• 230. Friedrich Schlegel to Caroline in Jena: Berlin, ca. 7 April 1799 [*]
[Berlin, ca. 7 April 1799?>]
|526| That is just how people are! First they live for six months a few houses away from one another, are strangers and inhospitable, also occasionally cause one another all sorts of heartache, then suddenly take their leave of one another and are so touched and moved, the way so many people do not believe they are dead until they realize they are about to be buried. —
That is how Henriette seems to feel now that she is leaving us even though it actually already took place much earlier.
In the meantime, however, it just happens to be my habit — or bad habit — never to forget anything, and thus am I sending this amiable child to you with considerable joy and emotion. I |527| once believed she would one day belong to us. But that will likely not happen now unless things go badly for her or she comes to her senses herself. Truth be told, only one thing could really help her, namely, were she to be thoroughly seduced, and I mean thoroughly. [1]
Have a look at her yourself and see whether she belongs to us or not. Because you admittedly cannot observe her amid the rather crazy surroundings of good-bad society, you must proceed prophetically.
Dorothea maintains I was a bit in love with her. She is both right and wrong, since I probably love everyone toward whom I am not indifferent.
Here again is a bit of Lucinde. I really do wish to hear something from you soon regarding it, and not just pure praise, but also something more than an assessment; maybe a little something of your emotional reaction. Only please do not involve yourself in anything that does not genuinely correspond to your own feelings, especially not in the art itself, and instead believe me for now when I say that the whole is one of the most artificial little works of art that exist. [2]
If you were to see us at and with Lucinde, I would look like a wild and wooly hunter to you, Dorothea like the good spirit at my right hand, and Tieck like the evil spirit at my left. He idolizes it a bit and hence is out to protect everything about it, while Dorothea is rather shy and would perhaps reproach it.
You are not coming! [3] — But I will still be coming this summer for a few weeks with the Tiecks or with the diminutive Mademoiselle Levi, who is also disinclined to give up on her plan just yet just because of your weakness.
Henriette will not completely conceal how angry we are quite apart from our sadness. Tieck was especially reproachful, and, really, you are taking this weakness for Iffland and the so-called “arts of acting” very far indeed. [4] — |528| Among many other rather piquant remarks, Tieck also averred that Wilhelm ought to translate Sophocles that Iffland might perform him.
Do write and tell me whatever you like about Schelling. Even if he himself is not so wildly interesting to me, your interest in him perhaps is. [5] —
By the way, I did indeed find the person Schelling to be noteworthy and good, albeit still extremely coarse. — In and of itself, his philosophy would be something quite ephemeral if ultimately he is unable to make a mark on the new age. And it is still quite unclear to me whether he will be able to do just that. He did seem to me to be very inclined toward us. Although it would be asking too much for him to anticipate me, he really ought to try to understand Hardenberg at least a little, an obligation he has not really fulfilled yet. [6] It is a good sign that he has so much love for Tieck, though he did take him only at a very common level. That he has absolutely no comprehension of Wilhelm goes without saying given the rather complex circumstances.
But enough about him. By the way, I had originally believed that he and Henriette would be just good enough for each other. She, of course, always a bit too good for him; but that is probably the way it ought to be, is it not?
Friedrich
Notes
[*] Also in KFSA 24:264–65. — Redating from Erich Schmidt “March/April 1799” to “ca. 7 April 1799” according to KFSA 451n159.1: “The letter seems to have been written the day after Henriette Mendelssohn’s departure [from Berlin for Vienna on 7 April 1799] and was perhaps even given to her to deliver.” Henriette had written toWilhelm Schlegel on 2 March 1799 about her plans to travel to Leipzig on 7 April 1799 (Dreihundert Briefe 1:2:169; here letter 224a). Dorothea Veit confirms her departure on 7 April in a letter to Karl Gustav von Brinckmann on 4 May 1799 (Franz Deibel, Dorothea Schlegel als Schrifstellerin im Zusammenhang mit der romantischen Schule. Palaestra XL [Berlin 1905], 165; KFSA 24:279). Back.
[1] Retif de la Bretonne, with whose work both Caroline and Friedrich were famliar, Les contemporaines; ou, Avantures des plus jolies femmes de l’âge présent, 42 vols. in 12 (Leipsick 1780–85), here 14:470:
[2] Friedrich did indeed adopt Caroline’s decision concerning “cynicism”; he writes to Wilhelm on 8 March 1799 (Walzel, 410; KFSA 24:244): “As far as your critique of Lucinde is concerned, I have chosen to follows Caroline’s decision completely with respect to so-called cynicism.” See also Friedrich’s letters to Caroline in late March 1799 (letter 225) and Dorothea to Caroline on 26 March 1799 (letter 225a). Back.
[3] To Berlin, as discussed and planned over the course of the preceding letters. Back.
[4] Wilhelm and Caroline were also anticipating movement toward the premiere of their translation of Hamlet in Berlin, which did not take place until the fall (they were not present). See also Friedrich to Caroline in early March 1799 (letter 224b):
Ever since the gospel of your arrival has been proclaimed, Iffland has been applying himself quite properly to the fine arts. He is scanning in the Piccolomini, sends his regards to me from the most distant ends of the earth, is once again performing Hamlet ideally (i.e., in thought). Back.
[5] Unfortunately, none of Caroline’s letters to Friedrich are preserved in which she speaks at such apparent length about Schelling. Back.
[6] Concerning Schelling’s assessment of Hardenberg, see the latter’s letter to Caroline on 9 (or 16) September 1798 (letter 203), note 4. Back.
Translation © 2013 Doug Stott