Literary Appropriations of the Rhine: A German– French Repertory, 1814–1925
The following poetical and discursive texts, documenting, in chronological order, com- peting German and French appropriations of the Rhineland in the “long nineteenth century”, are drawn from the textbase of the Study Platform of Interlocking Nation- alisms (spin), where they can be found online (http://show.ernie.uva.nl/rhine). The poetic texts are given both in the original and in English translation. The French prose texts are given in the original, the German prose texts in English translation (the origi- nals being online at spin). The translations were taken either from published English editions, or else made by Joep Leerssen. The selection was made by Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen. The documentation includes:
Friedrich Schlegel, Rheinfahrt (Rhine voyage, 1802) Friedrich Schlegel, Am Rheine (On the Rhine, 1802) (From) Friedrich Schlegel, Voyage along the Rhine (1805) (From) Ernst Moritz Arndt, The Rhine, Germany’s river, but not Germany’s bound- ary (1813) Jacob Grimm on the Alsatian population (1814) Count Leopold zu Stolberg, Die Grenze (The boundary, 1814) Max von Schenkendorf, Das Münster (The cathedral, 1814) Max von Schenkendorf, Das Lied vom Rhein (Song of the Rhine, 1817) Aloys Wilhelm Schreiber, Rheinweinlied (Rhine wine song, 1817) Emanuel Geibel, Rheinsage (A legend of the Rhine, 1834) Edgar Quinet, Les Bords du Rhin (The banks of the Rhine, 1836) Max Schneckenburger, Die Wacht am Rhein (The watch on the Rhine, 1840) Nikolaus Becker, Rheinlied (Rhine song, 11 September 1840) Ernst Moritz Armdt, Das Lied vom Rhein an Niklas Becker (The Rhine Song to N.B., 1840) Georg Herwegh, Rheinweinlied (Rhine wine song, October 1840) Alfred de Musset, Le Rhin allemand (That German Rhine, June 1841) Max Schneckenburger, Antwort an den französischen National (Response to Le National, c. 1841) Max Schneckenburger, Schwarzwälders Gruss an den Elzass (A Black-Forest man greets Alsace, 1841) Robert Eduard Prutz, Der Rhein (The Rhine, 1840)
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004344068_013
Alphonse de Lamartine, La Marseillaise de la Paix (The Marseillaise of peace, 1841) Edgar Quinet, Le Rhin (The Rhine, 1841) Heinrich Heine, Deutschland: Ein Wintermärchen (canto v) (Germany: A Winter’s Tale, 1844) Felix Dahn, Die Rheinmädchen und das Rheingold (The Rhine maidens and the Rhine gold, 1868) Felix Dahn, Rhein-Übergang (Crossing the Rhine, 1870) (From) Theodor Mommsen, To the Italians (1870) (From) Auguste Geffroy, Un manifeste prussien de M. Mommsen (1870) (From) Numa Fustel de Coulanges, Lettre à M. Mommsen (1870) (From) Heinrich von Treitschke, What we demand from France (1870) (From) Camille Jullian, Le Rhin gaulois (1915) (From) Franz Steinbach, Questions of Germany’s historical destiny (1925)
Friedrich Schlegel, Rheinfahrt (1802) Rhine voyage
Wie kühn auch andre Quellen sprudeln, Although other sources may freely brausen, flow and bubble, and may be dipped Wo sonst die Dichter schöne Weihe tranken, into for inspiration by poets ascend- Den Kunstberg stets anklimmend ohne ing the Parnassus to where the Wanken, ever-cheerful gods live; I prefer you, Bis wo die ewig heitern Götter hausen; O Rhine, whose waves rush between Ich wähle dich, o Rhein, der du mit Sausen the high bounds of narrow rocks, Hinwogst durch enger Felsen hohe Schranken, where castles are lined up high on Wo Burgen hoch am Abhang auf sich ranken, the slope and the wanderer’s heart is Ans Herz den Wandrer greift ein ahnend gripped by an awed intimation. Grausen.
Schnell fliegt in Eil, auf grünlich hellen Rapidly shoots the merry boat on the Wogen, bright green waves of the German Das Schifflein munter hin, des deutschen Rhine. Live on! The boat will not re- Rheines. turn. Courage and cheer, imbibed in Wohlauf gelebt! das Schifflein kehrt nicht full cups, crystals of liquid golden old wieder; wine, freely singing the heroic lays. Mut, Freud’ in vollen Bechern eingesogen, Krystallen flüssig Gold des alten Weines, Singend aus freier Brust die Heldenlieder.