's famous definition of the Novelle, the paradoxical situation was observed in which the definition proved to be more applicable to works written at an earlier period of his life, than to the controversial Novelle, which Goethe apparently intended as a model for the genre, and in connection with which the definition was extended. The extreme divergence of views on Novelle, ranging from regard for it as a Novelle par excellence to the opinion that it could not be properly considered a genuine representative of the genre,' was also evidenced. The discussion of Tieck's Novellentheorie which then followed served to illustrate the willingness on the part of many scholars to grasp at the clever and simple catch-phrase, regardless of the fact 1

See chapter I, particularly the discussion of Klein's work on the Novelle. * See chapter II, pp. 36-44. » Ibid.

110

CONCLUSION

that this is neither original nor practically applicable. Tieck's " Wendepunkttheorie" was shown not only to have added nothing new to the earlier statements of A . W. Schlegel (although it has been claimed that Tieck, by limiting Schlegel's concept of "Wendepunkte" to the singular, made a great step forward), but displayed the further deficiency of being totally arbitrary in application,4 and certainly not valid as a yardstick for any particular genre. Paul Heyse's remarks on the Novelle, commonly known as the "Falkentheorie", proved to be so general and unassuming in nature, that regard for them as a genre theory, or more specifically as THE theory of the Novelle, can be attributed only to a serious misunderstanding or disregard of the facts. Heyse concerned himself less with the Novelle per se in these remarks, than with literature in general, for his main desire was to call for a more individualistic approach to literature - a call which is in essence, diametrically opposed to any formalistic doctrine. Finally, Adalbert Stifter's theoretical comments from the preface to Bunte Steine were discussed in relationship to his own works and to the theoretical writings on the Novelle viewed previously. Contrary to what one might expect when one interprets this essay as a strict formalistic theory, there proves to be a marked variance between some of the major statements Stifter makes in the preface, and the works which follow. Simultaneously, the relative conformity of the Novellen from Bunte Steine to the basic criterion set for the genre in all the major theoretical works was clearly evidenced. This can be viewed, perhaps, as an interesting reverse of the situation met in the discussion of Goethe's theoretical and practical efforts. As a result of the above findings, one might be tempted to suggest that there is little purpose in maintaining the terminology "Novelle", since the genre has never been adequately defined. This, of course, might be too drastic a solution, as it would inevitably necessitate the same action with many other of our literary designations, and would undoubtedly create as many difficulties as it would solve. A second possibility might be to revert to the 1 See chapter ΙΠ.

CONCLUSION

111

simpler division of literature into three major categories - the lyric, the epic and the dramatic - viewing the more specific and limited forms (Novelle, novel, sonnet, ballad, etc.) from the standpoint of their content of these major traits.5 Karl Vietor indirectly advocates this when he suggests that we maintain this tri-partite division when referring specifically to "genre", and that the more limited forms be designated as "Dichtarten". 6 Whether we regard the latter as full-fledged genres or as particular phases of any specific genre is merely semantic, however, and does little to eliminate the problem. The answer does not seem, then, either in eliminating the designations already developed, or in the reduction in status of a particular literary type by the substitution of "Dichtart" for genre. That no adequate theory or definition of the Novelle as a category has been given does not even remotely indicate that there is therefore no such entity as the Novelle. What must be stressed is the sharp distinction between the categorical and the historical, a fact which most theoreticians and scholars often forget. For, with the exception of a few highly specialized ones,7 literary forms (or genres) do not by any means remain static. Vietor points this out in his discussion of the history of genres: . . . die individuelle und geschichtliche Besonderheit macht zugleich, dass der Dichter diese Formgebilde nicht so lassen kann, wie sie überliefert sind. Indem der neue Impuls sie eingeht, werden sie verwandelt, ohne ihre Eigenart zu verlieren, — darum gibt es eine Geschichte der Gattungen.8 Wellek and Warren, in their work Theory of Literature, make a very similar observation: The literary kind is an 'institution' - as Church, University, or State 3

This would be very difficult to apply in many instances also. For example, modern lyric poetry, which has many elements in common with prose, as well as some instances of rhythmic prose which borders on being poetry. 6 Karl Vietor, Geist und Form (Bern, 1952), pp. 292-309. 7 The sonnet is one such example. 8 Vietor, op. cit., p. 294. (It is interesting to note that Vietor often interchanges the terms "Gattung" and "Form".)

112

CONCLUSION

is an institution. It exists, not as an animal exists or even as a building, chapel, library, or capitol, but as an institution exists . . . one can also join, but then reshape institutions.· It is clear, then, that the Novelle of Goethe need not conform to the pattern which Boccaccio established for the genre (if, indeed, any such pattern was established), nor must Kleist's Novellen adhere to the Goethean model. To be sure, the Novellen of an individual author might themselves demonstrate a large segment of the historical development of the entire genre, as in the case of Tieck, whose earlier efforts in the Novelle differ greatly from those works which he wrote in his later years. However dissimilar the varied samples from different periods of historical development may be, it must nevertheless not be concluded that these dissimilarities nullify the relationship among them. For literature, like the great institutions which are spoken of by Wellek, is in great measure dependent upon that which has preceded, although this is not always easily discernible. And what is true for the whole is, in this instance, equally valid for the individual parts. Each separate genre also develops gradually, selecting and rejecting from that which it finds before it. As Warren so aptly says: The totally familiar and repetitive pattern is boring; the totally novel form will be unintelligible — it is indeed unthinkable. The genre represents . . . a sum of aesthetic devices at hand, available to the writer and already intelligible to the reader. The good writer partly conforms to the genre as it exists, partly stretches it. By and large, great writers are rarely innovators of genres.. . ,0 The task of the scholar in the field of genre study is primarily, then, to determine the links between past and present in a particular genre, as well as to demonstrate the extension of the chain by citing the addition of new links. But in order to determine these factors, it is first necessary to have a clear concept of the particular genre under consideration, and it is exactly here that the greatest difficulty presents itself. For, the usual manner in which • Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, Theory of Literature (New York, 1956), p. 216. 10 Ibid., p. 225.

CONCLUSION

113

the question concerning the nature of a genre is answered (in this case, the question "What is a Novelle?") is with a categorical definition or a smug theory. As was shown, even in those cases where the definition is not categorical, nor the theory smug, they are soon made so by overly zealous interpreters. Moreover, it is not clear just how it is possible to categorize or define a genre without first having specific examples to offer as typical. Nor has any explanation ever clarified the manner of selecting a representative example of a genre, without first having a clear concept of the genre as a yardstick for this selection. This is the impasse which confronts the genre-scholar, a chicken-egg paradox which has plagued all who have done work in the field. Günther Müller states the problem in the following manner: Ein Dilemma aller Gattungsgeschichtsschreibung ist es, dass wir anscheinend nicht entscheiden können, was zu einer Gattung gehört, ohne schon zu wissen, was gattungshaft ist, und dass wir doch nicht wissen können, was gattungshaft ist, ohne dies oder jenes zu kennen als zu einer Gattung gehörig.11 Pursuing the analogy of the chicken and the egg, however, we can cast aside at least a part of the frustration which such a dilemma inevitably provokes. For, although we are unable to determine a chronological sequence between the two, only the ultra-skeptical would seriously deny existence of either. And just as there are certain characteristics which have been established, by means of long acquaintance and observation, for the determination of the state of chickenhood or egghood, it is equally true that there is no such distinct entity as "the" chicken, or "the" egg, but simply chickens and eggs with many similar, to be sure, but also many varied characteristics among them. Indeed, in those cases where the chicken egg is unusually large, or the turkey egg unusually small, even the expert poultry raiser can be in doubt. Thus we must alter our conventional thinking and rephrase the question, since it is not only futile, but even foolish to expect a fully adequate answer to the question: "What is a Novelle?" In11

Quoted by Vietor, Ibid.

114

CONCLUSION

stead, we should attempt to gain an understanding of the genre by seeking to determine the characteristics demonstrated in a particular phase of its development, and once these are determined we must not commit the error of rigidly categorizing them. Rather than concentrating our efforts on isolating one genre from another by the employment of clever catch-words or phrases, we should then seek to find relationships among seemingly diverse kinds. That there will be many instances in which a particular work will not "belong" to any specific genre should not be viewed with chagrin, nor should the need be felt to explain away the seeming disparities as weaknesses or as deviations from the "norm". Warren, a bit optimistically perhaps, gives the following as the purpose of modern genre study: Modern genre theory is, clearly, descriptive. It doesn't limit the number of possible kinds and doesn't prescribe rules to authors. It supposes that traditional kinds may be 'mixed' and produce a new kind . . All too often, however, this has not been the case - particularly in the area of the Novelle. All too often it has not been clearly recognized that: "Die materiellen Grenzen der Gattungsgeschichte sind nicht ein für allemal abzuzirkeln, weil es mit EINEM LEBEN18 DIG SICH VERWANDELNDEN ZU tun hat." It is human nature to demand and to formulate simple categorical definitions for the various things with which we must deal. In many areas of life this is helpful, indeed necessary, but in the case of a living, organically developing field such as literature this cannot always be done and result in a positive gain. Hence, the proper way to treat genres, particularly the Novelle, is to approach the subject with intellectual humility and a considerable lack of dogmatism. We must concern ourselves less with positive answers than with possible questions - the ensuing discussion is what really matters.

1!

"

Wellek and Warren, op. cit., p. 225. Vietor, op. cit., p. 308. (Emphasis mine.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnold, Paul J., "Tiecks Novellenbegriff·, Euphorion, XXIII (1927), 258271. Arx, Bernhard von, Novellistisches Dasein. Spielraum einer Gattung in der Goethezeit (Zürich, 1953). Bates, Η. Ε., The Modern Short Story (London, 1941). Bennett, Ε. K., A History of the German Novelle (Cambridge, 1961). Bertram, E., Studien zu Stifters Novellen (Bonn, 1907). Blackall, Eric Α., Adalbert Stifter (Cambridge, 1948). Böhm, Franz J., "Begriff und Wesen des Genre", Zeitschrift für Ästhetik, XXII (1928), 186-191. Borcherdt, Hans Heinrich, Geschichte des Romans und der Novelle in Deutschland, I (Leipzig, 1926). Crane, Ronald S., Critics and Criticism: Ancient and Modern (Chicago, 1952). Doderer, Klaus, Die Kurzgeschichte in Deutschland. Ihre Form und ihre Entwicklung (Wiesbaden, 1953). Donohue, J. J., The Theory of Literary Kinds (Iowa, 1943). Ehrentreich, Alfred, "Zur Gestalt der Novelle bei Adalbert Stifter", Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, XXII (1935), 192-204. Ennatinger, Emil, Das dichterische Kunstwerk (Berlin, 1921). Ern6, Nino, Kunst der Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1956). Ernst, Paul, Der Weg zur Form (München, 1928). Ewald, K., Die deutsche Novelle im ersten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts (Rostock, 1907). Frank, Hans, Deutsche Erzählkunst (Trier, 1922). Friedemann, Käti, Die Rolle des Erzählers in der Epik (Leipzig, 1910). Fürst, R., Die Vorläufer der modernen Novelle im 18. Jahrhundert (Halle, 1897). Garnier, J. D., Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Novellendichtung Tiecks (Giessen, 1899). Goethe, Wolfgang v., Werke, VI (Hamburg, 1958). , Wahlverwandtschaften. Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart, 1960. Grolman, A. v., "Goethes Äusserungen über die Novelle", Germanischromanische Monatsschrift, 1921.

116

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gundolf, Friedrich, Goethe (Berlin, 1918). Hein, A. R., Adalbert Stifter. Sein Leben und seine Werke (Wien, Bad Booklet and Zürich, 1952). Heyse, Paul and Hennann Kurz, Deutscher Novellenschatz, I (München und Leipzig, n.d. [1871-1876]). , Jugenderinnerungen und Bekenntnisse (Berlin, 1900). Himmel, Hellmuth, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Bern, 1963). Hirsch, Arnold, Der Gattungsbegriff Novelle (Berlin, 1928). Jolles, Α., Einfache Formen (Tübingen, 1930). Jost, W., Von Ludwig Tieck zu Ε. Τ. A. Hoff mann (Frankfurt, 1921). Kayser, Wolf gang, Das sprachliche Kunstwerk (Bern, 1960). Kimmerich, P., Tieck als Novellendichter in seiner Entwicklungsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung (Dissertation, Bonn, 1921). Klein, Johannes, Geschichte der deutschen Novelle (Wiesbaden, 1960). Koskimies, R., "Die Theorie der Novelle", Orbis Litterarum, XIV (1959), 65-68. Kunisch, H., Adalbert Stifter. Mensch und Wirklichkeit (Berlin, 1950). Kunz, Josef, "Geschichte der deutschen Novelle in der Neuzeit", in: Deutsche Philologie im Aufriss, ed. Wolfgang Stammler, IT (Berlin, Bielefeld and Munich, 1954). Lämmert, E., Bauformen des Erzählens (Stuttgart, 1955). Lockemann, Fritz, Gestalt und Wandlungen der deutschen Novelle (Munich, 1957). Lukics, Georg v., Die Seele und die Formen (Berlin, 1911). May, Kurt, Form und Bedeutung (Stuttgart, 1957). Minor, Jakob, 'Tieck als Novellendichter", Academische Blätter (1884). Mirsky, D. S., A History of Russian Literature (New York, 1949). Mitchell, Robert M., Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory of the Novelle (Frankfurt a.M., 1915). Müller, Günther, "Bemerkungen zur Gattungspoetik", Philosophischer Anzeiger, ΙΠ (1929), 129-147. Müller, J., Stifter, Weltbild und Dichtung (Halle, 1956). Pabst, Walter, Novellentheorie und Novellendichtung (Hamburg, 1953). Pascal, Roy, The German Novel (Toronto, 1956). Petsch, Robert, Wesen und Formen der Erzählkunst (Halle, 1934). Pongs, Hermann, Das Bild in der Dichtung (Marburg, 1939). Pfeiffer, J., Wege zur Erzählskunst (Hamburg, 1953). Prang, H., "Formprobleme der Novelleninterpretation", Hüter der Sprache (Munich, 1959), 19-38. Richards, I. Α., Principles of Literary Criticism (New York, 1925). Roedl, Urban, Adalbert Stifter (Berlin, 1936). Schlegel, A. W., Vorlesungen über schöne Literatur und Kunst (Heilbronn, 1884). Schlegel, Friedrich, "Nachrichten über die poetischen Werke des Johannes Boccaccio", Jugendschriften, ed. Jakob Minor (Wien, 1882). Schunicht, Manfred, "Der 'Falke* am "Wendepunkt'", Germanisch-romanische Monatsschrift, X (1960), 44-65. Silz, Walter, Realism and Reality (North Carolina, 1962).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

117

, "The Achievement of the G e r m a n Novelle", Quantity and Quality in American Education (Pennsylvania, 1959). Spielhagen, Friedrich, Beiträge zur Theorie und Technik des Romans (Berlin, 1883). Staiger, Emil, Meisterwerke deutscher Sprache (Zürich, 1948). , Grundbegriffe der Poetik (Zürich, 1946). Stifter, Adalbert, Gesammelte Werke (Bertelsmann Verlag, 6 vols., 1956). Storm, Theodor, Sämtliche Werke (Köster Verlag, vol. 6, Leipzig, 1921). Tieck, Ludwig, Ludwig Tiecks Schriften, ed. G . Reimer, 26 vols. (Berlin, 1828-55). Turgenev, Ivan, Works of Ivan Turgenev, trans. Isabel F. Hapgood (BostonNew Y o r k , 1903). Vietor, Karl, Geist und Form (Bern, 1952). Waidson, Η. M., The Modern German Novel (Oxford, 1959). , "The G e r m a n Short Story as a Literary F o r m " , Modern Languages (1959). Wellek, Rene and Austin W a r r e n , Theory of Literature (New York, 1956). Whitmore, Charles E., "The Validity of Literary Definitions", PMLA, X X X I X (1924), 722-736. Wiese, Benno v., Die deutsche Novelle, 2 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1962). , Novelle (Stuttgart, 1963). Wysling, Hans, Stifter und Gotthelf, ein Vergleich ihrer Darstellungsweise (Zürich, 1953).

INDEX

AUTHORS Adler, Bruno 100 Arnim, Achim 69 Arnold, Paul 56-57 Arx, Bernhard von 15 Bennett, Ε. K. 13, 14, 19, 24-25, 27, 31, 33-34, 35, 40, 41, 43, 44, 58, 67, 72, 89-91, 96, 99, 103, 105 Blackall, Eric 86, 99, 101, 104, 106-107 Boccaccio, Giovanni 16, 25, 29, 30, 40, 47, 52, 68, 77-79, 82, 112 Brentano, Clemens 69, 82 Carlyle, Thomas 31 Cervantes, Miguel 16, 29, 47, 68 Chamisso, Adalbert 17-18, 69 Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von 82 Ebers, Georg 14 Eckermann 27, 28, 37, 43, 48 Eichendorff, Josef Freiherr von 17 Ern6, Nino 19-20 Ernst, Paul 14, 15 Gide, Andre 36 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 14, 22, 24, 25, 27-45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 56. 57, 68, 70, 76, 77, 81, 84, 87, 88, 90, 93, 102, 108, 109, 110, 112 Grillparzer, Franz 80, 82, 88 Gundolf, Friedrich 36, 37 Hebbel, Friedrich 86

Hein, A. R. 94, 101, 103, 104, 107 Heyse, Paul 14, 24, 25, 46, 65, 66-83, 84, 87, 108, 110 Himmel, Hellmuth 28, 30, 46, 49, 51, 52, 53, 57, 61, 67 Hirsch, Arnold 13 Hoffmann, Ε. Τ. A. 18, 91 Humboldt, Wilhelm von 31 Kayser, Wolfgang 84 Keller, Gottfried 14, 46, 66, 79 Klein, Johannes 16-19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 32, 33, 35, 43^t4, 50, 62, 63, 64, 79, 88-89, 95, 96, 100, 102, 109 Kleist, Heinrich von 13, 17, 30, 46, 69, 82, 112 Kurz, Hermann 67, 69 Laistner, Ludwig 67 Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim 21 de Maupassant, Guy 71 May, Kurt 35 Merimee, Prosper 71 Meyer, Conrad Ferdinand 14, 17, 66, 80 Mirsky, D. S. 72, 74, 75 Mitchell, Robert 48, 51, 66-67 Müller, Günther 113 Müllner, Adolf 62 Mündt, Theodor 46 de Musset, Alfred 71 Pabst, Walter 29-30, 52

119

INDEX Poe, Edgar Allan 18 Pongs, Hermann 79

Storni, Theodor 14, 15, 46, 66, 79, 88

Raabe, Wilhelm 88

Tieck, Ludwig 14, 18, 24, 25, 34, 46-65, 66, 68, 69, 77, 80, 84, 87, 91, 108, 109, 110 Trunz, Erich 29, 30 Turgenev, Ivan 71-76, 82 Vietor, Karl 111, 114

Schäfer, Wilhelm 18 Schiller, Friedrich 28, 30, 31 Schlegel, August Wilhelm 48, 49, 51, 53, 55, 64, 110 Schlegel, Friedrich 25, 41, 46 Schunicht, Manfred 52-55, 61, 65, 79, 80-81 Silz, Walter 35-36, 37, 79-80, 84-85 Solger, Karl 54-55 Spielhagen, Friedrich 25 Staiger, Emil 15, 35 Stifter, Adalbert 9, 16, 84-108, 110

Warren, Austin 111-112, 114 Wellek, Rene 111-112 Werner, Zacharias 62 Wieland, Christoph Martin 15 Wiese, Benno von 15, 20-24, 27, 31, 36, 85 Wilde, Oscar 32

WORKS Der Abschicd 62 Der Arme Spielmann 80-82 Aus der Mappe meines Urgrossvaters 16 Beitrage zur Theorie und Technik des Romans 25 Bergkristall 100-103 Bergmilch 107-108 Der blonde Eckbert 18, 54, 69 Bunte Steine 9, 85-88, 91-108 Byezhin Meadow 73 Cent Nouvelles 31 Death 73 Decameron 29, 77-88 Die deutsche Novelle 15, 20 Deutscher Novellenschatz 67-69, 76-78 Don Sylvio de Rosalva 15 Die Elfen 69 Ferdinand und Ottilie 32, 34-35, 55-57 Form und Bedeutung 35 Der fünfzehnte November 62-65 Der Gelehrte 60-61

Geschichte der deutschen Novelle 16

Granit 91-95 Hamburgische Dramaturgie 21 Der Heilige 17 Hermann und Dorothea 81 Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory of the Novelle 66-67 A History of the German Novelle 19, 24 Judenbuche 82 Jugenderinnerungen und Bekenntnisse 71, 74, 75 Jürg Jenatsch 17 Kalkstein 95-96 Karl von Berneck, 62 Kasperl und Annerl 69, 82 Katzensilber 103-107 Khor and Kalinitch 73 Kunst der Novelle 19 L' Arrabiata 82 Marmorbild 17 Michael Kohlhaas 17, 18 Niels mit der offenen Hand 82

120 Novelle 31, 35-37, 41-45 Novellentheorie und Novellendichtung 29-30 Novellistisches Dasein, Spielraum einer Gattung in der Goethezeit 15 Der Prokurator 31, 32

INDEX Der tolle Invalide 69 Theory of Literature 111-112 Tryst 73, 74 Turmalin 97-100 Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten 28, 29, 30, 31, 55

Rat Krespel 18 The Rattling 73, 74

Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre 31 Die Verlobung 58-60 Verlobung in St. Domingo 82 Vetter Gabriel 82

Die Sängerin Antonelli 32-34 Serapionsbrüder 91 Sportsman's Sketches 71-75 Das sprachliche Kunstwerk 84

Wahlverwandtschaften 37 Der Weg zur F o r m 14 Die wunderlichen Nachbarskinder 37, 38-40

Der Runenberg 69 Peter Schlemihl 69, 82