159a. Wilhelm Schlegel to Schiller in Jena: Braunschweig, 18? December 1795 [*]
Braunschweig, [18?] December 1795
. . . Your cordial inquiry concerning whether I might not perhaps choose Jena as my place of residence accords with wishes I myself have long entertained. [1] I had already planned to make a trip to that area this autumn for the sake of making several important acquaintances and certainly primarily your own, but that trip has now had to be postponed until next spring. [2]
As far as literary activity and a scholarly career in general are concerned, one could hardly find a more favorable place than Jena, and since I have indeed resolutely committed myself to that career and am now no longer tied to any office or candidacy for such, I am completely free to choose my place of residence according to precisely those considerations. Your personal acquaintance alone, on which after so many written demonstrations of your friendship I may count, would be of inestimable value to me.
I would, however, like to know whether I might live there in such a way as not to remain entirely a stranger to the university, entering instead into at least some sort of relationship with it. You can probably tell me whether I might receive permission to hold public lecture courses without having taken an academic degree in Jena (which would otherwise unnecessarily cost me time). [3] Let me ask, however, that at least for now you tell no one anything about my plans.
I cannot tell you how much I look forward to making a pilgrimage to that part of Saxony, which for some time now, and recently more than ever, has been one of the centers of German culture and education. [4] I take your approval as the most favorable omen in my enterprise. How I look forward to being able to express to you in person the feeling the anticipatory kindness in your correspondence has elicited in me after my having already gratefully admired you in the works of your mind and spirit. Stay healthy and well.
Your most devoted,
A. W. Schlegel
Notes
[*] Körner-Wieneke, 20–22, here 21–22. Back.
[1] Schiller had written to Wilhelm on 10 December 1795 (Körner-Wieneke, 19): “Why could you not live here among us in Jena? I should be quite pleased indeed with that. Personal exchange would no doubt bring up things on which written communication never touches” (Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel, Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete [Leipzig 1937]):
Here Jena from a distance in 1785 (Johann Ernst Basillus Wiedeburg, Beschreibung der Stadt Jena nach ihrer Topographisch- Politisch- und Akademischen Verfassung [Jena 1785], foldout illustration Tab. 2):
[2] Concerning Wilhelm’s anticipated trip during the spring of 1796, see Caroline’s letter to Luise Gotter during the autumn of 1795 (letter 156), note 2. Back.
[3] Wilhelm is speaking about the possibility of lecturing privately as a non-salaried docent. Schiller responded to this query from Jena on 9 January 1796 (Körner-Wieneke, 23–24):
Although the philosophical faculty has caused problems for normal docents for some time now, there is no need for concern with respect to any remonstrations in your case. I would also hope things might be arranged for you be engaged here permanently in a more honorable fashion, not least because one can no longer count on Schütz’s health at all. But all this can be worked out once you are here.
Wilhelm responded in his own turn from Braunschweig on 19 January 1796 (ibid., 26):
Something you said in your letter prompts me to conclude that your own view is that my best choice in Jena would be to pursue public instruction in the discipline of ancient literature. That literature was the primary focus during most of my academic career, and even in Holland I devoted almost all my leisure time to it and would be glad to throw myself into it completely again. . . . Were it necessary, I could also arrange to attain a philosophical master’s degree in Jena. You have prompted hopes that make me very happy indeed.
Here the university in Jena during the seventeenth century (Das alte Jena und seine Universität: eine Jubiläumsgabe zur Universitätsfeier [Jena 1908], 14):
[4] Concerning this part of Saxony, see the chapter on Upper Saxony in the supplementary appendix on Germany in the late eighteenth century, esp. the section on the dominions of the dukes of Saxe of the line of Ernest, which mentions Weimar, Jena, and the jurisdictional position of the university in Jena. Jena is enumerated earlier in that same supplementary appendix among the Lutheran universities in Germany at the time. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott