Excerpt from The German Classics, Vol. 1 of 20: Masterpieces of German Literature Translated Into English When that which should be a short story is expanded into a novel one can usually detect the padding and the embroidery. So it is certainly in this case. Those long descriptions of landscape-gardening; the copious extracts from Ottilie's diary, containing many thoughts which would hardly have entered the head of such a girl; the pages given to subordinate characters, whose comings and goings have no very obvious connection with the story, all these retard the narrative and tend to hide the essential idea. The strange title, too, has served to divert attention from the real centre of gravity. Had the tale been called, say, Ottilie's Expiation, there would have been less room for misunderstanding and irrelevant criticism; there would have been less concern over the moral, and more over the artistic, aspect of the story. What then was the essential idea? Simply to describe a peculiar tragedy resulting from the invasion of the marriage relation by lawless passion. As for the title, it should be remembered that there was just then a tendency to look for curious analogies between physical law and the Operations of the human mind. Great interest was felt in suggestion, occult influence, and all that sort of thing. Goethe himself had lately been lecturing on magnetism. He had also observed, as no one can fail to observe, that the sexual attraction sometimes seems to act like chemical affinity: it breaks up old unions, forms new combinations, destroys pre-exis-ting bodies, as if it were a law that must work itself out, whatever the consequences. Such a process will now and then defy prudence, self-respect, duty, even religion, going its way like a blind and ruthless law' of physics. But if this is to happen the recombining elements must, of course, have each its specific character; else there is no affinity and no tragedy. It is no part of the analogy that the pressure of sex is always and by its very nature like the attraction of atoms. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The German Classics, Vol. 1 of 20: Masterpieces of German Literature Translated Into English; Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe For it is a grave mistake to assume, as has been assumed only too often, that, after the great epoch of Classicism and Romanticism in the early decades of the nineteenth century, Germany produced but little of universal significance, or that, after Goethe and Heine, there were but few Germans worthy to be mentioned side by side with the great writers of other European countries. True, there is no German Tolstoy, no German Ibsen, no German Zola - but then, is there a Russian Nietzsche, or a Norwegian Wagner, or a French Bismarck? Men like these, men of revolutionary genius, men who start new movements and mark new epochs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a collection of carefully selected masterpieces of German literature in last two centuries. The most representative German writers of each period are brought together and represented by their best and finest works from the great epoch of Classicism and Romanticism to early modern literature of twentieth century: Vol. I & II: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Vol. III: Friedrich von Schiller Vol. IV: Jean Paul; Wilhelm von Humboldt; August Wilhelm Schlegel; Friedrich Schlegel; Novalis; Friedrich Hölderlin; Ludwig Tieck; Heinrich von Kleist Vol. V: Friedrich Schleiermacher; Johann Gottlieb Fichte; Friedrich Wilhem Joseph von Schelling; Ludgwig Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; Ernst Moritz Arndt; Theodor Kürner; Maximilian Gottfried von Schenkendorf; Ludwig Uhland; Joseph von Eichendorff; Adalbert von Chamisso; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann; Friedrich Baron de la Motte-Fouqué; Wilhelm Hauff; Friedrich Rükert; August von Platen-Hallermund Vol. VI: Heinrich Heine; Franz Grillparzer; Ludwig van Beethoven Vol. VII: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Bettina von Arnim; Karl Lebrecht Immermann; Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow; Anastasius Grün, Nikolaus Lenau; Eduard Mörike; Annette Elizabeth von Droste-Hülshoff; Ferdinand Freiligrath; Moritz Graf von Strachwitz; Georg Herwegh; Emanual Geigel Vol. VIII: Berthold Auerbach; Jeremias Gotthelf; Fritz Reuter; Adalbert Stifter; Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl Vol. IX: Friedrich Hebbel; Otto Ludwig Vol. X: Prince Otto von Bismarck; Count Helmuth von Moltke; Ferdinand Lassalle Vol. XI: Friedrich Spielhagen; Theodor Storm; Wilhelm Raabe Vol. XII: Gustav Freytag; Theodor Fontane Vol. XII: Helene Böhlau; Clara Viebig; Eduard von Keyserling; Thomas Mann; Ludwig Thoma; Rudolf Hans Bartsch; Emil Strauss; Hermann Hesse; Ernst Zahn; Jakob Schaffner Vol. XIV: Jakob Wassermann; Bernhard Kellermann; Max Halbe; Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Arthur Schnitzler; Frank Wedekind; Ernst Hardt

German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a collection of carefully selected masterpieces of German literature in last two centuries. The most representative German writers of each period are brought together and represented by their best and finest works from the great epoch of Classicism and Romanticism to early modern literature of twentieth century: Vol. I & II: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Vol. III: Friedrich von Schiller Vol. IV: Jean Paul; Wilhelm von Humboldt; August Wilhelm Schlegel; Friedrich Schlegel; Novalis; Friedrich Hölderlin; Ludwig Tieck; Heinrich von Kleist Vol. V: Friedrich Schleiermacher; Johann Gottlieb Fichte; Friedrich Wilhem Joseph von Schelling; Ludgwig Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; Ernst Moritz Arndt; Theodor Kürner; Maximilian Gottfried von Schenkendorf; Ludwig Uhland; Joseph von Eichendorff; Adalbert von Chamisso; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann; Friedrich Baron de la Motte-Fouqué; Wilhelm Hauff; Friedrich Rükert; August von Platen-Hallermund Vol. VI: Heinrich Heine; Franz Grillparzer; Ludwig van Beethoven Vol. VII: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; Bettina von Arnim; Karl Lebrecht Immermann; Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow; Anastasius Grün, Nikolaus Lenau; Eduard Mörike; Annette Elizabeth von Droste-Hülshoff; Ferdinand Freiligrath; Moritz Graf von Strachwitz; Georg Herwegh; Emanual Geigel Vol. VIII: Berthold Auerbach; Jeremias Gotthelf; Fritz Reuter; Adalbert Stifter; Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl Vol. IX: Friedrich Hebbel; Otto Ludwig Vol. X: Prince Otto von Bismarck; Count Helmuth von Moltke; Ferdinand Lassalle Vol. XI: Friedrich Spielhagen; Theodor Storm; Wilhelm Raabe Vol. XII: Gustav Freytag; Theodor Fontane Vol. XII: Helene Böhlau; Clara Viebig; Eduard von Keyserling; Thomas Mann; Ludwig Thoma; Rudolf Hans Bartsch; Emil Strauss; Hermann Hesse; Ernst Zahn; Jakob Schaffner Vol. XIV: Jakob Wassermann; Bernhard Kellermann; Max Halbe; Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Arthur Schnitzler; Frank Wedekind; Ernst Hardt

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