New book alert 🔔🔔🔔
Gavin Hopps applies theories such as #AffectTheory #EcoTheology #NewMaterialism & #ReEnchantment in his post-secular re-reading of the literature of the #Romantics

#Romanticism #RomanticLiterature #LiteraryStudies

Catalogue link: https://opac.sub.uni-goettingen.de/DB=1/XMLPRS=N/PPN?PPN=1928707394

I've just finished "Michael Kohlhaas", the 1810 novella by Heinrich von Kleist.

I think I'm right in saying that this work is well known throughout the German speaking world but is of much lesser renown amongst English speakers, even though allusions such as that in E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime" show that it is not completely obscure.

For those unfamiliar with the novella, Wikipedia summarizes the plot as showing

>>the wrongs done to horse trader Michael Kohlhaas by a minor aristocrat. His attempts to obtain redress through the legal system are thwarted by the aristocrat's connections. Kohlhaas gathers sympathisers to capture the miscreant, which escalates into a violent campaign against towns that take in the fleeing noble. Kohlhaas is captured and sentenced to death. Just before being executed Kohlhaas achieves some revenge by swallowing a written prophecy of great personal concern to the regional ruler. <<

Going beyond the plot summary to the actual work will afford the reader the sense of being lost in a set of arcane legal processes that defy not only justice but intelligibility as well.

That juridical labyrinth is no doubt what appealed to Kafka, prompting him to give a public reading of the novella in Prague.

Martin Greenberg, the translator of the edition I read, was drawn to Kleist by his previous work on Kafka. Greenberg notes how "Michael Kohlhaas" presages "The Castle" but also writes testily of how the "realism" of the novella is disrupted by the "shadowy Gothic fantasticness" of the conclusion, which he deems "unsatisfactory".

Greenberg was writing in 1960, when a critical climate of modernism was less sympathetic to the introduction of a disguised gypsy prophetess as plot device than was the romantic era in which saw the publication of"Michael Kohlhaas".

More than half a century after Greenberg, in a post-postmodernist age, readers might be more receptive to von Kleist's melange of the legalistic, the traditional, and the fantastic. I found Kohlhaas's determination for his claim on two horses to be vindicated, leading from serving legal writs to proclaiming himself the viceroy of the archangel Michael as his followers set cities aflame, and culminating in his acceptance of the death penalty with his refusal to disclose a prophecy of a dynasty's doom -- I found all this absorbing and provocative!

#Books #HeinrichVonKleist #MichaelKohlhaas #GermanLiterature #Novellas #NineteethCenturyLiterature
#RomanticLiterature

Image -- On the Gallows, from Woodcuts for Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas -- 1953 -- Jacob Pins: Jerusalem Print Workshop -- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

French-German writer, officer, poet and botanist Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838) tells us about the dangers of letting genAI take over things that are truly ours.

Here's Peter Schlemihl being offered uncountable riches in return for handing over his shadow:

“During the short time when I enjoyed the happiness of being near you, I observed, Sir,—will you allow me to say so—I observed, with unutterable admiration, the beautiful, beautiful shadow in the sun, which with a certain noble contempt, and perhaps without being aware of it, you threw off from your feet; forgive me this, I confess, too daring intrusion, but should you be inclined to transfer it to me?”

The story does not end well for Schlemihl.

Adelbert von Chamisso, Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814). Translated into English by John Bowring (3rd edition 1861). page 31

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21943/2194

#noAI #noLLM #DoNotSellYourShadow #AdelbertVonChamisso #PeterSchlemihl #RomanticLiterature
#Romanticism

8 years ago #OTD, David Bowie died.
This essay collection, ed. by James Rovira, connects #DavidBowie & #Romanticism, exploring ideas of #androgyny, space, music & #RomanticLiterature & more!

And what a perfect #mashup book cover in the #CasparDavidFriedrich year 2024! #CDF250

⚡️👨‍🎤🥀

Find the book here in our collection @subugoe

https://opac.sub.uni-goettingen.de/DB=1/XMLPRS=N/PPN?PPN=1842024744
⚡️

Celebrating Sir Walter Scott, born on this day, 1771, historian, novelist, playwright, linguist and poet, & considered one of the earliest historical novelists (his contemporary, Jane Porter had already made a name in that genre).

His influence was felt across Europe and America, with novels such as Ivanhoe, The Bride of Lammermoor, the Waverley series & many more.

Happy Birthday, Sir Walter!

#birthdayboy #literarybirthdays #sirwalterscott #literaryclassics #romanticliterature