Der Brocken 1945

I have been posting almost daily Tweets of Goethe's diary for December 1777, when Goethe was traveling in the Harz visiting various mining sites and also making his famous ascent of the Brocken. As I mentioned in my previous post, the journey made great physical demands. Snow, sleet, hail, fog, and then there were days when Goethe climbed down into the shafts of mines. On December 12, 1777, he descended into three pits of a silver mine in St. Andreasberg: Samson, Neufang, and Gottesgnade. The former, Grube Samson, even has a Wikipedia entry. It is 810 meters deep, and Goethe wrote afterward in his diary: "ward mir sehr sauer diesmal."

The larger towns on his route can be found on online maps of the Harz (Clausthal, Mühlhausen), but not the many mining villages: Duderstadt, Dammhaus, Silkeroda, and so on. But I keep looking, hoping to find such a map. Today, however, I came across quite unexpectedly the map at the top of this post, showing the path of the American troops who stormed the Brocken on April 20, 1945. According to the accompanying post, at the beginning of April 40.000 male prisoners from the concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (and its "satellites" in Ellrich, Nüxei, Wieda, Mackenrode und Osterhagen) as well as from the concentration camp Brunshausen near Bad Gandersheim were death marched through the Harz. The goal of the death march was to reach towns that had a rail connection to Ravensbruck or Dachau. 10,000 died on the march. Click on the image to enlarge. For those who don't know German, "KZ" on the map represents "concentration camp."

It's sobering to consider that it was over the same paths that so many of those prisoners died.

"Harzreise im Winter"

As I mentioned in my previous post, it was at this time of year in 1777 that Goethe took off in a trip through the Harz. By then, he had been in Weimar for two almost years. Some of my recent posts have described his accommodation to life in Weimar. Although he had a residence in the town, he was also had new quarters for himself on the banks of the Ilm, something of a retreat, which he occupied with only a man servant. In the early part of 1777, when not busy with his court duties, he tended to repairs and reconstruction of this new home. Things seemed to be going well, but, as mentioned in an earlier post, a certain darkening of his mood began in the middle of 1777, occasioned in part by the death of his sister Cornelia. So, what was a young man to do -- Goethe was approaching thirty -- but to make a geographic escape? Nicholas Boyle in his Goethe biography, writes that, as in 1772 and 1775, Goethe sought through such a escape "clarity and relief from despair and doubt."

The Goethe-Handbuch, my go-to source for background on many of my posts, doesn't have an entry on the Harz journey itself, only on the poem and its reception. It is often the case that scholars seek for an interpretation of a poem by Goethe in his personal experience. After all, didn't Goethe himself once say that all his work represented "fragments of a great confession"? Much of the reception presented in the Goethe-Handbuch is recapitulated in Boyle, who refers to it as a "poem of self-assessment," reflecting a "division of Goethe's self" at this time and an attempt to discover whether his destiny is to be that of "Glück" or "Unglück." In this the poem, the journey to an undisclosed location, represents an attempt to seek a path out of "the danger of emotional self-destruction" in which an entire generation was stuck.

For Boyle and for much of the reception of the poem, Goethe's aim on this trip ("avowed at first only to himself") was to climb the Brocken, his reason being to be open to "a sign." Thus, the oracular language in parts of the poem "Harzreise im Winter."

My own scholarship on Goethe has been skeptical of considering his poetry strictly in this way. In my view, the "meaning" of the poem is determined by the form or genre in which Goethe chose to write. In this case, Goethe has written a hymn, which necessarily evokes religious associations. Hymns are expressive of exultation, and I can't help feeling that this arduous journey on horseback in the worst kind of weather speaks to the exaltation felt in his own strength and endurance. His letters to Charlotte von Stein, written as he took overnight refuge in inns, offers details. On December 4, he writes:

Ein ganz entsezlich Wetter hab ich heut ausgestanden wie die Stürme für Zeugs in diesen Gebürgen ausbrauen ist unsäglich, Sturm, Schnee, Schlossen, Regen, und zwey Meilen an einer Nordwand eines Waldgebürgs her, alles fast ist nass, und erhohlt haben sich meine Sinne kaum nach Essen, Trincken, drey Stunden Ruhe.

He refers to what he has experienced as an adventure (Abenteuer) that he has withstood. As he sits in the inn at the end of the day in the company of "ordinary people," his clothes are hanging on the stove drying. 

The letters to CvS cover many subjects, while his diary entries (see Tweets) give evidence of the rigors of the journey. As the days go by the tone remains that of exaltation. Traveling alone on horseback, it is obvious that he has a lot of time to think about himself and what he is going through. Goethe has always looked for signs, and it is not unusual that he would refer to type in such circumstances. On December 9, he writes that he wishes that the duke could share the experience (Mitgenuss so eines Lebens) with him. As he writes, however, the duke would experience the rigors in a different spirit:

 ... aber den rechten leckern Geschmack davon kan er noch nicht haben, er gefällt sich noch zu sehr das natürliche zu was abenteuerlichem zu machen, statt dass es einem erst wohl thut wenn das abenteuerliche natürlich wird.

A somewhat different interpretation of Goethe's motive for the journey is that of Wolf von Engelhardt (Goethe in Gespräch mit der Erde) who claims that the relevant reason was to get a picture of the "modern mining industry," such as it was in that region. Evidence, according to WvE, is Goethe's purchase of technical literature on mining in early November already, along with mentions of this in letters to Charlotte von Stein, and, above all, the well-planned travel route, which omitted not a single important mining site. Again, the diary (see the Tweets) record all those visits. They also inform us that Goethe actually descended into the depths of the mines. As far as the Brocken goes, the highest mountain in Middle Germany, von Engelhardt writes that Goethe would have been familiar with two volumes by Johann Heinrich Zuckert on the "Naturgeschichte" of the Harz and of its mines, but which also mentions that the Brocken was notorious as a site of witches and Satanic goings-on. It can be imagined that Goethe, having endured the effects of such terrible weather, might have taken it into his head to ascend the Brocken. Endurance does seem to be one of the themes here, which some individuals are unable to muster, while others, born in fortunate circumstances, do not have to exercise. This would include Plessing, whom Goethe met (according to his diary) on December 3.

Von Engelhardt sees expressed in the poem and in the journey itself a new and unsentimental view of nature -- not a Christian one in which rocks and mountains have a divine source. Goethe sought to convey such an unsentimental view of the world to Plessing, without success. The central part of the poem would seem to refer to Plessing's dissatisfaction with the world.

A wonderful recording of the poem, read by Christian Wewerka, is available on this site, along with an English translation.

Goethe's Harz Journey

 

On Nov. 28, 1777, Goethe wrote in his diary: "besorgt ich noch aller ley." What is being referred to are his preparations for a long trip, which began the next day, Nov. 29, and which would continue until December 15. He was traveling by horse, and stopped in such places as Greußen, Ilfeld, Elbingerode, Baumannshöhle, Wernigerode, Goslar, Clasthal, Altenau, and Eisenach. (Some of these are so small that they are not captured on images of the Harz mountains.) The high point of this journey would be his Brocken expedition, leading him, in the middle of winter, to ascend on Dec. 10 the high peak of the Brocken, of which it was said that no one climbed it in winter. On Dec. 12 he noted in his diary that he was working on the poem that would become known as "Harzreise im Winter."

Because the diary entry for November 29 is so long, I will not post it on the Goethe Twitter feed, but instead will break up here the contents of that day, which was quite a journey itself. First the setting off during a hailstorm (Schlossen), but feeling peaceful:

Früh gegen sieben ab übern Ettersberg in scharfen Schlossen 20 Min. auf 1 in Weissensee. stürmisch gebrochen Wetter, reine Ruh in der Seele, Sonnenblicke mit unter Abends nach 4 in Greusen.

In Greusen he decided to stop. The commentary to Goethe's diary makes it sound as if Goethe hears an anecdote from a teamster (Fuhrmann) he met there about a preacher (Seelsorger) who (apparently) sent a load to 3 blacksmiths who didn't wish to shoe it because it was too big. (This is a total guess: please correct me who knows what it is meant here. The diary commentary volume is not very revealing):

Musste schon Halt machen es brach die Nacht ein. NB. Wie der Furhmann erzählt von seinem Seelsorger wie der ein Maas zu 3 Schmieden schikt dies nicht beschlagen wollends so gros ist. Aber er wills so haben.

In any case, the anecdote ends with a Biblical reference (Deut. 25, 14: Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small):

Wenn wird der zehende aufhören und ein Epha -- ich weiss wohl was steht.

The diary for December 1 is even longer. It describes a very arduous journey:

Sonnt. früh nach sechsen von Greusen mit einem Boten ab. War scharf gefroren und die Sonne ging mit herrlichsten Farben an. Ich sah den Ettersberg, den Inselsberg, die Berge des Thüringer Waldes hinter mir. dann in Wald und im heraustreten, Sondershausen das sehr angenehm liegt. Die Spizze des Brockens einen Augenblick, hinter Sondershausen weg auf Sundhausen Schöne Aussicht die goldne Aue vom Kyffhauser bis Northhausen herauf.Mit einigen Invaliden die ihre Pension in Ilefeld hohlten. Fütterte in Sundhausen. Dann bey Northhausen weg. es hatte schon gegen Mittag zu regnen angefangen. Die Nacht kam leise und traruig. Auf Sachswerben, wo ich einen Boten mit einer Laterne nehmen musste, um durch die tiefe Finsterniss hierher Ilefeld zu kommen. Fand keine Stube leer. Sizze im Kämmergen neben der Wirthsstube. War den ganzen Tag in gleicher Reinheit.

I have posted this early portion of the diary and will continue with further stops on the route on the Twitter feed, after which I plan to post on the interpretation of Goethe's Harz poem and my own thoughts.

What Wilhelm Meister Might Have Seen on His Travels

Matsumura Goshun, Woodcutters (detail), ca. 1790

The two images here are details of paintings I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the other day. The title of this post is thus misleading, as the details are from Japanese works. Yet, similarly laboring people would have been encountered by a wanderer in German lands in the 18th century: men carrying loads of straw or wood or a basketweaver. Both Anton Reiser and Jung-Stillings Lebensgeschichte describe encounters with such figures. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Matssumura Keibun, A Garden of Pictures (1814)

The Wanderjahre is of course less of a realistic work than those two novels, but such comparisons are helpful as they show the difference in Goethe's preoccupations. Goethe is always intent on describing the flowers and the foliage, and the Japanese illustrator also does that in the charming woodblock below, combining both the labor and the cherry blossoms.

Matssumura Keibun, A Garden of Pictures (1814)

 

Images: MMA 2015.300.2061; 2013.873

Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre

Julius von Leypold, Wanderer in the Storm

My earliest work on Goethe concern the poetic production of the young, pre-Weimar Goethe. My dissertation dealt with the subject of how Goethe, like most writers of his generation, steeped in the classics and in French literature, transformed the early literary influences, especially the traditional genre of the idyll, into something new. In other words, it was about "how Goethe became Goethe" or the Goethe we know today. In recent years, I investigated his concept of world literature and published an essay on the subject, focusing on Fritz Strich's groundbreaking writings on world literature. Now I am back to the early Goethe, in this case Goethe of the early Weimar years. I have been Tweeting his diary entries for 1777. In fact, just a little over a week ago, November 7, marked Goethe's second anniversary in Weimar.

The diary entry for yesterday's date, November 14, was very long, and I Tweeted only the part that mentioned his activities for the day: a meeting of the Council, lunch with the duke, Charlotte von Stein's new apartment. But there is in the diary a long appendix to that day, which is as follows. (Again, if necessary, cut and paste into Google Translate.)

Heiliges Schicksaal du hast mir mein Haus gebaut und ausstaffirt über mein Bitten, ich war vergnügt in meiner Armuth unter meinem halbfaulen Dache ich bat dich mirs zu lassen, aber du has mir Dach und Beschräncktheit vom Haupte gezogen wie eine Nachtmütze. Las mich nun auch frisch und zusammengenommen der Reinheit geniessen. Amen. Ja und Amen winkt der erste Sonnenblick d. 14 Nov.

Acht in der Haushaltung keinen Ritz zu eng, eine Maus geht durch.

One can hear Biblical echoes here; Goethe was well steeped in the Bible. I like the homeliness of the sentiments, especially the part about the night cap. Many of the diary entries of past months have concerned household tasks, and this seems to mark progress in settling in.  Domesticity meant a lot to Goethe, his comfort in any case, and that it was succeeding so well no doubt contributed to his satisfaction with his new life there, even if at times there was dissatisfaction, which is also often expressed in the diary entries, usually in connection with his relationship with Charlotte von Stein.

Yesterday I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and came across the painting that is pictured at the top of this post. Its title is Wanderer in the Storm. The painting is dated 1835, a few years after Goethe's death, and the painter was Julius von Leypold. I couldn't help thinking of Goethe in his early years in Weimar when I saw Leypold's painting. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Wandering forms the backdrop to a number of 18th-century German novels. This summer, in connection with my interest in exploring Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Theatralische Sendung, I have also read Anton Reiser by Karl Philipp Moritz, and Lebensgeschichte by Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling. The protagonists of these novels wandered all over the place! Anton Reiser wore the soles of his shoes out walking from Hanover to Erfurt. Jung-Stilling walked back and forth from his village to one village after another in search of employment. Goethe's protagonist, Wilhelm Meister, was not quite wandering or walking. He moved about on horseback, and wherever he went there was a meal waiting for him, usually at an inn, where he met with a true vagabonds, peripatetic actors.

After reading the Ur-Meister, I decided I had to re-read the Lehrjahre. The wandering part is not so extensive in this work, and Wilhelm spends most of his time in one place or another working on his theatrical practice. The Wanderjahre, which I never thought I would re-read in this lifetime -- but I am now doing so -- is truly about Wilhelm's wanderings, and he does so on foot for the most part. The book opens with a scene of Wilhelm and his son Felix climbing a mountain path. Indeed, because of his oath to the Tower Society, he can no longer stay in one place for more than three days, so he is always on the go. The restriction is done away with by the end of Book 2, as he seems to have settled on a profession, which will probably keep him in one place. (Only one more book to go!)

Because of the lack of realism in the Wanderjahre (the final version of which appeared in 1829), one does not have the sense of the difficulties and various trials of true wandering. Wilhelm covers a large area, including Germany, Italy, and the so-called Pedagogical Province, the last a pretty big place. The in-between stages are omitted, and Wilhelm, as if on a magic carpet, simply arrives. So, the painting above does not really give an indication of Wilhelm's wanderings, although it does suggest how much the theme resonated in Germany, especially for the Romantic poets.

Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art;

Museum visit

My friend Barb and I made a trip to the Metropolitan Museum today. She is photo researcher and a colorist of historical photos and an all-around expert at computer imaging. Herewith a cool photo manipulation of us in the Cypriot galleries of the museum.

Goethe is homesick

"Young Goethe"

According to Nicholas Boyle’s bio, the first phase of Goethe’s life in Weimar lasted until the middle of 1777. His diary entries (see my Tweets) mention work on his garden house in the spring of 1777, where he put in fruit and vegetable beds, occasionally sleeping on the veranda. By then, he was well acquainted with court life, and even before 1777, he had become responsible for court entertainments. In January he was planning a production for the birthday of the duchess, the new piece being the Singspiel Lila. In the middle of 1777, however, his sister Cornelia died. As I mentioned in a post on her death, we know of his reaction only from a diary entry and several letters. Her death was a big blow to him, however, and it is at this point that begins what Boyle calls the next phase, which will last until his return from his journey to Switzerland with the duke in early 1780.

By the autumn of 1777, we can already see Goethe’s mood changing and betraying a bit of boredom with it all. From the end of August until October 9, he was staying in Eisenach with the duke, while traveling from one village to the next with Carl August on official business. There was a lot of hunting as well and  carrying on ("nach Tische mit den Bauermaidels getanzt"), but several entries indicate that he had a whale of a toothache, of which he wrote to Charlotte von Stein (“24 Stunden Geschwullst und grose Schmerzen). But he also makes note of “Gefühl des Alleinseyns.” of his homesickness for his garden house, of the poverty of court life.

So much work and play and so little time for literary production. In these weeks on the road, he took up drawing, which is mentioned in many of the diary entries. The duke allowed him to stay at Wartburg castle, which appears to have been a highlight of these weeks, and of which he made several drawings. By the end, however, he was Lebensmüde,

Yesterday’s (October 8) Tweet was an exceptionally long one, with many official functions. Among those assembled à table at the Wartburg was Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, a native German (from Gotha) who lived in Paris, where he was friends with Diderot and d’Alembert, and where he published the literary newsletter Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, which concerned the goings-on in the Enlightenment capital. It was distributed to several  rulers of German lands, including Carl August, as well as Catherine the Great of Russia. Goethe appears to have declined to meet Grimm. As he wrote in his diary: Ich fühlte so inniglich dass … ich dem Manne nichts zu sagen hatte der von Petersburg nach Paris geht.

This long diary entry ends as follows: Und wills Gott in Ruhe vor den Menschen mit denen ich doch nichts zu theilen habe. Yes, very tired of life.

The next day he was on his way “home” to Weimar and wrote to CvS on October 10 from his garden, mentioning his estrangement from everyone: “Ich bin entfremdeter von viel Welt nur nicht von Ihnen."