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University Microfilms International 300 N. ZEEB ROAD. ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW. LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8009323

N u e h r in g , St a n l e y P a u l

THE IDYLLS OF MALER MULLER: THEORY, SOCIETY, RECEPTION

The Ohio Slate University Ph.D. 1979

University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 18 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4EJ, England THE IDYLLS OF MALER MULLER:

THEORY, SOCIETY, RECEPTION

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Stanley P, Nuehring, B.A., M.A.

*****

The Ohio State University

1979

Reading Committee: Approved By

David P. B en seler

Henry J. Schmidt

Harry Vredeveld

Adviser Departfneryt o f German TO

Martin F. Gibson

Susan R. Lancaster

Anita M. Reynolds

Robert C. Reynolds

John Seidenschmidt, Jr.

Michael Stewart

i i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank most sincerely my Doktorvater, Prof.

Henry J. Schmidt, for his patience and untiring energy.

Without both this dissertation would still be a conglomerate of notes and ideas. Thanks are also in order for my readers,

Prof. David P. Benseler and Prof. Harry Vredeveld. Special recognition is deserved by Prof. Benseler and Prof. Michael

Jones for helping me obtain obscure materials.

Frequently those who help the candidate in less visible ways receive no recognition. I would like to recognize the efforts of Prof. Charles W. Hoffmann, Mrs. Beverly J. Sahin; and Mr. Martin F. Gibson. While words cannot cancel my debt to them and to many others, I offer this dissertation as proof that their efforts have not been in vain. VITA

February 22, 19 52 .... Born - P o s t v il ie , Iowa

1974 ...... B. A. , The University of Iowa, Iowa C ity, Iowa

19 74-76...... Teaching Assistant, Department o f German, The U n iv ersity o f Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

1976 ...... M. A., The University of Iowa, Iowa C ity, Iowa

19 76-77 ...... University Fellow, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

19 77-79...... Teaching Associate, Department of German, The Ohio S ta te University, Columbus, Ohio

PUBLICATIONS

"Tristan's Second Sojourn in Ireland." Forthcoming in Studies in Gottfried von Strassburg1s "Tristan". Ed. Hugo Bekker.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: German Literature

Minor Fields: German Linguistics and English Literature

i v TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... i i i

VITA ...... iv

Chapter

I . INTRODUCTION ...... 1

I I . EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN IDYLL THEORY: NATURE AND SO C IE T Y ...... 12

I I I . A SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF MALER MILLER'S IDYLLS ...... 62

The Palatine Trilogy ...... 66

The Biblical Id y lls ...... 105

The Arcadian I d y l l s ...... 116

IV. THE EARLY RECEPTION OF MILLER'SIDYLLS . . 125

The Palatine Trilogy ...... 143

The Biblical Idylls ...... 151

The Arcadian I d y lls ...... 15 8

V. CONCLUSION . 166

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 171

V I. INTRODUCTION

There are however pleasures and advantages in a rural situation, which are not con­ fined to philosophers and heroes. The freshness of the air, the verdure of the w oods, the p a in t of the mea­ dows, and the unexhausted variety which summer scatters upon the e a rth , may e a s ily give delight to an unlearned spectator. . . . Novelty is itself a source of gratifica­ tion, and Milton justly observes, that to him who has been long pent up in cities no rural object can be pre­ sented, which will not delight or r efre sh some o f h is sen se. --Samuel Johnson

The contrasts of city-countryside, complex-simple, and constraint-freedom, repeatedly appear in German literature of the eighteenth century. The historical development of Absolutism, mercantilism, and the rise of the bourgeoisie paralleled the discovery, exploration, and documentation of rural and exotic lands and their peoples.

The eighteenth century saw the abuse of absolute power, the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, population

"explosions," and increased poverty among the peasantry.

1 Samuel Johnson, 2 July 1751, Rambler, in Essays from the " Rambler,11 "Adventurer," and "Idler" , ed. W. J. Bate (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1968), pp. 184-85. Concomi tantly this same era gave rise to the nostalgic notions of utopian societies, of the Tahiti myth, the noble savage, and Robinson Crusoe. Freed from the con­ straints of urban life, the enlightened bourgeois indi­ vidual believed he could rely on his own productive capabilities in order to create a new world.

While such themes and notions were familiar to all forms of literature during the eighteenth century, one genre--the idyll--had a long-established tradition of depicting and reconciling the urban-rural contrast.

And during the eighteenth century the German-speaking lands did not want for idyllists. These authors reformu­ lated the humanist tradition based on Theocritus and

Virgil, and created idylls which reflected bourgeois values and aspirations. By the 1770s German idyllists became internationally famous, yet by 1800 the genre had a l l but e x p i r e d . ^

The following study examines a small segment of the history of the German idyll during the eighteenth century. In the bibliography to this study the reader

^ This fact is true of England and France as well. See Raimund Borgmeier, The Dying Shepherd: Die T radition der englischen Ekloge von Pope bis Wordsworth (Ttibingen: Niemeyer, 1976), pp. Iff. See also Oscar Netoliczka, "Schhferdichtung und Poetik im 18. Jahrhundert," Vierteljahrschrift fhr Litteraturgeschichte , 2 (1889), pp. 6- 7. will find several studies of the period and of the leading

idyllists: Salomon Gessner and Johann Heinrich Voss.

Recent scholarship has focused on these two authors for

good reason--they became the most prominent writers of

the genre. If we are to place the contributions of these

two men into perspective with regard to the efforts of

their contemporaries, we must consider the literary art

of their coevals as well. For five years, 1775-1779, a

young idyllist published in Mannheim. While derivative

of Gfessner, he nonetheless challenged the genre and its

traditional conventions.

His name was Maler Mttller, and he belonged to the

s o -c a lle d Sturm und Drang g en eration . Born 13 January

1749 at Kreuznach, Johannes Friedrich Mhller was seven months older than Goethe. The first of seven children,

Friedrich was destined by his innkeeper father to receive

a good education. Mhller's devoutly Lutheran mother began

the instruction of her children, for she hoped "dass wenn sie erwllichsen, sie in der Welt zu brauchen w & r e n . " ^

Mhller did not meet his mother's protestant ideal of p rod u ctiven ess. The future p a in te r and author p referred wandering in the fields and groves, and playing pranks at the Reformed Gymnasium to preparing h im self for a u sefu l

3 Quoted in Bernhard Seuffert, Maler JM tiller (Berlin: Weidmann, 1877), p. 10. career. After his confirmation in 1763 Mtlller left school

in order to help support his widowed mother at the inn.

The adolescent developed an interest in painting, and,

after much effort, was taken up by the ducal court of

Christian IV at Zweibrtlcken in order to study art under

Konrad Manlich.

Zweibrtlcken, like many small courts, endeavored to

imitate Versailles. It was here that Mtlller became a

court favorite for sketching the duke's horses. His

greatest success lay in his ability to improvise on the

stage. Mtlller acted in many of the court's pastoral

plays.^ During the Zweibrtlcken years he came into con­

tact with the Gttttingen Hainbund, and he developed a

strong admiration for Klopstock. However, these contacts

were temporarily broken. The young artist had several

escapades with noble ladies, and by 1774 he found himself

persona non grata at Zweibrtlcken. He moved to the

Mannheim court of the elector Karl Theodor later that

year.

In his new home Mtlller found a fertile atmosphere

for his artistic talents. The Akademie der Wissenschaften

and the Deutsche Gesellschaft had been established to

further German interests and language at a "French court."

Mtlller helped to establish the Nationaltheater, which

^ Seuffert, p. 13. brought forth a German stage in place of a French one.

During these culturally important years of the 1770s

Mtlller did not forget his rural heritage. From 1775 to

1779 he published and wrote idylls, and became the first

German author to incorporate the historical eighteenth-

century Rhineland into pastoral literature. For this

fa c t h is i d y l l s are commonly c re d ited w ith the term

"realisti c ."

However, M tiller's idylls go far beyond the inclusion of realistic detail. As a friend of the Sturm und Drang authors he was also familiar and conversant with their

concerns. In his own works he repeatedly employed such themes as Promethean rebellion, fratricide, infanticide, rebellion against the absolutism of rulers and fathers, and the like. Furious outbursts of emotion, alienated subjectivity, situations in extremis are central elements in the literary creations of Mtlller and his friends. Yet

Mtlller combined these elements with the pastoral tradition.

One may fairly ask of such a peculiar marriage: are these works still idylls?

Etymologically one may say that most of Mtlller1 s pastoral works are "idylls," for they are "short, inde­ pendent works? about rural life. During Mtlller1 s lifetime the term "idyll" was erroneously taken to mean "a little p i c t u r e ,but even this definition does not limit the

5 See Renate Bftschenstein-Sch&fer, Idylle, Sammlung 6

lin g u is t ic and th em atic content.

Contrary to our era, which is no longer cognizant of

an accepted idyll tradition, Mhller's society "knew" what

was expected of the idyllist and the genre. Pastoral

themes and conventions had a two thousand-year h isto r y

by Mtlller's day. Before I delineate the focus of the

present study, I must first briefly look at this extensive

pastoral tradition.

Theocritus1 Idylls and Virgil's Eclogues (also called

Bticolica) are considered the starting point of the pastoral

tradition. Their works employ shepherds, goatherds, and

other rural denizens, who speak in monologs, dialogs, or

- in panegyrics. The works establish the following conven­

tions: the pastoral elegy, the singing contest, praise

of a ruler, the lament over unrequited love, the wish to

be known and loved by another party, masquerades, and the

like. These and other conventions were continued and

modified by the humanists of the Renaissance, many of whom

took their lead from Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.®

Metzler, 63 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1967), and Klaus Garber, Per locus amoenus und der locus terribilis: BiId und Funktion der Natur in der deutschen Schafer- und Land- lebendichtung des 17. Jahrhunderts, Literatur und Leben, 16 (Ktiln: Btthlau, 1974).

A very readable and thorough history of the pastoral during this period is provided by W. Leonard Grant, Neo- Latin Literature and the Pastoral (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina, 1965). 7

The authors of the German Baroque continued the

pastoral traditions established in the Renaissance. Klaus

Garber's recent study provides valuable information about

the pastoral themes and conventions as they appeared in

the novel, drama, and opera, as well as in the eclogue

and i d y l l . 7

German idylls of the eighteenth century took their

impetus from foreign aesthetic theory and enlightened

thought. The initial impetus began in France during

the reign of the Sun King. In the preface to his

Eclogae sacrae, "Dissertatio de carmine pastorali" (1659) ,

Rapin urged pastoral poets to return to the authority of

ancient models, as had the Renaissance poets before him.

Such a traditional stance was challenged by Fontenelle

in his essay "Discours sur la nature de l'eglogue" (1688).

Influenced by his mentor Descartes, Fontenelfe rejected the

authority of the ancients in favor of illumination from

the light of Reason. Hibberd summarizes Fontenelle1s

guidelines thus: "... pastoral poetry should depict

the emotions of lovers; it was imitation of nature in so

far as it selected from reality, painting the pleasant

aspects of rural existence, but suppressing all that was 8 less amenable to polite taste."

^ See footnote 5. O John L. Hibberd, Salomon Gessner: His Creative Achievement and Influence, Anglica Germanica Series, 2 The quarrel between Rapin and Fontenelle entered

first England and then G e r m a n y .^ Pope wrote four pas­

torals on the four seasons and sided with the Ancients

in A Discourse on Pastoral Poetry (publ. 1709). Philips,

Addison, and others chose the side of the Modems, and

tempered Fontenelle's rationalism with empiricism.^

The idylls and theories of the above authors

entered Germany and influenced Gottsched's theory of

the genre. As a student of Wolffian philosophy, Gottsched

understood the French and English theories within the con­

text of the German Enlightenment. This Enlightenment

sought to improve the education and morality of the bourgeoisie. Consequently Gottsched divorced the idyll

from its courtly masquerades and courtly speech. The nobility's perception of nature, society, and mores was replaced by a bourgeois paradigm. Love-sick shepherds

and their allusions to Greek literature gave way to characters who reflected bourgeois taste. The individual shepherds were replaced by rural families.

(Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1976), p. 33. Hereafter cited as Hibberd, Gessner. 9 Rapin was translated into English m 16 84 by Thomas Creech, and Fontenelle in 1695 by "Mr. Motteux." Gottsched was versed in Fontenelle's works and familiar with the English debate through the moral weeklies.

James E. Congleton, Theories of Pastoral Poetry in England 16 84-179 8 (Gainesville, FI.: Univ. Press, 1952), p. 95. Gottsched's aesthetics were expanded, modified, and

developed before the advent of Mtlller's idylls. Gessner's

creations brought the genre, in Netoliczka's words, to its

"relative Vollendung." What could a young author bring

to the genre in oi'der to avoid simple mimicry? In the

spirit of his fellow Sturm und Drang friends, Mtlller

chose to experiment with the language and thematic content

of the genre. Two significant dissertations have explored

his language and have shown, on the one hand, considerable

indebtedness to Klopstock and G essner, and on the o th er ,

many departures from traditional sentence structure, vocabu- 12 lary, and style. This study intends to xnvestrgate the

thematic content of Mtlller1 s idylls.

In chapter two I shall investigate eighteenth-century

German idyll theory. Mtlller attempted in the 1775 publica­

tion of Die Schafschur to justify his challenge to the

traditional thematic content of the genre. Never one to

complete an aesthetic theory, Mtlller left much unsaid con­

cerning the aesthetics of the genre.

In order to better understand Mtlller1 s formulation of the genre, we must therefore also consider the artist

Netoliczka, p. 7.

Ulrich Dbnnges, "Maler Mtlllers Prosastil aufge- zeigt an seinen Idyllen,k Diss. Ttlbingen 1960; Carl F. A. Lange, Maler Mtlllers Jugendsprache, Diss. Univ. of Michigan 1904 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Georg Wahr, 1904). 10

in practice. The third chapter will carefully sift the themes of the idylls in order to provide answers to the

following: Where does Mtlller adhere thematically to the tradition and where does he challenge it? Can the idyllist challenge the idyll with Sturm und Drang themes without exploding the genre? If so, how does he integrate the disparate elements?

We should not be misled by the above questions into thinking, because Mtlller had one foot in an old literary tradition and the other in an experimental possibility, that Mtlller is a transitional author in the development of the idyll. His experimentation was not imitated nor expanded by other authors. Mtlller's idylls nonetheless havea unique advantage over those works which "completely" fit into a given literary "camp." His pastoral creations are the juxtaposition of old and new, tradition and experi­ mentation. They "slip" into the cracks between two literary trends ■ and afford us the opportunity to see old themes, styles, and conventions under question.

The fourth chapter w ill take the insights garnered from Mhller's theory and practice and examine them in the light of the early reading public: How did the bourgeois readers react to the author's experimentation with the idyll tradition?

In order to perceive more clearly Mliller's experi­ mentation with the genre, however, we must first consider the tradition itself. Let us therefore begin at

source of eighteenth-century German idyll theory-

Gottsched. I I. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN IDYLL THEORY:

NATURE AND SOCIETY

II ne s'agit pas simplement de peindre, il faut peindre des objets qui fassent plaisir ^ voir. Quand on me represente le repos qui regne a la cam- pagne, la simplicite & la tendresse avec laquelle 1'amour s'y traite, mon imagination touchee & emue me transporte dans la condition de Berger, je suis Berger: mais que 11 on me represente, quoiqu'avec toute 1'exactitude & toute la justesse possible, les viles occupations des Bergers, elles ne me font point d'envie, & mon imagination demeure fort froide. Le princi­ pal avantage de la Poesie con- siste a nous depeindre vivement les chose qui nous interessent, & a saisir avec force ce coeur qui prend plaisir ^ etre remue. --Fon tenelie

German idyll theory of the eighteenth century extends from Gottsched to Jean Paul, and may be considered a con­ tinuous dialogue with three major phases. Gottsched established the idyll within a distinctly bourgeois frame­ work. His theory went largely unchallenged until the 1760s, during which time a debate was waged in the literary

Bernard L. B. de Fontenelle, "Discours sur la nature de l'eglogue," in Oeuvres (Paris: Libraires Associes, 1766), IV, 144-45.

12 13

journals. At the end of this debate Mtiller formulated his

theory in Die Schafschur. To conclude with Mtlller would

distort the importance of his contribution, for with his

departure to Rome in 1778, he disappeared from the literary

scene. Other theories by Schiller, von Humboldt, and Jean

Paul, and the idylls of Goethe and Voss established the

aesthetic norms for the last phase of the eighteenth

century. These last theories will conclude the discussion.

Like Fontenelle, Gottsched prefers an idyll which portrays "les choses qui nous intexessent." However, the

love poems and masquerades o f cou rtly s o c ie ty are fa r from

Gottsched's mind. Instead, he is interested in a pastoral world which reflects bourgeois taste and depicts moral improvement as espoused by enlightened thought. Arcadia and the familial life within this ideal realm take on new characteri sties.

Gottsched rejects the traditional ahistorical arcadia.

In its place he calls for the idyllist to portray classical antiquity and the patriarchal world of the Bible. He understands the bucolic life portrayed in these ancient documents to be an historical phenomenon:

W ill man nun w isse n , worin das rechte Wesen eines guten Sch&fergedichts besteht, so kann ich k h rzlich sagen: in der Nachahmung des u n sch u ld ig en , ruhigen und ungekhnstelten SchSferlebens, welches vorzeiten in der Welt 14

geftlhret worden. Poetisch wtirde ich s agen, es sei eine Abschilderung des ghldenen We.ltalters; auf christliche Art zu reden aber: eine Vor- stellung des Standes der Unschuld oder doch wenigstens der patriarchalischen Zeit, vor und nach der Stindflut. Aus dieser Beschreibung kann ein jeder leicht wahrnehmen, was ftir ein herr- liches Feld zu schbnen Beschreibungen eines tugendhaften und gliicklichen Lebens sich hier einem Poeten zeiget. Denn die Wahrheit zu sagen, der h eu tige S ch b fersta n d , zumal in unserm Vaterlande, ist derjenige nicht, den man in Schbfergedichten abschildern muss. Er hat viel zu wenig Annehmlichkeiten, als dass er uns recht gefallen kbnnte. Unsre Landleute sind mehrenteils armselige, gedrbckte und geplagte Leute. Sie sind selten die Besitzer ihrer Herden, und wenn s ie es g le ic h sin d , so werden ihnen doch so v i e l S teu em und Abgaben a u fer- legt, dass sie bei aller ihrer sauren Arbeit kaum ihr Brot haben. Zudem herrschen unter ihnen so viel Laster, dass man sie nicht mehr als Muster der Tugend auffhhren kann. Es mtssen ganz andre Schbfer sein, die ein Poet abschildern und deren Lebensart er in seinen Gedichten nachahmen soll.^

Gottsched is aware of the plight of the peasantry, but

because he understands such oppression to be the result

of moral degeneration in human history, he does not

decry its existence. Rather he replaces contemporary

reality and its immorality with an ideal based on what he understands to be history. The residents of an

"historical" Arcadia become moral models for the bour­

geoisie; they are tugendhaft and glbcklich. Gottsched

embellishes the ideal thus: "Ihr Umgang ist von aller

Johann C. Gottsched, Versuch einer Critiscfien Pichtkunst, 4th ed. (1751; rpt. Darmstadt: Wissen- schaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1962), p. 582. 15

Grobheit so weit als von alien Komplimenten und von der

Falschheit entfemt. Sie sind offenherzig, aber beschei-

den; freigebig, aber nicht verschwenderisch; sparsam, aber nicht karg; ehrliebend, aber nicht stolz. Endlich sind sie auch mSssig und nlichtem, und mit einera Woi'te 3 ganz tugendhaft und v erg n h g t."

The idealization of the bucolic life must nonethe­ less be wahrscheinlich. The "real" shepherds are no longer masked courtiers; the bourgeoisie enter the i d y l l :

Ein f r e ie s Volk, w elches von keinen Kft- nigen und Fhrsten w e iss , wohnet in einem warmen und fe tte n Lande, welches an allem einen 5berfluss hat und nicht nur Gras, KrSuter und BSume, sondern auch die schbn- sten Frhchte von sich selbst hervorbringt. Von schwerer Arbeit weiss man daselbst ebenso wenig als von Drangsalen und Kriegen. Ein jedei~ Hausvater ist sein eigener Kbnig •und Herr; sein e Kinder und Knechte sind seine Untertanen, seine Nachbaren sind seine Bundesgenossen und Freunde; seine Herden sind sein Feichtum, und zu Feinden hat er sonst niemanden als die wilden Tiere, die seinem Viehe zuweilen Schaden tun wollen. Eine hblzerne Hlitte oder wohl gar ein Strohdach ist ihm ein Pallast, ein grllner Lustwald sein Garten, ein e khhle Hfthle sein K e lle r , ein e Lauberhhtte sein Sommerhaus.

The family is the important social unit of the idyll in place of the traditional individual lover, swain, etc.

3 Gottsched, p. 584. 4 Gottsched, p. 583. 16

As head of the household the father rules absolutely.

Quabius demonstrates that everyone is subservient to his absolute authority.^ Departing from the idyll tradition/

Gottsched understands the idyll and its characters as a bourgeois paradigm.

The idylls written by the Leipzig Deutsche Gesell- schaft and those of Benjamin Neukirch (whom Gottsched called the "deutscher Theokrit") nonetheless parted company w ith G ottsch ed 's th eory. Antique shepherd names returned alongside coarse allusions to rural life, characteristics of the Baroque idyll.® The idylls of the

Anacreontics, such as Hagedorn, also did not adhere to

Gottsched's theory, because they incorporated a playful vision of Greek mythology (a violation of the Wahrschein- 7 lichkeitsprinzip).

Gottsched's theory and Berlin friends were attacked in 1746 by Johann Adolf Schlegel, an adherent of Bodmer

^ Richard Quabius, Generationsverhhltnisse im Sturm und Drang, L ite ra tu r und Leben, 17 (Kftln: Bbhlau, 1976), p. 15. A more thorough depiction of the bourgeois family is provided in Chapter III, pp. 69-71.

Hans-Joachim Mcihl, Die Idee des goldenen Zei talters im Werk des Novalis: Studien zur Wesensbestimmung der frhh- romantischen Utopie und zu ihren ideengeschichtlichen Voraus- setzungen (Heidelberg: Winter, 1965), p. 151.

M&hl, pp. 154-55. While participating in the idyll tradition of'the preceding century, the Anacreontics have gone through the influence of the Enlightenment. They portray the idyllic experience with an ironic, distanced a ttitu d e . 17

and Breitinger.® Schlegel's anonymously published parody

attacks Gottsched*s strict Wahrscheinlichkeitsprinzip by proposing a pastoral with the broadest possible inclusion of "realistic" details—the greater the number of details

from the real world, the more probable the work o f art:

"Das ist mein erstes, wenn ich ein Sch&fergedicht zu sehen bekomme, dass ich nachz&hle, wie v ie le mal von

Bflcken, vom Schlachten, vom Hofe, von St&llen, von Viehe, von Molken, vom M&hen, von Sch&psen, von Sch&ferknechten, von E rb sen stro h e, vom M&sten, vom Dttnger, oder von son st etwas Wirthschaftlichen geredet wird; und darnach urtheile ich, welches das beste ist." 9

The middle decades of the eighteenth century brought idyll theory into the forefront of literary debate. As with other aspects of German literature, French theory served as the point of departure. The Abbe Batteux* treatise Les Beaux Arts reduit A un meme principe (1746) was translated into German by Johann Adolf Schlegel (1751)-*-0

® [Johann A. SchlegeQ, Vom Nathrlichen in SchSfer- gedichten, wider die Verfasser der Bremischen neuen Bey- tr&ge verfertigt vom Nisus einem SchSfer in den Kohlghrten einem Dorfe vor Leipzig: Zweyte Auflage, besorgt und mit Anmerkungen verm ehrt, von Harms Gbrgen g l e ic h f a lls einem SchSfer daselbst. (Zlirich: Heidegger, 1746). Nisus is an allusion to a figure in Gottsched's pastoral drama, A ta la n ta .

^ VQIT1 Nattrlichen, quoted in M&hl, p. 156. I do. not have access to the original.

Schlegel's title: Batteux, Professors der Rede- kunst an dem k&niglichan Collegio von Navarra, EinschrSn- kung der schfinen Khnste auf einen einzigen Grundsatz: 18

and Karl Wilhelm Ramler (1756).^ Batteux' theory was

welcomed by the Berlin circles.-*-^ Schlegel could not

forbear, however, to include his own theory of the idyll

along with the translation. Schlegel's theory became

the first step toward a literary debate which dominated

the following decade.

Ramler's translation became the more instrumental

of the two in disseminating Batteux' theory, and appeared

in four editions in eighteen years. 1 Schlegel's trans­

lation, a cause celebre, did not so much disseminate

Batteux' aesthetics as raise the ire of several critics, and as a result experienced a shorter life in print.^

Because Ramler adhered closely to Batteux' "Grundshtze und

Aus dem Franzftsischen hbersetzt, und mit einem Anhange einiger eignen Abhandlungen versehen (Leipzig: Weidmann, 1751). Hereafter cited as Schlegel-Batteux.

Ramler's t i t l e : E in le itu n g in d ie Schftnen Wissens chaften: Nach dem Franzttsischen des Herrn Batteux, mit ZusStzen vermehret (Leipzig: Weidmann, 1756). Hereafter cited as Ramler-Batteux. Surprisingly both translations appeared from the same publisher. Only Ramler's translation was available for this study. 12 Robert T. Clark, Jr., Herder: His Life and Thought (Berkeley: Univ. of California, 1955), p. 23.

Ramler published a third edition in 1770 and the expanded fourth edition in 1774.

Schlegel published only a second edition in 1759. See also Hugo Bieber, Johann Adolf SchlegeIs poetische Theorie in ihrem h is t o r is c h e n Zusammenhange u n te rsu c h t, Palaestra, 114 (Berlin: Mayer & Mliller, 1912) , p. 7. 19 Criticken" in his translation/'1‘5 I w ill discuss first

Ramler's translation, i.e. Batteux' theory, and then

delineate Schlegel's divergence from the French author.

Batteux attempts to smooth over the gap between

the Baroque and rationalist idyll theories,w herein he d efin es the i d y l l as "eine Nachahmung des Landlebens"

as it occurs in the historical world, but "mit alien-

Reitzungen vorgestellt:"

Wenn diese Beschreibung richtig ist, so macht sie dem Streite mit einmal ein Ende, der sic h zwischen den Anh&ngern der a lten und neuem SchSfergedichte erhoben hat. Es wird also nicht genug seyn, dass man eine Materie, die an sich selbst nichts schhfermhssiges hat, bios mit einigen Blumen- Kr&ntzen behhnge: Man wird das Schhferleben selber zeigen mtissen, aber geschmhckt mit alien Annehmlichkeiten, deren es fhhig ist. '

18 The idyllic portrayal is both ideal and moral. While

1 6 Ramler-Batteux, p. 11 of the Vorrede. Mhhl assigns Batteux' opinions to Ramler. To be sure Ramler probably agreed with the French author, for he did not append or otherwise publish a differing viewpoint. However, all quotes from Ramler's translation w ill be understood to be those of Batteux himself. There seems to be no doubt that the German critics believed Ramler's translation, as Ramler himself maintained, to be faithful to Batteux' o r ig in a l.

16 Fontenelle's theory is foremost in Batteux' mind. However, Gottsched's rejection of earlier idyll theory is a parallel situation. 17 Ramler-Batteux, I, p. 317.

Ramler-Batteux, I, pp. 319-20. See also Mhhl, p. 161. 20

such a view is generally consistent with Gottsched's theory,

unlike his German counterpart, Batteux considers the aesthetic

(the poetic idealization) and the moral aspects to be equally

important. The idyll, reflecting exclusively a past Golden

Age,^ is a creation of the author.^ Batteux 1 Arcadia

does not recognize the necessity of change in the real, historical world: "Die Wiesen sind dort allezeit grlin; die

Schatten iirmer klihl; die L uft best& ndig r e in , eben so ; mttssen auch die Personen und die Handlungen in einem

Sch&fergedichte eine liebliche und lachende Gestalt anneh- 21 men." S ch le g e l ta k es the precedin g statem ent to an extreme in his own theory: "Die Schhferwelt ist nicht sowohl„eine Nachschilderung, als eine Schftpfung. Ihr

Arkadien ist nicht irgend eine Gegend unserer Welt. . . .

Nein! Die Sch&ferwelt gehftrt eben so wie die Feyenwelt, wie die Verwandlungswelt Ovids unter die bloss mbglichen, denen ein glhcklicher Einfall der Einbildungskraft ihre 22 Wirklichkeit gegeben hat." To be sure, Schlegel still

Batteux' belief in a past Golden Age conforms with that of Gottsched's. Ramler-Batteux, I, p. 330.

p r \ u Batteux' "creation" of nature could violate Gottsched's Wahrscheinlichkeitsprinzip.

21 Ramler-Batteux, I, p. 321.

9 9 Schlegel-Batteux, pp. 392-93, as quoted m Bella jSger, Naivit&t: Eine kritisch-utopische Kategorie in der btirgerlichen Literatur und Aesthetik des 18. Jahrhunderts, Skripten Literaturwissenschaft, 19 (Kronberg/Ts.: Scriptor, 1975) , p. 162. 21

23 • . attempts to adhere to Wahrschemlichkeit. However, m

Schlegel's possible bucolic world the shepherds—unlike

historical reality--synthesize the best aspects of urban

life and the simplicity of rural life in their personality.

The idyllist, who chooses such a possible shepherd, por­

trays "die angenehmsten Empfindungen auf die angenehmste

Weise."2^ Thus the goal of the author is to present the

most pleasing sentiments. Schlegel's theory assigns the

idyll to a non-temporal, mythical landscape of the poet's mind. Schlegel summarizes his theory thus: "Ihr wesent-

licher Inhalt sind die sanften Empfindungen eines glftck-

seligen Lebens, die vermittelst einer einfachen, weder heroischen, noch l&cherlichen, sondem nathrlichen Hand-

lung entwickelt werden; und in der fftr sie gehbrigen

Scene, in der reizenden Scene der Natur aufgestellet war­ den."25

In 1756 the Swiss author, Salomon Gessner, began publishing idylls. Schlegel so approved of Gessner's efforts that he revised his thinking in the second edition of the Batteux translation (1759). He praised

Gessner's portrayal of historical reality, which he 2 6 termed "Historienmalerey."

23 M&hl, p. 15 7. 24 Quoted in Netoliczka, p. 50. 25 Quoted in Netoliczka, p. 51.

26 M&hl, p. 159. 22

The Zurich author raised the German idyll to inter­

national fame. His works appeared in twenty languages

before his death in 1788.2^ Gessner's Vorrede to the

Idyllen reveals that the idyllic world, as with Gottsched,

is a projection of an ideal into the past:

Alle Gemaehlde von stiller Ruhe und sanftem ungestoehrtem Glyk myssen Leuten von e d le r Denk-Art gefalien; und um so viel mehr gefallen uns Scenen, die der Dichter aus der unverdorbenen Natur herholt, weil sie oft mit unsern seligsten Stunden, die wir gelebt, Aehnlichkeit zu haben scheinen. Oft reiss ich mich aus der Stadt los, und fliehe in einsame Gegenden; dann entreisst die Schoenheit der Natur mein Gemyth allem dem Ekel und a lie n den w iedrigen Eindryken, die mich aus der Stadt verfolgt haben; ganz entzykt, ganz Empfindung yber ihre Schoen­ heit, bin ich dann glyklich wie ein Hirt im goldnen Weltalter, und reicher als ein K oenig. 2 ®

Gessner defines the bucolic community in terms remini­

scent of Gottsched:

Die Ecloge hat ihre Scenen in eben diesen so beliebten Gegenden; sie bevoelkert die- selben mit wyrdigen Bewohnem, und giebt uns Zyge aus dem Leben g ly k lic h e r Leute, wie sie bey der natyrlichsten Einfalt der Sitten, der Lebens-Art und ihrer Neigungen, bey alien Begebnissen, in Glyk und Unglyk

2 7 Paul Leemann-van Elck, Salomon Gessner: Sein LebensbiId mit beschreibenden Verzeichnissen seiner literarischen und khnstlerischen Werke (Zilrich: Orell Fhssli, 19 30).

2 8 Salomon Gessner, Schriften (1762; rpt. Hildes- heim: Olms, 1976), III, vi-vii. 23

betragen. Sie sind frey von alien den sclavischen Verhaeltnissen, und von alien den Bedyrfnissen, die nur die unglykliche Entfernung von der Natur nothwendig machet; sie empfangen, bey unverdorbenem Herz und Verstand, ihr Blyk gerade aus der Hand dieser milden Mutter, und wohnen in Gegen­ den, wo sie nur wenig Hylfe fodert, urn ihnen die unschuldigen Bedyrfnisse und Bequemlichkeiten reichlich darzubieten. Kurz, sie schildert uns ein goldnes Welt- Alter, das gewiss einmal da gewesen ist; denn davon kann uns die Geschichte der Patriarchen yberzeugen; und die Einfalt der Sitten, die uns Homer schildert, scheint auch in den kriegerischen Zeiten noch ein Ueberbleibsel desselben zu seyn. Diese Dichtungs-Art bekoemmt daher einen besondern Vortheil, wenn man die Scenen in ein entferntes Welt-Alter sezt; sie erhalten dadurch einen hoehern Grad der Wahrscheinlichkeit, weil sie fyr unsre Zeiten nicht passen, wo der Landmann mit saurer Arbeit unterthaenig seinem Fyrsten land Staedten den Ueberfluss liefem muss, und Unterdrykung und Armuth ihn ungesittet und sch lau und n ie d e r tr a e c h tig gemacht haben.^9

Like Gottsched, Gessner is convinced of the ideal bucolic life as an historical phenomenon. Surprisingly,

Gessner expressed in his letters a belief that such an ideal existence could be found in his own day, yet he never reflected this belief in his works.

Despite the frequent use of Greek names, Gessner's swains, like Gottsched's, are protagonists of a contemporary

29 Gessner, III, pp. v n - x .

^ Dedner, p. 15. 24 31 bourgeois morality. Gessner's characters depart from

Gottsched's in several respects, foremost in that Gessner was greatly influenced by Pietism and Empfindsanikeit.

Gottsched's swains are sophisticated, enlightened intimates of bourgeois culture. Reminiscent of the Baroque idylls, these shepherds only wear masks of the peasantry. For this reason they have been criticized for lacking individual 32 characterization. Kaiser describes them thus: "Sie haben in Gottsched Sch&ferspiel "Atalanta" (1741) Romane in der Stadt kennengelernt, und der "fromme SchSferstand" unterscheidet sich vom "P&bel", von "plumpen Hirten" sowie groben "Bauerknechten" durch H&flichkeit, Tugend und ein O kultiviertes, vernunftgem&sses Gefhhlsleben."JJ Gessner's shepherds are characterized by empfindsam emotions, naive innocence, and sim plicity.^ Gottsched patterned his characters after the aristocratic refinements of Virgil, while Gessner tried to imitate the unrefined simplicity he claimed to find within the idylls of Theocritus. Gessner

31 Thomas Lange, Idyllische und exotische Sehnsucht: Formen bhrger1icher Nostalgie in der deutschen Literatur de_S 18, Jahrhunderts . Scriptor .Hochschulschriften: Litera- turwissenschaft, 23 (Kronberg/Ts.: Scriptor, 1976), p. 153.

32 Gustav A. Andreen, Studies in the Idyll in German Literature, Augustana Library Publications, 3 (Rock Island, 111.: Augustana Bookconcem, 1902), p. 45.

Kaiser, Wandrer und Idylie, p. 17.

34 K a iser, Wandrer und I d y l i e , p. 21. 25

rejects the Roman author, because he perceives Virgil's

shepherds to be less naive than those of Theocritus:

"Seinen 0?heocritus*2 Hirten hat er den hoechsten Grad

der Nalfetet gegeben; sie reden Empfindungen, so wie

sie ihnen ihr unverdorbenes Herz in den Mund legt, und

aller Schmuk der Po&sie ist aus ihren Geschaeften und 35 aus der ungekynstelten Natur hergenommen."

One should not infer from Gessner's insistence upon

nature and the naive that the author should present a

naturalistic portrait of rural life. Oh the contrary,

Gessner idealizes nature so that the reader's reaction

will be one of "ganz Empfindung yber ihre Schoenheit."

Such an idealization of nature was praised by many of

Gessner's reading public for its "naturalness." Such naturalness,according to Wieland, appeals distinctly

to bourgeois taste: "Meines Erachtens ist eine der

Hauptursachen warum wir Gessner Sch&ferinnen und Hirtin- nen so nathrlich finden, weil er sie uns nicht fhr unsere

Landsleute und Mitbfirger gibt, sondern fhr Bewohner eines 3 6 idealischen, ausdrhcklich f&r sie gemachten Arkadiens."

That Gessner's idealized Greek swains were understood to be natural was due largely to the bourgeois reader's id e n t if ic a t io n o f "Greek" w ith "prim itive" and th erefo re

35 Gessner, III, p. xi-xii. 3 6 Quoted in Burghard Dedner, "'Wege zum Realismus1 in der aufkl&rerischen Darstellung des Landlebens," Wirkendes Wort, 18 (1968) , p. 319. 26 37 with "natural" behavior. Winckelmann had compared Homer's heroes to American Indians and other authors drew parallels between ancient Greek customs and those of native communi- ties of the South Pacific and North America. 3 Q

Gessner's portrayal of Empfindungen and Schlegel's insistence upon sanfte Empfindungen form an unfortunate bond between these authors, for the critics identified

Gessner with Schlegel on this basis. The first to attack

Schlegel was Moses Mendelssohn, who criticized the second edition (1759) of the Batteux translation.

Mendelssohn published his theory, "Von dem eigent- lichen Gegenstand der Sch&ferpoesie," in numbers 85 and 86 of the Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend (1760).

Gottsched's external, historical realism—the subject matter—recedes in importante. Mendelssohn's central concern is the manner of portrayal, i.e. the style for portraying the psychological make-up of the idyll 39 characters. As a result he inveighs against Schlegel's

3 7 M. Kay Flavell, "'Arkadisch frei sei unser Glhck': The Myth of the Golden Age in Eighteenth-Century Germany," Publications of the English Goethe Society, 43 (19 72-73), . p. 7.

3 8 See Thomas Lange's discussion of the "noble savage" and the "Tahiti myth," pp. 193-259. Gessner was also fascinated with the "naturalness" of the North American Indian. In 1756 he published the second part of Inkel und Yariko (Bodmer intended to write the first part). 39 Hibberd, Gessner, p. 145. "sanfte Empfindungen eines glftckseligen Lebens" by insis­ ting that passion play an equal role: "Was ist nunmehr die Idylle? Nichts anders, dlinkt mich, als der sinn- lichste Ausdruck der httchst verschfcnerten Leidenschaften und Empfindungen solcher Menschen, die in kleinern Gesell- schaften zusammen leben.^ The portrayal of these

Empfindungen and L eidens chaften must still be "nach dem

Ideal. However, the author must choose the characters and their surroundings as nature dictates, that is, in accordance with the historical, external world, not in reflection of a possible (Schlegel)world: "Er veredelt die Empfindungen seiner Personen, und l&sst ihrer Lebensart nach die Vestigia ruris, dadurch sie, philosophisch zu reden, in ihrer Art bestimmt sind, weil die Lebensart nicht zu seiner Absicht gehbrt. Durch diesen Kunstgrif wird der Leser aus der Irre der idealischen Welt auf die

Natur zurlickgefhhrt, die Charaktere erlangen ein bestimmtes

Daseyn."^ Mendelssohn's description of nature permits the interpretation th&t the inclusion of realistic details 4 *3 can imply the "realism" of the whole work. J Such a

Moses Mendelssohn, "Von dem eigentlichen Gegenstand der Sch&ferpoesie," in Friedrich Nicolai, Gotthold Lessing, and Moses Mendelssohn, Briefe, die neueste Literatur betref- fend (1760; rpt. Hildesheim: 01ms, 1974), p. 125.

^ Mendelssohn, p. 124. 42 Mendelssohn, pp. 135-36. 43 See also Dedner, Topos, p. 29. 28

conclusion would allow for the very idyll which Schlegel

had berated in his parody, Vom Nathrlichen.

Mendelssohn limits the scope of the realistic details

as well as the depiction of the Empfindungen and Leiden- 44 schaften. These must conform to moral considerations.

Like Gottsched's theory and Gessner's idylls, the moral

aspect determined the aesthetic guidelines. Mendelssohn

remains rooted in Gottsched's theory.

In an essay entitled "Theokrit und Gessner" (1767),

Herder presents his theory of the idyll.45 In response to Mendelssohn's essay, Herder rejects the Berlin philosopher's emphasis on idealization and morality.

Herder maintains that Gessner's shepherd, praised by others for his "httchst vers chdnerten Empfindungen," is no longer human. Such a shepherd "handelt nicht mehr, sondem beschhftigt sich h&chstens, um seine Idealgrdsse 4 6 zu zeigen: er wird aus einem Menschen ein Engel." He thus modifies Mendelssohn's definition in two regards:

Das Ideal des SchSfergedichts ist: wenn man Empfindungen und Leidenschaften der Menschen in kleinen Gesellschaften so

Dedner, Topos, p. 29.

^ Johann G. Herder, Ueber die neuere Deutsche Litteratur: Eine Beilage zu den Briefen, die neueste Litteratur betreffend, in S&mmtliche Werke, ed. Bern- hard Suphan, I (B erlin: Weidmann, 1877), 337-50. 46 Herder, I, p. 341. 29

sinnlich zeigt, dass wir auf den Augen- blick init ihnen SchBfer werden, und so weit verschBnert zeigt, dass wir es den Augenblick werden wollen; kurz bis zur I llu s io n und zum hBchsten W ohlgefallen erhebt sich der Zweck der Idylie, nicht aber bis zum Ausdruck der Vollkommenheit, oder zur Moral is chen Besse rung. ^ 7

First, Mendelssohn's Empfindungen and Leidenschaften must achieve a physical mimetic (sinnlich) rather than an idealized portrayal. Herder emphasize^ less the subject matter than the style. 4 8 However, he insists upon the creation of "whrkliche Naturbilder," which he believes are exemplified in the idylls of

T heocritus: "Uns rhhrt n ic h t s , was n ic h t mehr Mensch ist: GBtter, die nicht menschlich werden, bewundem 49 wir hBchstens mit kalter Bewunderung." Second, the physical portrayal reflects Herder's estimation of aesthetic considerations over moral norms and moral improvement. The idyll need no longer present only moral characters, whose exemplary virtue intends to effect

^ Herder, I, pp. 343-33; emphasis added.

Mhhl designates the change an "entscheidende Neuorientierung der Idyllendichtung als Gattungsform," p. 167. Form is meant in a broad sense. Throughout the eighteenth century no specific form—prose, verse, drama--is prescribed in any of the theories. I there­ fore choose style to describe Herder's proposed formula­ tion. He desires a stylized portrayal taken from historical rural l i f e , which is midway between id e a liz e d ab straction and naturalism . 49 Herder, I, p. 341. 30

the moral improvement of the reader. Herder, like Gessner,

emphasizes the effect of Wohlgefallen, but casts the reader's

role into one of immediacy, of emotional identification

with the fiction. Such a reaction results from the style

of the fiction, not from a narration of realistic details.

The portrayal of humanness, a tenet which Herder s till

supports thirty years later,^ provides new possibilities

for the genre and fertile soil for the "realistic" idylls 51 of Maler Mhller.

Herder's theory deals the older theories an additional

blow. Gottsched and others had held that a perfect Golden

Age had existed in history and had given rise to pastoral

literature. Herder, however, does not believe that the 52 Ancients (read: Theocritus ) had such an age in mind in

their pastoral works:

Chapter seven of Herder's "Frtichte aus den soge- nannt-goldnen Zeiten des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts," Adrastea, 2 (1801), defines the idyll thus: "Darstellung oder Erz&hlung einer menschlichen Lebensweise ihrem Stande der Natur gemSss, mit Erhebung derselben zu einem Ideal von Glhck und Unglhck." Herder, S&mintliche Werke, XXIII, p. 303.

51 The increasing tendency toward "realism" which is commonly ascrib ed to M h ller's id y lls may be traced d ir e c tly to Herder's theory.

52 Herder neglects Hesiod's and Ovid's belief in the Golden Age. Theocritus conforms to Herder's taste. Theocritus' "grob und plump" characters (disliked by Gottsched) are for Herder proof positive that an ideal Golden Age was not the origin of idyllic poetry, rather mankind's everyday existence was the source for such poetic inspiration. 31

Das ganze goldene Weltalter, in welches die Schweizex die alten Schafer sezzen, ist also eine schBne Grille. Die Griech- schen Idyllendichter wissen von einer vollkommen goldnen Zeit nur im se lig e n Elysium der GBtter, und in der Jugend der Welt, wo die Helden lebten: da schBpften die Corybanten aus MilchstrBmen ihre Begeisterung; aber Theocrits Schfefer schBpfen k la res Wasser. . . . Er kann wilrkliche Sitten schildern. Da er sein Gem&lde aus dem Leben portr&tirte, und b is auf einen gew issen Grad erhBhete; so konnte er auch Leben in dasselbe b rin gen . ^

Herder's statements separate the past Golden Age from the idyll and imply that the portrayal of a projected age into the distant past is less true than the "realistic" portrayals of Theocritus. As a result, Herder frees the idyll to incorporate contemporary social concerns and milieu. Just as Theocritus incorporated his contem­ porary society, the idyll can now admit the Rhineland 54 peasants into Maler Mtlller's idylls.

In a review of Gessner's Moralische Erz&hlungen (1772) ,

Goethe presented his theory of the genre.55 Goethe does not object to Gessner's desire to escape the restraints of urban life. However, he insists that the reader identify with the fiction: "Wir kennen die Empfindungen, die aus

Herder, I, pp. 344-45.

54 M&hl, pp. 169-70.

5 5 Johann W. Goethe, "Moralische Erz&hlungen und Idyllen von Diderot und S. Gessner," Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen (1772; rpt. Bern: Lang, 1970), pp. 537-40. 32

der btlrgerlichen Gesellschaft in die Einsamkeit ftlhren, aufs C. C Land, wo wir dann nur zum Besuch sind, nur wie bey

e in e r V is ite die sch&ne S e ite der Wohnung seh n , und achl

nur sehn, der geringste Anteil, den wir an einer Sache 5 7 nehmen kftnnen." Playing the devil's advocate, Goethe

feigns praise for what he understands to be only a

plastic, visual world in Gessner's idylls:

Wer einen Mahlerblick in die Welt hat, wird mit inniger Freude vor seinen Gegenden verweilen, ein herrliches Ganze s t e i g t vor u n sem Augen auf, und dann das D e ta il, wie bestim m t, S te in e , Grhschen. Wir glauben, alles schon einmal gemahlt gesehen zu haben, oder wir mflchten's mahlen. Da sagt uns aber ein Feind poetischer Mahlerey: was ist's? Der Vorhang hebt sich, wir sehen in ein Theater, das ftlr uns, von der Seite zu beschauen eben so kllnstlich hintereinan- der geschoben, so wohl beleuchtet ist, und wenn w ir e in ig e Minuten Z eit gehabt

Thomas Koebner describes the phenomenon of visiting and reading in the open countryside as an act of "freedom” for the bourgeoisie, similar tothe freedom of the nobility: "Die .Einsamkeit in der Land- .. . schaft und die Lekttlre versetzen den ErzShler in eine Lage, wie sie der Adel als offenbar selbstverstSndlich geniesst—fern von alien Pflichten, besonders der Pflicht zu arbeiten und seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen, fern von alien Regelzwang, der im btlrgerlichen Alltag auf asketische Lebensftlhrung dr&ngt. " Thomas Koebner, "Lekttlre in freier Landschaft: Zur Theorie des Lese- verhaltens im 18. Jahrhundert," in Leser und Lesen im 18. Jahrhundert: Colloquium der Arbeitsstelle Achtzehn- te~s Jahrhundert. Gesamthochschule Wuppertal, Schloss Liln ten beck 2 4. - 26. Oktober 19 75, Beitrhge zur Geschichte der Literatur und Kunst des 18. Jahrhunderts, 1 (Heidelberg: Winter, 1977), p. 48. 57 Goethe, p. 53 8 . 33

haben, Ai zu sagen, dann treten Jungge- sellen und Jungfrauen herein, und spielen ih r S p ie l.

What the young critic faults is not simply Gessner's portrayal, but an aesthetic perception prevalent in

German bourgeois society during the eighteenth century.

This attitude is related to the popular device used for viewing art prints. The Guckkasten permits the viewer to "see into" the many details of which the whole work is composed, one detail after another:

Meist tr> die Landschaftsbetrachtung diesen Charakter der Guckkastenschau. Im Gegensatz zu dem pantheismus-nahen Naturgefhhl, das im Sturm und Drang auf- kommt, trennt der Rationalist zwischen Natur und Nensch. Er i s t b e s tr e b t, die Landschaft als "Gera&lde" perspektivistisch richtig zu sehen, auch hier den "Gesichts- punkt" klar festzulegen. Selten oder nie wird der Mensch eins mit der Natur. Er w ill sie nicht erfhhlen, sondern sehen,

58 Goethe, pp. 538-39. Rolf Geissler describes Gessner's idylls along similar lines when he discusses the Swiss author's use of the term "Scenen:" "Scenen ist nhmlich der von drei Seiten begrenzte Raum, die Blihne, die sich nach einer Seite den Zuschauer fiffnet. Die dreiseitige Geschlossenheit wehrt das Aussen ab und gibt so, ohne Stfirung durch fremdes Geschehen erst eine rechte Einsicht. Der Bildcharakter der Gessnerschen Idyllen ist also das begrenzende Hineinsehen in die Natur, das erst durch die Begrenzung jenes harmonische Geflhge seiner Bilder mOglich macht. Das Bild, das er uns sehen ISsst, ist eine Ein-Bildung in die Natur, die so, ihrer Unendlichkeit und ihrer ver&ndernden Mhchtigkeit beraubt, als gestimmte Zust&ndlichkeit erfahren wird." Rolf Geissler, "Versuch liber die Idylle," Wirkendes Wort, 11 (1961) , p. 276. 34

aus wohlerwogenem Abstand kritisch prhfen. Immer beh< diese Sehweise etwas von deni Handwerklichen des Malers : umrahinend/ zu- sairmenrbckend, komponierend sucht sie gleich- sam durch die dunkle Kammer oder andere Hilfsmittel, die der Zeit gemhss waren, zu betrachten. So kehren in der Landschafts- schilderung die Ausdrhcke iminer wieder,' die das uinrahmte und komponierte, kttnstliche Bild bezeichnen: man spricht von "Szenen" und " A u ftr itte n " , von "Gem&lden" und der "Gem&ldegalerie" der Natur.^9

Goethe does find praise for Gessner's Das hftlzerne

Bein; Eine Schweitzeridylie. The work depicts a

scene set in the Swiss Middle Ages. He praises

Gessner's "Nationalinteresse," a topic popular among

those authors identified as Sturm und Dr ang: "QTjie

lebendig l&sst sich an diesem kleinen Stftcke ffthlen,

was Gessner uns seyn kbnnte."^® The fire of Goethe's

criticism is due primarily to his youth, for he no

longer adheres to these views in later life .^

5 9 August Lange, Anschauungsformen in der deutschen Dichtung des 18. Jahrhunderts: Rahmenschau und Rationa- lismus (1934; rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchge- sellschaft, 1965), pp. 40-41. f\ n Goethe faults the endings of Gessner's idylls: "kann eine Handlung durch nichts rund werden, als durch eine Hochzeit?" p. 540. Nonetheless, Mliller's Palatine trilogy, Voss' Luise and Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea end in marriages. 61 During Goethe's trip to Rome in 1786, he and Wilhelm Tischbein proposed a collaboration on future paintings. In 1821 Tischbein sent Goethe water color sketches entitled Idylien for which Goethe composed poems in the summer, 1821. To th ese he added prose description s. To the fifth sketch Goethe writes a much 35

The heat of Goethe's statements piqued Johann Jakob

Engel to come to the defense of Gessner in late 1772. In a review of the fifth volume of Gessner's Schriften, Engel defends the Swiss author's idylls by insisting that the narrative technique is true to established literary m o d e l s .The fable proceeds step by step, it is not a spatial Nebeneinander, which Lessing ascribed to the visual arts in Laokoon. The visual elements, "die er e in s tr e u t, sind w enig, und d ie da sin d , sin d die bedeu- tendsten oder angenehmsten, die nur zu finden waren; alles 6 3 ist Leben und Bewegung, alles Gefhhl und Seele." The

different description of the idyll. Appropriate subject matter for the idyll may be described as das ewig Mensch- liche: "Alle kunstreichen idyllischen Darstellungen er- werben sich deshalb die grfisste Gunst, weil menschlich- nathrliche, ewig wiederkehrende, erfreuliche LebenszustSnde einfach-wahrhaft vorgetragen werden, freilich abgesondert von allem Lhstigen, Unreinen, Widerwhrtigen, worein wir sie auf Erden gehhllt sehn. Mhtterliche, vSterliche Verh<nisse zu Kindem, besonders zu Knaben, Spiel- und Naschlust der Kleinen, Bildungstrieb, Ernst und Sorge der Erwachsenen, das alles spiegelt sich gar lieblich gegenein ander." Goethe, "Wilhelm Tischbeins Idyllen," in Werke, ed. Emil Staiger (Frankfurt/M.: Insel, 1970), VI, 326. r p Johann J. Engel, "Salomon Gessners Schriften. Flinfter Band. Z hr ich bey Or e ll, Gessner und Comp. 17 72 ," Neue B ib lioth ek der schttnen Wiss e n schaften und der freyen Klinste , rpt. in Uber Handlung, GesprSch und Ec zhh 1 ung: Faksim iliedruck der e r s t e n Fassunq von 1774 aus der "Neuen Bibliothek der schRnen W.issenschaften und der freyen Klinste" , ed. E. Theodor Voss (S tu ttg a rt: M e^zler, 196 4) , pp. 80-105. Hereafter cited as Engel, "Gessner."

63 Engel, "Gessner," p. 89. 36

emphasis upon the pleasant (angenehm) is reminiscent of

J. A. Schlegel. More revealing is Engel's second argu­

ment which insists upon the idealization of the idyllic

world—the idyllist produces an abstraction:

Nur zweyerley Ver&nderungen hat der Dichter mit dem wirklichen Menschen vorgenommen, um die Idee von ihnen herauszubringen. Er hat alle die neuen und verwickelten Verhhltnisse, die Bedftrfnisse, die Leidenschaften hinweg- genommen, die durch die grttssern G ese11schaf- ten, worinn wir leben, zu den nathrlichen noch hinzugekommen waren; und dann hat er auch jene ursprlingli chen Neigungen, jene von der menschlichen Natur unzertrennlichen Lei­ denschaften, in einer Reinigkeit und Unschuld angenommen, wie s ie v i e l l e i c h t n ie m a ls, zu keiner Zeit und unter keinem Volke, existirt haben. Sollten wir dem Dichter aus dieser A bstraktion einen Vorwurf machen?®^

Herder and Goethe would respond affirmatively to Engel's rhetorical question. Engel rejects Herder's emphasis on the completely human (Mensch) representation. In its place he proposes an idealized abstraction for two reasons: the present state of mankind has corrupted the most idyllic of communities. Second, Engel believes the ideal abstraction has "wirklich Aehnlichkeit" with the most p lea sa n t moments of eig h teen th -cen tu ry l i f e .

Following this review Engel expands his idyll theory into a larger treatise. 65 He believes the best

64 Engel, "Gessner," p. 89.

Johann J. Engel, Anfangsgrtinde einer Th_eor_ie der Pi chtungs arten aus deutschen Mus tern en tw.i eke I t , Vol. XI of Schriften (Berlin: Mylius, 1844). Chapter 4 (pp. 55- 37 historical examples for the idyll are to be found in ancient Greece and patriarchal world of the Bible.

Like Gottsched he seeks a model "die er nachahmen kann."

Engel wishes to include contemporary shepherds, provided they have not lost any of their "ersten ursprhnglichen

Einfalt;" however, his argument for their historical existence is even less convincing than in his Gessner review.

Engel defends the Gessnerian tradition and emphasizes the moral representation. The idyll must be "naive," which he defines as "edle moralische Gesinnungen, Unschuld, feine und zarte Empfindung." He equates the. moral with the aesthetic representation. He defines Herder's

Wohlgefalien as "sanfte Rlhhrung:" "Aber das wird der

Zweck der Idylle erfordern: dass man die Gem&lde des

Unglhcks, der fehlerhaften, selbst boshaften Charaktere noch iininer mSssige und in milderm Lichte halte; dass man nie die Erbitterung hber die sanfte Rhhrung, den Abscheu

ft 7 hber das Wohlgefallen das Uebergewicht erhalten lasse."

The reader is gently moved by moderate emotions and actions to moral improvement.. Such an attitude is less

83) is devoted exclusively to the idyll. Hereafter cited as E ngel, An fan g s g rtin de.

^ Engel, At fangsgrhnde, p. 74.

6 7 Engel, Anfangsgrhnde, p. 70. 38 a rejection of Herder's theory than it is a final state­

ment in defense of the idyll which held sway before the

1760s. With Engel's defense of the Gessnerian tradition,

the idyll debate ends.

Two years later (1774) , Johann Georg Sulzer published

a descriptive history of the European idyll and pastoral

tradition in the second part of his Allgemeine Theorie der sch 5nen Kilns te. f i Q Sulzer had his prescriptive biases 69 for certain idyllists, but in general he accepted the traditional view of the idyll, which, but for Herder and

Goethe, still held sway in the editions and anthologies published at the time.70

r q Johann G. Sulzer, Allgemeine Theorie der schttnen Khnste in e in zein en , nach alp h ab etisch er Ordnung der Kunstwttrter aufeinanderfolgenden, Artikeln abgehandelt, 5 vols., 2nd ed. (1792-99; rpt. Hildesheim: Olms, 1967- 70). The first complete edition (Vols. I-IV) appeared in 1773-74 , in Leipzig. Volume V is the Regis ter com­ p ile d by Blanckenburg. 69 At the end of his discussion of contemporary German idylls, Sulzer shows a strong bias for Gessner and against Mhller, whose language is "zu uncorrect." 70 Klamer E. K. Schmidt published a two volume anthology of idylls in 1774 and 1775: Idylien der Deutsehen aus gedruckten sowohl als handschriftlichen Originalien gesamme11 (Frankfurt/M. : n. pub.) . The majority of the idyllists in the anthology are asso­ ciated with the tradition of Gottsched, or in the case of Karsch, wrote for the court. The following authors are included: Blum, Gellert, Gerstenberg, Gessner, Gleim, Goethe, Gbtz, Grader, Hagedom, Jacobi, Anna Luise Karsch, E. v. Kleist, Krauseneck, Mhller, Ramler, Rose, C. A. Schmidt, J. F. Schmidt, K. E. K. Schmidt, Schrttder, Weinicke, and Willamov. Helmut J. E. Schneider has announced his intention to reprint the anthology together with a Nachwort entitled: "Die sanfte Utopie: 39

For Sulzer the idyll idealizes the world. The

idyllic world is neither temporally nor spatially con­

ditioned. It is not constrained by the economic and

political realities of bourgeois society:

Der Dichter der Hirtenlieder versetzt sich sowohl ftir seine Person, als fftr seine M aterie in den Hirtenstand.Daher muss seinem Gedicht, sowol LsicJ in Absicht auf die Materie, als auf die Form und den Vor- trag, der Charakter dieses Standes genug eingepr&get seyn. Man muss darin eine Welt erkennen, in welcher die Natur allein Gesetze giebt. Durch keine bhrgerliche Gesetze, durch keine willktirliche Regeln des Wolstandes eingeschrSnkt, hberlassen die Menschen sich den Eindrliken der Natur, ftber welche s ie wenig nachdenken. Diese Menschen kennen keine Bedlirfnisse, als die unmittelbaren Bedhrfnisse der Natur, keine Gtlter, als ihre Gaben, und was zum Zeit- vertreib ihres mSssigen Lebens dienet. Ihre Hauptleidenschaft ist Liebe, aber ein e Liebe ohne Zwang, ohne V erstellu n g ,

Erinnerung an eine btlrgerliche Tradition literarischer Glftcksbilder. " ' (Frankfurt/M.: Insel).

7 3 Sulzer reflects an attitude shared by the poets of the Baroque courts and most of the bourgeois authors throughout the first half of the eighteenth century, viz. that of transferring the poet and the material into an imagined (or otherwise infrequently visited) rural life. Rarely, as in the case of the shepherdess Anna Luise Karsch, did an actual peasant achieve the advantage of writing about the shepherd from first-hand knowledge. Friedrich Sengle discusses a significant change in the background of the idyllists of the late eighteenth cen­ tury through the early nineteenth century. Gotthelf and Anzengruber, among others, were the sons of farmers and country pastors. Maler Mtlller, like Goethe's Hermann, was the son of an innkeeper and an intimate of the rural life. J. H. Voss was descended from serfs. See Friedrich Sengle, "Wunschbild Land und Schreckbild Stadt,". studium G enerate, 16 (19 63), 619-31; rpt. in EuropSische Bukolik und Georgik, ed. Klaus Garber, pp. 432-60. 40

und ohne platonische Veredelung. Ihre Kftnste sin d Leibeshbungen, . Gesang und Tanz. Ihr Reichtum ist sch&nes und fruchtbares Vieh; ihre Ger&thschaft ein Hirtenstab, eine FIBte und ein Becher. Also sind Hirtenlieder Gem&hlde aus der noch ungektlns telten sittlichen Natur, und desto reizender, weil sie und den Menschen in der li eben swftrdi gen Einfalt.^ einer nattlrlichen Sinnesart vorstellen.

Like Gottsched and Gessner, Sulzer understands the idyll

as a moral corrective to the constraints of contemporary

bourgeois life. He reveals his debt to Rousseau when he

encourages the idyllist to create the "selige Stunden

des sanftesten und unschuldigsten Vergnhgens" in place

of the "hbelausgedachte, unnathrliche Gesetze," which 73 history has brought forth.

Repeatedly Sulzer emphasizes the importance of naturalness, of adhering to the "laws" of nature.

Naturalness is an idealized projection of simple, rural life which no longer exists. In fact, Sulzer continues, the idyllic life never even existed in ancient Greece.

Gessner, he maintains, would have achieved a perfect idyll if he had only projected it into the more ancient and p rim itiv e (and th erefo re more natural) world o f 74 Mesopotamia or Chaldea.

^ Sulzer, II, pp. 581b-82a.

^ Sulzer, II, p. 584b.

^ Sulzer, II, p. 583b. 41

The Dtlsseldorf editor of the journal Iris, Johann

Georg Jacobi, held a similar view of the idyll in an

essay entitled: "Ueber das Sch&fer-Gedicht sonst

Ekloge oder Idylle genannt."^ His essay is important

in the history of the idyll of the eighteenth century,

and it is unfortunate that previous histories have over­

looked the work. The essay appeared one year after Maler

Mtlllar's theory, but because of its immediate ties to

the Gessnerian tradition, it is best considered here.

Jacobi's theory is the only one published in a

journal aimed at the female bourgeois reading public.

Iris was a significant journal which published such

authors as Gleim, Goethe, Heinse, J. M. R. Lenz and

others. Most importantly, Jacobi's article is not

simply a theory for sch olars and au th ors, but a p r e sc r ip ­

tive guide for the production and consumption of the

idyll. Firmly rooted in the tradition of the moral

weeklies, Jacobi's essay establishes guidelines for

reader discrimination.

Jacobi asserts that the idyll ought to choose an

Arcadia from the ancient world. Suitable subjects

include Adam and Eve, the world of the Old Testament as

a whole, patriarchs such as King David, and the Arcadia

TC _ _ JjjohannjG. JljacobiQ, "Ueber das Schhfer-Gedicht sonst Ekloge oder Idylle genannt," Iris (1776 ; rpt. Bern: Lang, 1971) , pp. 112-28. 42 of ancient Greek poetry.^ Jacobi prefers a distant, past

Golden Age because of the simplicity of life, honesty of

feelings, and purity of morals present in such a time:

Wer sollte nicht gem in Zeiten und Gegenden sich versetzen, wo, mit Sorgloser Unabh&n- gigkeit, die Liebe durch frttliche Felder wandelt; am ersten besten Ufer ohne Gefahr einschlum m ert, und erwacht am Busen der Treue? Wo die St&nde alle gleich, der tap- ferste Mann und das unschuldigste M&dchen die vornehmsten sind? Jedes Auge wahr, iedes Herz ohne Falsch! Die Tempel der Gfttter, gewBlbt aus grlinen Zweigen; ohne Glanz; aber voll guter Seelen. Und frische W iesen, und k lare Gewfisser, und FlBten, und httpfende LSmmeri Welch ein sfisser Traum.^^

Jacobi's projection of bucolic life ignores all the harsher realities of his day. Despite his preference for a past arcadian life, Jacobi claims to find the pastoral existence in his own time. In the following passage he describes both his understanding'of eighteenth-century rural life and the attitude he assumes his female bourgeois reader brings to the idyll:

Wenn S ie , meine Damen, aus Ihrer Stadt aufs Land gehen, und hinkornmen, wo zwischen gebundenen Garben, in der Abend-Sonn', ein Schnitter und Schnitter- m&dchen sich ausruht, denen die V5gel aus

7 fi Jacobi, p. 117. Not just any figure in Greek literature will do. The pastoral of ancient Greece is "weniger fabelhaft" than the mythological adventures of the gods. 77 Jacobi, p. 12 0. 43

den nahen Bhschen etwas vorsingen; oder wenn Sie hinkommen, wo ein Hausvater mit Schneeweissem Haar, und doch mit frischem Roth im Gesicht1, unter seinem Baum, vor s e in e r Thlir s i t z t , und die Enkel um ihn herum spielen, und die Tochter neben ihm das jhngste an der Brust liegen hat, und alles weit und breit so friedlich, so still ist; dann wirds Ihnen wohl; dann mttchten Sie besthndig da bleiben. Die grossen Gesellschaften voll Putz und Zwang, nebst den Winter-Lustbarkeiten, deren Ende Sie zuvor beseufzten, wlin sehen S ie n ic h t mehr zurtlck. In der selb en Minute vertauschten Sie vielleicht mit keiner Oper diese offenen Felder, dies Anschauen der ungekhnstelten Natur. Sie, meine jiingeren SchBnen, haben noch grBssere Freude, wenn Sie, in einiger Ent- fernung, auf einem Httgel eine Heerde von Schafen sehen, und dabey den H irten , m it seinem Stab und mit seinem SchSferkarren. Welche Mussel welche Freyheitl?^

For Jacobi the idyllic world is a refuge from and corrective to the constraints of bourgeois and courtly society. Burdened by the obligations and restrictions of society, the reader escapes into the freedom of the countryside through literature. The individual does not simply seek leisure and freedom from responsibility. Rather the respite afforded him rejuvenates his productive energies. Refreshed, he returns as a functioning member of society. The idyll is but a temporary refuge. Like the lotus plant of

Antiquity, the idyll has the potential to divert the

7 p Jacobi, pp. 112-13. Whether viewing rural life from a distance or reading an idyll, the experience of freedom is the same. 44

reader's energies from productivity if indulged in too

frequently. Therefore, moderation must be exercised:

So bald Sie die mindeste Anwandlung be- kommen, sich darinn h&uslich niederzu- lassen, so kehren Sie eilend zurftck. Dann und wann ein Stftndchen, mit den guten einfhltigen Hfttten-Bewohnem ver- lebt, und verplaudert, das kann Nutzen s t i f t e n . Nur w&hlen S ie sich einen guten Fhhrer! Wenn die Leute, zu denen Sie gehe'n . . . Kunst hber iedes Ding so reden, wie dessen Eigenschaft es erfordert; wenn sie viel mehr wissen, a ls was a'n Himmel und auf Erden, vor ihren Augen sich zu trh gt; wenn s ie n ich t ihre Gleichnisse vom Morgen- und Abend- Roth, von Th&lern und Auen und von solchen Gegensthnden borgen, die t&glich in ihre Sinne fallen; wenn nicht iede Q u elle, ie d e r Baum in ihren Gespr&chen ein gewisses Leben empf≯ sie nicht hbhere Gedanken mit einiger Schlichtern- heit vorbringen; nicht mehr Empfindung, als Witz haben; so ist ihnen warlich q nicht zu trauen. Es sind keine Arkadier.

Jacobi adopts the tradition of the Enlightenment for his readers. The aesthetic experience of reading has value in its contribution to the moral improvement of the bourgeois reader.

With the first publication of Maler Mtlller's idylls in 1775, Herder's theory achieves literary form. Mtiller himself iterates the new idyll theory in Die Schafschur.

While the shepherd Walter and his family shear sheep

7Q J a co b i, pp. 121-22. Jacobi recommends the fo llo w ­ ing idyllists: Gessner, Gellert, and Gleim, who are all blessed by "eine keusche Muse," p. 126. 45

they pass the time by singing folk songs and telling tales.

Into this rustic group the local schoolmaster enters and

engages Walter in a debate over the idyll.

Before the schoolmaster arrives, Walter expresses

his discontent with gelehrte Poesie, the refined poetry

which the schoolmaster practices and teaches Walter's

daughter, Guntel. She can find nothing to admire in the

folk songs which her father frequently sings. He prefers

the local literature for two reasons. Such literature is

true: "Mein S e e l, g&b e in Morgen Ackerland drum, 80 so was

schbns gemacht zu haben . . . 1st doch so alt und sacker- 81 lo th i so wahr und kr&ftig" (III, 5/R, 68). Second,

such literature is old, it is an organic, timeless

tradition. Walter rejects the volume of idylls given him

by the schoolmaster in favor of reflecting upon his own

bucolic past. He prefers the rural festivals and songs

of his predecessors— a tradition he considers continuous w ith the a n cien t w orld, "bey Laban und Jacob " --to the

refined poetry of the schoolmaster's world.

At the beginning of his confrontation with the school­ master, Walter accuses gelehrte Poesie of unnaturalness;

Ostensibly a peasant, Walter has literary acumen far superior to that of the historical peasantry. It is difficult to imagine an economically oppressed peasant valuing a literary creation over a "Morgen Ackerland."

O T References are fi~om both the Heuer and Neuser texts. The following notation is observed:III, 5/R, 68; i.e. Heuer, vol. Ill, p. 5, and Neuser, p. 68. See also Ch. Ill, footnote 19. 46 such a tradition does not observe rural life, but sin g s o f "Doris und Damtttas und Myrten und Rosen und Knoblauch und Zwiebel" (III, 35/R, 86). Walter's definition of the genre recognizes one essential quality—naturalness:

"Just weils so grad drin hergeht, wie mans denkt. . . . weils so nathrlich ist" (III, 36/R, 86-87). Nonetheless, the schoolmaster refuses to abandon his defense of gelehrte Poesie:

Denn sieht er, mein lieber Herr Gevatter, warum wSre die Poesie eine so erhabene wichtige Wissenschaft von Gftttern erfunden, und Kttnigen und Kaisern ausgehbet, wie ich ihm denn d ie ss a lle s bey e in e r andren Gelegenheit sehr deutlich und mit vielen Beyspielen zu beweisen mich anheischig mache. —Warum, wiederhol ich, wSren Schulen angelegt, warum Lehrer dazu be- stellt, warum Regeln festgesetzt, warum so viele gelehrte Bhcher drhber geschrieben worden? Wenn die Poesie, wie er es mey- net, eine so nattlrliche gemeine leichte Sache w&r, (noch 15chlender) ey da dftrfte ja mancher, der Gaben in sich fhhlt, nur sich umschauen in der Natur, hier und da Achtung geben, und wie mans zu nennen pflegt, den Menschen studiren; er dftrfte ja nur niederschreiben, grad wie er sich urns Herze fhhlet. --Das whr ein gar leichtes, ein gar leichtes nicht wahr? Aber was g&b das fttr unsere Herrn Gelehrte? --Wo blieb denn das E d le, he, h e, he I --das Geschmack- volle, das Schftne, das Gelehrte, Herr Gevatter? Wo blieb das? (Ill, 36-37/R, 87)

The schoolmaster, a favorite object of Mhller's scorn, insists upon adherence to refined taste and "scholarly" rules ad absurdum. He insists upon absolute adherence 47 82 to pure rhyme and avoidance o f e l i s i o n . The pedant s ta te s

categorically that emotions be stylized beyond all sem­

blance of naturalness: "der Autor QegtjJ seinen Personen

ganz fremde g e g e n th e ilig e Empfindungen in den Mund . 11

Instead of sorrow when the situation reveals distress and

suffering, the author displays emotions "edelmtthig, er- haben, und pr&chtig in einer stolzen wohlgesetzten Rede

hber sich und sein Ungltick in weisen und gelehrten Senten-

zen. ..." (Ill, 38/R, 88 ).

Mftller's objections in the above passages are aimed

at the idylls written for and reflecting courtly taste.

This criticism is not leveled against Gessner, as Mhller maintained. 8 8 At the time of the idyll's publication,

82 Mhller, who never did well at school, lost no love for the schoolmaster figure. In his youth he wrote to a frien d : "... ha, wie gantz anders sind die Men- schen auf dem lande welch ein Unterschied--wenn man Sie aus unsren Opretten und jdyllen besiht—und dann—die bedhrfnisse des menschlichen lebens Naturj2-]Triebe--Eygen- nutzC,I]der gleich einer Kette durch die gantze Natur gezogen ist und der mSchtige trieb der selbsterhaltung hervorbringt alles--o war haftig [jwahrhaftigj] es giebt noch Sittenf^,"] aber man muss Sie zu finden wissen--ab- sonderlich sind dir die Dorf schulmeister gar unvergleich- licte K erls— hftr wenn du a llem a l den schnackisch und narristen Kerl im gantzen Dorfsprengel sehen willt|~,j3 so lass dir nur den Schulmeister rufen--und so vielerley Sorten von wessen es giebt so vielerley Sorten von Narren trifft mann unter Ihnen ani" Seuffert, p. 321. Despite the negative light in which the schoolmaster appears in Die Schafschur, he reappears in Der Christabend as a wel­ come intimate and leader among Walter's friends and relatives, and his literary values are esteemed. 83 Seuffert, p. 124. Mhller wrote thus of Gessner: "Mit Vergnhgen ergreife ich die Gelegenheit hier auf eine 48

the Swiss i d y l l i s t was commonly b e lie v e d to be the ta rg et

of Mhller's criticism. Gessner, too, objected to idylls

written according to the schoolmaster's principles.

At the debate's conclusion Walter suggests an

example of the idyll he prefers. The singing, recounting

of tales and local customs—Die Schafschur in short--are

the proper material for the idyll. Walter states: "Aber

Herr Gevatter Schulmeister, sag er, kbnnt man nicht aus

dem Dings da all miteinander eine vortrefliche Idylle

machen--he? . . . merkt er Herr, dass Ujsic^} mtlsst ein e

rechte wahre gute Idylle geben" (III, 55-56/R , 98). W alter

and his world are for Mtlller the proper realm of the idyll.

For this reason Mtlller's Palatine swains are generally

acknowledged to be "realistic." They use coarse and 8 4 colloquial (although stylized ) language, and express emotions more immediately and naturally than do the

ungeheuchelte Weise die Hochachtung, die ich fhr das Andenken d ie se s v o r tr e fflic h e n D ichters h e g e , an den Tag zu legen, um so mehr, da eine gewisse Stelle in meiner Schaaf-Schur Gelegenheit zu unrichtiger Auslegung bei manchen gegeben, wobei ich aber doch auf keine Person insbesondere gezielt. Die schBnsten, edelsten, moralischen Handlungen liegen so gut in der SchSfer-Natur und vielleicht noch reiner als in jeder andern; allein eine gewisse Ge- schicklichkeit in der Auseinandersetzung jeder feinen Empfindung scheint diesem Stande nicht nathrlich, sondern dieses Geftihl drfckt sich voller aus. Dies war, was ich damals liberhaupt sagen wollte und was man so selten in vielen SchSfergedichten sieht."

84 JSger, pp. 192-93. Although their language is not refined courtly speech, it is still s t y liz e d . Such language is "niedrig" but literary. shepherds of other idyllists.

In an essay e n t it le d "Gedanken liber die Errichtung eines deutschen National Teaters" (written ca. 1777),

Mllller provides a clearer description of his concept of naturalness: "Original und Nationell kflnnen wir nicht anders als durch genaue Copirung der Siinplen, unverdor- benen Natur und genaure Kentniss unsrer eignen Sitten werden, jedes Land und Volk hat sein eigne Ideen i n c l i ­ nation, abscheulichkeiten, gebrSuche vor dem andem, welche der Dichter so wohl als autor in eineui gewissen lichte beobachten und wieder zurtickspiegeln soil." 85

Beginning with rural life as it is conditioned by his­ torical necessity la Herder) , Mliller develops a utopian-oriented interpretation of reality. In this sense Mllller's characters are both realistic and idealis­ tic. They are realistic typifications of historical life and historical concerns, yet these values which these characters hold transcend their own immediate experience.

Neuser describes Mtiller's realism and naturalness thus:

Idylle wird aus der Perspektive poetischer W irk lich k eitsn achahmung gesehen, unter die Bedingungen von Raum und Zeit und unter die Gesetze naturhaften Werdens und Vergehens gestellt, damit in die Zeit integriert und so dem zeitgenttssischen Bewusstsein n&herge- bracht, und RealitS.t wird aus der Perspektive des Idyllischen gestaltet, damit befreit von

^ Seuffert, p. 563. 50

naturalistischer, mechanistischer Eigenge- setzlichkeit und Zwangsl&ufigkeit und ein- gegliedert in den breiten Strom humanen, d.h. hoffnungsvollen Zukunftsstrebens, aus- gehend von den g esch ich tlich en Bedingungen der Gegenwart. °

During the 1780s the idylls of Johann Heinrich

Voss gained considerable public attention. Voss eventually outdistanced Gessner in popularity and con­

tinues to do so to the present day, being currently the subject of debate between Ernst Theodor Voss and Gerhard 8 7 Kaiser. J. H. Voss' popularity is due in no small part to his adherence to more classical (in the Weimarian. sense) forms; e.g. he uses hexameter in Lui'se, an idyll which considerably influenced Goethe's Hermann und

Dorothea in content and form.8 8 Voss establishes the

O C Peter-Erich Neuser, "Nachwort," Idyllen, by Friedrich Mtiller (Stuttgart: keclam, 1977), pp. 357-58. 8 7 E. Theodor Voss, "Nachwort," Idyllen: Faksimilie- druck nach der Ausgabe von 1801, by J. H. Voss (Heidelberg: Lambert Schneider, 1968). Revised as "Arkadien und Grhnau: Johann Heinrich Voss und das innere System seines Idyllen- werkes," in Europhische Bukolik und Georgik, pp. 391-431; Gerhard Kaiser, "Idyllik und Sozialkritik bei Johann Hein­ rich Voss," in Helmut Amtzen, Bemd Balzer, Karl Pesta- lozzi, and Rainer Wagner, eds., Literaturwissenschaft und Geschichtsphilosophie: Festschrift fhr Wilhelm Emrich (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1975), pp. 302-19, rpt. in Wandrer und Idylle, pp. 107-26. Hereafter cited as Kaiser, "Idyl­ lik." The debate centers on the relationship between the genre and s o c ia l c r itic is m : "... welche Chancen, aber auch welche Grenzen hat eine Sozialkritik, die sich in der Idylle Sussert? Aus dieser FragesteHung bestimmt sich die Einheit von VerklSrung und Kritik in der Idylle, die E. Theodor Voss positiv bestimmt hat, auch negativ." Kaiser, "Idyllik," p. 302. 8 8 Melitta Gerhard, p. 70. 51

idyll almost exclusively within a bourgeois milieu. His model figures are the nobility, the country pastor, and bourgeois individuals who enjoy such exotic items as

coffee, tea, tobacco, and participate in picnics in the open countryside, whereas Miiller's characters are primarily

OQ peasants. E. Theodor Voss and Gerhard Kaiser have out­ lined in substantial detail Voss' contribution to the genre. Because his contributions lie exclusively in 90 practice, I refer the reader to these recent studies.

This discussion of German idyll theory in the eighteenth century would be incomplete and give undue emphasis to Mhller if I concluded at this point. While the Palatine author's theory is significant, it was quickly overshadowed by the culture of the Weimar court.

The idealism of Goethe's circle at Weimar influenced the development of the idyll. What was previously only a genre became an aesthetic idea as well. That is, with the appearance of the aesthetic theories of Schiller and von Humboldt, the idyll assumed a role within Idealistic philosophy. . Increasingly the formalistic considerations of the genre receded into the background. At the risk of oversimplification, we may state that after 1800 the idyll, as Mhller presented it, ceased to be a productive form of

89 Kaiser, Wandrer und I d y lle , pp. 2 4-25.

^ See footnote 87. 52

literary expression. This truth is readily apparent in

the theory of Jean Paul. His was the last voice--before

Hegel denied any significant role to the genre in his

theories--to reflect upon the eighteenth century idyll

and the idyllic perspective. In practice elements of

the idyll were incorporated into the novellas and so-called

Bauerngeschichten of the nineteenth century. Ulrich

Eisenbeiss' recent study, Das Idyllische in der Novelle der Biedermeierzeit. (see bibliography), traces the idyll into the nineteenth century. His precise and cogent findings need not be repeated here. This chapter will conclude, therefore, with the theories of Schiller, von Humboldt, and Jean Paul.

It In "Uber naive und sen tim en ta lisch e Dichtung" (1795-

96) Schiller frees the idyll from its generic limitations.

He defines the idyll as an aesthetic attitude of sentimen­ tal poetry, distinct from the satire and elegy. Unlike the latter two, which concern themselves with the conflicts of "real" life, the idyll reflects harmony and innocence, 91 its essential quality being Buhe. Schiller finds a significant "deficiency" in the tradition of Gessner:

"Ein G essnerischer H ir t e • z.B. kann uns n ich t a ls N atur, n ic h t durch Wahrheit der Nachahmung entzlicken, denn dazu ist er ein viel zu iaeales Wesen; eben so wenig kann er

9 1 Kaiser, Wandrer und Id ylle, p. 82. uns als ein Ideal durch das Unendliche des Gedankens be-

friedigen, denn dazu ist er ein viel zu dftrftiges Gesch&pf." 93 Reminiscent of Herder's similar reproach, Schiller finds

Gessner's shepherds to be too idealized for the naiv poet.

For the sentimental poet, who necessarily strives after

the ideal, Gessner's shepherds are too bound to an ancient

Arcadia.

Schiller makes a further distinction in the under­

standing of the idyllic world. Gessner's idylls reveal

the historical pessimism of Rousseau, and as such portray

the ideal experience only as a reality projected into the

remote past. Schiller's idealism sees a linear historical

progression of man from nature (the naive) to a loss of

the naive, during which man strives toward the future

perfected idea, which, when achieved, is a higher state

of existence and consciousness than the original state of being. Schiller cannot abide those who understand the

Golden Age of mankind as an existence experienced only

"vor dem Anfange der. Kultur." Such an Arcadia, like

92 pr i e (3ri ch Schiller, "Uber naive und sentimentalische Dichtung," in Philosophische Schriften, ed. Benno von W iese, Vol. XX o f Werke, N ationalausgabe (Weimar: Bfihlau, 1962), p. 470.

9 3 Herder rejected Gessner's swains as characters somewhere between angels and physical creatures. While Herder demands "whrkliche N a tu r b ild e r ," S c h ille r demands characters who strive for the ideal of the perfected future. See Mcthl, pp. 179-80. 54 94 childhood, is gone forever. One ignores the progress

of humankind toward the ideal if one's attention is only

retrospective:

Aber ein Umstand findet sich dabey, der den Ssthetischen Wert solcher Dichtungen urn sehr viel vermindert. Vor dem Anfange der Kultur gepflanzt schliessen sie mit den Nachtheilen zugleich alle Vortheile derselben aus, und befinden sich ihrem Wesen nach, in einem nothwendigen S t r e it mit derselben. Sie ffthren uns also theoretisch rftckw&rts, indem sie uns praktisch vorw&rts fhhren und veredeln. Sie stellen ungllhckli cherweise das Ziel hinter uns, dem sie uns doch entgegen fhhren sollten, und kbnnen uns daher bloss das traurige Geflihl eines Verlustes, nicht das frtthliche der Hoffnung einflftssen.^^

Schiller completes the argument begun by Herder. Goethe's mentor had freed the idyll from a past Golden Age; Schiller

directs the idyll toward the future, the Golden Age is\ yet to come:

Er fhhre uns nicht rftckwcirts in unsre Kind- heit, um uns mit den kostbarsten Erwerbungen des Verstandes eine Ruhe erkaufen zu lassen, die nicht l&nger dauem kann, als der Schlaf unsrer Geisteskrhfte; sondem fhhre uns vor- wSrts zu unsrer Mtlndigkeit, um uns die hbhere Harmonie zu empfiijden zu geben, die den- KSmpfer belohnt, die den Uberwinder beglttckt. Er mache sich die Aufgabe einer Idylle, welche jene Hirtenunschuld auch in Subjekten der Kultur und unter alien Bedingungen des rlisti- gen feurigsten Lebens, des ausgebreitetsten

94 MShl, p. 179.

9-> Schiller, p. 4 69. 55

Denkens, der raffinirtesten Kunst, der hbchsten gesellschaftlichen Verfeinerung ausftlhrt, welche mit einem Wort, den Men- sch en , der nun einmal n ic h t mehr nach Arkadien zurftckkann, bis nach Elisium f hh rt. 9^

Thus placed on an historical continuum, two idylls result.

The former variety is no longer an ideal, but nature, the harmonious simplicity and innocence before the development of culture, a state of existence lost for- 9 7 ever to mankind. The latter possibility is the path of the sentimental poet, it is a search for the ideal.

Conscious man w illfully sets out to achieve the idyll which occurs at the end of mankind's perfected develop­ ment in the future. The idyll culminates in a higher state of harmony and innocence, because it is a fully conscious state of being.. The development is a vertical progression,9® which the Romantic philosophers and poets--

Fichte, A. W. Schlegel," and Novalis 10°—incorporate into their concept of the Golden Age.

Schiller completely abandons Mhller's concern for a realistic portrayal of the historically conditioned rural

9^ Schiller, p. 472.

97 M&hl, pp. 177-78. 9 8 Kaiser, Wandrer und Idylle, p. 84.

99 jgger, p. 245.

100 M&hl, p. 181. 56 life. Although Schiller's theory influenced the thought of later poets, it did not have a practical influence on the generic tradition initiated by Gottsched and Gessner.

Wilhelm von Humboldt, taking Goethe's Hermann und

Dorothea as his starting point, adheres to the formalistic considerations of the Gessnerian tradition; 10

Unter dem Namen I d y lle p f le g t man den ganzen Theil der Poesie zusammenzufas sen, welcher mehr ein h&usliches Familienleben, als eine Existenz in grftsseren Verh<- nissen, mehr ruhige, als untemehmende Charaktere, mehr sa n fte und fr ie d lic h e Gesinnungen, als heftige Aufwallungen und Leidenschaften schildert und vorzugsweise bei der Freude an der Natur und in dem engen, aber lieblichen Kreise unschuldiger S itte n und ein fach er Tugenden v e rw e ilt.

Unlike Schiller, Humboldt is content to limit the idyll to the private sphere, to "sanfte und friedliche Gesin­ nungen. " By concentrating on "unschuldigen Sitten," the idyll reflects bourgeois virtue, not the realistic concerns o f the peasantry. Humboldt is n o n eth eless aware of

Schiller's idealism and considers the idyll to be also an attitude: "Der Idyllendichter schildert daher immer, seiner Natur nach, nur Eine Seite der Menschheit, und sobald er uns in den Standpunkt s t e l l t , von dem wir auch die andre gleich klar bbersehen, geht er aus seinem

Wilhelm von Humboldt, "Ueber Gbthes Hermann und Dorothea," in Schriften zur Altertumskunde und Xsthetik, Vol. II of Werke, ed. Andreas Flitner and Klaus Giel (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1961).

-*-02 Humboldt, p. 278. 57

Gebiet heraus, und je nachdem er mehr einen ruhigen und allgemeinen Ueberblick oder durch die Vergleichung beider eine bestimmte Empfindung erregt, in das der Epopee oder das der Satyre liber. "103 idyiiist's perspective is restricted. Humboldt implicitly assumes what Jean Paul explicitly states in his Vorschule der Asthetik (1804), viz. that the idyll is the "epische Darstellung des Voll- glhcks in der BeschrAnkung. 11 ^

Jean Paul includes the Golden Age in the idyll, but understands it to be a metaphor for each individual's past. Mankind's childhood is the Golden Age and can be recaptured in the act of reflection: "Ja ihr leihet dem idyllisch dargestellten Vollglhck, das immer ein Wider- schein eueres frhheren kindlichen oder sonst sinnlich engen ist, jetzo zugleich die Zauber euerer Erinnerung und euerer hbheren poetischen Ansicht; und die weiche

Apfelblhte und die feste Apfelfrucht, die sonst ein schwarzer welker Blbten-Rest bekrflnt, begegnen und schmtlcken einander wunderbar. " 10 5 The act o f r e fle c tr o n raises the past Golden Age to a higher niveau, because the act of reflection is a solipsistic recreation—the

•^3 Humboldt, p. 281.

10 4 ,f Jean Paul, Vorschule der Asthetik, Vol. IX of Werke, ed. Norbert Mliller (Mlinchen : Hanser, 1975) , p. 258.

Jean Paul, p. 260. 58

ego recreates itself and its world solely around itself.

The idyllist, however, must have the distinguishing

characteristic of BeschrSnkung, restriction. Restriction

"kann sich bald auf die der Gttter, bald der Einsichten,

~i n fz bald des Standes, bald aller zugleich beziehen." The

in d iv id u a l is f i r s t cognizant o f r e a li t y when he becomes 10 7 aware of his restrictedness. Such an awareness is

experienced by the exceptional individual, such as a Wuz,

Quintus Fixlein, Fibel, and not by the anonymous shepherds

of the past. Such an individual achieves Vollglhck in his

state of mind despite his restrictedness. 10 8

Jean Paul frees the idyll from a specific station in

life. Provided "die Bedingung des Vollglftcks in Beschr&n-

kung"^-*-^ is not lost, any station in society can realize

the idyll. Jean Paul shatters the traditional illusion of an idealized external Arcadia experienced only via a past Golden Age. Precisely because of contemporary

restrictions, individuals such as Wuz can reflect upon and

Jean Paul, p. 258.

10 7 Roger Ayrault, "Jean Paul: Leben des vergnbgten Schulmeisterlein Maria Wuz in Auenthal, oder die Anfhnge des Dichters Jean Paul," Deutsche Erz&hlungen von Wieland bis Kafka, Vol. IV of Interpretationen, ed. Jost Schille- meit (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1966), p. 79. 10 8 Horst Brunnen, "Kinderbuch und Idylle: Rousseau und die Rbzeption des Robinson Crusoe im 18. Jahrhundert," Jahrbuch der Jean-Paul-Gesellschaft, 2 (19 67), p. 96.

Jean Paul, p. 261,. 59 recreate their own idyll and thereby realize that "auch wir waren in Arkadien. "

Gottsched removed the German idyll from the courtly conventions and masquerades of the Baroque. Although the genre retained its idealizing qualities into the early nineteenth century, two major changes were brought about in Gottsched's theory. The first concerned the choice of fictional characters, the second treated the portrayal of these characters. Gottsched1s pastoral literature replaced the courtiers with the bourgeoisie. The new inhabitants of Arcadia were products of the Enlightenment. They were virtuous and reasonab le; t h e ir c o n f lic t s and concerns presented in order to effect the moral improvement and rejuvenhte the work ethic of the bourgeois reader.

Gessner went beyond Gottsched's guidelines. He pre­ sented fictional shepherds which incorporated the emotions and attitudes of Empfindsamkeit and Pietism. During the early decades of the eighteenth century there developed an increasing interest in portraying external nature as it can be empirically observed. Likewise the portrayal of human psychology--as we understand the term—began to play an important role in literature. Both these changes Gessner brought into the idyll.

The increasing concern for "naturalness" in the portrayal of nature and the characters became central to

110 Jean Paul, p. 259. 60

Mttller's theory in Die Schafschur. Not merely content to imitate the models of his predecessors, Mttller brought the idyll tradition into a new context. The idyllist was to depict rural life as it occurs in history. The abstract, idealized characters of Anacreontic poetry, therefore, could not be appropriate models, for they were conversant in the literature of Ancient Greece and Rome and used refined, literary language. Without a doubt Mtiller was influenced by Herder's concept of history and by the social concerns and rebellious attitudes of his close friends and coevals, the so-called Sturm und Drang authors.

Admittedly Mliller's theory leaves more unsaid than said. We shall therefore have to consider in the next chapter the following question: Where in practice does

Mhller participate in the Gessnerian tradition and where does he depart from it?

Voss took up the idyll during the 1770s as well. He continued Gessner1s tradition, but abandoned many of the older stereotypes of rural life. Instead of shepherds who espouse bourgeois values, Voss chose to portray the cultured bourgeoisie, who visit the countryside.

The dominance of Weimar culture also left its imprint upon the idyll. Schiller discussed the genre within the: context of Idealistic philosophy. The idyll—distinct from satire and the elegy—became the "sentimental" por­ trayal of the ideal itself, a portrayal of quietude. Humboldt, on the other hand, adhered to the generic

tradition and insisted that the idyll be a depiction of

a limited aspect of life. While such life need not

observe all the traditional Gessnerian conventions, it

did need to be a restricted and private life. The

increasing tendency toward privacy, intimacy, and limita­

tion, led Jean Paul to understand the term idyll as

descriptive of that life whose characteristic quality

is restrictedness. The idyll becomes the private realm

of internal experience. Jean Paul freed the genre from

its traditional ties to a specific social class (peasantry,

bourgeoisie, etc.). Arcadia becomes anyone's past child­

hood, and the idyll the individual's recreation of that

past experience. The inhabitant of Arcadia no longer

need adhere to the objective mores of society, but responds

to his own subjective values and understanding of the world.

With Jean Paul the idyll became a "Vehikel einer affirmativen

Innerlichkeit. "

Kaiser, Wandrer und Id y Ile , p. 88. I I I . A SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF

MALER MULLER'S IDYLLS

Die Geschichte ist eben nicht das, was geschieht, sondern sein e In terp reta tio n und die Gesellschaft ist nicht der Plural vorhandener Individuen und ihrer Klassenbeztige, son­ dern die Deutung dieses Gefttges. --Wolfgang Binder

Maler Mhller's idylls, particularly the Palatine trilogy, have often been termed "realistic," a term which, while perhaps apt in a general sense, cannot fully define Mhller's relationship to the genre. His fictional shepherds are understood to be dynamic individuals instead of static, idealized abstractions:

"Seine Bauern sind wirkliche Menschen von Fleisch und

Blut und keine idealisierten Gestalten der Vergangenheit."^

Significantly, Mhller does more than individuate his

Wolfgang Binder, Literatur als Denkschule: Eine Vorlesung, mit zwei Kapiteln von Klaus Weimar (Ztirich: Artemis, 1972), p. 25.

2 ErlSuterungen zur deutschen Literatur: Sturm und Drang, ed. Kurt Bfittcher and Paul G. Ki-ohn (Berlin: Volk & Wissen, 1967) , p. 232. Hereafter cited as ErlSu- terungen: S&D. 62 63

characters. In the Palatine trilogy, and to varying degrees

in the other idylls, Mftller incorporates many elements from

eighteenth-century society—class attitudes, aspirations,

conflicts, and mores—into the rural community of the idyll,

so that one may fairly question whether these works still

belong within the generic designation. Not all of Mtiller's

contemporary critics accepted pastoral works, like the

Palatine trilogy, as representative of the genre. Johann

Eberhard's Theorie der schftnen Wissenschaften (1786) ex­

cluded idylls such as the Palatine trilogy from the genre.

The idyll should not portray "bhrgerliche Ungleichheit. . . II also auch nicht diejenigen Ubel, die aus dem Missbrauch

der Gewalt der hfthern St&nde en tsp rin g en , und die Glttck-

seligkeit der niedrigen vermindern; aber eben so wenig

auch die Laster, welche den hfthern Stftnden eigen sind."

In the following discussion of Mftller's idylls, I will investigate the social significance of the internal evidence. I shall proceed within the guidelines suggested by Hohendahl:

Statt ein prftformiertes sozialgeschicht- liches Deutungsschema anzuwenden, das mit Stereotypen operiert und folglich die Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts gewaltsam auf einen bekannten soziologischen Nenner

3 As quoted in Hans-WoIf Jftger, Politische Kategorien in Poet.ik und Rhetorik der zweiten Hhlfte des 18. Jahrhun- derts (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1970), pp. 22-23. 64

bringt, w&ren die Signale der Texte auf ihre g e s e lls c h a f t lic h e Relevanz zu befragen. Ge- meint ist nicht deren intendierte Botschaft, sondern jene Motive, durch welche die Texte ihre Beteiligung an der Lebenserfahrung der Epoche verraten. Keinesfalls brauchen diese Signale offenen Verweisungscharakter zu haben.4

These social "signals" in the texts will provide answers to the following questions: To what extent do Mhller*s idylls reflect bourgeois aspirations—economically, politically, morally? Do the social issues in these works reveal a form of subversive protest, or are they raised in order to reaffirm the correctness of prevail­ ing mores? Do the fictional conflicts refer to under­ lying social causes, or do they remain within the scope of personal, moral decision? The identification of these social concerns w ill define more clearly the nature of

Mhller'.s realism. Additionally, we shall discover to what extent the author departs from the idyll tradition of the preceding centuries.

Mhller's idylls fall into three groups. The first, the "Palatine trilogy,” is set in the eighteenth-century

Palatinate. Because this group--Die Schafschur, Das

Nusskernen, and Der Christabend--is located within a

^ Peter U. Hohendahl, "Einpfindsamkeit und gesell- schaftliches Bewusstsein: Zur Soziologie des empfindsamen Romans am Beispiel von La Vie de Marianne, Clarissa, FrSu- l ein von Sternheim und V.~erther ," Jahrbuch der Deutschen Schillergcsellschaft, 16 (19 72) , pp. 181-82. 65

specific historical era, it will serve as the core of the

investigation. Recent GDR scholarship reflects a similar belief in the central importance of this group: "Vor

allem in den pfhlzischen Idyllen wird deutlich, wie

Mtlller versuchte, die Geschicke einer Familie, eines

Dorfes nicht nur in ihrer Abgeschlossenheit zu schildern, sondem auch die grossen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen

Bhrgern und Bauem einerseits, dem Adel und seiner Bhro- 5 kratie andererseits einzubeziehen."

The second group comprises Der erschlagene Abel and

Adams erstes Erwachen und erste selige N&chte. Mhller portrays mankind's original family according to Judaeo-

Christian tradition. The values and conflicts in the biblical idylls w ill be compared to those of the Palatine t r ilo g y .

The third group is set in Greek Antiquity. Der

Satyr Mopsus, Bacchidon und MiIon and Der Faun MoIon betray Mhller's direct borrowing of plots and characters from Gessner and older idyllists. Despite his "debt" to the tradition, the author consciously attempts to break with it. In a preface to Bacchidon und MiIon Mhller challenges the pastoral tradition. He takes the fauns and satyrs of Antiquity and clothes them in the costumes of the

Palatinate. Additionally the author employs colloquial—

ErlSuterungen: S&D, p. 232. 66

even coarse--language; "His style is not mellifluous,

but forceful, his prose rhythms often broken, and, in

complete contrast to Gessner, he deals with syntax in a

cavalier fashion and is completely unconcerned about

linguistic correctness. His language reflects a desire

to portray an extract from reality that is idyllic, but vigorous. The stylisation that transmutes reality into

an idyll is provided.by humour and comic touches, rather than by gracefulness and sentimentality."

Mhller deliberately reshapes elements of the idyll tradition so that they may reflect the realities of the eighteenth-century .Rhineland. A discussion of the social significance of these alterations w ill provide a clearer understanding of the author's contribution to and departure from the genre.

•I. The Palatine Trilogy

Mliller's only cyclical prose work was begun before his 1778 departure for Rome. Only the first two parts,

Die Schafschur and Das Husskernen, appeared in completed form during the author's lifetime. The third part, Der

Christabend, remains fragmentary but s till contains sufficient material to tie together nearly all the threads

Hibberd, Gessn er, p. 154. 67

spun in the preceding idylls.

Each idyll centers around a festivity: Die Schafschur

is set in the springtime. 7 Walter, his daughter Lotte, her

secret lover V eitl, neighbor Schulz, and the schoolmaster

"celebrate" the bucolic life by shearing sheep. The

singing and telling of stories form the core of the idyll.

In the course of several narrations Mtlller develops his

theory of the genre, which has been discussed in the pre­

ceding chapter. Following the discussion of idyll theory,

Walter discovers the clandestine romance between Veitl and

Lotte. The work concludes with the bestowal of Walter's

blessing upon his daughter and future son-in-law.

Das Nusskernen continues the lives of Lhmmerbach's

residents. The friends are gathered in Schulz's home to

"celebrate" the harvest by shelling nuts. Neighbor

^ Schafschur was first published in 1775. Das Nusskernen, begun in Mannheim, was not completed u n til the author had moved to Rome. According to a letter by Heinse to Friedrich H. Jacobi, 27 October 1781, there seems to be little doubt that Mliller had completed the MS for publication that year. However, reflecting Mhllex-'s general neglect of his writings, the MS did not see print until Le Pique found it for the 1811 edition. Der Christabend, because of internal references to Sebaldus Nothanker (3 vols., 1773-76) , to the death of Maria Theresia (-J-1780) , and the reign o f Joseph II (-[-1796) in d ic a te th a t i t was begun in the mid-1770s and continued in the mid-1780s. Heuer believes references to the French armies reflect the French occupation of Germany after the French Revolu­ tion. Mliller's letter of 25 July 1814 to Batt indicates that the author intended to complete the work, although he never did so. The MS of Der Chris tabend, the only extant MS of the trilogy, is to be found at the Frankfurt Goethe- rnuseum. See Seuffert, Maler Mtller, p. 12 6; Heuer, I, pp. xxxv, lx, and Ixii. 68 Wetzstein, as his name indicates, vehemently condemns the

deeds of his prodigal son who is present among the company

d isg u ised as a laborer named Frtthlich. While W etzstein

vents his anger, social conflicts are brought into the

open: mistreatment and neglect by the Count's appointed

bureaucrats and officials, disgust with the lifestyle of

the younger generation of authors, the disobedience of

children in general, and infanticide in particular.

Mil Her replaces Veitl and Lotte with a new pair of lovers,

Frtthlich (Fritz Wetzstein) and Walter's second daughter,

Guntel. Promised to each other as children, their

betrothal concludes the second part of the trilogy.

Der Chris tabend depicts the celebration of Christmas

at S ch u lz's home. The gathered fr ie n d s , who had expressed

their frustration at the Count's (Graf von Rosenau's)

absence in Das Nusskernen, repeat their desire for his

return. Until the idyll's end they remain unaware that

the Count and his family (all disguised) are present

among the guests. Negative aspects of French cultural

and political influence over Germany open the evening's

discussion. A revived feeling of "Germanness" ensues.

Later the local Bailiff Clerk's abuse of office is exposed. He is rebuked by the Count, who reveals his

true identity. The trilogy culminates in a celebration

of a Christmas play written by the schoolmaster. 69

Because characters and story lines appear and reappear

in each of the idylls of the trilogy, it would seem best

to study the social content under four thematic headings:

(1) the family and the role of the father; (2) society and

the role of the ruler; (3) nascent nationalism; and, (4)

infanticide.

The a t t it u d e s , v a lu e s, and c o n f lic t s w ith in the

trilogy involve three families. All concerns center

around the three fathers: Walter, Wetzstein, and Schulz.

W alter's and W etzstein 's spouses never appear, and were

it not that the Schulz family house serves twice as the

stage for the gatherings, it is doubtful that Frau Schulz would be present. The absence of the wives can be traced

to two sources.

The idyll traditionally involves few characters.

Beginning with Theocritus the central characters are

chiefly male shepherds and goatherds. Women do appear,

and eighteenth-century pastoral literature does include them. However, the role of the female character is traditionally small. Mliller reflects the tradition by presenting a masculine world. Second, Mliller's fictional family revolves around the father, to whom all members are sub se r v ie n t.

Two family styles existed during the eighteenth cen­ tury. The older family-type originated prior to the cen­ tury and was found in the nobility, bourgeoisie, and the 70

peasantry. Sociologists have termed this family the 8 "grosse Haushaltsfamilie." The household-family

embraced several generations and included the servants,

fellow-laborers, journeymen, and apprentices. The charac­

teristic trait of such a family was its unity of production 9 and consumption; i t was h ig h ly s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t .

Due largely to the increasing growth of capitalism

in the German lands towards the end of the century, a

second family-type,found primarily among the bourgeoisie,

began to displace the household-family. The "Kleinfamilie"

gradually came into prominence and was characterized by a

separation of the domestic and working spheres-. Because

the father increasingly absented himself from the domestic

sphere in order to attend to his work, the family gradually

came under the leadership of the mother. The "household" became a "family” which lived from the capital the father earned.-'--'- Since the family no longer needed to produce nearly all the goods and services it consumed, its size diminished greatly. Mliller' s fictional families, because

® Helmuth Kiesel and Paul Mlinch, Gese llschaft und Literatur im 18. Jahrhundert; Voraussetzungen und Ent- stehung des literarischen Markts in Poutschland (Mlinchen: Beck, 19 77) , p. 61. Hereafter cited as Kiesel/Mlinch.

^ Kiesel/Mlinch, p. 61.

Kiesel/Mlinch, p. 65.

Kiesel/Mlinch, p. 65. The earlier family-type is generally referred to as "Haus," whereas the younger family-type is termed " Faini l i e . " 71

they are self-sufficient organizations, and because all

familial decisions, concerns, and values are under the

exclusive purview of the father, are the household-family

type. >

Domestic life in eighteenth-century German lands

reflected a hierarchy governed by a strict system of

morals administered by the father.^2 Although the philo­

sophy of the Enlightenment influenced the morality of

the domestic sphere, thanks to its wide dissemination

in moral weeklies and Erbauungsliteratur, 13 the sub­ serv ien ce o f a l l fam ily members to the fa th er (pater

familias)^ predated the rise of the bourgeoisie and the Reformation.15

Because marriage and family alone were perceived as the purpose of earthly existence,dom estic life centered around the head of the household, the father. He ruled as educator, administrator, and judge of all familial

17 Richard Quabius, Generationsverh<nisse lm Sturm und Drang, Literatur und Leben, 17 (Kbln: Bfthlau, 1976).

-*-3 see Kiesel/Mlinch, pp. 62-66 ; Quabius, pp. 15-16.

■^Kiesel/Mlinch, p. 62.

-*-5 Quabius, p. 15. The Reformation, by placing the Bible into the hands of a large public, also served to fur­ nish written "proof" for a divinely sanctioned absolutism in political and private life. References in the New Testament (e.g. Romans 13.1-3) approve a leader's absolute authority as ordained by God, and of a wife's total sub­ servience to her husband.

Quabius, p. 15. 72

concerns, from moral decisions to choice of profession.

Throughout the early eighteenth century such a father figure

acted less out of personal feeling than from a reasoned,

objective morality commensurate with the mores of society.

With such absolute and divinely sanctioned power residing

in the Hausvater, abuse became a very real possibility;

the line between a Hausvater and a Haustyrann became fine

indeed. 1 7

Pietism and Empfindsamkeit, although not objecting to

the existing familial order, did alter its spirit. An

emphasis on introspection, emotion, and compassion modified

the rational harshness which often accompanied the Haus­

vater' s decisions. The Familienvater approached his 18 household with gentleness, compassion, and kindness.

He saw h im se lf le s s dependent upon s o c ie t y 's norms, and

the r e la tio n s h ip between fam ily members became more per­

sonal and in d iv id u a l.

The marriage contracts--those of Lotte and Veitl in

Die Schafschur and of Guntel and Fritz in Das Nusskernen— hinge upon the consent o f the fa th e r s , W alter and Wetz­ stein. Contrasted with these two fortunate betrothals is the interior fiction of the Bollenbach pastor's daughter.

^ Helmut Mbller, Die k leinbhrgerl i che Fami lie im 18. Jahrhundert: Verhalten und Gruppenkultur (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969), p. 16.

Quabius, p. 25. 73 The t a le d ep icts the tragedy o f love when th e fa th e r is

unwilling to assent to the child's marriage request.

Veitl and Lotte are troubled because Veitl must leave

for Swabia (he is probably fulfilling his journeymanship,

although Mliller does not tell us so). Veitl relates his

sorrow in a folksong of parting. His sorrowful complaint

precipitates Lotte's declaration of love for him, and

Walter's permission is sought so that the lovers may

marry. Walter consents in his capacity as sole arbiter

of marriages. The obligation of a dowry now falls to him.

Feigning disgust at his daughter's secrecy, Walter decides

upon the following "frugal" gift: "Eine Heerde Schafe

gebe ich euch mit, und mein Seel keinen Schwanz mehr;

--zwtilf Khhe, da k&nnt ihr zusehen; —dreyssig Morgen

Ackerland und zehen Morgen Wiesen und ein HSusgen im

Dorf, das ist alles. --Will euch den Daurnen aufs Aug

drftcken-- w ill euch— --getrftst euch nur kein Heller

baar Geld weiter, als zwblfhundert Thaler—ihr sollt

mir" ( I I I , 54-55/R , 97-9 8 ) . ^ W alter's dowry and th e

-*-9 see the bibliography for a complete listing of the idyll editions. All citations are from the Heuer (1914) edition which is based on the Erstausgaben (17 75- 78). Heuer uses the first printing of Das Nusskernen Ulrich von Cossheim (1811) . Because Friedrich Batt and Johann Philipp Le Pique prepared Miiller's manu­ scripts for the 18.11 edition, one cannot completely trust th e ir e d itio n as the "Ausgabe l e t z t e r Hand. 11 Heuer incorporates the idyll fragments of the Berliner Material (Seuffert, Maler MUller, pt. 2)which were formerly held by the K&nigliche Bibliothek in Berlin, and MSS of Per 74 attitude in which he gives it are revealing. Although on

the surface he is a shepherd belonging to the peasant class, he has surprisingly large material resources.

Statistics for the incomes of the Palatinate in the 1770s are not available. Because of extreme poverty and other oppression, the area produced more emigrants for America than any other German province at that tune. ? u 0 Recorded expenses for North German bourgeois households can provide a basic indicator of Walter's social standing based on income. Around 1750 only the most prominent bourgeois households in a large Residenzstadt had expenses which exceeded 700 Taler. 2i Walter's bestowal of 1200 Taler plus valuable material possessions can be no mean feat.

Although he is outwardly a peasant, Walter's economic

Christab en d and Per Faun MoIon (the l a t t e r are lo ca ted in the Frankfurt Goethernuseum) . Heuer a lt e r s punctuation and the spelling of initial letters only where the reader's understanding might be hampered. The other editions of Mhller's idylls--Hettner (1868; rpt. 1968); the "historical-critical" DNL Sauer (1883); Freye (1911); and Oeser (1918)--reveal substantial altera­ tions in orthography and punctuation and are less desirable for a critical study. Because Heuer's 1914 edition is difficult to obtain (only 800 copies were printed), I have also relied on the new ci*itical Reclam edition by Peter-Erich Neuser (1977). Neuser is faithful to the Erstausgaben and supplies a thorough apparatus for variants with the 1811 edition. Unfortunately he includes only six idylls and Canto XII of Molon. Whenever possible references w ill be made to both Heuer and Neuser. References within the text observe the following notation: (III, 54-55/R, 97-98), i.e. Heuer, vol. Ill, pp. 54-55, and Reclam, pp. 97-98.

20 K iesel/M tinch, p. 18.

21 Mftller, p. 107. 75

largesse identifies him as a member of the upper bourgeoisie.

His economic status is ideal, a wish come true, as it were.

Nonetheless, he is portrayed as a functioning member in

eighteenth-century German society. Walter views his

wealth as the result of diligent productiveness, and not

as mere wish-fulfillment.

Walter's speech repeatedly refers to "kein mehr" in

order to impose a sense of frugality on the children. The

stress on producing and then carefully preserving one's material "blessings” is traditionally associated with the bourgeoisie.2 2 Walter's expression of a bourgeois attitude

is in keeping with his affluent station m life. 2 2

The betrothal of Walter's second daughter, Guntel,

in Das Nusskernen, involves the consent of Fritz's father,

Wetzstein. Although promised as children to each other by their fathers, Guntel and Fritz find their betrothal to be no guarantee of marriage. Fritz has violated the moral values of his family and has been separated from it. He returns home fully aware of his moral failings. Because

22 Rolf Engelsing, Zur Sozi alge schichte deutscher Mittel- und Unterschichten (Gbttingen; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973) ■, p. 18, Herafter cited as Engelsing, Sozialge schichte.

2 3 This statement does not .imply that frugality • is unknown in other social classes. The virtue of frugality and productiveness is espoused by the bourgeoisie, especi­ ally the Pietists. In America of the same period Benjamin Franklin espoused the same virtues in Poor Ri ch ard's Aimanack. 76

Wetzstein is exceedingly disappointed in his "prodigal"

son, Fritz has not acknowledged his return, preferring to

live in Lhmmerbach disguised as Frflhlich.

Absent from home for three years, Fritz has spent his

father's money, become a vagabond, and wandered to Hamburg.

He writes his father that he has bold plans to travel as

a ship's surgeon to Greenland, Moscow, and China. Such a

life displeases Wetzstein, but nothing so distresses him : as Fritz's activity in Holland: "Aber kurz hernach hat ihn jemand Bekanntes in Holland im Haag gesprochen. Dort erschien er wie ein Cavalier in bebrSmten Kleidern in

Coinftdien und Bffentlichen Spielhhusem. Nun weiss ich doch, dass er sein Felleisen Schulden halber in Bremen sitzen lassen; wo er nun das Geld dort her genommen . . .

's dreht sich Alles in mir, wenn ich dran gedenk', fhrcht' am.End 1 noch schftn's Zeug an ihm zu erleben" (III, 65/R, 104).

Like his artist friend, Carl Schulz, whom I shall discuss momentarily, F r itz has become acquainted with drama and the stage. Wetzstein can see no useful purpose whatsoever in such a pursuit. Fritz is already irresponsible with money, and his appearance at playhouses convinces his father that such a life can only be "liederlich."^

Goethe's WiIhelm Meistexs Lehrjahre (I, Ch. 2) reveals a similar attitude. Keister's father views such a lifestyle as unproductive: " Der Vater wiederholt iminer wozu es nur nfttze sei? Wie man seine Zeit nur so verderben kCnne?" 77

• Frau Schulz tempers Wetzstein's judgment of his

son. She reduces Fritz’s prodigality to a personal,

moral lapse caused by the lad's youth. As if King

Solomon had written her speech, she disarms the indignant

father: "Fritz ist nicht unartig, boshaft, lftgnerisch,

tftckisch oder von falschem Gemtith; g ew iss, das i s t er gar nicht, er hat ein gut Naturell, gewiss, das hat er!

Flhchtig was, aber das vergeht mit der Zeit. Seiner

Freundlichkeit wegen muss er hberall wohl aufgenommen werden, bey Vornehmen und Geringen. Hat er nur e r s t

'mahl 'n Bisschen ausgetobt . . . Ausgetobt in der

Jugend, macht im A lter s t i l l e L eu t'; ehe der Wein

[Heuer: Wind] mild wird, ghhrt er brav in die Hfth'"

( I I I , 66/R, 105). Frau Schulz firmly believes in the strength of family morals. Since Fritz has been well reared, he will never totally forsake his upbringing.

Her speech achieves complete credibility because the object of her concern sits disguised among the guests.

Fritz has returned to acknowledge his family's claims and i t s mores.

Fritz renounces his earlier wanderings, but he does not reject his taste for literature which he developed during his period of herumschwSrmen. He supports Carl's literary attempts, presents his own version of Herzog Ernst, and indulges in writing poetry in Der Christabend. Before his gathered family he repents his previous life: "Ich begehre kein Glhck weiter

zu suchen und mlisst' ic h , ewig wftrd' ich unst&t in der Welt

herum laufen, wenn mich solch eine Hand nicht ruhig h<

(Nimmt Guntelchens Hand) . Ich habe gefunden, was ich

gesucht, diese allein, mit ihr m5cht ich leben und sterben.

Mein Glllck, mein Alles, steht jetzt in eurer Einwilligung"

(III, 115-16/R, 133). The above speech is addressed to

H&mmerlein, Guntel's grandmother. His "confession" to

the oldest member in the household underlines the fact

that Fritz willingly reaffirms the soundness of the

family structure, and now wishes to add himself and his

wife in the chain of generations. The prodigal son finds

his fortune not merely in the family structure but more

importantly in the institution of marriage. He wishes

to marry the maiden promised him as a child. Fritz's

wish to marry into Walter's family reaffirms the goal of

domestic life to which Mhller's age subscribed and the

institution which both Hausvater and Familienvater were

obligated to defend.

Walter and Wetzstein must still provide the final

judgment on the proposed marriage. Instead of punishing

Fritz (an action one might expect from the Hausvater) ,

Wetzstein hearkens to the lovers' wishes. Fritz totally

acquiesces to his father's will: "Wie ihr befehlt, Vater,"

and Guntel immediately emphasizes the implication of

Fritz's gesture: "0 W7etzstein, Wetzstein, verzeiht euerm 79

Sohni Seht, wie fromm und gehorsam er ist" (III/ 116/R,

133). Meeting the lovers with gentleness and understanding

("in unsrer Jugend waren wir auch nicht von den Stillsten"), the gesture of the Familienvater, the marriage pact is sealed .

Before I discuss the third betrothal--the tragic love of the Bollenbach pastor's daughter--Fritz's intellectual brother, Carl Schulz, merits attention. The son of the h osts o f Das N u ssk em en , C arl, to o , has l e f t home. He was sent to study theology at GSttingen. To the great surprise of his parents, Carl has abandoned his theolog­ ical studies in order to become a physician. In the meantime Carl has also tried his hand at writing fiction.

As a child Carl was destined to become a pastor and to w rite a sermon on "The Star o f the Magi." E xpecting the manuscript, which Fritz brings, to be the long-awaited homily, one can easily understand the surprise Carl's parents experience when they learn the title of the work:

"Crispins philosophisch-heldenm&ssiger Entschluss, oder

Melinens und Leanders Rendezvous. Zur Erbauung aller halb in Liebes-Morast versunknen Herzen, meinem Freund

Schbnfeld zum musicalischen Spielwerk mitgetheilt" (III,

122/R, 137). The poem is a parody of the very style of 25 writing which the schoolmaster had previously defended.

2 5 r-p The schoolmaster's understanding of gelehrte Poesie had proposed absurd representations of human”emotion.~ ' 80

While Carl's work does not command adulation, it is well

received by those gathered at the Schulz home. Only the

Schulzes disapprove. They reject the parody because it

comes from "der gottlose ungerathne Sohn." Schulz can only see that he has thrown away good money: "Einmahl sieben hundert Thaler und noch drey und wieder fttnf!" 2 6 (III, 146/R, 154), and that his son has disobeyed him.

The family structure is not shattered. None of the assembled guests appears concerned—Fritz even relates that Carl will achieve higher social standing as a 2 7 physician than as a rural pastor: "Aber wie ist's dann,

^ Fifteen hundred Taler, although substantially less than Walter's dowry for Lotte is no trifling sum. Schulz, like Walter, has a substantial economic standing despite his peasant dress. 2 7 Walter H. Bruford, Germany in the Eighteenth Cen­ tury : The S o c ia l Background o f the L iterary R evival (Lon­ don: Cambridge Univ., 1935), pp. 253-60. Physicians had a comfortable and respectable life: "They generally settled in fair-sized towns or near some court, in a place, that is, where patients of the better middle class and the aristocracy were available." (p. 259). The lot of the pastor was considerably less lucrative, and generally denied him any social mobility: "Their standard of living was usually necessarily low, except in the towns, and here it was considerably below that of the official class. The average income of a country Pfarrer was only about fifty to seventy Thalers a year, his material comforts often fewer than those of a middling craftsman or peasant. He had always to eke out his income by gardening, bee-keeping, the cultivation of silkworms or regular farming." (p. 253). Schulz's outrage arises from his strict, traditional moral values, and the fact that, as head of the household, he has been denied the exercise of his prerogative to determine his son's vocation. From a purely economical stance, Fritz is wise to advance his social standing. wenn ' s einmahl heisst: der weltberlhhmte, weltbekannte

Doctor Oberbein, des Schulzen von LSmmerbach Sohn, der w eit und b r e it zu Ftlrsten und Grafen in Kutschen und mit sechs Pferden geholt wird, von dem das ganze Land uinher spricht, der Todte gesund und Kranke lebendig machtl

. . . Auch kein Pfifferling, mein Seel" (III, 147-48/

R, 154). Since Carl's disobedience will actually bring more social status to the Schulz family, his father can hardly chastise the "prodigal." Walter perceives that

Carl's choice is wiser than the father's original wish, which was made only to placate Carl's godfather: "Was ist denn die Sache mehr oder weniger? Studir' er, wozu er inclinirt" (III, 147/R, 154). Walter, never the

Hausvater, cannot abide the unyielding wishes of a family which does not take individual concerns into consideration.

Nowhere is Walter's rejection of the Hausvater figure more evident than in the schoolmaster's account of the Bollenbach pastor's daughter. The daughter falls in love with a gypsy lad. Believing her to be in error, her father keeps her at home, and derives the following solution to her disobedience: "Und urn das Ding recht gut und bald abzu&ndern und alien hbeln Folgen auf ein­ mahl vorzubeugen, suchte er sie geschwind an einen alten sehr reichen Landkrhmer, der eben um sie freyte, zu ver- heyrathen und drang sie mit Gewalt, ihre Einwilligung zu geben" (III, 36/R, 116-17). Under the guise of acceding 82 to her father's orders, she runs away to be with her beloved.

While living with the gypsies, however, the pastor's daugh­ ter becomes the favorite of the gypsy men. Jealous of her popularity, the gypsy women conspire to slay her. Her demise is particularly gruesome: "Eines Tags, als alle

Mhnner hinaus auf den Fang gezogen waren, h b erfielen a lle auf einmahl wie whthige Wttlfinnen die arme Verlassne in ihrer Htttte, schlugen sie ohne Mitleid nieder, zerbissen und zerschnitten ihr Angesicht und ihre BrGste gr&sslich und Wcilzten sie nachher liber den Fels hinunter an die

Landstrasse. Hier liessen sie den misshandelten Kftrper und machten sic h ih res Wegs davon" ( I I I , 87/R, 117).

Mftller's depiction of the irate gypsy women may seem unduly harsh, but it is in keeping with the traditional stereotype of the gypsy during the eighteenth century

(a view shared by all classes, excepts perhaps by fellow outcasts from society), that the gypsy is a deceiver, anathema to Christian society, and little better than a beast. Mliller reflects the biases of his era by sustain­ ing the stereotype, nor does he permit any character to object to the schoolmaster's prejudice. For Mliller the impox~tant issue is not the role of the gypsy, but the role of the pastor as an uncompromising father. The father's tyranny over his daughter has brought her to a tragic end. Walter immediately condemns what he considers to be the cause of the tragedy--the pastor's attitude: "Xber der Alte hat gefehlt; er war selbst schuld dran,

dass das MSdchen davon lief, er h&tte sie nicht so zur

andem Heyrath zwingen. sollen, er hhtt' es anders machen

k&nnen. Ueble Neigung an einem Kind IS sst sich wohl mit

Vernunft bezShmen, dazu hat der Vater das Recht; aber

Neigung zu einem andem hin lhsst sich nicht erzwingen.

Und gar bey solchen UmsthndenJ Das geht w ider die Natur"

(III, 87-88/R, 117). Walter supports the father's pre­

rogative to change the child's thinking and agrees that

she was in need of guidance; however, uncompromising

force (erzwingen) is wrong. The schoolmaster supports

Walter's view: "Freylich hStt' er viel klhger gehandelt, wenn er ihr mit Sanftmuth begegnet und nach und nach

durch Zureden und vernhnftige Vorstellung sie aus ihrer verirrten Leidenschaft wieder auf die rechte Bahn zu

leiten gesucht" (III, 88 /R, 117-18). The paternal

stance of gentleness coupled with reasoned persuasion is the Familienvater. This attitude supports the existing mores but does not uncompromisingly demand total submission to them.

The pastor represents established morality as father and minister. The pastor in German lands, particularly during the mid-eighteenth century, became known for his efforts in Seelenhei lkunde, that is for pastoral care of

O O ° Quabius, p. 25. 84

individual needs and failings. 29 The pastoral care of the

individual soul is an outgrowth of Pietism. The Bollenbach

pastor represents an older tradition of the pastor as well

as father, and is rejected by Walter and the schoolmaster,

and, by implication, by Mliller himself. Mliller supports

the role of the Familienvater which is properly exercised

by Walter and Wetzstein when they forgive the prodigal

Fritz and consent to his marriage with Guntel.

By incorporating middle-class society and the role

of the ruler into the idyll, Mliller decisively breaks with

the tradition of the genre. Before Mliller, specific

concerns of the political and economic spheres play no

role in the idyll. In addition, the aesthetics of

Johann A. Eberhard and Schiller, among others, deny the

political and economic concerns a role in pastoral litera­

ture. A recent book review maintains that in the Palatine

trilogy "der Ansatz zur Geschichtsphilosophie [weistjj

liber die Gattung hinaus."^ The following discussion will illustrate Mliller's treatment and integration of

political and economic concerns into the genre.

^ Bruford, pp. 253-55.

30 Ludwig Uhlig, rev. of Wand re r und Idy lie : Goe the und die PhSnomsnologie der Natur in der deutschen Dichtung von Gessner bis Gott fried Keller, by Gerhard Kaiser, German is t i k , 19 (19 78) , p. 350. Throughout the eighteenth century Absolutism governed

the Continent. And despite imperfections, it nonetheless

"stellte sich soziopolitische Ordnung als perfekte Organi­ sation vor. The absolute rulers saw their role as parallel to the role of the father in the family: "Die deutschen Landesherren verwiesen ausserdem (vor allem in ihren Testamenten) regelmXssig darauf, dass sie, wie es

V eit Ludwig von Seckendorff in seinem 1 Christenstaat 1

(16 85) formulierte, 1aus dem Grunde des Christenthums/ und in Betrachtung dessen Haupt-Zwecke/ ih r Amt 1 flihren.

Dieses religibs eingefSrbte Staatsraisondenken, das den

Ftlrsten gern als treusorgenden, flir das Wohl seiner Unter- tanen unermlidlich thtigen Landesvater schilderte, hat oft zu einer idealisierenden Ausmahlung gemlitlich-patriarchali- 32 scher ZustSnde verleitet." The Landesvater image is a direct parallel to /the microcosmic hierarchy of the family.

Even as the Hausvater or Familienvater governs his family absolutely, so also does the Landesvater discharge his duties within a patriarchal hierarchy. It is thus a small step for Mliller to move from the microcosm of familial concerns and the role of the father to the macro­ cosm of social concerns and the role of the ruler. The.- community of the Palatine trilogy has attitudes and

Hohendahl, "Empfindsamke.it," p. 2 02. 32 Kiesel/Mlinch, p. 28. 86

33 aspirations shared by the bourgeoisie. The following

questions should now be considered: Do the attitudes and

values already identified in the familial microcosm con­

flict with those of the political and economical macro­

cosm , or are the former understood to underpin and

affirm the lat.ter (the prevailing social order)? If

conflict arises between the microcosm and macrocosm, how

is it resolved on the private level: through revolution,

rebellion, or submission

Political and economic concerns first arise in Das

Nusskernen. Wetzstein has encountered difficulties with

the B ailiff (Amtmann) , an official appointed by the Count

(Graf von Rosenau), and w ill soon find himself in conflict with another appointee, the Steward (Oberkeller). Schulz

greets his friend Wetzstein at the door, who enters "voll

Verdruss und Zank." Taken aback, the host indicates that

Wetzstein's problem with the Bailiff has existed for some

The discussion of nascent nationalism below will identify more precisely the social class which shares the aspirations of the L&mmerbach community.

Leo B a le t, Die V erb hrgerlichung der deutschen Kunst, Literatur und Musik im 18. Jahrhundert (Strassburg: Heitz , 1936), p. 164. Balet believes that during the 1770s no one except the aristocracy and nobility supported the idea of despotism: "Das ganze Volk: Grossblirger, Klein- btlrger, Handwerker und Bauern war in. seinem Hass gegen den Depostismus vollkommen einig." (p. 164). If such hatred is historically true, the reader should expect a similar attitude from Mliller 1 s peasants: that although the absolutism of the family under the father is positive, the absolutism of society under the ruler is negative. time and has not found a solution: "Will's denn mit dem

Amtmann noch nicht voran?" (Ill/ 60/R, 101). Wetzstein has come to the end of his patience and wishes to kill the B a i l i f f . His moral, sen se, however, stays h is ven gefu l hand: "Der Schindhund, dass er nur gleich am Galgen hing'!

Gott verzeih* mir meine Stlnd . . . dass ich ihn nur gleich mit eignen Hctnden . . . Nein, es ist mein Seel 1 n ic h t erlaubt, 's ist zu arg, wie sie's einem machen, die

Schelmen; dass sie alle der Teufel hohl1!" (Ill, 60/R, 101).

After a stiff drink Wetzstein assails the Bailiff's deeds:

"Der Amtmann w ill nun's Geld nicht wieder 'raus geben, das meine Schw&gerin hier hinterlegen musst', als ihr

Tochtermann, der Halunk, hier ihre Fuhr' arretiren liess.

Hundert Thaler musste sie damahls Caution hinterlegen bis zur ausgemachten Sachi" (III, 60-61/R, 102). The Bailiff, appointed to administer the laws and legal claims, is in league with the son-in-law, thus leaving little chance for

Wetzstein's sister-in-law to regain her deposit. Schulz sees recourse through the normal channels of government:

"O Gerechtigkeit! Werd's doch nochmahls erleben, dass unser gnhdiger Herr Graf wieder hier ist! Ihr mhsst's nicht so dabey lassen. Deine Schw&gerin muss sich an die

Regierung wenden" (III, 61/R, 102). Schulz has complete confidence-, in the Count, although he is fully aware of occasional corruption among the appointed officials.

Schulz's confidence stems from his personal relationship 88 with the ruler:

Das schwftr' ich dir, Wetzstein: kommt unser gn&diger Herr 'mahl zur(lck--er h< was auf mich, das weiss ich selbst, das weisst du und der Amtmann und die ganze Nachbarschaft; er hat’s mir auch oftmahls bewiesenQ • • 0 Gelt, wie unser Graf hier war, was er dir da so h&flich um einen herschwanzelte und dir so freu p d lich und m an ierlich th at; da war kein Hochmuth auf hundert Stund1, da h ie s s es immer: mein lie b e r Herr G evatter Schulz land lieber Herr Confrater und Socius! Und jetzt? Da klingt's anders. Aber wart1, wart'! 0 dass der gn&dige Herr so lang in Wien b le ib t l H ier, h ie r s o i l1 er j e t z t sey n , w o lle n ’s dann bald anders machen! (Ill, 62-63/R, 102-03)35

Wetzstein is fortunate to have a friend such as

Schulz who can appeal directly to the Count on his behalf.

However, both men remain powerless so long as the Count is absent. Wetzstein is painfully made aware of his lack of political leverage when he becomes a victim of another corrupt official. The Steward (OberkeHer) has received a delivery of grain, but has not made remittance to

Wetzstein. Schulz's friend intends to go to the bureau­ crat for payment, only to learn from Frau Schulz: "Den trefft ihr aber heut gewiss nicht an, komint erst bis

Morgen wieder zurhck nach Haus , ist heute frlih mit dem

Fbrster ’naus auf die Dachs-Jagd geritten" (III, 67/R, 105).

33 Seuffert, p. 127, identifies Graf von Rosenau's absence with the historical move of the. elector Karl Theodor to Munich in 1778 . The elector took up his branch's claims to the throne of Bavaria. 89

Seeing no recourse, Wetzstein resigns himself to waiting

upon the eventual good will of the Steward: "Sie treiben's,

wie sie wollen, wir armen Hunde sollen das Alles so gedultig

einschlucken" (III, 67/R, 105).

Schulz's accessibility to the Count represents an

ideal relationship between subject and ruler. Such a

view ignores the historical realities of the eighteenth-

century Palatinate. Although these peasants share in

the concerns of their historical counterparts, they are

not subject to all the same restraints. One of the most

characteristics traits of the eighteenth-century peasant was his complete lack of social mobility:

Der Adel . . . geht meistenteils nur mit seines Gleichen urn, weil er sich aus Stolz von den N iedrigeren absondert: und er kommt mit seines Gleichen viel zusammen, weil Musse und Reichtum ihn dazu in den Stand setzen. Dem Bauer werden durch entgegengesetzte Ursachen hhnliche Vorteile zu Teile. Seine Niedrigkeit ist so gross, das sie ihn h in d e r t, auch nur den Wunsch, noch mehr aber daran, die G elegenheit zu haben, mit Hflheren umzugehen. Er sieh ; fast m e andre Menschen, als Bauern urn sich. 16

Noticeably absent in Wetzstein's response to Frau

Schulz is any objection to the hunt itself. The destruc­ tion of crops by the nobility's livestock and hunting of

o r Christian Garve, Uber 11 den Charakter der Bauern und ih r Verh5.1tnis gegen die Gutsherrn und geoen d ie Reg ieru n g , in K lassenbuch : Ein 7gas_emach zu den K 1 assenkhmpfen in Deutsch lan d 1756-19 71, ed. Hans Magnus Enzonsberger (Darmstadt: Luchterhand, 19 72), p. 32. 90

game was a common complaint among the peasantry, yet none

is raised here. Twenty years (1792) after Das Nusskernen

the complaint against the nobility for crop damages

resulting from the hunt is still heard throughout the

middle Rhine: "Wenn so ein guter fleissiger Bauer sein

Stlick Land mit aller Sorgfalt angebauet hat, wenn er sich

schon auf den schbnen Gottessegen freuet, welcher ihm flir

seinen Schweiss zuteil werden soil, so kommen, dass es

Gott erbarme, des gnSdigsten Herrn Hirsche und Schweine

und verderben oft in einer Nacht, was den Bauern mit 37 Weib und Kindern ein ganzes Jahr lang nbhren sollte."

In addition, neither Wetzstein nor anyone else complains

about taxation. Taxes and services for the nobility and

aristocracy were substantial (albeit southern and western

Germany fared better than the northern and eastern 3 8 provinces), and took a large share of the rural income, yet neither taxes nor services are ever mentioned. 39 The

3 7 Friedrich Cotta, "Wie gut es die Leute am Rhein und an der Mosel jetzt haben kbnnen," in Klassenbuch, p. 82.

Kiesel/Mlinch, pp. 48-51.

39 Although highly polemical and reflecting the more oppressed status of the peasants in the eastern provinces, the following excerpt from a pamphlet in support of the Saxon peasant rebellion (1790) provides insight into the many taxes laid upon the peasant: "... Zinnssen, Arbeits- Tagen, Zinnss-Getreyde und andem Diensten, nemlich Jagd- Geldern, Schutz geldem, Erb-Zinss-Geldem, Michaelis und Walburgus-Zinnssen, Jagd-Hafer, Zinnss-Hafer, Zinnss-Kom, Zinnss-Hliner, Zinnss-Ghnsse, Zinnss-Eyer und alien Zinnssen und Arbeits-Tagen, nehmlich Erb-Fuhren, Acker-Tage, Schneide- Tage, Hau-Tage, Schaaf-Scheer Tage, Erndte-Tage, Bau-Fuhren 91 lack of concern for taxes, services, and other economic hardships--a daily encumbrance for most peasants--is an attitude more likely befitting those of high social standing. Consistent with their affluence, Schulz and

Wetzstein do not share the concerns of the peasants, rather those of the bourgeoisie.

As a corrective to the political constraint experienced by Schulz and his guest, an ideal ruler- subject relationship is projected. Schulz, surprisingly as literate as his friend Walter, finds his copy of a

F tirstenspiegel and reads i t to the assembled company:

Ein Fhrst soil nie seine Gewalt tlberneh- men, bevor er nicht das Land, das er regieren w ill, genau kennen gelernt; ver- stellt, gleichsam als ein Fremdling soil er seine eignen Sthdte durchziehen, den Schatz und Mangel seines Landes bestimmter zu untersuchen, nachzusehen den GebrSuchen und Uebungen, was Gutes und Bflses daraus e n t- springe, die Richter und Gesetze recht zu p rh fen , sein e Vftgte und Amtleute n ic h t den Namen, sondern vielmehr ihren Handlungen nahe, kennen zu lernen und gleichsam wie das Auge Gottes, ungesehn und unbemerkt, alle heimliche Schlupfwinke1 zu durchfor- schen, wohin Ungerechtigkeit und Trutz sich so gerne verbirgt; der Gemeinen ungeschminkte Meynung zu vernehmen; anzuhbren, was s ie drbckt, wo zu heben und zu b e sse m wbre, so wie einen Kranken der Arzt anhbrt, wie Bruder den Bruder. Ein Kittel spricht

und allem Diensten und Beschwerden." "Wehe ihr Adelichen," in Klassenbuch, p. 71. 92

doch immer vertraulicher zu einem Kittel, als zu einem verbr&mten Taler. (Ill, 71-72/R, 108)

The prince acts as God's representative on earth, a role

parallel to that of the father within the family. All

present at the celebration acknowledge the Fhrstenspiegel

to be compatible with their aspirations. Submission to

such divinely sanctioned leadership is thus understood

to be the correct response by those governed.

The Christmas festivity of Der Christabend provides

the "proof" for submission to the existing order. The

Count and his "recently" acquired family are disguised 40 and present among the company. The difficulties with

the B ailiff have increased since Wetzstein's problems in

the fall (Das Nusskemen) and are brought again to

S ch u lz's home.

Georg, a young man imprisoned by the Bailiff, has

been freed by Major von Frunsberg. The major brings

Georg to Schulz for protection and orders another soldier,

Christoph, to protect Georg's mother from the B ailiff.^

The reader is led to believe that the Count's absence has not been more than a year or so. However, he has married and is the father of an heir. The Count's absence must have lasted many years. Although still a child, the heir is already an articulate guest, conversing with the others. 4 1 The reader never learns the nature of Georg's alleged offense. This lack of background information is due to the idyll's fragmentary state. 93

The major, up to now faithful to his lord, faults the

Count for what he considers, and which is, neglect of

office: "Er sollte hievon unterrichtet seynl Das ist

sein e S c h u ld ig k eit, von so was u n te r r ic h te t zu se y n !

Warum ist er Landesherr? Er verrichte seine Pflicht,

wie sich's gehbret oder gebe seine Ansprliche und Tittel

auf! Sieht Er, das ists, was ich ihm, wenn Ihr nicht

wollt in die Schue HsicD , doch in den Bart giessen

will" (III, 177). The major exposes the remission

in the Count's office and delights in berating the

corrupt B ailiff with an earthy and humorous diatribe.

He gains more than a personal victory. He interprets

his victory as a triumph of morality over corruption.

Unlike Odoardo Galotti who awaits the hereafter to

punish the villainy suffered by his daughter, Emilia,

the major sees God's moral justice intercede in the

world to restore harmony. The same morality which holds

the family together preserves the order of the world:

"Da Du die trostlose Mutter zurlhck stiessest und schnaub-

test, dass Du ihren Sohn im Thurme wolltest verfaulen

lassen, dachtest Du nicht, dass Gottes Arm liber Dir- sey

und Dich au gen b lick lich g r e iffe n kttnne? Dis i s t e in

Fehler in Deiner Praxis, --da hast Du Dich betrogen"

(III, 188). A rebellion against that order over which

the Count reigns would be sin-~Wetzstein and Schulz therefore are proved to have been morally right in their 94

earlier gesture of submission. The Count, as if further

proof were needed, reaffirms the existing order and the

correctness of submitting to his care when he states:

"Ja, meine Werthen, die von der Vorsicht mir als Unter-

thanen verliehen sind, ich bins selbst und komine, um alle

die Pflichten die ich Euch und meinem Stande schultig bin,

aufs treulichste zu erfhllen" (III, 185). The Count's

interpretation of his role is the very same Landesvater

attitude outlined above. The patriarch is designated by

God to x-ule, and is granted his subjects in order to

protect them (economically and morally) as the Familien-

vater does for his household. The familial principle

a p p lies to the p rin ce, and by e x te n sio n , to h is w ife and h e ir as w e ll: "Meine Freunde, h ie r s t e l l e ic h Euch meine geliebteste Gemahlin und in .ihr auch eine zhrtliche

Landesmutter vor; ihr mildes Herz wird Euch selbst gewiss die reichlichsten Proben abstatten. Und hier schaut an den Sohn und zuklinftigen Erben des Landes, den ich m it allem Fleisse werde erziehen lassen" (III, 186, emphasis added) .

Although the political and economic sphere has the potential of exploding the traditional limits of the idyll, Mhller nonetheless avoids the problem. For all his "realism," he does not reproduce a naturalistic account of the historical oppression suffered by the peasantry. Rather, the L"mme roach citizens are "peasants" 95 who have an ideal relationship with their ruler. They espouse bourgeois values, which, when tested by hardship/ are proved correct. When the individual wishes to rebel against the existing order, he is restrained by his

(bourgeois) morality (Wetzstein: "es ist mein Seel' nicht erlaubt"), and by the realization that he is politically disenfranchised (Wetzstein: "wir armen Hunde sollen das Alles so gedultig einschlucken"). This attitude protects the hierarchy of society from any serious challenge. By portraying a direct parallel between the microcosm (ruled by the Familienvater) and the macrocosm (ruled by the Landesvater) , Mliller creates two tangential spheres, wherein the moral approval of the former asserts the moral sanction of the latter. Personal submission to the "rightness" of both spheres is the only moral decision the individual can make.i 42

Inherent in the relationship between society and ruler are the problems of German particularism (Klein- staatereij and French hegemony over the German lands.

Per Christabend provides a broad discussion of the eighteenth-century French influence upon German politics, culture, and ideas.

4 o Kaiser, Wandrer und Id y lle , p. 2 8. 96

The B ailiff's Clerk (Amtsschreiber) , an honest 43 official, relates a recent incident to Walter, m

which the Frenchman Lessard praises France and berates

Germany. Lessard b e lie v e s the Frenchman to be a

superior representative of a superior culture:

. . . der Franzoss legt seinem Vaterlande einen so hohen Vorzug bey, dass, wenn er auf eine anstSndige Weise darin leben kann, er es mit keinem andera leicht vertauschet; nur beym Abgange von diesem , oder wenn er die Forderungen seiner Eigenliebe zu tief beschrhnkt sieht, dass in einer Wissenschaft oder Kunst er sich zu keinem bedeutenden Grad hervorheben kann, entschliesst er sich es zu verlassen, tiberzeugt, dass ausserhalb, besonders in unserm lieben Vaterlande, er dann d ie e r s te R olle sp ie le n dlirffe. Denn ausserhalb Frankx-eich, fuhr er fort, gethrau- et sich auch der unwissendste Franzoss nicht ein Talent, sondern alle [sic] zu, weil er die thbrige Welt nur a ls ein e Zugabe von Frankreich betrachtet, wobei er den Meister spielen und alles nach seiner Absicht leiten kann. (Ill , 156)

The Frenchman believes that, because he possesses all

advantages, he ought to serve as a model in foreign lands.

The Clerk and Walter object to French hegemony, and

praise the qualities of the German people and the German

past. The Clerk affirms that "Wir Deutsche sind whrcksam,

The Clerk is in love with Schulz's daughter, Liesschen. Because the idyll is a fragment, the love story is incomplete. If.the love stories of the other idylls may serve as a precedent, two conclusions follow: the Clerk's love would probably be blessed at the end of the work. Also Mhller, who always sides with his lovers, must be seen as being in complete agreement with the Clerk's views. 97 sinnig und ernsthaffter, aber nicht weniger tapfer" (III/

161). Walter emphasizes that the Germans played "eine glcinzende Rolle" in the Middle Ages. Such a viewpoint is consistent with the medieval world praised in the songs and t a le s o f Die Schafschu r. ^

French hegemony, the Clerk maintains, is most damaging in the realm of ideas:

Allein hier war weder von der franztisi- schen Nazion hberhaupt, noch von. ihren Fehlern und Vorzhgen die Rede, sondem nur von denen, welche ihre Nazion ent- weder selbst ausgeschickt, oder die als Glhcks-Ritter und Prosilitenmacher flir eine vei'kehrte Aufkl&rung zu uns gelangen, die unter dem Anscheine von Verlachung alles Chim&rischen und Befassung des Reellen das Nhtzliche- fhr den Augenblick a ls das Wahre, ohne Rhcksicht auf andere Pflichten, darstellen und durch einen philosophischen Indiferen- tissmus, dem sie die Masque von Toleranz leihen, den Glauben an alles H&here lhhmen und so zu einem rohen Egoismus h in - leiten, wodurch das Mittelding vom Engel und Vieh sich b io s auf sein en le tz te n Theil zurtickgesetzt fhhlet. (Ill, 162-63)

Significantly, French political hegemony does not receive the same direct censure. . The primary

Mil Her similarly praises the virtues of Henry IV and h is knight U lrich von Cossheim in the work of the same name. Mtlller p ra ises th e m edieval Emperor for his attempt to assert centralized authority in the Holy Roman Empire. Ulrich supports his lord in the face of a major r e b e llio n by the p rin ces of Germany. His support of a strong central government behind Henry IV is identical to Walter's support of Joseph II in Der Chr.istabend. 98

c r it ic is m f a l l s upon id e a s, m orals, and v a lu e s— those

concerns of eighteenth-century life which were repeatedly

discussed by and associated with the bourgeoisie.^ The

aspirations voiced in the above speech are those of the

politically disenfranchised bourgeoisie, not those of 46 the peasantry.

The Clerk--a burgher--criticizes German particularism,

but proposes a non-political solution:

Der fremde Einfluss wird aber bey unsern vomehmeren StSnden, welche die eigentliche Franzen-Knechte und daher meistens verpfut- schte Deutsche sind, so lange noch fort- dauern bis der Mittelstand, der bey jedem c i v i l i s i x ‘tem Volck irruner doch den Ausschlag gibt, endlich von reinem Patriotismus ange- flammt, allgemein Muth fasst, seinen eigenen Nazional-Charakter auszusprechen, das h e i s s t , dass der Schwabe zum B e is p ie l sich nicht mehr als Schwabe, oder der Preusse als Preusse, sondern, bey WegrSumung aller Provinzial Vorurtheile, sich in ihren Gesinnungen als Deutsche brtderlich befas- sen, und so, was in politischer Hinsicht nicht mflglich, in geistiger Verbindung sich zu einer Nazion zu erheben. (Ill, 164, emphasis added)

The Clerk faults his fellow burghers for the continuing particularism in German lands. Particularism was deeply rooted in the German past, and can be traced to the

Kiesel/Mfnch, p. 83.

4 6 The Clei'k reveals the bourgeois aspirations one would exp ect. These a sp ira tio n s are a lso shax'ed by Walter and his friends, for they are in complete agree- ment with the Clerk. 47 political upheavals of the Middle Ages, prior to the

emergence of the bourgeoisie as a significant social entity.

The Clerk acknowledges that the bourgeoisie cannot solve the

political basis of particularism, but he believes that they

can influence the realm of ideas and effect the "spiritual

unity" o f Germany. 4 9 He r e j e c t s the F ran cop h ilia o f the

nobility and upper bourgeoisie in favor of the "untainted"

middle bourgeoisie. The Clerk's speech is not a subversive

protest, but an idealistic attitude typifying bourgeois

aspirations. On the other hand, Major von Frunsberg and

Wetzstein display rebellious gestures and openly criticize

bureaucratic injustices. Nonetheless they submit to the e sta b lis h e d p o l i t i c a l order. They are members of a

society believing itself to be enlightened and moral.

Enlightened morality teaches reasonableness and patience, mainta.ning that justice and harmony w ill prevail in the

long run.

4^ K iese1/Mhnch, p. 20.

4 A The bourgeoisie's support of particularism is none­ th e le s s present in S ch u lz's home. The Count and W alter de­ sire to toast the Emperor (Joseph II). Schulz objects, be­ cause it is traditional to toast first the teritorial lord (Graf von Rosenau), then the Emperor: "Nehmt Euch in acht, Walter, bedenckt was Ihr sprechet. Es lSufft stracks gegen das Hergebrachte. Ich weiss nicht, ob wirs verantworten k5nnen" ( I I I , 167). The statem ent i s r e v e a lin g , for Schulz, like many of the bourgeoisie, places greater support in the territorial lord than in the central ruler of the Empire.

49 Bruford, p. 64. 100

One of the most controversial moral and social issues

of the eighteenth century, if one may judge from its fre­

quent appearance in belles lettres, Preisschriften, etc.,

is infanticide."^ Mttller is the only German author to

treat the theme in the idyll. What might at first seem to

exceed the limits of the idyll has already been justified

by Walter in Die Schafschur. The ultimate criterion for

including any fable in pastoral literature is naturalness.

The narrative ought to'^be able to-occur in the real world.

Walter judges infanticide appropriate for the idyll because he has personally witnessed the tragedy: "Hab einmal mflssen h e lfe n ein Model zum G ericht ftlhren. Vex_gess mein Lebtag nicht, wie1s da ausgesehen. --Das arme Ding

- - — --w ie s ie da h in g ien g im T od essch w eiss, den b itte r e n

Marterweg, und d ie Ergebung und Duldung in Gott zu le id e n , und tragen was sie verdienet, und die Hoffnung, und das sehnende Verlangen im Tode zu ruhn" (I I I , 34-35/R, 86).

In Das Nusskemen the schoolmaster relates the story of Hannchen, a poor peasant widow's daughter.

Pregnant by Christoph, the son of a rich farmer, she is denied marriage because of her poverty. Despite rumors,

There are two significant studies of infanticide in the eighteenth century: Jan M. Rameckers, Der Kindes- inord in der Literatur der Sturm- und Drangperiode: Ein Beitrag zur Kultur- un_d Literatnrgeschi chte (Rotterdam: Nijgh & Van Ditmars, 1927); and Beat Weber, Die Kindsmttr- berin im deutschen Schrifttum von 1770-1795 (Bonn: Bouvier, 19 74). 101

Hannchen t r i e s to conceal her predicament by conducting her life as she did before her pregnancy. Faced with motherhood and public disgrace, Hannchen acts swiftly:

. kam auch, ohne dass Jemand erfuhr, selbst, wie man behaupten w ill, ohne Wissen ihrer Mutter, nieder und b ra ch t 1 ihr Kind gleich nach Geburt urn" (III, 92/R, 120).

A week o f fe a r and g u ilt ensues. Hannchen b u ries the corpse in a field, removes it to her mother's hearth, thence to the woods. Her plight is dramatized in a psychological portrayal: "Da ward ihr nun auf einmal so schwer und bange, sie wusste in der Angst nicht, wohin, sie glaubte sich schon verrathen mit dem Kinde, ihr w&r's als schrey's noch und best&ndig und liesse sich durch nichts stillen" (III, 93/R, 120). Her fears magnify into grotesque fantasy: "In der achten Nacht karri's ihr vor, als habe sie das Kind nicht tief genug begraben, es reiche mit einem Aermchen noch liber die

Erde heraus" ( I I I , 95/R, 121).

A religious girl, Hannchen at last entrusts the body to the ruins of a cloister. This act assuages her conscience. Six months later, however, the child is found. When she sees the burial urn, Hannchen confesses and is condemned. The local community (like Walter in

Die Schafschur) must transport the condemned Hannchen to her execution and, ironically, the task falls to

Christoph. He acknowledges his role and pleads to die 102 for Hannchen, but he is restrained by the populace. The girl is executed.

Like the other anecdotes and songs of the Palatine trilogy, this history, too, is evaluated:

Walter. Schaudert mich. Armes M&dchen] H c i t t 1 ihr wahrhaftig Gnade geben und h&tt' ich's auf meine Seel' verantwor- ten sollen! Und h&tt' ich Gottes Richtschwert gefhhret, Gnade hStt" ich ihr gegeben, h c i t t 1 mit Barmherzigkeit und Milde ihr zerschlagenes Herz er- quickt, mein Seel'1 W etzstein . Ja, ja! Aber s ie war doch allemahl eine Mbrderin. W alter. Das war s ie ; aber wie? Was b r a c h t 1 s ie dazu? H&tte s ie das Kind allein in einer Whste unter wilden Thieren zur Welt bracht, gewiss h&tte sie es nicht ermordet. O Men- schen, Menschen! Ihr seyd hrger, als T hierei .... Die Schadenfreude, die sich so recht an solch einem armen Ding weiden kann— und dann der Gedanke noch obendrein, dass solch ein arm Ding nur eine Ehre hat und dass sie_ j e t z t dahin und auf immer dahin seyn soli: das ists, was die Natur ganz verdreht, Sanftmuth und Liebe in Raserey und Blutdurst verwandelt und das weiche mtitterliche Herz eisenfest hhrtet. (Ill, 99-100/R, 123-24)

Wetzstein condemns infanticide as a personal moral f a il in g on the part o f the mother— Hannchen is a murderess. Walter (

an individual has in mankind's eyes but one honor. Once

blemished, the individual is cut off from society. Hann­

chen becomes the victim of the moral vindictiveness of

others. After all, Walter reasons, "ist denn das so

Erschreckliches, ein Jungfernkind?" (Ill, 102/R, 125).

The forgiving stance that Walter assumes is consistent

with his role as Familienvater. He would, if possible, 51 forgive her despite society's morals and laws.

The schoolmaster has his own private opinion, but

publicly approaches the problem from the stance of an

enlightened scholar. Like the views expressed in the 52 Preisschriften, he seeks a rationalistic understanding

of the criminal's psychological behavior—she is innocent by reason of insanity: "Gelehrte sind auch deswegen der

Meynung, dass eine solche Kindermftrderin nicht wohl am

Leben zu strafen sey, weil sie im Delicto sich nicht

tr -I Walter's stance in Das Nusskernen contradicts his stance in Die Schafschur. He is sympathetic to the murderess in each case, and suppox'ts capital punishment as a general sentence. If, as he does with Hannchen, he finds mitigating circumstances due to the overemphasis on moral virtue, one can j u s t i f ia b ly ask why he does nothing in Die Schafschu r. In the earlier idyll Walter had. the opportunity to inter­ cede, yet did not. The earlier execution is seen as an example, as an ars moriendi as it were; the condemned bears herself stoically, longing for death, for it atones for her moral failing. She dies the Christian stoic. The image is inconsistent with Walter's view of Hannchen. This inconsis­ tency can be ascribed to the fact that Mtiller never revised the trilogy for publication as a cycle.

Weber, pp. 84-8 7. 104

mehr im e ig e n tlic h e n Stand der Natur b e fin d e , sondem

vielmehr theils durch Schrecken, Angst und Verzweiflung,

sinnlos und abgeschw&cht, theils durch das Leiden der

Geburt ausser sich versetzt sey und daher niemahls einer

solchen That wegen ganz zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden kftnne" (III, 100/R, 124). Off the record the schoolmaster

acknowledges another aspect to the problem: Humanitarian treatment of the mother is fine and good, but only so long as one does not contradict the official orthodox view of in f a n tic id e : "Kab 1 so meine eigene Glossen darttber, aber man darf eben nichts davon pipsen, es fhllt einem gleich die Orthodoxie auf den Hals und das liebe t&gliche Brod schmeckt einem doch so shsse" (III, 102/R, 125)^ As a pedagogue the schoolmaster cannot reject the view of the institutionalized Church, whose parishioners pay his salary. According to the orthodox view, the murderess must be punished less for destroying a life than for 53 destroying a soul.

Walter's solution is a personal one: if placed in the situation he would stop the execution. His words reflect, however, nothing more than a noble sentiment.

Even as Walter disparages humanity for its uncompromising

Weber, p. 3: "Nach kirchlicher Auffassung war das ungetaufte Kind von der ewigen Seligkeit ausgeschlos- sen. Die Tat der Mutter gait somit nicht bloss als An- schlag auf sein Leben, sondern auch auf seine Seele." 105

morality, so he also sees the resolution of the issue on

the basis of personal moral decision ("H&tt1 ih r wahr-

haftig Gnade geben"). This solution ignores the root

cause, namely society's uncompromising mores which are 54 r e fle c te d in the in s t it u t io n s o f Church and S ta te .

Mtlller's depiction of infanticide does generate

sympathy for the murderess as well as for those who would personally intercede on the accused's behalf.

The importance of dealing with infanticide within the social context, however, remains out of the picture,

for the author portrays the misdeed as a dilemma suffered by an individual, at the hands of uncompromising individuals; the solution rests with the innocent indi­ vidual's own moral sense.

Biblical Idylls

Maler Mlhller's biblical idylls-- Der erschlagene

Abel and Adams erstes Erwachen und erste selige N&chte-- share closely in the pastoral tradition of the eighteenth century. These two idylls reveal direct influences from

Rameckers, p. 14. The justification in the eighteenth century for capital punishment in treating infanticide was based on the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532). The u n ited view of Church and S ta te was~that infanticide be met with capital punishment. 106

cr Cg Klopstock and Gessner. In Adams erstes Erwachen

Mftller closely imitates Gessner's style, although, as

Denk has shown, the Mannheim au th or's language i s more forceful and dynamic than the Swiss author's. 5 7 In

Der erschlagene Abel, however, Mhller radically departs from Gessner's linguistic influence. Violent, rebellious outbursts, unremitted hatred and anger dominant the events.

The Promethean characters of Sturm und Drang drama suddenly appear in the idyll—the last place where we might expect to find them. The biblical idylls, then, are tr a d it io n a l and exp erim en ta l, they are old and new struggling with each other.

This struggle is equally evident in the thematic structure of both idylls. The broad range of themes in the Palatine trilogy is reduced to one central theme: the family and the role of the father. Since each idyll

5 5 Carl F. A. Lange, Maler M hllers J ugen dsprache, Diss. Univ. of Michigan 1904 (Ann Arbor: Georg Wahr, 1904). Lange demonstrates direct parallels between Klopstock's word formations and those of Mtiller.

Seuffert, pp. 115-16. Seuffert demonstrates from the Berliner Material, that Mhller originally intended to write an idyllic epic entitled Der todt abels. eine Idylle. The fragments indicate a double marriage for the- brothers and the eventual reemergence of Cain's hatred for Abel.

5 7 See Ferdinand Denk, Frredrich Mtiler, der Maler- dichter und Pi ch termaler, Verfif fentlich ungen der pf&lzi- iTchen~Geseillschaft zur Fftrderung der Wissenschaften , 11 (Speyer: Pfhlzische Gesellschaft, 1930), pp. 17-18. 107

presents different answers to family conflicts, the reader

may fairly question if these works are idylls.

The idyllic sketch, Der erschlagene Abel, begins in

complete stillness: "Sanft dhftet der Abend. Vom trauem-

den Himmel sinken die Sterne gemach" (I, 121). Next to the

slain Abel stant Tirza (Abel's betrothed), Adam, and Eve.

In quiet grief the first family attempts to comprehend

the meaning of death--a new experience for them. Like

Gessner1s archpatriarch, Mftller's Adam expresses hope for

a reunion in the hereafter: "Glftckzu! meine Geliebte,

Glftckzu! --Du h ast nun einen Sohn im Himmel. D er's

gegeben, h a t 's w ieder genommen; des Herrn Name sey

gelobet, --Weine o! weine nicht zu sehr" (I, 123).

The reader might expect Mhller to portray sentimental

pathos in the exchange between the bereaved, a technique which Gessner employs in the same scene. Instead, Eve,

suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that Abel has been killed, accuses her husband of complicity in the

deed: "Vater du? Hast wttrgen lassen deinen Sohn! - -

Wttrgen lassen-nicht gewagt, ihn zu retten, dich entgegen zu stellen des Todes kalter Hand—da er gekSunpft, blutig geschweisst, als ihn zurhckgebogen, hingeschleudert der

gewaltige Arm des Siegers!" (I, 125). Pathos is present in her speech, but it is not the introspective self­ generated feeling of Empfindsamkeit, rather a rebellious 108

denunciation of the head of the family. Eve's gesture

la s t s but a moment, but i t rev ea ls th a t harmony and order

do not exist in the family. Adam, too, strikes out "voll

Wuth," but soon acquiesces to his faith in the Deity.

Cain enters, his rebellious spirit unleashed:

"Sohn, Sohn. —Wolt ich w&rs nie gewesen. --Dass ihr

mich mit euren Flftchen niederschmeissen kbnnt, darum bin

ich euer Sohn. ------An der Gurgel mich anfassen,

niederreissen mfichtet ihr mich gerne; mirs Knie aufs

Herz setzen, rufen: Bekenn, du hasts gethan—hasts

gethan" (I, 130). Like most Promethean figures Cain

rebels against his father, but outwardly projects his hatred onto his brother:

Schuld seyd ihr an allem — -- — Gelt immer gek oosst und g e le c k t den Knaben, das habt ihr--da war nichts als er--hin- danstehen musst ich mit meinen Kindem. U eberall Tag und Nachts und a l l e z e i t habt ihr ftir ihn gebethet. --Der Heuchleri All meinen Segen stahl er mir—und ich war immer der Verworfene und der euer Lieb- s te r . --K h sst ihn nun so lang ih r w o llt. Aber eure G esichter w i l l ich von nun an n ich t mehr sehen. — Heimgehen w i l l ic h , und mein Weib und Kinder holen, in die wilde Wildniss ziehen--und euch und diese verfluchte Gegend auf ewig meiden. --Verderben und Elend fiber euch! (I , 131)

Adam reacts swiftly but impotently: "Aidam springt auf, streckt die Faust nach ihm, aber zittem d fhllt er zurhck. Die Kraft verlhsst sein schwankendes Knie; sinkend schl> er mit seiner Stim e an den Felsen und 109

schreyt" (I, 131-32). Adam collects his wits sufficiently

in order to pronounce judgment on Cain: "Verflucht sey er vor meinem A ngesich t] Keine Ruhe labe ihn nachts und am

Tage J —Halte mich nicht: —nach w ill ich ihm, erhaschen ihn, schleifen im Blute, das er vergoss --Ich aufgerufen von G ott, Vater und Richter" (I, 132). Adam's a tt itu d e , because he sees himself as father and absolute judge ordained by God, is that of the Hausvater. Adam represents the absolute patriarch within the family structure, the very role which Walter attacked repeatedly in the Palatine t r ilo g y .

Adam's r e la tio n s h ip to h is son allow s for no m itig a - ting circumstances when Cain sins against him. 5 8 If

Adam could carry out his threat he would punish the fratri- 59 cide as do other fathers in plays of this period.

Adam's p o sitio n is ty p ic a l o f the posture g en era lly ascribed to father figures in Sturm und Dirang literature.

Cain's response is revolution against his father, effectu­ ated in the destruction of his brother. He is a total

Prometheus, an absolute revolutionary, who rejects his

C Q father's world and its values, and who sets out to

Because Adam as Hausvater represents God on earth, Cain's deed is as much a sin against Adam as it is against God. See Quabius, p. 16.

C Q Cf. Leisewitz, Julius von Tarent; Klinger, Die Zwi H in g e .

C ain's r ev o lu tio n i s su c c e ssfu l and cannot be controlled despite Adam's wishes to the contrary. The 110

create his own world. Cain alone has children in the idyll.

By rejecting his father and taking his family with himself,

Cain w ill become the father of mankind in place of Adam.

At this point Maler Mil Her has seemingly exceeded

the traditional limits of the genre. He has created a

character who finds no revolutionary equal in the litera­

ture of the 1770s, except for, perhaps, Goethe's Prometheus

and Klinger's Guelfo. After destroying the family, however,

the author restores order to the family and the idyllic

world. An angel seizes Adam by the hair and casts him to

the earth. The angel insists that moral judgment be

reserved to God alone. Adam seeks mercy for himself and

his son. Cain is then planished by God. The intercession by the Deity--possible because this idyllic world is the

remote world of G enesis— r e sto r e s order and harmony in the

family. Adam confesses that he has overstepped his role; he subordinates himself to the divine w ill.

The deus ex machina resolution nullifies the effect of Cain's revolution. Mankind does not retain cohtrol over its fate in such an extreme situation. Rather

Divine Will enters the scene, punishes evil, and creates a new harmony. The "leap of faith" to the Deity thwarts

dethroned Hausvater raises his fist in defiance at his son, but the gesture makes all the more clear that Adam is rendered impotent. He falls to the ground and beats his head against the rocks. I l l

the tragedy of the human conflict. A future reconciliation

of Cain with his parents is made possible because of Divine

intervention.^-*- Such an ending restores the idyllic world.

Mhller exceeds the traditional limits of the genre only briefly before he fuses the disparate elements into a new ideal world. When experimentation threatens the genre,

Mliller relies on traditional literary techniques in order to avoid exploding it.

Three years after Der erschlagene Abe 1 Mtiller aban­ dons Promethean rebellion and returns to a more traditional treatment of biblical material.

The twelve chapters of Adams erstes Erwachen und erste selige NSchte form two parts: the idyll of para- dise--nature in short—and Adam's reflection on nature C p and the idyllic past. Adam desires to recapture in his reflection—since he has lost it in the real world of experience--the Golden Age of his life. Adam's nostal­ gia is an escape into the past.

In the prolog to the idyll the narrator assumes a similar stance. The desire to reflect upon one's

^•*- This idyll only suggests the possibility. Gessner's Der Tod Abels concludes with Cain's reconcilia­ tion with the family.

6 2 See Kaiser, Wandrer und Idy lie, pp. 35-36. In Die Schafschur Walter reflects upon the artistic nature of the idyll. The truest idyllic experience, however, is naive, i.e. it is unconscious. Paradoxically original sin leads to main's conscious reflection upon his loss of the idyll, that is to say mankind does not realize the idyll until it has lost it. 112

perceived loss of the naive, of an idyllic existence,

motivates one to seek a way to recapture it: "Wo seyd

ihr harmonische Stunden der Jugend, die ihr am morgen-

lichen Bildem so oft dies klopfende Herz gewiegt, von

Gottes Wunder stark e r g r iffe n , meine S eele dann v o lle n

Flugs zum Himmel stieg --V erlo ren im G elisp e l des Bachs

hieng mein Ohr dann n ich t mehr, n ic h t mehr mein n a sser

Blick am sttssem Blau der Feme; mir selbst schuf

himmlische Phantasie edlere Gestalten ins Herz --Schla-

fende Bilder erwachten in meiner Seele" (I, 3/R, 159).

Literary activity, the narrator maintains, can serve as

the tool for reflection upon one's idyllic past.

The first eight chapters depict Adam's reflection

upon the first several days of Creation. They are

excellent examples of a new attitude in "landscape painting." A discussion of these aspects lies beyond the scope of this study and can be found in other 6 3 scholarship. In the last four chapters Adam expresses his concern for his relationship with his sons. As in

Der erschlagene Abe 1 the family structure is the theme of social consequence. And as before the conflict rests in the relationships between Adam and Cain, and between

^ See Richard Alewyn, "Maler Mhllers heidnische Landschaft," passim; Eberhard Seybold, Das GenrebiId, pp. 4 4-49; Friedrich Gundolf, Shakespeare und der deutsche Geis t , 11th ed. (Mhnchen: Khpper, 19 5 9) , pp. 230-36. 113

Abel and Cain. The conflicts do not result in tragedy and

condemnation as before, but in an affirmation of familial

harmony.

Adam's c h ie f c h a r a c t e r is t ic w ith in the fam ily is

his role as Urvater, as archpatriarch.' When Adam remem­

bers the disharmony which has entered the family, he

first seems to be the Hausvater of Der erschlagene Abe 1:

"Ha! wo ist Cain mein erstgebohr-ner? wende Gott den

Fluch, der mir jetzt fiber die Lippen fuhr --wo ist er

dann Mutter? wenn Adam von Gott spricht, bleibt er nie- malen zu h 6.ren {!••••] flieht menschliche Gesellschaft,

ist undankbar und ehret Vater und Mutter nicht mehr! (I, 64/

R, 192). Cain is in error for neglecting to observe the

Fourth Commandment. However, through the intercession of the family members, Adam is willing to forgive his eldest: "bring ihn zu mir, morgen, bring ihn diese Nacht noch, ich w ill ihm alles vergeben, wir wollen uns mit- einander aussBhnen, als Vater als Sohn" (I, 67/R, 194).

Eve and her daughters Melboe and Tirza in terced e on Cain's behalf. Tirza in particular presents a different attitude than was present in Der erschlagene Abel: "Sie ist das SeelenmSdchen, die oft in einsamer Nacht von der

Seite ihrer schlummemden Schwester aufsteht, im Mond- scheine unter dunkeln Buchen, am Gestade des Stromes sich

Lindrung zu sch a ffen , Empfindungsdrang von ihrem wunden

Herzen loszuweinen, was ihre stammelnde Zunge nicht 114

vermag" (I , 9-10/R , 162). T irza r e f le c t s a ttitu d e s o f

Empfindsamkeit. She falls into self-generated feeling

and acts out o f her in tro sp e c tio n . Melboe1s language betrays a similar attitude. The leiden, which p a r tic u la r ly d escrib es the women, i s a sen tim en tal

attitude. Sentimental language has its effect, for the women succeed in influencing Adam's judgment. Because of their intercession Adam's attitude changes to that of the Familienvater.

Cain enters the scene in a manner similar to the preceding b i b l i c a l i d y l l . He i s "rauh" and "w iI d ," because Adam has taken Abel to sit beside himself at the table, thus signaling that Cain has been displaced from the familial hierarchy. Quarrels have occurred between the brothers. However, Cain interprets his situation in Promethean terms--Abel has robbed him of his right as first bom: "Pfui! ich bin doch sein j^Abel' sj Herr der erstgebohrne, werd ich gleich nicht g ea ch tet, n ic h t gerlihmt" (I, 86/R, 204). Adam is wrong, says Cain, for denying him his rightful position:

"O wie gllicklich kbnnten wir leben, wie gerne wollt ich ihm gehorchen; ihm Adams Erstgebohmen, aber er stBsst mich weg" (I, 90/R, 206).

64 For example, she greets Cain thus: "wie begegnest du mir immer so hart, verdien ich wohl das an dir? Hftre vielmehr was durch mich die Mutter dir sagen l&sst; oi so sehr leidet sie deinetwegen, deine Dhsternheit benimmt jetzt alle Freude ihrem mhtterlichen Herzen" (I, 83/R, 202). 115

Nonetheless reconciliation is achieved, Cain is reintegrated into the family structure. Melboe intercedes, and her tears (i.e., her sentimental attitude) softens

Cain's reproachfulness, and he submits to his father:

"... und da er noch sprach, bog 1 er zugleich seinen nervigten Arm urn seines Vaters Knie. Adam aber legt die

Hand auf sein dunkles Haupt, und spricht em sthaft—Was ist deinem Mund entfahren, Cain, so wahr meine Hand deinen

Wirbel deckt, so komme Seegen hber dich und mich, als dir mein Herz verzeihet, als deine Mutter und ich dich lieben"

(I, 116-17/R, 220, emphasis added). The role of the father as moral head of the family is thereby reestablished.

Cain's gesture is revealing, for the practice of kneeling before one's father in order to receive his blessing was 6 5 common practice in eighteenth-century German families.

Even as the women reveal characteristics and gestures of

Empfindsamkeit, so also does Adam's forgiveness reveal a sentimental gesture. The severe Hausvater of Dbr ers chla­ gene Abel makes no attempt at reconciliation--he condemns his son uncompromisingly. The conciliatory gesture of

Adam the Fami-lienvater averts disaster for the family.

In the biblical idylls Mhller directly challenges-- linguistically and thematically—the Gessnerian tradition of the idyll. Yet he never abandons the tradition, as is

Quabius, p. 16. 116

particularly evident in Adams erstes Erwachen. With Der

erschlagene Abel he achieves new possibilities, yet he

risks destroying the genre and its idealizing characteris­

tics. Cain's revolution succeeds only momentarily, for

it destroys the idyllic world. Only divine intervention has the power to restrain Prometheus and restore the

i d y l l .

I I I . The Arcadian I d y lls

Mhller acknowledges in the preface to Bacchidon und

Mi Ion that he departs from the traditional idylls of

Gessner et al.: "Die Idylle istso griechisch--so griechisch, dass man sie ftir ein Original eines alten

Griechen geben kfinnte, allein es hat dem Herm Verfasser, ungeachtet er ein Mahler ist, gefallen, das Costhm mit

Fleiss zu verletzen, und seinen Satyr sowohl als den

Schhfer, in Mhtzen rheinlbndischer Bauem aufzufbhren"

(I , 249/R, 45). This programmatic statem ent is commonly acknowledged to be M b ller's commitment to a " r e a listic " idyll. Despite the allusions to ancient Greek mythology,

Mbller's fauns, satyrs, swains, etc. are in Gundolf's words,

"sinnliche Umdeutungen landschaftlicher Stimmungen. f 7

f i f i k Kaiser, Wandrer und Idy 11 e, p. 22. f 7 Gundolf, p. 232. 117

Freed from the concerns of peasant life, these- •

denizens of the Rhineland hills spend their time in the

pursuit of love, in singing and playing, rather than in f P earning a livelihood. ° Despite the classical rdyllic

trappings and conventions, Mtlller's arcadian idylls

represent a conscious break with the pastoral tradition.

This break occurs mainly in the literary style, an

aspect which will become more evident in the following

discussion.

Three idylls comprise this group: Bacchidon und

MiIon , Der Satyr Mopsus, and Der Faun MoIon. The mytho­

logical characters who inhabit the arcadian world wear

"Rhenish caps," that is, they evidence some of the con­

cerns and values of the historical Palatinate. The

following discussion will focus on these concerns as

they are reso lv ed with a "Greek" Arcadia.

Bacchidon und MiIon, eine Idylle; nebst einem Gesang

auf die Geburt Bacchus is Mttller's most static idyll.

The shepherd Mi Ion wishes to present his hyinn to the wine

god before his coarse and earthy friend, Bacchidon. The

satyr is not the refined reveller of Anacreontic poetry, but a brash, insolent--even violent--sot, who acts out of

an inner freedom which does not acknowledge the constraint

6 8 Mhller experimented with several Greek characters in a number of fragmentary idylls. These fragments portray lovers, spring, singing, etc., i.e. conventions of the idyll tradition. See the Berliner Material and Heuer. 118

of social custom and morality: "Ah! eh du anf&ngst fhll

mir noch einmal dis Glas, noch ein einzigmal; und urn die

Welt kein Tropfen mehr. Genug--will dis mit Verstand

trincken, spitzen, sucklen, Trttpfgen vor TrOpfgen, bis du

fertig bist. --Fang an--schluck--drunten ist alles—dass

dich der Geyerl wie gieng das zu--Ey du Gaudieb hast mich am Ermel gestossen, mirs Glas in den Hals gestossen-- kanns nicht begreifen, wundersame Sympathie! --magnetische

Kraft!—" (I, 265/R, 54). Milon does not share-in

Bacchidon's total freedom. He is a hard working peasant,

and has labored long to procure the wine which Bacchidon

carelessly consumes. Milon's song to Bacchus is a pro­

jection of his desires. He would love to be the Kraft- natur which he projects Bacchus to be: "Auch muthig b is tu im Gedr&ng der Schlacht wo Hflrner brhllen den

Httgel herunter, auch beym Weinmahl. E rg reifstu n ic h t einst voll Kraft, jenen russigten Bock, den ausgesandt der ergrimmte Erebus deinen heiligen Weinberg zu verheeren.

An seiner buschichten Stime fassestu ihn, schleuderst hoch, dass er hinfuhr hber Ocean in Neptuns wellenreiches

Spiel, dem brausenden Wallross zu Beute" (I, 268/R, 55).

Although Mliller employs the classical world associated with the pastoral tradition, he has dramatically rejected the poetic refinements of the Anacreontic idylls, in favor of an energetic, unrestrained language. The author thereby challenges the linguistic conventions of "polite" so c ie ty . 119

The world of Per Satyr Mopsus is identical to the preceding one. Mopsus, overwhelmed by his love for the nymph Persina, endures abuse at her hands. With his swains' aid he seeks revenge and captures her, but with her songs she regains her freedom. Still teasing her lover she promises to marry him hbermorgen (day after tomorrow/ never). The playfulness of nymphs and satyrs is common to the idyll tradition, especially in Anacreontic poetry. Gessner's Die ybel belohnte Liebe (1762) is con­ sidered by most scholars to be the source for Mopsus.

While identifying himself thematically with the tradition of Anacreontic and empfindsam literature,

Mhller departs from the style of these literary trends.

Gessner's love-sick satyr envisions marriage to be ordered, comfortable, and refined--an ideal full of harmony: "Ich habe weiche Z ieg en -F a elle fyr dich und mich ausgebreitet; an ihren beyden Seiten haengen und stehen meine Trink-Gefaesse, gross und klein in zierlicher

Ordnung, und ein h e r r lic h e r Geruch von Most und Wein koemmt dir von aussenher entgegen. 0 denke, denke, wie syss es ist, wenn einst die muntern Kinder um unsre Wein-

Kryge her s ic h jagen , oder auf dem W einschlauch siz e n und l a l l e n i 1,69

Salomon Gessner, "Die ybel belohnte Liebe," in Idyllen: Kritische Ausgabe, ed. E. Theodor Voss (Stutt­ gart: Reclam, 1973), p. 79. 120

Mttller's satyr, on the other hand, uses a coarser language to describe his earthy ideal of comubial bliss.

Mopsus is hardly an ideal husband and father anymore. He intends to live in drunken indolence and to make his wife constantly pregnant as well as the sole source of support for the family. Mopsus' idyllic life flies in the face of the preceding description: "01 wie wollten wir lebenl

— -- wie wolten wir lebenl Dich flittern wollt ich am

Tage und mSsten, dass du feist whrdest und dickbackigt und einen Kragen von Speck bek“mst, wie ein fettes Ferkel.

Ach, Amor und ihr Grazien! wie shss whr das! —So lebten wir am Tage, und Nachts schleiftestu mich, wenn ich etwa trunken im Felde ISg, an den Beinen ganz liebreich in meine Wohnung ein. Ach! ach! -- -- davon solltestu mir jShrlich Zwillinge bringen; davor steh ich dir!" (I, 211/

R, 2 3 ). M h ller's language is more dynamic, le s s caught up in the static descriptions portrayed by Gessner. Refine­ ments of culture and the refined, sentimental language of the Swiss author are rejected.

The central character of Per Faun Molon tries to l i v e out the ro le which Mopsus e n v isio n s for h im self. ^0

70 Mtlller published only the short idyll Per Faun m 1775. Otto Heuer, the first scholar to edit the "entire" work, concludes that Per Faun is actually the twelfth and l a s t canto o f a much la rg er work which he e n t it le s Per Faun Molon. Begun in Mannheim, M hller took the MS to Rome, and increased its length to nine Gesange , which he then read to Heinse during the latter1s visit to Rome in 1781 (Heuer, I, p. xlvi). By the end of the decade the author increased the work by three cantos, which Heuer numbers 121

Molon, "ein ehrlicher Weinbauer," suffers the loss of his

wife. His attempt to find herbs in order to cure her

leads him astray into the mythical world of the centaur

Pandarus. The centaur has abandoned his society because

of his wife's (but not because of his own) adultery.

Adultery and cuckolding are the two problems of domestic

life for Pandarus, who relates three tales about faithless­

ness and deception in women. These t a le s are follow ed

(cantos 6- 8 ) by the romantic adventures of twin princes.

The young princes have left the world of politics because

it is fr ught with treachery, deceit, and intrigue.71

Molon, who is overwhelmed by Pandarus1 antipathy toward

six through eight (the princes' tales). The first canto is lost, but presumably portrayed the industrious life of Molon's wife and the debauchery of the hero.

71 The reader might expect these cantos to evidence insight into the political problems of Mhller's day. However, the fantastic adventures of the princes have very little correlation with historical x-eality. The lads have fled to Arcadia because the world of riches, power, and influence endangers the individual's soul. Instead of affirming the social hierarchy or suggesting that society be aware of its weaknesses (Palatine trilogy), the lads learn a different lesson: "Dann seit wir die Menschen kennen gelernt, ist uns seine [PandarusJ] Rauhigkeit sehr ehrenwerth und wir lieben mehr bey ihm zu leben, der unverstellt seine innre Empfindung auslSsst, als in der Gesellschaft jener, die unter geschminckter Bescheidenheit und Freundlichkeit ihren Trug und falschen Sinn verbergen, und uns die heimlich verborgne Messer nicht eher zeigen, als biss wir- sie bereits schon mit Wunden in unsrern Herzen fllhlen. —0, vor dergleichen xMenschen behhthen uns die seelige G&tter, denn fhrwahr die sind die schlimmsten von alien" (II, 158). The princes flee the vices of dishonesty and hypocrisy, which they find in all levels of society. 122 marriage, defends his own bond as an ideal in life. He returns to his home only to find his mate dead. Molon's adventures confirm his belief in the value of marriage as he gathers his children around the funeral pyre.

Marriage is the thematic thread which binds the work (except cantos 6-8) to g eth er. The low ly faun Molon wastes away the physical comforts of his marriage, but in the ultimate canto, shows that he understands his wife to be the cornerstone of the family: "Weiss Gott! warst ein munteres Weib; redlich, treu, und an Freundlichkeit giebts doch wenig deines gleichen. Will nicht aller Tugenden ge- dencken, dass fr&ss mirs Herz ab; aber auch kann ich nichts verschweigen, wie gut du warst. Stahlts mir oft

Wein, wenn ich n ic h ts h a tte; in Nftthen trucken in meiner

Hflle sass; ja da genossest du nichts, wovon ich nicht auch einen Theil bekam, h&ttests auch mhssen heimbringen im

Mund" (II, 229/R, 10).

Contrasted with Molon's marriage are the marriages of Pandarus and his ancestors. The centaur, descended from Neptune, enjoys the unrestrained sensuality of his elevated position in Arcadia. All the marriages of this elite class (those of Pandarus, his father Neptune, and his maternal grandfather) end because of adultery. The impermanence of these unions and an emphasis on eroticism reflect the marriciges of the eighteenth-century nobility.

By contrast, Molon's marriage —arranged by the parents 123

for economic and social reasons--betrays the characteristics

of the bourgeois marriage: "Erotik besass einen Stellenwert

fast nur in der ausserehelichen Liebe, die der Adel exklu-

sives Standesvorrecht (Mtttressenwirtschaft) quasi institu-

tionalisierte. Die Partnerwahl war gewtthnlich nicht frei,

sondern wurde von den E ltern nach so z ia le n und w ir ts c h a ft-

lichen. Kriterien getroffen. Zuneigung, Liebe spielte dabei

eine nur geringe Rolle." 72 Beneath the adventures and fan­

tastic tales of the arcadian idylls there remain the

traditional values which are present in all of Mtiller's

i d y l ls .

Whether a r e sid e n t o f Lttmmerbach, o f the post-Eden world, or of a Rhenish Arcadia, Mftller's characters

either respect or espouse the virtues of bourgeois morality. Cognizant of many difficulties and injustices

in their respective worlds, they affirm the moral integrity

and wholesomeness of the family with the father at its head.

The familial microcosm in turn serves to underpin the orderliness of the state, for the latter, too, is under­ stood in terms of a familial hierarchy. Within these

72 Kiesel/Mttnch, p. 62. A similar bourgeois attitude toward marriage is expressed by Molon's wife on her death­ bed. She describes the ideal woman needed to replace her. Morality and economy (productiveness) are the substitute's key virtues: "Auf Tugend schaue, auf Schttnheit nicht— Schttnhe.it vergeht, mein lieber Molon; aber Tugend und Fleiss und Redlichkeit httlt inuner StichQ . 7] Fleiss und Embsig- keit stttzen eine baufctllige Iihtte" (II, 9). ideal hierarchical structures, contemporary problems can be discussed and resolved without endangering the pre­ vailing order. The enlightened residents in these

Arcadias believe in reasonableness, morality, and productiveness. Each individual understands himself as a contributor to the benefits of the whole, and as a participant in the moral cohesiveness and material blessings of that organism. IV. THE EARLY RECEPTION OF

MULLER'S IDYLLS

What is certain, however, is that the true face of a lite­ rary work is revealed, sculp­ tured and deformed by the various uses which its public makes of it. To know what a book is presupposes a knowledge of how it has been read. — Robert Escarpit-^

Maler Mtlller's idylls first appeared in the Mannheim

journal, Die Schreibtafel, and in separate publications

from 1775 to 1779. During the first decade of the nine­

teenth century Mliller met the Schlegel brothers and

Ludwig Tieck in Rome. Tieck obtained Mhller's permission

to publish the collected works: those which had appeared

previously and those manuscripts left behind in a trunk in

Mannheim. The f i r s t volume o f the Werke (1811) included

all the previously published idylls except Per erschlagene

Abel, and added the previously unpublished Das Nusskernen.

The preceding chapters have shown Miiller to be an

idyllist who, on the one hand, strongly relies on the

idyllic tradition of Gessner, and who, on the other hand,

^ Robert Escarpit, Sociology of Literature, trans. Ernest Pick (London: Cass, 1971), p. 86.

125 126

challenges that tradition through the incorporation of

Sturm und Drang themes and language.

Because Mftller set out to challenge the genre, the

researcher should investigate not only the primary works

but the readership as well. Written records of Mftller's

early reading public can provide a measure of the influence

which these works may have had upon the reader, other

authors, and the genre.

Two questions arise when we consider Mliller's recep­

tion: Did the readers react to Mlhller's concept of

naturalness positively or negatively? Second, because

the readership of ca. 1775-1813 consisted mainly of the

bourgeoisie, to what extent did the readers identify with or reject the bourgeois values in the idylls?

Since scholars have major disagreements with regard

to reception theory, I will first reconcile the limits of

this investigation with theoretical considerations.

Second, I will examine briefly aspects of the reading public from 1775 to 1813. Then I will provide a synopsis of Gessner reception during the 1760s and 1770s in order to provide background for Mhller reception, which in turn will conclude the chapter.

The study of reception came to the forefront of literary discussion in the late 1960s and continues unabated. In the essay "Literaturgeschichte als Provokation der Literaturwissenschaft" Hans Robert Jauss rejects the 12 7

traditional "historical objectivity" of literary scholar­

ship.^ Jauss understands history as a process of renewed

interpretation of past events. The literary historian dis­

cusses literary art while taking into consideration the

changing inodes of contemporary consciousness. Reception

involves an exchange of personal experience, literary

taste, aesthetic preconceptions, etc. among author, work, 3 and reader. Such a scheme i s too lim ite d , however, and :

other factors must be included, among them the form of literary

expression. The genre places certain traditional limita­

tio n s and exp ectation s upon the author which he can fo llo w ,

violate, alter, etc. In addition, the author and the

literary creation are influenced by the publisher, by the

distribution of the text, and by the reading public and

its expectations of the author, genre, publisher, etc.

The reading public—more homogeneous in Mhller's day than

in our own—comprises a m ultiplicity of expectations,

tastes, and reactions, and the literary scholar cannot 4 always ascertain the complete profile of such a large group.

Critics—literary critics, scholars, fellow authors—

provide a third major area of reception. The tastes of

^ In his Literaturgeschi chte als Provokation (Frankfurt/ M. : Suhrkamp, 1970), pp. 144-207.

^ Jauss, p. 172.

^ 'see Hans U. Gumbrecht, "Soziologie und Rezeptions- Ssthetik," in Neue Ansichten einer khnftigen Germanistik, pp. 48-74. 12 8

this group affect the readers, the publisher (directors, producers, etc.), and the author in turn. These variables are then multiplied by the scholar who tries to reconstruct the above processes of reception and effect. Before writ­ ing any history, the literary historian is first a recip­ ient of the literature under investigation. Any attempt to reconstruct the reception is plagued by the fact that the historian’s reflection upon an historical process is conditioned by the tastes, norms, ideologies, etc. of his own age. 5

Reception history seems fraught with pitfalls, yet definite guidelines can be established. Historians must aim at description rather than prescription.^ They must avail themselves of as much documentary evidence as n possible. In Maler Mhller's case only a small corpus of documentary evidence remains: critical reviews in journals and correspondence. Victor Lange points out that the critical readers should be of specific interest to the reception historian, because they confront the text as an aesthetic object and seek to comprehend it. They engage in the "intentionality" of the text, and become

Heinrich Anz, "Erwartungshorizont: Ein Diskussions- beitrag zu H. R. Jauss' Begrhndung einer Rezeptionshsthetik der Literatur," Euphorion, 70 (1976) , pp. 404-05. g Klaus Lubbers, "Aufgaben und Mbglichkeiten der Rezep- tions fors chung, 11 German is ch-Roman isch e M onatsschrif t , NS 14 ( 1964) , p. 296. ^ Escarpit, p. 17. 129 Q thereby a decisive element in the consumption of the work.

The effect that the consumption of the text has upon the

readers w ill demonstrate the nature, of the author's and the work's "influence."

Jauss holds that the historian must define the readers'

Erwartungshorizont, or horizon of expectation. He ought to distinguish between the past and present understandings of the work. Mandelkow m aintains that the d e scr ip tio n of a single horizon of expectation is too narrow a construct, and in its place proposes the consideration of three hori­ zons: those expectations of the historical epoch, the 9 genre, and the author. Important for this investigation is the obligation to include with the specific criticism an analysis of the social background of the critical reader.

The effect that can result from reading need not be limited to "provocation" as Jauss once maintained. He now distinguishes three effects and an infinite number of variations among them. The literary work can challenge or negate existing norms, that is, be norm-breaking. It may be norm-constructing, that- is, it may set forth new norms. Between these poles lies the norm-fulfilling

8 Victor Lange, "Das Interesse am Leser, in Histori- zitJVt in. Sprach- und L ite r a tu rw isse n sc h a ft: Vortrhge und Berichte der Stuttgarter Germanis tentagung 19 72 , ed. Walter M h ller-S eid el (Mhnchen: F ink, 1974), pp. 31-46. 9 Karl R. Mandelkow, "Probleme der Wirkungsgeschichte," J ahrbuch f hr .internati onale German is tik , 2 (19 70) , p. 79. 130

e f f e c t . The reader "agrees" w ith the norms in the

t e x t . 10

The maximum number o f p o t e n tia l readers during th e

1770s and around 1800, based solely on literacy, was no

higher than 15% and 25% respectively."^ However, such

figures distort the acutal "reading" public. Many who

could read did not, and many literate individuals read

to their illiterate friends and relatives, thus greatly

expanding the actual readership.

Through the course of the eighteenth century the

German reading public underwent substantial changes.

At the century's inception courtly society still established

the norm for literature and literary taste. Beginning with

Gottsched, the Berlin Rationalists and literary circles,

and others, bourgeois taste and readership began to make

its influence felt upon literature. Literary art furthered by the upper (and in later decades the middle) bourgeoisie stressed edification, moral improvement, productiveness of the individual, and the lik e.-*-2 Pietism and Empfindsamkeit

John Neubauer, "Trends in Literary Reception: Die Neuen Leiden der Wertherwirkung," The German Quarterly, 52 (1979), p. 75.

^ Rudolf Schenda, Die Lesestoffe der Kleinen Leute: Studien zur popul&ren Literatur im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Mhnchen: Beck, 19 76), p. 38. 12 Marion Eeaujean, "Das Leserpublikum der Goethezeit: Die historischen und soziologischen Wurzeln des modernen Unterhaltungsromans," in Der Leser als Te.il des li terarischen 131

influenced literary taste as well, and furthered the

expansion of the reading public throughout the middle

and lower bourgeoisie. By Mtiller's day the previously

small readership of courtly society had grown to include

the lowest strata of the bourgeoisie in matters of taste , .... 13 and c r itic is m .

From 1770 to 1813 the bourgeois reader obtained literature through the following sources: private purchase, a possibility open only to the more affluent; through a membership in one of the reading societies, 14 which, by 1800, exceeded three hundred m number, or through the lending library (Leihbibliothek). Private libraries were few in number. In 1779 Nicolai counted only s ix ty la rg er p r iv a te lib r a r ie s , and th ese were owned only by the n o b ilit y and upper b o u rg e o isie .1 S J

Lebens: Eine Vortragsreihe mit Marion Beaujean, Hans Norbert Fhgen, Wolfgang R. Langenbucher, Wolfgang Strauss, Forschungsstelle fftr Buchwissenschaft an der UniversitSts- b ib lio th ek Bonn: K leine S c h r iften , 8 (Bonn: Bouvier, 1971) , pp. 13-14. 13 Schenda, p. 30.

^ Barney M. Milstein, Eight Eighteenth Century Reading Societies: A Sociological Contribution to the History of German Literature, German Studies in America, 11 (Bern: Lang, 1972), p. 6.

W7alter Rumpf, "Das literarische Publikum der sech- ziger Jahre des 18. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland," Euphorion, 28 (1927), p. 552: "Ihre B esitz e r wargn Prinzen, hohe Staatsbeamte, Stadtbeamte, Theologen, Arzte, Juristen, Philosophen , Privatgelehrte und Kaufleute." 132

Reading societies, although appearing as early as

1733 in Switzerland, and in 1764 in Berlin, did not become

widespread until the 1780s and 1790s, that is, after

Mttller was out of print.^ While occasionally organized

in order to improve literacy in the bourgeoisie, most

were founded for the purpose of pastime reading.17

While Milstein's study presents valuable insights

into the popularity of certain authors, we should apply

his study of the 1780s and 1790s with caution to the

1770s. Also no investigation of these organizations

during the 1810 decade has appeared. Such a work might

uncover useful material concerning the reception of

Mlhller's 1811 edition.

Despite these unfortunate lacunae, Milstein and

Engelsing provide useful information in order to permit some g en e ra liza tio n s o f the reading s o c i e t i e s and t h e ir biases during the 1770s. Novels--especially R-itterromane and RSuberromane- -were particularly popular among the readers. 1 fi Certain authors became "classics," among them

Haller, Klopstock, Gleim, Uz, and above all Gellert.19

Milstein, p. 7.

1 7 Milstein, p. 9. 18 Rolf Engelsing, per Btrger als Leser: Leserge- schichte in Deutschland 15 00-1800 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1974), p. 221. Hereafter cited as Engelsing, Btrger.

^ Milstein, p. 112. 133

20 Of the idyllists, Gessner was the overwhelming favorite.

Journals were readily distributed to society members, those

most popular being Nicolai'.s Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek

(1800,co p ies) and W ieland's Der Teutsche Merkur (1500 21 copies). These popular literary organs did review

a few of Mtiller's works. However, most journals that

discussed Mftller did not achieve a wide readership. To

be sure, Schubart strongly maintained that his Teutsche

Chronik--which reviewed many of Mhller's creations--

was read in London, P a r is, Amsterdam, and S t. P etersb u rg .22

Yet there exists no documentation to indicate that this

journal, or any of the less popular journals to review

Mtiller, ever brought the idylls to a wide reading public.

The third major access to reading material was

through the lending libraries. These institutions

claimed fees from patrons who generally came from the middle and lower bourgeoisie. The initial publication

of Mhller's works could not have achieved any significant popularity among these institutions since only a few had

^ Milstein, p. 144. 21 Rolf Engelsing, Analphabetentum und Lek'ttire: Zur Sozialgeschichte des Lesens zwischen feudaler und indus- trieller Gesellschaft (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1973), p. 61. Hereafter cited as Engelsing, Analphabetentum. 22 Christian F. D. Schubart, Leben und. Gesmnungen, von ihm s e lb s t im Kerker a u f g e s e tz t, in Marianne Beyer- Frflhlich, ed. Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang, Deutsche Literatur: Reihe Deutsche Selbstzeugnisse, 9 (Leipzig: Reclam, 1936) , pp. 214-53. 134 y q been founded by the 1770s. J During the last years of

the eighteenth century the lending libraries increased

significantly in number, and the 1811 edition may have

been acquired by a number o f groups.

Despite the paucity of documented reception from

reading societies and lending libraries, one can con­

clude the following: Mlhller was read primarily by the

private individual who had the means to acquire the primary

works or the less popular literary journals. Mftller's

publisher, Christian Friedrich Schwan, did not have

the market that Leipzig, Zurich, and other cities had, 2 4 despite Schwan's claims to the contrary.

Many of the reviews were written by young authors

and c r i t i c s , who shared d if fe r e n t a e s t h e t ic ta s t e s than

had their parents. A brief examination of the "generation

gap" in literary taste will help explain why the younger

generation of readers primarily would have sought out

Mhller's idylls.

Throughout most of the eighteenth century the bourgeois reader was a Wiederholungsleser, that is, he or

23 Engelsing, Bhrger, p. 245. 2 4 Jakob Minor, "Christian Friedrich Schwan: Schillers Mannheim GSnner," Preussische Jahrbticher, 70 (1892), pp. 548-52. Schwan was the f i r s t p u b lish er in Mannheim to pu b lish for a German reading public. Until the mid-1770s the city preferred French literature. Although his role was signifi­ cant, he did not have a large market for German literature, which cities like Leipzig had. long enjoyed. 135

she read a limited number of works intensively. 25 Such a

reader "lived through" a book and did not simply peruse 2 6 it. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, thanks

to the increased availability of books and the popularity

of reading societies, reading became extensive. Readers

had access to greater numbers of titles. Although

repeated readings of favorite works continued, the

readers generally came into contact with many more titles

than ever before, which they now read only once. The

shift from intensive to extensive reading began during

the years in which Mhller published his idylls.

Engelsing's studies of early eighteenth-century

German readers prove the undeniable popularity of

Erbauungsliteratur among the pre-1750s' generation.

Such literature of moral edification promoted bourgeois values and found considerable praise in the moral weeklies. Gellert's ability to reflect such morality in his works, coupled with his usage of bour­

geois rather than courtly speech, contributed greatly to his overwhelming popularity. To the reading public any attack against Gellert was seen as an attack against 2 7 morality and the bourgeors family. Many female

2 S Engelsing, Sozialgeschr chte, p. 122.

^ Engelsing, Btirger, p. 183.

^ Engelsing, Bhrger, p. 193. 136 authors, among them Karsch and La Roche, owed no sm all part of their popularity to the fact that their fictional heroes affirmed the order and morality of the bourgeois 2 8 family. For all of Klopstock's innovations in his

Messias, he achieved outstanding fame particularly among the middle and lower bourgeoisie because his work had so 29 many ties to Erbauungsliteratur.

With the appearance of a new generation born in the 1750s (that is, the generation of Goethe, Mhller,

J. M. R. Lenz, Klinger, et a l.), a marked change in reading taste occurred. 30 This new generation read neither Erbauungsliteratur nor Gellert, Klopstock, or Gessner with the same affirmation. An admirer and imitator of Klopstock, Karl Friedrich Kretschmann (1738-

1809), bemoaned in 1785 the generation gap between that readership which still admired Gellert, and the genera­ tion which now admired the Genies:

0 Gellert! Ehre der teutschen Dichtkunst, so wie der Menschheit! Vergebens war deine holde ungeschminkte Muse einige Zeitlang die Lehrerin deines Vaterlandes; vergebens wurdest du allgemein gelesen, g e lo b t und g e lie b t; man fand aoch end- lich heraus, dass du nur ein seichter Kopf und ein mittelmSssiger Reimer gegen

2 8 Engelsing, Bhrger, p. 317.

n n v Engelsing, Sozialgeschichte, pp. 124-25.

^ Engelsing, Bhrger, p. 196. 137

die heutigen brausenden KraftmSnner seyst, mit denen unsre Kritiker ihre JahrmSrkte so vortheilhaft beziehn! Vergebens schenkten uns Gleim und Uz die schttnsten g r iech isch en Rosen Ana- kreons: hhtte sich nicht die Tonkunst ihrer erbarmt, und manches ihrer Lieder in Gesang versezt; sie w&ren l&ngst in ihrem eignen Vaterlande vergessen] Um- sonst, dass Weisse die Ehre der teutschen Biihne rS ch te; man sa g t es n ic h t mehr heimlich, dass seine besten tragischen und komischen Sthcke sic h in unsrer Zeit nicht weiter geben lassen. Klopstock wird mehr angestaunt, als gelesen; Gessner erh< sich mehr durch seine Vignetten und zierlichen Druck als durch die unnach- ahmliche Stssigkeit seiner Naivet&t.^l

Although Jean Paul did not employ modern demographic methods for determining the profile of the late eighteenth- century reading public, his general delineations are nonetheless useful for our understanding. He distin­ guished three reading groups. The first included the quasi-educated users of the private and lending libraries, while the second consisted of professors, students, critics, and young academicians, which according to

Nicolai's estimate of 1773 included 20,000 people.^

Educated women, a r t i s t s , tr a v e led in d iv id u a ls , and members of the highest social levels constituted the third reading public.

Extant documentation of Mhller reception comes

31 Karl F. Kretschmann, "Betrachtungen fiber die Dichtkunst," in Shmtliche Werke (Carlsruhe: Christian Gottlieb Schmieder, 1785), II, 21-22. 32 E n g elsin g , An aIph abe ten turn, p. 59. 138

almost exclusively from the second segment. Although the smallest group of the bourgeois readers, these

20,000 individuals exercised the greatest influence over the rest of the reading public. This small group educated future lawyers, doctors, teachers, and pastors, who in turn influenced the tastes of those with whom, they worked.

Mhller's critical readership was small. Read mainly by fellow young authors and academicians, he did not catch on among th e general reading p u b lic to the same extent as did Gessner. A brief synopsis of

Gessner reception and popularity is initially in order.

Then Mhller1s reception and relative lack of fame can be seen in better perspective.

Gessner began, like Mhller, in relative obscurity.

The Swiss author started his career with the publication of Daphnis (1754), the first Idyllen (1756), and the pastoral epic Der Tod Abels (1758). While Mhller's

Mannheim was ju st b egin n in g to develop a German reading public, Gessner's Zurich already had a large German readership, and Gessner himself was already well-known as a successful publisher and engraver.

The Swiss id yllist enjoyed some favorable reviews during 33 the late 1750s by like-minded authors, such as Haller and

33 Hibberd, Gessner, p. 30. 139

W ieland,3^ and E. v. Kleist even dedicated the idyll

Cephis (1757) to him; yet he remained relatively unknown to the German reading public.

A nascent German-reading public in France rescued

Gessner. Michael Huber, a former tutor of Louis XVI's

Finance Minister Turgot, obtained Gessner's works and translated them. The initial purpose of these transla­ tions was to provide materials which Huber could use when tutoring well-to-do Parisians in the German language.

The unintended outcome of his efforts was the rapid rise of Gessner to popularity in France. The French suddenly discovered that German literature had qualities other than barbaric. They made classics out of Haller, Gellert, ,

Klopstock, and Gessner in the remaining years before the

Revolution. 3^

Gessner's idealizations of rural Swiss life were understood by the aristocracy and Parisian bourgeoisie to be historically accurate depictions of an alternate way of life. Rousseau praised the author for "l'exacte verite" while Turgot lauded his "sentiments d'honnetete e t de v e r tu . 36

3^ Dedner, "Wege zum Realisrnus," p. 319.

3^ See Hibberd, Gessner, pp. 50-55.

36 Hibberd, Gessner, p. 55. 140

French authors—among them A. Bequin, Florian, and

Leonard--began to imitate Gessner, and praised his peasants who were " frai comme la nature.Such popularity quickly crossed the Channel and brought Gessner to the English reading public. Here, too, he achieved great popularity 38 alongside Klopstock.

Foreign popularity in turn influenced the German reading public. In the middle of the 1760s Gessner's idylls began to receive enthusiastic reviews and sup­ port from such authors as Weisse, Beckert, Winckelmann, and oth ers. They p ra ised him fo r h is m orality, "Empfin- 39 dun gen," and virtue. Minor German authors began to imitate him as well, among them Karl C. Reckert, Hektor

Wilhelm Freiherr von Ghnerode, and Andreas Grader.^

Although the young generation of authors generally did not like Gessner's idylls, even they had to acknow­ ledge that Gessner had become a classic. In his Briefe zur Beftirderung der Humanit£t (1796), Herder wrote:

37 Herta Wendel, Arkadien im Umkrels bukolischer Dichtung in der An tik e und in der f ran z 6s is chen Litera- tur (Giessen: privately printed, 1933), p. 99.

O O See Congleton, passim.

^ See Hibberd, Gessner, pp. 146ff., and Paul Leemann-van Elck, Salomon Gessner: Sein LebensbiId mit be s ch re ib en den V erzeich nissen se in e r l i te ra ti s chen und' und ktnstierischen Werke (Zhrich: Orel! Flissli/ 19 30), pp. 36ff.

See Hibberd, Gessner, pp. 151-53. 141

"Warum ist Gessner von alien Nationen, die ihn kennen lernten, mit Liebe empfangen worden? Er ist bei der feinsten Kunst, Einfalt, Natur und Wahrheit. In Darstel- lung einer reinen HumanitSt sollte ihn selbst das Sylben- maas nicht binden."^

From 1775 to 1779 Mhller presented the reading public with six idylls: The following table lists the journals and number of works reviewed during those years:

Reviews of Maler Mhller1s Idylls

Journal Title No. Idylls Reviewed

Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen (FGA). . . ,...... 5 Almanach der deutschen Musen (Leipzig) . , Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek ...... ,...... 2 Der Teutsche Merkur ...... 2 Teutsche Chronik...... ' ...... Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung ...... 2 (1) Erfurtische Gelehrte Zeitung ...... 1 Rheinische Beitr&ge zur Gelehrsamkeit ...... 1

*The Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung discusses Die Schafschur; the review of Adams erstes Erwachen is only a plot summary.

The second reception period, 1811-1813, provides reviews from the Romantics, who actively attempted to reawaken interest in Mhller. They were joined by few others.

^ Herder, XVIII, p. 120; quoted in Hibberd, Gessner, p. 148. 142

With few exceptions--notably those critiques by

Der Teutsche Merkur and the Allgemeine Deutsche Biblio-

thek—Mhller's idylls were read and favorably reviewed

by friends. These friends included H. L. Wagner (Frank­

furter Gelehrte Anzeigen) , C. D. Schubart (Teutsche

Chronik) , and Otto H einrich F reih err von Gemmingen-

Hornberg (Rheinische Beitrhge) . All three men were not

only friends of Mhller but of the young generation of

authors as well. This clique avidly read and praised

the literature which has commonly been termed Sturm

und Drang. The c r i t i c s o f the L eip zig Almanach der

deutschen Musen were supportive recipients of Sturm A 2 und Drang lit e r a t u r e , as were a ls o the sch olar-

critics of the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung and Erfurtische

Gelehrte Zeitung.

The favorable disposition of these critics toward

Mhller should not be surprising. Much of the literature

written by the Sturm und Drang authors was written primar­

ily for like-minded individuals. The literary organs,

Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen and the Teutsche Chronik ^ were published for this same young generation, not for

^ Clark, p. 261. 43 W7illiam F. Roertgen, The "Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen" 1772-1790: An Analysis and Evaluation, Univ. of California Publications in Modem Philology, 41 (Berkeley: Univ. Press, 1964), pp. 343-96. 143

the broad reading public. We should therefore not expect

Mhller nor his friends to be interested in making him a

"classic" for the public. Nonetheless, Mhller's recep­ tion among this limited readership is significant, for it provides insights into how Mhller's challenge to the genre was actually perceived by the initial readers. As in the preceding chapter, I will discuss the reception according to three divisions: the Palatine trilogy, the biblical idylls, and the arcadian idylls.

I . The P a la tin e T rilogy

The anonymous review er o f the Almanach der deutschen

Musen is quick to praise Mhller's concept of naturalness i-n D:*-e Schafschur: "Er ist zu beneiden urn so manchen

Pinselstrich, womit er die leibhafte Natur so getroffen, das es hberrascht.Der Dialog is t ”so gut, dass der Mann

Komtidien schreiben sollte. Er distinguirt sich aber auch noch vom Vater Theokrit in ein Paar wichtigen Sthcken.

Es g ie b t w e it mehr Gemhlde bey ihm, wie er dann ein e luxurirende Einbildungskraft besizt. Und dann bringt er gem zu Episoden Geshnge an, die die sthrkste lyrische 44 Poesie sind." This critic identifies with Walter's

4 4 Schaafschur, eine pfhlzische Idylie vom Mahler Mhller, Mannheim bey Schwan, 17 75," Almanach der deutschen Musen, (1777), pp. 115-16. 144

preference for the "natural" folk songs over gelehrte

Poesie. He praises the dialogs as evidence of natural­

ness. Walter speaks "wie ein Schaafscheerer, und schm< 45 dabey auf die neuern Lieder und Idyllen."

Wagner's FGA review is more impassioned. However,

he, too, immediately identifies with Walter's and the

author's concept of naturalness: "Es ist alles so herz- 46 lich wahr drinnen, so ehrlich und treu und vertraulich."

He lauds the inclusion of folk songs. Wagner identifies particularly with what he understands to be a natural por­ trayal of love: "Liebe schbrzt den Knoten, aber keine arkadisch-platonische, sondern natbrliche, so nathrlich geschildert, dass wir wohl gar nach dem Schnupftuche greifen mfissen."^ The acting out of emotions, the use of dialog, the inclusion of folk songs, and of satirical comments against gelehrte Poesie, combine to produce what Wagner c a lls an " Id y lle so ganz das G egentheil von den gewfthnlichen."

The critic of the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung recounts the plot in his review. Although he does not evaluate the work, he indirectly perceives Mtlller's concept of naturalness

4^ Ibid. , p. 116.

4^ [Heinrich L. Wagner], "Die Schaafschur, eine pf£lzische Idylle vom Maler Mtiller," Frankfurter Gelehrte 7-nzeigen, 5 (1776) , p. 166.

47 Ibid. , pp. 165-66. 145 by including a short quote from Walter. Walter derides

the traditional shepherd who lives exclusively from

"Rosenthau und Blumen." Also included is an excerpt 48 from one of the folk songs about love.

The enthusiastic critic of the Erfurtische Gelehrte

Zeitung betrays a different sentiment: "PfSlzische—also teutsche Volksidylle/ ohne Flittem aus Arkadien, und immer noch gefhllig, ganz VJahrheit, und mit herzlicher teutscher W&rme vorgetragen! Sey mir willkommen, edler

Bftrger deines und meines Vaterlands! — Ich hab einmahl angelobt, dem Apoll eine Blume auf dem Altar zu legen, so oft ich ein neues Produkt sehe, das Freyheit und National- zftge athmet."^ He reacts positively to the Volk qualities--the songs, the milieu, and the local color.

He is particularly ecstatic to see "Germanness" suffuse the whole: "Auch unter uns hat das Landleben seine mannichfaltigen Reitze, die, von einem Genie bearbeitet,

Meisterzhge werden und, wenn sich zumahl das Nationalgeffthl mit einmischt, der Einbildung ein Vergnhgen gewhhren kftnnen, welches kaura iener mildere Himmelsstrich vermochte.

D.ie Idee einer Provinzialidylie, unmittelbar aus den

4 o " Schaafschur, eine pfhlzische Idylie vom Mahler Mhller, bey C. F. Schwan," Gothais che Gelehrte Zeitung, 14 Oct. 1775, pp. 675-76.

49 "Die Schaafschur, eine Pf51zische Idy 1le vom Mahler Mliller. 1775," Erfurtische Geleh rte Zeitung, 1 April 1776, p. 209. 146

Eindrhcken der Natur geschftpft, war also beyfallswhrdig."^

For this critic Mliller has created a new type of idyll, the Germanness of which is norm-constructing.

Despite his enthusiasm, the critic suggests that

Mliller's inclusion of rural idiom and of rural custom may be inappropriate for the genre: "Ob aber der Verfasser, da er doch einmahl aus der Natur w&hlen w o l l t e , sein e

Auswahl mit Weisheit angestellet und dem Leser nichts gezeigt habe, als was gezeigt zu werden verdiente? ob auch die Natur in ihren Auswtichsen gefallen k&nne?”^"*'

The Erfurt critic suggests, through his identifica­ tion with the characters of Die Schafschur, an identifi­ cation with the bourgeois values they hold. The absence among the above reviewers of any criticism of the bourgeois morality reveals that they find no provocation from the text. These values are norm-fulfilling.

Johann Heinrich Merck's critique, however, diverges significantly from these views. Known for his severe criticism of Goethe's early works, this member of the

Darmstadt circle is no less sparing with Mtlller. Merck begins by attacking Mliller as a Genie: "Wenn mem das

Gelingen mit unter die sicherste Merkmale des Genies rechnen w o llt e , so ahrfte man ihm aus den m eisten Id y llen

50 I b id ., p. 210. 51 Ibid. 147 C O seinen Beruf als Dichter streitig machen.' Die Schaf-

schur has, so Merck, but one good poem, "Der Thron der

Liebe." He criticizes the work for what he perceives to be unevepness. Mtlller produces some good work but much

inadequate art, a problem Merck ascribes to "dem Feuer

der Jugend. "

Not all of the more "conservative" thinkers agreed w ith Merck. In Der Teutsche Merkur review o f M tlller1 s

short prose narrative, Kreuznach, Wieland reacts quite positively to the concept of naturalness, especially as it pertains to "natural" language: "Eine gewisse Keck- heit des Pinsels, und besonders die hSuffigen vom

Sprachgebrauch abweichenden Konstructionen und Wort- stellungen gehftren zu seiner eignen Manier, und machen oft wtlrkliche Sch&nheit; aber die letztern werden doch, wenn sae zu h&ufig und auch wo sie keinen guten Effect machen vorkommen, dem Leser a u ffa lle n d , und verdunkeln manche Sch&nheit anstatt sie zu erheben."-^ Unfortunately no other voices of the Enlightenment were heard on Die

Schafschur. Likely few would have evaluated the idyll positively, for the dominant reading taste preferred

52 — [Johann H. M erck], "S itu a tio n aus Fau sts Leben vom Mahler Mtlller," Der Teutsche Merkur, 15 (1776) , p. 81.

[christoph M. Wieland], " Die Schreibtafel. Sechste Lieferung. Mannheim bey C. F. Schwan, HofbuchhSndler. 1778," Der Teutsche Merkur, 22 (1778), pp. 169-70. 148

the aesthetics and language of Gessner's works.^

The reviews of the 1811 edition are equally enthusi­

astic. Unlike their predecessors, the critics have access

to the first edition of Das Nusskemen. The anonymous ^

critic of the Leipziger Litteratur Zeitung (1812) lauds

the Palatine idylls for being "wahre Meis terwelrke, denen

wir in unserer Litteratur nichts an die Seite zu setzen

haben . 11

Members of Rahel Varnhagen's Berlin salon read the

1811 edition with keen interest. This educated elite

was receptive to the literary tastes of the early

Romantics. Rahel*s friend, Alexander von der Marwitz,

writes (1812), describing his rapture upon hearing

Eduard Salemon read the idylls aloud: "... s e in e

idyllischen Darstellungen . . . sind g&ttlich, unver-

- gleichlich; alles Liebliche und Schmerzliche und Stcirke

der Liebe, das Edle der Leidenschaften, und von der

andern Seite die Gemeinheit und schwSchliche Verworfenheit,

54 Friedrich Nicolai, for example, represents the older enlightened generation's taste. He disliked the Sturm und Drang authors as a whole, yet maintained a friendly disposition toward Mlhller. Mhller alone of Goethe's circle was tolerable to the staunch Rationalist: "Neulich war der Dichter Mtiller bey mir, er ist ein hhbscher Mensch und hat viel Whrme und ist nicht so ganz intolerant als die hbrige werthe Goethianer, die geradezu alles flir Ochsen und Esel erkl&ren, was nicht zu ihrer Schule gehdrt; oder ihren Helaen Goethe nicht anbetet." Friedrich Nicolai, Note, 12 August 1775, ed. L. Geiger, Goethe-Jahrbuch, 8 (1887) , p. 126. 55 Quoted in Seuffert, p. 136. 149

die sich in unserm Leben ftlr Recht und Tugend und Sitte

ausgiebt--dies alles kennt und schildert er, wie kaura

C S ' einer. Lesen Sie ihn ja."

The Romantics heaped the most praise upon Mtlller.

Writing for the Zeitung ftlr Einsiedler in 1808 , Achim von

Arnim lauds Mtlller 1 s portrayal of the history of the

Palatinate in his works. Mtlller's representations of

the German past are norm-constructing: "... die

Geschichte der Pfalz hat noch ihre nhheren Ansprtlche,

denn kein Geschichtschreiber hat diese EmpfSnglichkeit

zum Wohlleben wie er in seinen Idyllen geftlhlt und darge- 57 stellt." In his Phantasus, Tieck refers to Die Schaf-

schur in a positive light, but prefers the arcadian

i d y l l s . ^ 8

Friedrich Schlegel and Ferdinand von Eckstein pro­

vide the most extensive discussion of Mtlller1 s id y lls

in Schlegelrs Deutsches Museum. Schlegel introduces the

1811 edition to his readers and describes the contents of each volume. Eckstein continues and evaluates Mtlller as

an author. The two articles are intended to encourage and enlarge the readership of Mtlller's works.

5 6 Alexander von der Marwitz, Letter to Rahe.1 Varn- hagen, 1 January 1812, in Rahel Vamhagen, Brief we chsel rnit Alexander von der Marwitz , Karl von Finckenstein , Wilhelm Bokelmann, Raphael d'Urquijo (Mtinchen: Kbsel, 19 66) , pp. 149-50. 5 7 Quoted in Neuser, p. 349. 5 8 Neuser, p. 349; see below. 150

Friedrich Schlegel prefers the Palatine trilogy over

the other idylls because they are "romantic" and reveal

Germany's past culture and literature: "Es ist ein

recht lebendiges Geffthl darin von dem frohen rheinlhndi-

schen Leben, den anlockenden alten Sagen und der herrlichen

Natur, die nirgends in Deutschland mit solchen Erinnerungen

verwebt und so romantisch ist, wie dort. Dieses Roman-

tische der Rheinsagen und der altdeutschen Zeit scheint

uns hberhaupt das Gebiet, worin Mhllers Poesie sich am

sch&nsten und am gltlckli chs ten entfaltet hat."-^

Eckstein's evaluation of the trilogy is nearly

identical. The trilogy alone contains the "eigentlich

deutschen, echt romantischen Idyllen." This group is

German and romantic because, instead of using Gessner's

irreal Arcadia, Mhller has chosen to portray the life and

history of the Rhineland, with its myriad tales and folk­

lore: "Wir trauen den Deutschen G efhhl, und insbesondere

Fantasie genug zu, um einen Marschboden von dem frtthlichen

und muntern Rhein, oder besser noch, von einem nirgends

liegenden Schhferlande (Gessners Askadien) zu trennen.'1^

Das Nusskernen continued to evoke praise after the

[^Friedrich Schlegel^], Review of Werke (1811) , Deutsches Museum (1813; rpt. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973), p. 250.

[^Ferdinand vonjE [ck stein j "Ueber Maler Mtlllers Werke," Deutsches Museum (1813; rpt. Hildesheim: Olms, 1973) , p'. 258. 151

Romantics had left the literary stage. Cholevius, in his

Geschichte der deutschen Poesie, responds favorably to

the German history portrayed in the work, while he finds

Die Schafschur to be an outmoded polemic of little con­ sequence: "... die Polemik . . . ISsst kein episches

Interesse aufkommen und verwischt auch die Zeichnung der

Scene. Das Nusskernen dagegen ist eine wahrhafte geniale 61 Dichtung. " Mliller's success in portraying the medieval :

German past in his trilogy and in his plays prompted Hettner, among others, to designate Mhller the "Romantic" of the 6 2 Sturm und Drang generation.

I I . The B ib lic a l I d y lls

Der erschlagene Abe 1 appeared in Die Schreibtafel and was review ed in only two jo u rn a ls. The p a u city of critical attention indicates the apparently limited distx-ibution of Schwan's journal. Adams ers tes Erwachen , on the other hand, was Mtiller's most popular idyll during the 1770s. Reviewed in four journals, this work also was the only one to see a second edition in 1779.

^ Carl L. Cholevius, Von der Feststellung des classi- schen Ideals durch Winckelmann bis zur Auflflsung des Antiken in der eklektischen Poesie der Gegenwart, Vol. II of Geschich- te der deut_schen Poesie nach ihren antike_rv Elementen (1856; rpt. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1968), p. 249. 6 2 Hermann Hettner, Literaturgeschichte der Goethezeit, ed. Johannes Anderegg (Mttnchen: Beck, 19T0), p. 199. The FGA reviewer of Abel is very brief. He praises

the bardic poem "Der Riese Rodan," also appearing in Die

Schreibtafel, and almost ignores the idyll: "Heil dem

jungen Barden, der ktthn und stark seinen Weg fortwandelt!

Ich meyne Herrn: Mtlller, der sich als ein j unger Mahler

unterzeichnet, und um aessentwillen ich die Schreibtafel

aufbewahre. Begeisterung und Phantasie und Pathos und

Natur, wenn diese Eigenschaften den Dichter machen, so 6 3 ist er einer der grbssten." But for Mtlller's fiction

he would not even retain his copy of Schwan's journal.

All other works in the third issue are by comparison

"kl&glich." He reacts favorably to the pathos in Abel:

"Rtlhrend und stark sin d d ie Ernpfindungen von Adam, Eva

und Thirz liber den erschlagenen Abel geschildert, 6 4 ftlrchterlich die Reden Kains."

A similar emotional reaction is echoed in greater detail by Schubart: "In der dritten Lieferung der

Schreibtafel gl&nze der junge Maler abermals alle seine

Mitarbeiter wie Dunstbilder weg. Ich weiss nicht leicht einen Poeten, der im Pittoresken die St&rke dieses rilstigen Jllnglings h&tte. Welche Einbildungskraft! welche starke Sprache herrscht nicht gleich im ersten

"Die Schreibtafel. Dritte Lieferung," Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen, 4 (1775), p. 607. 153

Gedichte [j'Der Riese Rodan"]] J --Nach meiner Empfindung hat er in der Skizze Abel an Natur, Neuheit der Bilder, malerischen Situationen und selbst an Sprachgewalt

Gessnern weit hbertroffen. Das will viel sagen; aber

lies, Leser, (nur fein hhbsch warm und geflihlvoll) wirst's mit freudigem Schauder flihlen, dass ich wahr geredt 65 habe." Schubart sees Abel as a new generic model, as norm-constructing. Mhller's use of language is praised and understood to be natural. Schubart means "natural" here in the sense of reflecting the Kraftnatur which

Cain embodies. Cain's speech is radically different from

Walter's in Die Schafschur. Nonetheless, Cain's pathos mirrors naturally a Kraftnatur for Schubart even as Walter's simple dialect reflects his Palatine origin.

In the reviews of other works by Mhller, Schubart describes his strong reaction to the emotions conveyed in Mhller's language. While reading the infanticide ballad, "Das braune FrSulein," the reader ought to "mit- fhhlen mit dem treuen braunen FrSulein." The characters in Mliller's Situation aus Fausts Leben "sind schrecklich genug, urn Schaudem und Bewunderung und Schrecken zu

£ ^ —— [_Christian F. D. Schubart"]/ Review of Die_ Schreib­ tafel ,dritte Lieferung, Teutsche Chronik (1775; rpt. Heidelberg: Schneider, 1915) , p. ’332.

66 r - _ j Christian F. D. SchubartJ , "Balladen vom Maler Mtiller, Mannheim, 1776," Teutsche Chronik (1776 ; rpt. Heidelberg: Schneider, 1975), p. 751. 15 4 erregen."^ Mtlller's challenge to the genre was clearly-

recognized by these c r i t i c s .

The critics of the other biblical idyll, however, perceived Mliller's debt to Gessner. In his review of

Adams erstes Erwachen Wagner recognized that Mtlller was influenced by the Swiss author in matters of style and c o n te n t:

Also gleich seinem Nebenbuhler Gessner tritt er aus dem Schhferzirkel in die Versammlungen der Erzv&ter, und sucht ihre Gestalten durch die Macht der Dichtkunst wieder zu beleben. Dass der sanftere Gessnerische Ton nicht der herrschende sein kftnne, wird, wer Mtillers Manier einigermassen kennt, nicht erwarten. Zwar kominen Stellen darinn vor, so lieblich und hold, dass man sie Gessnern unterschieben ktbnnte. Die Grotte (S. 37), wo Zimmet und N&gelein, Rosen und Schasmin duften, und des frommen, schBnen (S. 92), lieb- reichen Hirten Abels Reden werden dem gg empfindsamen Theile der Leser gefallen.

Wagner believes that those who enjoy Gessner's empfinds am idylls w ill read Adams erstes Erwachen with like enthusiasm.

Still another critic praised Mtlller to such an extent that 69 he placed him on a plane with Gessner and Milton.

6 7 i [^Christian F. D. Schubart^jr "Situation aus Fausts Leben vom Mahler Mtlller," Teutsche Chron.ik (1776 ; rpt. Heidelberg: Schneider, 1975), p. 253.

^ [H einrich L. WagnerH, "Adams e r s te s Erwachen u n d ers te se li ge N 5 ch t e vom Mahler Mtlller, bey Schan, 1778," Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen, 7 (1778) , pp. 197-98. 69 The critic of the Almanach der deutschen Musen states: "Zwischen Milton und Gessner tritt hier Mahler 155

Wagner enjoys Mtlller's empfindsam portrayals, but

prefers the elements which remind him of Herder aesthe­

tics: "Aber grosse Naturscenen, GegenstSnde, die hohen

Schwtlnge der Phantasie, die Ossianische Begeisterung

erfordem, majest&tische Bilder, sind der Hauptschmtick

des Gedichts. " Specifically he considers the portrayal of the stars, the appearance of God, the description of

the mighty bear, and "Kains wilder Liebe," in short the

Urkr&fte, to be the most brilliant portions of the idyll.

Of the oth er human emotions portrayed , Wagner p refers

Tirza’s "schw&rmerische Melancholien."

The descriptive review in the Gothaische Gelehrte

Zeitung avoids direct praise or criticism. 71 Nonetheless the anonymous critic includes the Rehmutte rszene, during which a friendly doe comes to Adam's family seeking the faun which Abel had taken from her. Abel is touched by the doe's sadness over her loss, and returns the faun to its mother. Other brief quotes from the work portray a

Mtiller in die Mitte; imaginirt gleich jenem, schreibt bltihende Prosa, gleich diesem, mahlerischer, als jener, rauher und st&rker, wie dieser; bald Charakterisirung, bald Erzhhlung, bald PhantasiegemShlde. Die erhabnen Bilder k&nnten jede Epopee, und die Naturztlge jede Idylle oder mahlerisches Ged-icht schmlicken." "Adams erstes Erwachen und erste selige N"chte vom Mahler Mtiller, bey Schwan. 17 78," Alrnanach der deutschen Musen , (17 79), p. 141.

Wagner, Adams, p. 19 8 . 71 "/yearns erstes Erwachen und erste seelige NSchte, vom Maler Mtiller. Bey C. F. Schwan 177 8 ," Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung, 4 April 17 76, pp. 220-23. 156

similar sentimental attitude. The Gotha critic reacts

positively to those passage most reminiscent of Gessner.

M tiller's fr ie n d , Gemmingen, i s the most e c s t a t i c

critic of this work. In an address to the Deutsche Gese11-

sch a ft at Mannheim, 28 May 1778, 72 he limits his critique

to the introduction of Adams erstes Erwachen, extolling

the author for his naturalness:

Wer ist nicht beseelet vom Geflihle der Natur? Wer ftihlet nicht ganz die Gott- heit und die Grttse der Schbpfung? Wer sieht es nicht, das dies ganz das wahre Geflihl der Seele sei! Wer merkte der Sprache nicht an, dass sie die unge- kftnstelte Dollmetscherin des Herzens is t, dass die Worte da stehen, wie die Eindrlicke der Seele? Und dann im Ganzen, welche Abwechselung der SchiIderungen m an n igfaltig wie die Natur und immer mit dem Stempel der Wahrheit bezeichnet; mit einem Worte, man sa g t s ic h immer, ja gerad so ist es zu gegangen.^

Gemmingen believes Mttller1s use of language and portrayal o f life in post-Eden nature to be the proof of naturalness.

For example, he accepts the description of Tirza's intro­ spection—which he quotes at the end of his address—to be a true depiction of sentimental feeling. Likewise he understands Cain's outbursts to be equally natural.

^ Seuffert, p. 121.

l_Otto F reih err von] Gemmingenl^Hornbergi Review of Adams erste s Erwachen und ers te selige N5chte, Rheinische Beitr&ge zur Gelehrsamkeit, 1 May 1778, p. 131. 15 7

The examples cited above are illuminating. Clearly

Mllller found success with Adams erstes Erwachen in terms of meeting audience expectation. What remains unknown is why Mhller choose the same material as Gessner's Tod Abe Is.

Most likely he sought to surpass the Swiss author. The epische Breite of the prolog indicates that the author 74 intended an idyll of epic proportions. Having written pastoral literature for three years already, Mtlller cer­ tainly did not require a model. The above reviewers attest to the fact that the work appealed to both the

Sturm und Drang and Empfindsamkeit expectations, although

empfindsam reader found more in the idyll with which to identify. By emulating the style of Gessner, Mtiller expected that the work would be well received by a larger reading audience.

The reviewers of the 1811 edition no longer praise the biblical idylls. For unknown reasons Der erschlagene

Abel v*Tas not reprinted in the edition. Adams erstes Er­ wachen is generally ignored by the critics. Eckstein's and Schlegel's critiques are brief and acknowledge Gessner's influence on Mtlller.

Friedrich Schlegel enjoys the biblical idylls least o f all, for they bear "das GeprSge der Zeit." Nonetheless,

^ This likelihood is supported by the documents of the Berliner Material in Seuffert. 15 8

he believes Mtiller to have excelled over Gessner. Mtiller's 75 language and representation are "freyer, keeker und ktihner."

Eckstein, too, believes the biblical idylls to be

dated. Nonetheless, Mtlller is a decided improvement over

Gessner, whose sentimental portrayals are simply too

sweet: "Wir wissen es nicht genug zu lieben, obgleich

weniger zu loben; aber wSren Gessners Idyllen auf solche

Weise geschrieben, die Deutschen wtlrden sie nicht flach

und stlsslich schelten."^

While literature of Empfindsamkeit was in vogue,

Mtiller's readers found praise for the biblical idylls.

However, by century's end only those who wished to

present a complete picture of the author s t i l l spoke in

behalf of these works. The protestations of the Romantics

against Gessner's idylls document clearly that literary works reflecting Empfindsamkeit were by 1810 old-fashioned

and arch aic.

III. The Arcadian Idylls

Der Faun (Chapter XII of Der Faun Molon) appeared in the second issue of Die Schreibtafel. The work is a short epicidion, a pastoral convention dating from the Renaissance.

75 Schlegel, p. 249.

Eckstein, p. 261. 15 9

The other arcadian idylls, Bacchidon und Mi Ion and Der

Satyr Mopsus, appeared separately with "einem jungen

Mahler" for an author. This thinly veiled anonymity was

transparent to the critics who recognized Mtiller to be

the author.

Mtiller and Schwan seem to have expected c r itic is m

from the Mannheim cen sors. Schwan p rin ted the place of

publication as "Frankfurt und Leipzig," and Mtiller

included a "Vorbericht des Herausgebers" to Bacchidon

in order to justify the language "welche Ihnen mit

einer unangenehmen Empfindung auffallen mfichten."

The author directly challenges the pastoral

conventions by taking a tr a d it io n a l Greek Arcadia and

recasting it—linguistically and stylistically--in a

world of Rhenish Kraf tnatur en. Mtiller acknowledges

that the characters are clothed in the customs and costumes

of the Rhineland. He defends his use of colloquial and

coarse language, which the critics quickly recognize as

norm-breaking and norm-constructing. Mtiller's Leipzig

critic lauds the author's "lebhafte Imagination und 77 c h a r a k te r istisc h e Sprache." Wagner echoes these p ra ises

and sees in Bacchidon a satire against those who do not

7 7 "Bacchidon und Mr Ion, eine Id ylle, nebst einem Gesang auf die Geburt des Bacchus, von einem jungen Maler, Frankfurt und Leipzig," Alrnanach der deutschen Musen, (1 7 7 6 ) , p . 74 like Mtlller1 s poetry: "Fast scheints, als h&tte sich der

junge Dichter an einem, der seinen Gedichten nicht htlbsch 7 8 von Anfang b is ans End zuhorchen w o llt e , r&chen w ollen."

J. E. Biester reviewed Bacchidon for Nicolai's

Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek.A lth ou gh the hymn to

Bacchus is "zu hart und dunkel," the colloquial language

of the idyll is seen positively: . . die Sprache und

Anlage des ganzen Sttlckes £sindj sehr original." Biester believes Bacchidon to be "der leibhaftige Sir John Falstaff.

At tim es the more outrageous behavior and language are seen as "Fehler," yet Biester excuses such "Ueppigkeit der Erfindung, Auswilchse der Phantasie und der Laune," because these are the very qualities for which Ovid was scolded. Although he enjoys the idyll, he seems compelled to find a classical model and precedent for those character­ istics he considers potentially offensive or uneven.

Although Biester saw potentiall offensive elements in Bacchidon, no general condemnation of the work was uttered by any representative of the Enlightenment.

7 8 f”** * **^» , [_Heinrich L. Wagnerj, "Bacchidon und Mi Ion, eine Idylle; nebst einem Gesang auf die Geburt des Bacchus; von einem jungen Mahler," Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen, 3 (1774) , p. 847. 79 — —i Me. |_J. E • Biester J, "Bacchidon und Mi Ion, eine Idylle; nebst einem Gesang auf die Geburt des Bacchus. Von einem jungen Maler. Frankf. und Leipzig. 1775," Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, (1777), pp. 225-26. 161

Nicolai's friend, Hflpfner, found the idyll so "kttstlich"

th a t he recommended the work to the B erlin R a tio n a list. 80

Der Satyr Mopsus aroused few reactions. Only those

critics with similar tastes to Mliller's reviewed the work.

Lenz was so overcome that immediately upon reading the

idyll he wrote to the author: "Sie haben eine so mhthige

so feuervolle Sprache, dass mirs kalt und warm wird." 81

Wagner, writing again for the FGA, reveals a similar

excitment: "wie theatralisch! wie anschauend, wie 82 begeistert!" He reacts to the dramatic qualities of

the work, a reaction one would expect from a dramatist.

The Leipzig critic sees in Mopsus a challenge to Gessner's

style: . . so schhttern jetzt denen die Bciuche bey

dieser Lektftre, denen bey Gessners Empfindsamkeit zu O O ekeln anfing."

Der Faun Molon, like Der erschlagene Abel, enjoyed

very limited reception. The idyll brings forth an

o n Ludwig J. F. H&pfner, L etter to F riedrich N ic o la i, 6 January 1775, ed. L, Geiger, Goethe-Jahrbuch, 8 (1887), p. 126.

81 Karl Freye and Wolfgang Stammler, eds. Briefe von und an J_^_ Lenz, I (1918; rpt. Bern: Lang, 19 69) , p. 139. 32__ j_Heinrich L. WagnerJ, ”Der Satyr .Mopsus, eine Idylle in drey tes'Angen von einem jungen Mahler," Frank fu rter Gelehrte Arze lg e n , 5 (17 7 8 ) , p. 164.

8 3 "Per Satyr Mopsus e in e I d y l l e in drey Geslngen von einem jungen Mahler, Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1775 ," Alrnanach der deutschen Musen, (1777), p. 115. 162

emotional response from Schubart/ who cannot read it

" ohne ThrSnen."®^ Criticism from Der Teutsche Merkur

i s sim ila r. Too rushed by a p u b lic a tio n dead lin e in

order to discuss the work, the critic nonetheless 85 recommends i t to h is read ers. B ie s t e r , w r itin g for

Nicolai's journal, responds to the sentimental pathos.

Although Mtiller's colloquial speech does not appeal to him, he finds it true and natural: "Die Beschreibung der ganzen Scene, der Ausdruck der rohen, ungeschminkten

Natur in der Trauerklage des Alten und der Kleinen hat etwas so Wahres, Charakteristisches, Eindrinaendes, dass es Herz und Sinn rtlhrt. Die Sprache ist hart, ver­ s t tlmmeIt, hingew orfen, wie sich ftlr sein e Faunen, d ie er 8 6 einmal als ehrliche Wilde bildet, geziemt."

The arcadian idylls also evoke positive reactions from the Romantics. The critic for the Leipziger Littera- tur Zeitung (1812) enjoys the "tippige etwas derb sinnliche 8 7 kecke Leben" o f the fauns and sa ty r s. F ried rich

Schlegel, who desired a new mythology in romantic

8 4 j— —i (Christian f . D. Schubart] , Review of Der Faun, Teutsche Chronik (1775; rpt. Heidelberg: Schneider, 1975), p. 2 8 . 85 "Die S c h r e ib t a f e l, E rste L ieferung. Mannheim bey Schwan, 1774. 188S. und zwote Lieferung 1775, 118S.," Der Teutsche Merkur, 8 (1775), p. 244. 86 Quoted in Seuffert, p. 109.

o n Quoted in Seuffert, pp. 135-36. 163

literature, praises Miiller's " lebendige Art, die alte

Mythologie aufzufassen.M tiller is a precursor of the

norms which Schlegel wishes to establish in literature.

Eckstein is less concerned with the portrayal of

mythology than with the humorous humanness of the fauns

and satyrs. Mopsus— the most comic of the ,idylls--is his

favorite: "Der Mahler ist es besonders, den man im Satyr

Mopsus bewundert. Er hat nur ein Vorbild in Theokrits

Polyphem; dieser ist aber ein blosse Skizze gegen Mtillers

ausgef tihrtes Gedicht. Die ungeheure Unanst&ndigkeit erscheint hier noch grazibs, der ungeschickte Satyr in

seiner komischen Gutmtithigkei t kann uns fast rlihren , dass er seinen Zweck nicht erreichen wird, und die boshafte

Nymphe ISsst uns wirklich durch ihr muthwilliges Betragen noch mehr Anteil an dem armen liebesbrtinstigen Tropf nehmen, der so jSmmerlich am beschilften Ufer klagt. 89

Ludwig Tieck, alone of the Romantics, values the arcadian idylls over the other groups. The author of

Phantasus finds his sense for the bizarre and the fantastic r e f le c t e d moht rea d ily in Bacchidon and Mopsus. He praises Mtiller for his "Ftille und Lieblichkeit, das

Scharfe und Bizarre der Gedanken, . . . Sucht zur 90 Uebertreibung.'!

Schlegel,p. 250.

Eckstein, p. 2 56.

Q A Quoted in Neuser, p. 349. 16 4

Tieck and the other Romantics could find Miiller's

idylls norm-fulfilling and norm-constructing, in short,

as forerunners for romantic literature. E. T. A. Hoffmann

in pj-e Serapionsbrtider prefers Miiller's play Golo und

Genoveva over the idylls. Whereas the idylls are optimistic,

Miiller's tragedy reveals the nightside of life: the misery and pain of love. "Alle slisse Schwermuth, aller

Schmerz, alle Sehnsucht, alle geisterhafte Ahnung des von hoffnungslosen Liebe zerrissenen Herzens liegt in den

Worten d ie se s h errlich en G ed ich ts. 11 ^^

Miiller's linguistic and stylistic challenge to the idyll was readily perceived by his friends and critics.

Had Das Nusskemen, with its many Sturm und Drang- themes, been published during the 1770s, the!thematic challenge to the genre might also have been applauded.

That the author could write a traditional Gessnerian idyll, which reflected the empfindsam taste of the broader bourgeois reading public, was proved by Adams erstes

Erwachen. This work alone achieved a second edition only a year after its initial appearance.

The Romantics adopted Mtiller as an older "brother."

The biblical and arcadian idylls (except for the tendency for the fantastic), receded greatly in importance, because

^ Quoted in Neuser, p. 351. 165

they showed the greatest debt to the Gessnerian tradition.

Die Schafschur and Das Nusskemen, on the other hand, were

understood as forerunners of "romantic" literature. The

inclusion of folk songs, the allusions to the German

Middle Ages, etc. reflected the aesthetic values of the

Romantics. However, their attempt to "resurrect" Mtiller

seems to have been less a defense of the idyll as genre,

and more a justification for Romantic Literature. Not

once did they defend the idyll as a generic concept.

Literature was to become unified, a Gesamtkunstwerk.

For all practical purposes the German idyll had

achieved its highest development and popularity with

Gessner. Mtiller1 s challenge did not achieve a reformu­ la tio n o f the genre for subsequent authors. Themes and elements of the traditional idyll were incorporated into other literary forms (see Eisenbeiss), thus assuring the disappearance of the idyll as a generic form of literary art. V. CONCLUSION

Wenig gekannt und weniger g esch h tzt, hab 1 treu ich beim Wirken Nach der Wahrheit gestrebt, und mein hfich- ster Genuss War die Erkenntnis des Sch5nen und Grossen. Ich habe gelebet! Dass Fortuna mich nie liebte, verzeih' ich ih r g em .

--Maler Mtiller, Epitaph

Beginning with Gottsched's theory, the German idyll came under the purview of bourgeois taste. The conventions of singing contests, monologs bemoaning the loss of a loved one, complaints of unrequited love, were recast in order to reflect bourgeois taste. With Gessner's idylls the genre achieved a completion of the process begun by

Gottsched. Along the way P ietism and Empfindsamkeit had left their imprint on the genre as well.

When Maler Mtlller entered the literary scene he had to come to terms with the established expectations of the genre and of a reading public which preferred empfindsam literature. As an intimate of the Sturm und Drang genera­ tion of authors, he also had to reconcile the idyll with the aesthetic values of these young writers.

Mtlller brought elements of both literary trends together in his works. He combined empfindsam language

166 167

and emotionalism with Promethean rebelliousness. Other

dissimilar characteristics were brought together. How­

ever, Mhller did not combine these elements without care.

He adopted the family of the Gessnerian tradition and

then subjected it to rebellious sons, to daughters preg­

nant out of wedlock, to officials who abuse the peasantry.

Aesthetic theory of the middle decades of the century

had prepared the way for Mtiller, by moving the genre ever

closer to a portrayal of contemporary dilemmas and concerns.

Mtiller then incorporated bourgeois concerns and aspira­

tions into the fiction. He resolved the social conflicts within the context of the familial structure. Repeatedly his idylls confirm the sanctity of the family as governed by the Familienvater. Society as a whole is seen as an extension of the familial hierarchy. It is thus but a

sm all step in the P a la tin e t r ilo g y fo r Mtiller to move from

the problems of the private to the public sphere. In like manner the conflicts of the political sphere are resolved by an enlightened Landesvater who preserves the sanctity of the society entrusted to him.

The reader is again justified to ask: are Mtiller*s works really idylls, or has he created a monstrosity which is neither fish nor fowl? His idylls do fit into the eighteenth-century tradition. They posit the idyllic world as ideal. The nostalgic ideal of Arcadia can be created by the productive energies of enlightened individuals. 168

Mtlller questions the cohesiveness of the family and society,

yet each time he resolves the conflicts within the established

social norms. The peasants are reasonable--they restrain

their anger and discuss in an enlightened manner the problems

of their day.

Only once--in Der erschlagene Abel--does Mtiller exceed

the limits of the genre. Cain's rebellion turns into revo­

lution and he rejects all established order. Yet he lives ;

in a world where the Deity communicates directly to man.

When man can no longer control the situation, God freely

intervenes. This leap of faith to the Deity brings the

resolution back into the realm of idyllic harmony. An

ideal world, momentarily shaken, is restored.

Perhaps the most convincing answer to whether or not

Miiller's works are truly idylls lies in the reaction of

his early reading public. Repeatedly the small circle

of friends and associates accepted them unguestioningly

as idylls. Without doubt the critics were aware of

Miiller's experimentation, which was, with few exceptions,

applauded. The references in the reviews made to empfind­

sam readers are telling. Literature of Empfindsamkeit—

although still in vogue—was losing popularity. In the

1770s Adams erstes Erwachen achieved its popularity due

to its empfindsam language. But by century's end the

critics were hard pressed to find kind attributes for this work. The Romantics were somewhat embarrassed to see their 169

"older brother" slip into such a Gessnerian style.

If Mliller really presented new possibilities of

expression to the genre, why, then, was he not imitated?

Several facts present themselves. Mliller himself aban­

doned the genre with his 1778 departure for Rome. He

made no additional attempts to further the genre either

in theory or practice.

Although Mftller's fellow authors enjoyed his works,

none of them took up the pen to write their own idylls.

They concentrated on other literary forms, especially

the drama. The social dilemmas in Mtiller's idylls

are more g r a p h ic a lly portrayed in drama.

Additional factors must be considered* Johann

Heinrich Voss took up the tradition of Gessner and modi­

fied it, by structuring the idyllic world in hexam&tric

verse. The private concerns of Gessner's shepherds were

retained by Voss, who presented largely the private lives

of the country pastor, the landed gentry, and the like.

Weimar classicism and Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea

supported the direction which Voss's art had taken.

Goethe and many of his friends were living proof of the

general rejection of Sturm und Drang literature. Such

repudiation would necessarily include Mhller's idylls.

Despite Schwan's claims to the contrary, Mhller's work never achieved a lax*ge reading audience. Since most of his idylls did not reflect the prevailing tastes of the 170 reading public, they were unlikely candidates for popu­ larity unless a literary giant were to encourage the reading public to obtain them. None of the "classics" offered Mtlller any assistance.

Last, but by no means least, was the fact that the genre appeared to be dying out. After Gessner, only

Voss achieved any popularity as an idyllist. The Gess- nerian tradition was beginning to wane in the late 1770s, even as the members of the pre-1750s' generation began to die off. The new generation of readers had strikingly different tastes from their parents, who clung to

Erbauungsliteratur and to Empfindsamkeit.

Maler Mtlller's experimentation with the idyll retains its importance to our historical understanding of litera-t ture. Those authors who stand with their feet in two lit e r a r y trends can often reveal more in s ig h ts in to changing literary perspectives, styles, and tastes, than can the "classics," who lend their names to a literary epoch. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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