The Poet as Provocateur: Heinrich Heine and His Critics

Erscheinungsjahr 2000
ISBN: 978-1-57113-161-4
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, Band 50, 239 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 490 g

Reihe: Literary Criticism in Perspective

Analyzes the heated critical debate on Heine from his own lifetime to the present.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), one of the best known and most controversial German writers of the nineteenth century, has been the subject of intense critical debate. Heine's lyric poetry ranks second only to Goethe's in popularity and is known world wide in musical settings. He is also known for his stories and travel sketches, his writings on political, social, and cultural developments in Europe, and for essays on literature, religion, and philosophy. Peters's study records the stormy development of Heine's critical reception from his own time down to the present. As a Jew living in Paris, an outspoken critic of both repressive political policies in Germany and the stifling influence of the Catholic church, and the author of the most famous satirical poem in the German language, Deuschland. Ein Wintermärchen, Heine engendered the wrath of the conservative critics of his day, while progressive critics, particularly those supportive of his emancipatory ideals, came to his defense. Since his death, Heine criticism has continued to be partisan in tone. Twentieth-century Heine criticism has mirrored Germany's historical development, from the nationalistic fervor of the Wilhelminian era, through the tolerance of Weimar, the anti-Semitic frenzy of the Third Reich, the postwar period of competing critical views in East and West, to the final decade of the century and a period of renewed and intense critical interest.

George F. Peters is professor of German and Chair of the Department of Languages and Linguistics at Michigan State University.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Peters, George

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Deutsche Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Idealogy and Criticism
Reception During Heine's Life
Reception in the Emerging Germany (1856-1906)
From Marginalization to Eradication (1906-1945)
Usurpation and Rehabilitation:Heine in East and West Germany (1945-1990)
Heine at 200: Reception since the Fall of the Wall
Index