German writer (1777?1843)
Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouque
(
German:
[?f?iːd??c
d?
la
?m?tfu?keː]
); (12 February 1777 ? 23 January 1843) was a German writer of the
Romantic
style.
Biography
[
edit
]
He was born at
Brandenburg an der Havel
, of a family of French
Huguenot
origin, as evidenced in his family name. His grandfather,
Heinrich August de la Motte Fouque
, had been one of
Frederick the Great
's generals and his father was a
Prussian
officer.
Although not originally intended for a military career, Friedrich de la Motte Fouque ultimately gave up his university studies at
Halle
to join the army, and he took part in the
Rhine campaign of 1794
. The rest of his life was devoted mainly to literary pursuits. He was introduced to
August Wilhelm Schlegel
, who deeply influenced him as a poet ("mich gelehret Maß und Regel | Meister August Wilhelm Schlegel") and who published Fouque's first book,
Dramatische Spiele von Pellegrin
, in 1804.
Marriage
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]
Fouque's first marriage was unhappy and soon ended in divorce. His second wife,
Caroline Philippine von Briest
(1773?1831), enjoyed some reputation as a novelist in her day. After her death Fouque married a third time. Some consolation for the ebbing tide of popular favour was afforded him by the munificence of
Frederick William IV of Prussia
, who granted him a pension which allowed him to spend his later years in comfort. He died in Berlin in 1843.
For Fouque's life see
Lebensgeschichte des Baron Friedrich de la Motte Fouque (only to the year 1813), Aufgezeichnet durch ihn selbst
(Halle, 1840), and also the introduction to Koch's selections in the
Deutsche Nationalliteratur
.
Literary work
[
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]
Romantic roots
[
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]
After
Dramatische Spiele von Pellegrin
, his second work,
Romanzen vom Tal Ronceval
(1805), showed more plainly his allegiance to the romantic leaders, and in the
Historie vom edlen Ritter Galmy
(1806) he versified a 16th-century romance of
medieval
chivalry
.
Sigurd der Schlangentodter, ein Heldenspiel in sechs Abentheuren
(1808), was the first modern German dramatization of the
Nibelung
legend combining Icelandic sources such as the
Volsunga Saga
and the Middle High German
Nibelungenlied
. The play and its two sequels
Sigurds Rache
(1809) and
Aslaugas Ritter
(1810) were published together under the title
Der Held des Nordens
in 1810 ["The Hero of the North"]. The trilogy brought Fouque to the attention of the public, and had a considerable influence on subsequent versions of the story, such as
Friedrich Hebbel
's
Nibelungen
and
Richard Wagner
's
Der Ring des Nibelungen
.
[4]
These early writings indicate the lines which Fouque's subsequent literary activity followed; his interests were divided between medieval chivalry on the one hand and northern mythology on the other. In 1813, the year of the rising against
Napoleon
, he again fought with the Prussian army, and the new patriotism awakened in the German people left its mark upon his writings.
Popular works
[
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]
Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read
Undine
: that is a fairytale ... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful. (
George MacDonald
,
The Fantastic Imagination
)
Between 1810 and 1815, Fouque's popularity was at its height; the many romances and novels, plays and epics which he produced with extraordinary rapidity, appealed greatly to the mood of the hour.
Undine
appeared around 1811, the only work by which Fouque's memory still lives today. A more comprehensive idea of his talent may, however, be obtained from the two romances
Der Zauberring
(1813) and
Die Fahrten Thiodolfs des Islanders
(1815).
Later years
[
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]
From 1820 onwards the quality of Fouque's work deteriorated, partly owing to the fatal formal ease with which he wrote, and he failed to keep pace with the changes in German taste by clinging to the paraphernalia of romanticism. His rivals applied a sobriquet of "
Don Quixote
of Romanticism" to him.
Translations
[
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]
Most of Fouque's works have been translated.
Menella Bute Smedley
, for instance, translated his ballad, "
The Shepherd of the Giant Mountains
." The English versions of
Aslauga's Knight
(by
Thomas Carlyle
),
Sintram and his Companions
and
Undine
have been frequently republished.
A number of his short stories were translated in
Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations
(1823).
Influence
[
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]
Fouque's play
Der Sangerkrieg auf der Wartburg
("The Song Contest on the Wartburg") is likely one of the sources for
Wagner
's
Tannhauser
.
[5]
Goethe
was not impressed by it, remarking to
Eckermann
: "We both agreed that all his life this poet had engaged in old Germanic studies, however without being able to develop this into a culture of his own making."
[6]
Robert Louis Stevenson
admired Fouque's story "Galgenmannlein" and wrote his own version ("
The Bottle Imp
") with a Hawaiian setting.
[7]
[8]
John Henry Newman
and
Charlotte Mary Yonge
both praised
Sintram and his Companions
.
William Morris
also became an admirer of
Sintram and his Companions
, and it influenced
Morris' own fiction.
[7]
Sintram and his Companions
and
Undine
are referred to in
Little Women
by
Louisa May Alcott
; the character Jo mentions wanting them for Christmas in the first chapter of the book and finally receives them in chapter 22.
Aslauga's Knight
as well as
Sintram and his Companions
and
Undine
are referred to in
Jo's Boys
, the final book in Alcott's
Little Women
series, where the story of
Aslauga's Knight
mirrors the character Dan and his affection for gentle Bess.
Undine
is the basis, along with
Hans Anderson
's
Little Mermaid
, for
Dvo?ak
's opera
Rusalka
.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
One source for some information in this paragraph gives year 1810 for both sequels.
"[H]e later added
Sigurd's Rache
(1810) and
Aslaugas Ritter
(1810; trans as "Aslauga's Knights" in
German Romance
ed Thomas Carlyle anth 1827 UK), the three forming the trilogy
Der Held des Nordens
["The Hero of the North"], which hugely influenced Richard Wagner."
Mike Ashley
,
"Fouque, Friedrich, Baron de la Motte"
,
Encyclopedia of Fantasy
(1997). Online edition not updated (
http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php
). Retrieved 2019-08-04.
- ^
Steele 2015
,
Chapter "
Der Fliegende Hollander
and
Tannhauser
, pp. 20?34
..
- ^
"Johann Peter Eckerman: Gesprache mit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens"
, 3 October 1828. The original full quote is: "Ich sprach diesen Mittag bei Tisch mit Goethe uber Fouques ?Sangerkrieg auf der Wartburg?, den ich auf seinen Wunsch gelesen. Wir kamen darin uberein, daß dieser Dichter sich zeitlebens mit altdeutschen Studien beschaftiget, und daß am Ende keine Kultur fur ihn daraus hervorgegangen."
Project Gutenberg-DE (gutenberg.spiegel.de).Retrieved 2019-08-04.
- ^
a
b
Mike Ashley
, "Fouque, Friedrich (Heinrich Karl),(Baron) de la Motte" in
St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers
, edited by
David Pringle
. St. James Press, 1996 (pp. 654-55);
ISBN
1-55862-205-5
- ^
"Fouque"
.
Erlebnis Brandenburg an der Havel
(in German).
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Steele, Bruce, ed. (2015).
Richard Wagner As Poet and Thinker: Ten Lectures by JG Robertson
. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2015.
ISBN
9781925003567
.
- Ausgewahlte Werke
, edited by himself, in 12 vols. (Berlin, 1841)
- A selection, edited by
M. Koch
, in
Kurschner
's
Deutsche Nationalliteratur
, vol. 146, part ii. (Stuttgart, 1893)
- Undine
,
Sintram
, etc., in innumerable reprints. *Bibliography in
Karl Goedeke
's
Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung
(2nd ed., vi. pp. 115 ff., Dresden, 1898).
- Undine
, trans. Paul Turner.
German Romantic Stories
. Ed. Frank G. Ryder. New York: Continuum, 1998. (The German Library, vol. 35). 15?90.
- Fouque und einige seiner Zeitgenossen
,
Arno Schmidt
(Blaschke 1958; 2nd Revised Edition 1960), also in the Bargfelder Edition, Volume III/1 (1993)
-
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Robertson, John George
(1911). "
Fouque, Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte
". In
Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 749?750.
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