259b. Wilhelm Schlegel to Goethe in Weimar: Jena, 4 April 1800 [*]
Jena, 4 April 1800
Enclosed please find two copies of Athenaeum, one of which I would request you forward on to Herr Hofrath Schiller. [1] As you will see, this time almost everything is by my brother, and only the critique of Matthisson and Voss is from my hand. [2] The piece on Garve’s literary estate is by the author of the Reden über die Religion. [3] — Unfortunately, the dialogue on poesy had to be broken off at the wrong place; not much more than a printer’s sheet is missing. [4] . . .
. . . My wife is recovering only very slowly. For a while, she regularly had both good and bad days, and although this alternation now seems to have ceased, she still has onsets of cramps in various forms. Let me thank you on behalf of us both for your cordial wishes and concern. [5] . . .
Notes
[*] Source: Körner-Wieneke 101. Back.
[1] The first issue of Athenaeum (1800). The second (and final) would appear in August. Back.
[2] Wilhelm’s critical examination of poetic elements and stylistic considerations in Friedrich von Matthisson, Friedrich Wilhelm August Schmidt (known as Schmidt von Werneuchen), and Johann Heinrich Voss, Athenaeum (1800) 139–61, and his “competition” parody, “Wettgesang,” between those three poets, 161–64; concerning the latter, see Caroline’s letter to Johann Diederich Gries on 27 December 1799 (letter 258), note 19. Back.
[3] Schleiermacher’s review “Garve’s letzte noch von ihm selbst herausgegebene Schriften,” Athenaeum (1800) 129–39, positioned just before Wilhelm’s own “deviltry,” i.e., the critique and parody mentioned above. Back.
[4] The conclusion to Friedrich’s important “Gespräch über die Poesie,” Athenaeum (1800) 58–128, was published in the second issue of Athenaeum (1800) 169–87. Back.
[5] All of Wilhelm’s recent correspondence with Goethe mentions Caroline’s illness and her difficult recovery; see his letters to Goethe on 8 March 1800 (letter 258p), 23 March 1800 (letter 258v), and 1 April 1800 (letter 259a) (illustration: anonymous, O! Kinder, Kinder [ca. 1776–1800]; Herzog August Bibliothek; Museums./Signatur Graph. Res. A: 371.9):
Translation © 2014 Doug Stott