Literature Network Forums - Blogs - title by Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?44691-title The largest classic literature discussion forum on the Internet. Read Write Teach Share. en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:46:32 GMT vBulletin 10 https://www.online-literature.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg Literature Network Forums - Blogs - title by Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?44691-title <![CDATA[Erichtho's footnotes]]> https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5962-Erichtho-s-footnotes Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:17:59 GMT Ehmals verlor mein fliegender Blick in des Lebens Künftiges sich, und ich schuf dann, was mir Wunsch war, Fast zu Wirklichkeit: seine Freuden... Ehmals verlor mein fliegender Blick in des Lebens
Künftiges sich, und ich schuf dann, was mir Wunsch war,
Fast zu Wirklichkeit: seine Freuden
Hatte das schöne Phantom!

Denn das Gesetz der Mäßigung wurd' ihm gegeben,
Wurde gethan mit der Strenge, die zu Hofnung
Leitet: aber der Wunsch ist dann selbst
Thor, wenn er Hofnung verdient.

Freue dich deß, das da ist! so sagt' ich mir öfter,
Als dem Getäusch ich es zuließ mir zu gleißen:
Sagt' es, thats! und erlebt' auch, was sich
Über Gewünschtes erhob.

Jetzo verweilt der festere Blick in des Lebens
Vorigem sich, und ich fühle, was dahinfloh,
Fast, als hielt' ich's noch: süßre Freuden
Giebt es mir, war nicht Phantom!

Aber ich werd' auch Leiden gewahr im Vergangnen,
Wehmuth! es geht mit den Leichen der Geliebten
Mir vorbey: wie vermöcht' ich dann mich
Dessen, das da ist, zu freun!

(Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, 1789)


Are we too weak to remain against an experience the same way as we believed to be by longing for it? :(
I knew that one always wrongs a person by connecting expectations to his future, and I've learnt to accept that the lack of a continuous desire for understanding is a part of every relationship - still, it would be a lie to say that I am not disappointed. ]]> Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5962-Erichtho-s-footnotes <![CDATA[Erichtho's footnotes]]> https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5947-Erichtho-s-footnotes Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:03:48 GMT Mein Vater war ein Kaufmann. (My father was a merchant.) With such a simple sentence starts one of the most uncommon and surprising classics, a... Mein Vater war ein Kaufmann. (My father was a merchant.)

With such a simple sentence starts one of the most uncommon and surprising classics, a book that Nietzsche ranked amongst the best of German literature:

Wenn man von Goethes Schriften absieht und namentlich von Goethes Unterhaltungen mit Eckermann, dem besten deutschen Buche, das es gibt: was bleibt eigentlich von der deutschen Prosa-Literatur übrig, das es verdiente, wieder und wieder gelesen zu werden? Lichtenbergs Aphorismen, das erste Buch von Jung-Stillings Lebensgeschichte, Adalbert Stifters Nachsommer und Gottfried Kellers Leute von Seldwyla, - und damit wird es einstweilen am Ende sein.
If one prescinds from Goethe’s writings and namely Goethe’s conversations with Eckermann, the best German book that exists: what remains of German prose-literature that is worth to be read again and again? Lichtenberg’s Aphorisms, the first book of Jung-Stillings life story, Adalbert Stifter’s Indian Summer and Gottfried Keller’s The People of Seldwyla – and with this it is finished for the time being. - Friedrich Nietzsche, 1879

Stifter’s Indian Summer is one of the most famous classics of the genre Bildungsroman. The plot is easily told: a young man becomes acquainted with an old, educated and art-minded man, Risach, who lives in an idyllic utopia, the Rose House, somewhere in the Alps. In the years to come the young man visits him many times, travels in the Alps, studies in many fields and develops his personality and taste for art. In the end he marries Nathalie, the daughter of Risach’s youth love and lives happily ever after. Not exactly much content for a book of almost 800 pages.

Sounds boring? Well, if you read for action Stifter is certainly not for you. He writes verbose, the story circles around the protagonist’s parents’ house, the alpine Utopia and his studies of nature and art – year in, year out. The characters are as flat as the plot; even though the story is told by a first-person-narrator, the reader knows almost nothing about him, only in the very last chapter, after 750 pages, his name is mentioned once. During Stifter's lifetime his works enjoyed moderate popularity, after his death he was quickly forgotten. It wasn't until WW1 that the perception of his works changed.

Since all of this doesn’t sound too promising, you might ask why the modern reader should pick up The Indian Summer?

First, there is finally an Austrian author who describes the natural beauty of his homeland – his sensitive perceptions of nature and growth save him a place amongst the greatest of this sujet.
This leads us to the next point: the atmosphere. I cannot think of another book that has such a breath of silence to it. While reading it a deep peace overcame me and time ceased to matter. Stifter’s simple, consequent style deploys a maelstrom that one cannot elude.

There is no shadow of his time in Stifter's work: of war, March Revolution and its bloody abatement we hear nothing. He is the perfect representantive of the Biedermeier period, in The Indian Summer a radical escapism is praised: happiness is not to be searched outside, but only in the closest circles of society, the private life.

Still, it’s not all flowers and sunshine. There is a subtle undertone to it – when the plainness turns into naivety, when very gentle humour reveals that Stifter can and does mock himself. Don’t take this novel too serious, but do also not condemn it for its ideals.

Please, take the time to read The Indian Summer, and I promise you will have a reading experience uttlerly different from everything you had before - and you will either love that or taunt it and go back to old ways. ;)

To end, another quote:
Stifter ist einer der merkwürdigsten, hintergründigsten, heimlich kühnsten und wunderlich packendsten Erzähler der Weltliteratur.
Stifter is one of the most extraordinary, the most enigmatic, the most secretly daring and the most strangely gripping narrators in world literature. – Thomas Mann, 1949 ]]> Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5947-Erichtho-s-footnotes <![CDATA[Erichtho's footnotes]]> https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5899-Erichtho-s-footnotes Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:38:44 GMT Although I usually browse the web in German, every now and then I come across a good English page, so I thought I could share some links with you of... Although I usually browse the web in German, every now and then I come across a good English page, so I thought I could share some links with you of more or less bibliomanic content.

Bibliodyssey, a blog about Book art and Book illustrations;
Bookshelf, yet another blog. One of my favourite bookshelves is The Bookman.
Writer's Rooms and Literary Stamps are two other pages worth visiting.

A new approach to literature - Earth viewed from books - and the occupation with reading: The Kamasutra of Reading.

Did you ever wondered how a Bookworm really looks, or do you need a new Perfume?

Some articles:
Why not the worst?, an essay by Joe Queenan
An excerpt from “The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life” by Steve Leveen
Literature may be Harmful to your Health by Ray Porter
Why are people unlike the books they buy? by Steve Weber

Paperdolls of some literary heroes!

The Sorted Books Project gives you something to do at rainy Sunday afternoons.

Didn't you always feel something was missing?

At the end, two stories by Charles Nodier (original French next to English translation by William Barker): The Bibliomaniac and
The Book Lover.

And this is the first printed story by Gustave Flaubert, Bibliomanie (in French only).

Have fun. :) ]]> Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5899-Erichtho-s-footnotes <![CDATA[Erichtho's footnotes]]> https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5308-Erichtho-s-footnotes Sun, 04 May 2008 00:02:41 GMT Only a few days ago I returned home from a longer sojourn, and - as usual - after the joy of being home again, the little sadness of leaving the new... Only a few days ago I returned home from a longer sojourn, and - as usual - after the joy of being home again, the little sadness of leaving the new impressions and acquaintances behind and the strains of travelling had vanished, a certain emptiness found its way into my mindset and I was in a position of having already accustomed diffidently to old habits again but having not quite yet arrived with my thoughts often going back to what shall now become another travel memoir...in this state of mind I decided to create this little blog here. Let's write a bit about the small conveniences of life: art, wine and literature. Maybe there will be some people who can relate. :)

I begin with some words by Friedrich Hölderlin, whom I adore (and of whom I am unable to get tired of...). Reading his poetry is like praying for me.

[Excerpt from Die Stille]

Die du schon mein Knabenherz entzücktest,
Welcher schon die Knabenträne floß,
Die du früh dem Lärm der Toren mich entrücktest,
Besser mich zu bilden, nahmst in Mutterschoß,

Dein, du Sanfte! Freundin aller Lieben!
Dein, du Immertreue! sei mein Lied!
Treu bist du in Sturm und Sonnenschein geblieben,
Bleibst mir treu, wenn einst mich alles, alles flieht.

Jene Ruhe – jene Himmelswonne –
O ich wußte nicht, wie mir geschah,
Wann so oft in stiller Pracht die Abendsonne
Durch den dunklen Wald zu mir heruntersah –

Du, o du nur hattest ausgegossen
Jene Ruhe in des Knaben Sinn,
Jene Himmelswonne ist aus dir geflossen,
Hehre Stille! holde Freudengeberin!

(Here is the whole poem Die Stille (The Silence) in Projekt Gutenberg. I'm afraid I couldn't find an English translation in the internet.)

Even though I do love music I openly admit to prefer silence most of the time, and I think that there is hardly anything more dreadful than music being reduced to a background noise, which happens unfortunately far too often. One of the mysteries of modern life are certainly those people who are constantly wearing earphones - Lärm der Toren... :crash: ]]> Erichtho https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?5308-Erichtho-s-footnotes