Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg and the German Romantics by Eleoma Joshua

Abstract

886 Reviews a reading of Kleist that attempts not to look through, but rather to see through, the 'grine Glaser' of simultaneously limited and gendered perceptions of reality. SCHWABISCH GMUJND KATHERINE EBISCH-BURTON Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg and theGerman Romantics. By ELEOMA JOSHUA. (British and Irish Studies inGerman Language and Literature, 36) Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2005. 2o6 pp. ?39.70. ISBN 3-03910-257-5. In the only other study to date devoted exclusively to Stolberg and Romanticism, Pierre Brachin concludes: 'Ihn zum Vor- oder auch nur zum Mitlaufer der Roman tikmachen zu wollen, ist, von vereinzelten Ubereinstimmungen abgesehen, grund falsch' ('Friedrich Leopold von Stolberg und die deutsche Romantik', Literaturwis senschaftliches Jahrbuch, n.s. i (I960), II7-3I (p. I3I)). Stolberg, ifmentioned at all by critics, tends to be associated instead with such eighteenth-century literary groupings as the Gottinger Hain and the Sturm und Drang. Eleoma Joshua's mono graph attempts a revision of the poet's life and work. Joshua analyses various writings by Stolberg in detail, arguing that he should in fact be regarded as an important precursor of the Romantic movement. The main body of Joshua's monograph consists of four chapters, each covering a different aspect of Stolberg's ceuvre. The first examines Stolberg's essays on poetry. Joshua outlines the contents of four essays, describing how Stolberg places stress on the emotions as a crucial factor in poetic activity. At the end of the chapter, she points to links with Novalis, particularly in their respective essays on 'Begeisterung'. It is perhaps regrettable that she discusses Novalis only briefly, especially as she also refers to differences in their theories and mentions Novalis's obvious debt to Herder and Hamann. The next chapter focuses on the poetry itself. Joshua gives a fascinating account of Stolberg's influence on the early lyrical work of Novalis andWackenroder. She argues that Novalis in particular drew heavily on the older poet, showing for example how his 'Anmein Schwerdt' is actually a reworking of two Stolberg poems. The following chapter on travel writing forms one of the central parts of Joshua's the sis. She draws attention to the avant-garde nature of Stolberg's writings on art, which arose from his journey to Italy in the early 179os. By questioning the idealization of classical Greek sculpture as promoted by Goethe and Schiller and championing instead Christian art of the Renaissance, Stolberg anticipates the aesthetic thinking of the early Romantics and their 'Kunstreligion' of the later 1790s. The final chapter deals with Stolberg's conversion to Catholicism and his essay 'Uber den Zeitgeist'. Joshua maintains that the very public change in Stolberg's religious and political views from around I8oo influenced such writers as Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel, and testifies to his affinity with the Catholic, conservative ideals of that generation. It is the material she covers in these last two chapters which leads her to conclude that Stolberg not only had an important impact on the Romantics but 'points for ward to developments which go beyond Romanticism and beyond Germany' (p. I83), suggesting, for example, that Stolberg's privileging of Renaissance art is echoed in current thinking on art history. Joshua makes a strong case for a reassessment of Stolberg and his works, convinc ingly countering Brachin's earlier judgement. She offers detailed descriptions of the texts in question and places them knowledgeably in context. The study should serve to draw attention to a significant writer whose contributions to literary and cultural developments inGermany have often been overlooked. UNIVERSITYOFWALES SWANSEA HILARY BROWN ...