257a. Friedrich Schlegel to Schleiermacher: Jena, late November 1799 [*]
[Jena, late November 1799]
. . . We are doing quite well — except for lacking time and money, the same old problem. Dorothea is working very diligently on Lorenzo, as he is now called, and has also already composed two poems for it. [1] Wilhelm is very satisfied with them. —
She and Caroline are also getting along very well, better than I had hoped, and as well as I might hope Dorothea could ever harmonize with a lady friend whose needs she so acutely feels.
Read the review of Athenaeum in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung if you have not already done so. [2] It is by Huber, who confessed as much to Wilhelm in a letter brimming and preening with morality and character because he felt “obliged” by his cordial relationship with Wilhelm and especially with Caroline (commensurate with his noble disposition). [3] — I confess I really would not have expected something this stale and trivial. —
We can anticipate a similar review, one probably even more stupid, of Lucinde. [4] What do you think of the outcry against the latter? [5] You once mentioned to me that, given the right occasion, you yourself might want to write something about the morality of Lucinde. Do you think you will find such an occasion? I really would like to hear such a voice, in black and white, speaking about one of my works. And I would be very interested indeed in seeing how you would go about addressing the thing. [6] . . .
Notes
[*] Sources: Aus Schleiermacher’s Leben 3:136–37 (incomplete); KGA V/3 276–81; KFSA 25:27–28. — Dating according to KFSA 25:392, probably after 26 November 1799. Initial paragraph (not included here) concerns book requests. Back.
[1] In the letter manuscript, after Friedrich had already written “Florentin” as the name (and ultimate title) of Dorothea’s novel (Florentin. Ein Roman herausgegeben von Friedrich Schlegel, vol. 1 [Leipzig 1801]), Dorothea herself then changed it to “Lorenzo” (KFSA 25:393fn12). Back.
[2] “Athenäum 1798, 1799,” Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1799) 372 (Thursday, 21 November 1799) 473–77; for the text see supplementary appendix 256.1 Back..
[3] Though Huber’s letter is not extant, its content can be surmised from Caroline’s responses to Huber on 22 and 24/27 November 1799 (letters 256, 257). Back.
[4] Huber’s review of Lucinde appeared in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1800) 130 (Wednesday, 7 May 1800) 297–300; for the text see supplementary appendix 256.2. Back.
[5] Lucinde had appeared earlier that autumn. Back.
[6] Schleiermacher eventually responded, albeit anonymously, with his book-length Vertraute Briefe über Friedrich Schlegels Lucinde (Lübeck, Leipzig 1800) (KGA I/3 143–216) and a review in the Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit und ihres Geschmacks 6 (Berlin 1800) 2 (July–December) 37–43 (KGA I/3 219–23); the latter presupposes Huber’s review (KFSA 25:395fn20). Friedrich was initially not quite sure whether Schleiermacher was really the author of the latter; he remarks to Schleiermacher in a letter from Jena on ca. 1 August 1800 (Aus Schleiermacher’s Leben 3:209–10; KGAV/4 180–81; KFSA 25:148–49):
But how can you yourself pass over the review in such dry silence, unless you perhaps know the secret [of authorship], or are yourself the author? —
I find that with respect to what such a review can be, this one is indeed excellent. Dorothea resolutely insists Fichte is the author and indeed very quickly came up with his name. He could indeed speak about it thus; and though he has admittedly not yet written anything of this sort in such a conversational style, neither has he ever really had occasion to do so.
I myself, taking my cue from the thoroughness of understanding evident in it, initially thought it was by you, but then afterward had to reject that idea based on various individual expressions, ideas, and turns of phrase.
If you are indeed the author, then you have denied yourself here better than ever before, which is, of course, quite possible, and in that case we are faced with the rather curious situation of having to vacillate between — you and Fichte, and I certainly must no longer look down so condescendingly on Hülsen [who initially thought Fichte had authored Schleiermacher’s Über die Religion: Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verächtern].
For the text of the review in the Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit und ihres Geschmacks, see supplementary appendix 257a.1. Back.
Translation © 2013 Doug Stott