235a. Wilhelm Schlegel to Gottlieb Hufeland in Jena: Jena, late April 1799 [*]
[Jena, late April 1799]
Yesterday the bookseller Fröhlich repeated to me in person [1] his wish that Athenaeum might finally be reviewed in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung.
A year has now already passed by since its appearance, [2] whereas usually important periodicals are reviewed immediately after their initial publication, which is indeed the most appropriate time to do so. Even in a larger sense, a contributor to the A.L.Z. of the sort I have been for more than three years now might surely expect a bit more reciprocation from it.
The A.L.Z. has never acknowledged either me or my brother in a fashion we might be justified in expecting; given the otherwise extensive discussions of even the most indifferent subject matter, this silence is so noticeable that it cannot but appear intentional to anyone not already familiar with the editors’ disposition toward us. The new Eschenburg edition of Shakespeare was praised in the same way, namely, immediately after its publication, [3] as the initial volume of my own edition, [4] but in such a fashion that made it seem my own translation did not even exist, that is, such that my own has thereby essentially been withdrawn.
Hence I must declare that I will no longer contribute anything to the A.L.Z. until its own obligations toward me have been fulfilled in a satisfactory fashion. I am stating this in writing that you might relate it to your editorial colleague if such seems appropriate to you, and because something that concerns what is solely a literary relationship must not disrupt our otherwise cordial relations.
A. W. Schlegel
Notes
[*] Source: R. Priebsch, “Unbekannte Briefe,” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Litteraturen 110 (N.S. 10) (1903), 23–24, albeit with the incorrect date of “shortly before 30 October 1799” and incorrect addressee (Christian Gottfried Schütz); correct dating and addressee is established from Gottlieb Hufeland’s response to this letter on 2 May 1799 (letter 236a).
Concerning this dispute, see also the supplementary appendix Garlieb Merkel on Christian Gottfried Schütz and the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung; also Wilhelm Dilthey on the break between the Romantics and the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (supplementary appendix 258a.1). Back.
[1] Heinrich Frölich happened to be in Jena at the time. Back.
[2] The initial issue of Athenaeum appeared at Easter 1798. Back.
[3] Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1798) 176 (Tuesday, 5 June 1798) 569–73. Back.
[4] Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1797) 347 (Wednesday, 1 November 1797) 273–80; 348 (Wednesday, 1 November 1797) 281–82. Back.
Translation © 2013 Doug Stott