Henry of Ofterdingen


Book Description

The patents had already retired to rest; the old clock ticked monotonously from the wall; the windows rattled with the whistling wind, and the chamber was dimly lighted by the flickering glimmer of the moon. The young man lay restless on his bed, thinking of the stranger and his tales. "It is not the treasures," said he to himself, "that have awakened in me such unutterable longings. Far from me is all avarice; but I long to behold the blue flower. It is constantly in my mind, and I can think and compose of nothing else. I have never been in such a mood. It seems as if I had hitherto been dreaming, or slumbering into another world; for in the world, in which hitherto I have lived, who would trouble himself about a flower?--I never have heard of such a strange passion for a flower here. I wonder, too, whence the stranger comes? None of our people have ever seen his like; still I know not why I should be so fascinated by his conversation. Others have listened to it, but none are moved by it as I am. Would that I could explain my feelings in words! I am often full of rapture, and it is only when the blue flower is out of my mind, that this deep, heart-felt longing overwhelms me.




The Blue Flower


Book Description

Romance between the poet Novalis and his fiancée Sophie, newly introduced by Candia McWilliam. The year is 1794 and Fritz, passionate, idealistic and brilliant, is seeking his fathers permission to announce his engagement to his hearts desire: twelve-year-old Sophie. His astounded family and friends are amused and disturbed by his betrothal. What can he be thinking?




Henry of Ofterdingen


Book Description




Necessary Luxuries


Book Description

Matt Erlin considers books and the culture around books during this period, focusing specifically on Germany where literature, and the fine arts in general, were the subject of soul-searching debates over the legitimacy of luxury.




Physiognomy in the European Novel


Book Description

After discussing Lavater's place in eighteenth-century German letters and his importance in the history of Western physiognomy, Dr. Tytler examines the literary portrait in the modern novel and suggests that the development of techniques of character description and the growth of observational powers of narrators and characters alike, as manifest in fiction from the 1790s onward, may be more fully appreciated when considered in the light of the physiognomical background previously delineated. Originally published in 1982. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




Hymns to the Night


Book Description

Includes an introductory essay 'Novalis and the Night'.




Rethinking Emotion


Book Description

What are emotions, where do they originate and how are they brought into being? While from antiquity to early modernity, affects or passions were mostly conceived of as external physiological forces which act upon a passive subject, modern conceptions generally locate emotions within the subject. Drawing on the dichotomy of “interiority / exteriority” as a complex interdependent relationship, they mostly envision emotions as interior processes. Contemporary conceptions of emotion from such different fields as human geography, art history and cognitive sciences recently started to challenge this notion of internal emotions by developing alternative descriptions of externalized emotion. This book reevaluates premodern, modern and contemporary conceptions of affects, passions and emotion by analyzing various historical manifestations of the discourse on emotion. Unlike most previous research, which ‐ especially in the German tradition ‐ often focused exclusively on the rise of the modern (Romantic) interiority without paying attention to the underlying dichotomy of “interiority / exteriority”, this study aims to explore the historical preconditions, the internal logic and the possible shortcomings that inform our thinking on emotion.




Phantastes


Book Description




Genres in Discourse


Book Description

A translation of recent essays by the eminent literary critic, Tzvelan Todorov.




The Novices of Sais


Book Description

Novalis is one of the great figures of German Romanticism. The Novices of Sais, translated into French in 1925, was received enthusiastically by artists and poets and is often quoted by the Surrealists. It was translated into English by Ralph Mannheim in 1949, with 60 original drawings by Klee. This is a new edition of this seminal Romantic text.




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