Romantic Fairy Tales: Goethe, Tieck, Fouque and Brentano - Softcover

Tully, Carol

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140447326 ISBN 13: 9780140447323

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2000

Synopsis

Presents four works that offers the preoccupations of the German Romantic movement. Goethe's 'Fairy Tale' depicts an ethereal underground realm and the marriage of a beautiful man and woman. In 'Eckbert the Fair', two outsiders seek refuge in the solitude of dark woods to conceal their incestuous passion from the world.

About this title

Synopsis:

The four works collected in this volume reveal the fascinating preoccupations of the German Romantic movement, which revelled in the inexplicable, the uncanny and the unknown and, especially, the mysterious world of the fairy tale. Goethe's richly imaginative "Fairy Tale" (1795) depicts an ethereal underground realm and the marriage of a beautiful man and woman, whose union heralds a new age. In Tieck's "Eckbert the Fair" (1797) two outsiders seek refuge in the solitude of dark woods to conceal their incestuous passion from the world, while in Fouque's "Undine" (1811) a water nymph falls in love and acquires a soul, and so discovers the reality of human suffering. And Brentano's "Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie" (1817) portrays the tragedy of a young couple, destroyed by a false sense of honour and pride.

About the Author:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): author of the poetic drama, Faust, and novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853): Romantic and later Realist writer, translator of Cervantes and Shakespeare. Friedrich de la Motte Fouque (1777-1843): prolific writer and most widely read of Romantics. Clemens Brentano (1778-1842): part of younger generation of Romantics, later abandonned writing for Catholic faith. Carol Tully: Lecturer in German at the University of Wales, Bangor.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140447326
• ISBN 13: 9780140447323
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192