• 198a. Friedrich Schlegel to Auguste Böhmer in Jena: Berlin, February/March 1798 [*]
[February/March 1798]
|626| My proposal that you might occasionally write to me without always expecting an immediate response does not seem to have |627| particularly pleased you. Hence I must answer immediately yet again that I may soon receive another such charming letter from Auguste.
Judging from this one, you are doing even more than I am asking of you. You seem to be not only merry, but also personally quite happy and satisfied. Your girlfriend probably has quite a bit to do with that. [1] I want you to tell me a lot about her and about how you are living and how you organize your day. I myself must constantly work and work and often do not even know where my head is. . . .
Let me wish you luck with staying diligent in Greek. When you are here, I also want to show you my remarks concerning your translations and go through them with you. [2] If you also want to send me some from Dresden, do so on broken sheets, which I will then send back to you with my comments. I will have plenty of time to do that this summer.
I am very, very pleased that you intend to come to Berlin, you and your mother, and had you not come I would probably have gone just a bit crazy.
Do write and tell me how the theater performance went. [3]
Listen, I had a bit of an argument with your mother in my last letter to her. [4] But if you notice that she is once again more amiably disposed, give her my warmest regards and tell her that I really am dreadfully fond of her.
As far as the plan is concerned of which Charlotte disapproved, although I was quite glad she had made it, I was also of Charlotte’s opinion. [5] She is probably too cautious to begin something that, should it not be completed — something for which she did wholly lack the means — would sooner be detrimental and bring about quite the opposite of her original, very fine intent. —
You did see Brinckmann as well, did you not? [6] Stay very well and write me again soon, the same sort of friendly letter. In my list of friends you yourself can choose whatever place you wish to occupy. [7]
Your Friedrich S.
Notes
[*] Source: Schmidt (1913), 1:626–27 (letter no. 13); Waitz (1871), 1:363; reprinted in KFSA 24:94–95. Supplementary material from Otto Braun, “Friedrich Schlegel an Auguste Böhmer,” Das literarische Echo 19 (August 1917), 1376–77.
Dating: Although Schmidt dates this letter “February/March 1798,” it seems to have been written after Friedrich’s letter to Wilhelm Schlegel on 6 March 1798 (letter 198), since in the present letter Friedrich’s ire against Caroline seems to have abated, whereas in letter 198 it is still quite fresh. — Concerning the textual history of Friedrich Schlegel’s letters to Auguste Böhmer, see supplementary appendix 181d.1.
Friedrich is still living in Berlin with Schleiermacher at the Charité Hospital (Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel, Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete [Leipzig 1937]):
[1] Concerning Luise and Cäcilie Gotter’s visit in Jena, see Caroline’s letter to Luise Gotter on 11 February 1798 (letter 195) with note 2; see also Caroline’s letter to Luise Gotter on 21 February 1798 (letter 196) and in February/March 1798 (letter 197) Frauenzimmer Almanach zum Nutzen u Vergnügen für das Jahr 1809 (Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
[2] Concerning Caroline and Auguste’s unrealized visit to Berlin in the spring of 1798, see Friedrich’s letters to Caroline in mid-February 1798 (letters 195a, 195b). Caroline and Auguste would be leaving for Dresden on 9 May 1798. Friedrich would eventually join them there with Wilhelm at the end of June, Wilhelm having gone to Berlin himself toward 20 May 1798.
One might note, however, that Auguste never visited Berlin; although Caroline visited during the spring of 1802, her stay did not go well. Back.
[3] Presumably the amateur theater performance on the birthday of Justus Christian Loder in Jena; see Caroline’s letter to Luise Gotter on 11 February 1798 (letter 195) with note 4 and 4a, the latter concerning the location of rehearsals. Back.
[4] See Friedrich’s distressed letter to Wilhelm Schlegel in February/March 1798 (letter 198) (representative illustration, though Friedrich’s misunderstanding came through his exchange of letters with Caroline; Königl. Gros-Britt.Genealogischer Kalender auf das Jahr 1784; Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
[5] Possibly Charlotte Ernst, but more likely (?) a certain Lolo (Charlotte) in Jena itself (“white-armed Lolo”) mentioned in Friedrich’s letter to Auguste on 28 April 1797 (letter 181d, with note 5). Back.
[6] Concerning Karl Gustaf von Brinckmann’s presence in Weimar and Jena during this period, see Wilhelm Schlegel’s letter to Goethe on 19 February 1798 (letter 195d) with note 4. Caroline also mentions him in her letter to Luise Gotter on 21 February 1798 (letter 196). Back.
[7] Friedrich had “enumerated” his (two) Berlin friends in his letter to Auguste in February 1798 (letter 195c), namely Schleiermacher and Dorothea Veit. Back.
Translation © 2012 Doug Stott