Goethe Schiller's Literary Book, by Goethe and Schiller, translated by Zhang Rongchang and Zhang Yushu, published by Nanjing University Press in November 2021, 600 pages, 118 yuan
On 21 July 1787, Schiller, the last and boldest representative of germany's surge, came from Leipzig to Weimar. The turbulent revolutionary situation on the eve of the French Revolution and the exuberant mental state of the German intellectual circles made Schiller passionate and enthusiastic. When Schiller arrived in Weimar, Goethe was in Italy. Soon, Goethe returned from Italy. The older poet became depressed and indifferent after several years of ups and downs, reading the world more deeply. No wonder Schiller harbored a strong dislike for Goethe, who was also extremely suspicious of Schiller.
On 7 September 1788, two ladies of the Lengefelt family, Schiller's future wife Charlotte and her sister Carolina, held a gala in Rudolfstadt to arrange a meeting for the two poets in order to make them friends. Unfortunately, the painstaking efforts of these two girls did not have the expected effect. On 12 September, Schiller wrote to his friend Kelner in Dresden about his meeting with Goethe five days earlier: "I can finally talk to you about Goethe, and as far as I know, you are waiting eagerly for me to report... He had dark skin and looked older than his actual age. His voice is extremely pleasant, his language is fluent, witty and intelligent, and he is lively and lively. Everyone listened to him happily. If he's in a good mood—and that's pretty much it this time—he's talkative and talkative. We got acquainted very quickly, without reluctance. There were too many guests at the party that day, and everyone was scrambling to talk to him, and I couldn't have spent a lot of time alone with him, or something other than talk to him in general... Overall, after we met face-to-face this time, my high opinion of him didn't actually weaken. But I doubt the two of us would be very close. Many things are still interesting to me right now, and I still want to get them, and I want to actually get them, and for him, he has already experienced it firsthand. He was so far ahead of me (not so much in terms of age as in life experience and self-development) that we would never come together again on our way forward. He was different from me from the beginning, his endowments were different, and the way we imagined them seemed to be fundamentally different. Then again, it is also difficult to draw completely accurate conclusions from such a gathering. Time will tell how to evolve next. ”
Within a few months, they had not come together, and their thoughts and feelings had not come any closer. Schiller was deeply hurt by Goethe's condescending, indifference, and refusal to let people go thousands of miles away. But Goethe's remarkable talent attracted Schiller so strongly that he hated and loved him in his heart, and the contradictions were abnormal. On 2 February 1789, Schiller expressed this ambivalence in a letter to Kerner: "It would make me unhappy to be by Goethe's side all the time: even to his closest friend, he never confided in him. Can't catch him in anything. My conviction is that he is a very unusual egoist. He possesses the genius to attract people and please people with greater or smaller attention. But he was good at keeping himself in an unfettered position forever. He presents his presence as if he were giving grace to others, but like a god who never gives himself out—I think it's a completely planned way of acting, deliberately, purely to enjoy his love for himself to a greater extent. We should not let such a person grow and develop around us... What he caused in my mind was a strange mixture of hate and love. This feeling is quite similar to the feelings that Brutus and Cassius once had for Caesar. I longed to kill his spirit and love him from the bottom of my heart. ”
Goethe also had no sympathy for Schiller at the time. It's just that the older poet is more reserved and reserved, not so impulsive when talking about Schiller, and not so emotional. Goethe recalls the scene in his essay "First Acquaintance with Schiller": "... I avoided encountering Schiller. He stayed in Weimar and lived near me. Don Carlos is not a good place for me to get close to him. I reject all the attempts made by those who were close to him as well as to me. So the two of us lived together for a while without any disapproval to each other... It is impossible to imagine that we will unite. ”
But after the outbreak of the French Revolution, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and the reactionary forces in Europe united to raze Paris to the ground, drown the revolution in a pool of blood, and intensify the suppression of its own people. Immediately after the indiscriminate killing of innocents by the Jacobins, the German intellectuals, who had previously been enthusiastic and jubilant about the French Revolution, were discouraged, and the excesses of the French revolutionaries and the despicable situation in Germany forced both the poets Goethe and Schiller into the field of aesthetics, and the unimaginable things became facts. The two genius poets finally united. It was Schiller who took the initiative, writing to Goethe from Jena on June 13, 1794, inviting Goethe to participate in the editing of the journal Goddess of the Seasons. Ten days later, Goethe wrote back and readily agreed. Schiller's letter and Goethe's enthusiastic reply are the first two letters of the Goethe Schiller Literary Brief that we present to our readers. They marked the beginning of the formal conversation and cooperation between the two men, and opened the prelude to their friendship.
It is difficult to find since ancient times. No wonder Liu Xun sighed at the beginning of the "Wenxin Carving Dragon Zhiyin" chapter: "Zhiyin is difficult! The sound is difficult to know, the truth is difficult to meet, and when it is known, it is one in a thousand years! Goethe was in Weimar, the German mount of Parnas, and also suffered from a lack of acquaintances. In his letter to Goethe, Schiller argues: "Genius is always a mystery to himself. His profound analysis of Goethe shows that he really knew Goethe better than Goethe himself. So Goethe felt the joy of knowing oneself, and at the same time Schiller's own value, his honest and sincere character, and his profound and exquisite thoughts also left a deep impression on Goethe, causing Goethe to abandon his prejudices against Schiller and the estrangement between the two, and regarded him as a confidant and a close friend, so that the two were only two months apart, and Goethe wrote to Schiller: "Now, after such an unexpected meeting on July 20, 1794, Goethe and Schiller had a long conversation in Jena Schiller's house. After that, it seems that we will continue along this path together... Now that we have figured out to each other what we have reached so far, we can work together without interruption. Four days later Schiller wrote to Goethe, "I am open and honest, and I pour out my heartfelt words, and I do not displease you." Although we met late, we aroused some good hope in my heart... The path you and I have traveled is very different, not sooner or later, and only now will we have a harvest. But now I can count on how long the road remains, and we will proceed together on this path, and we will benefit even more, because the last companions on a long journey are always the ones who can talk to each other best. ”
In this way, the two poets walked shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand towards a common goal. They encouraged and inspired each other, and conceived and created a series of brilliant works that pushed German classical literature to the top. The fruitful results of their ten years of cooperation have become a rich treasure of German literature and even world literature, forming an insurmountable peak of German literature. Several of Schiller's tomes, from Wallenstein to the unfinished masterpiece Dimitrius, are the products of this period. Many of Goethe's works, especially his life's great work Faust, were picked up again during this period and continued to be composed after a long period of quitting writing due to Schiller's repeated urging.
Although the literary and artistic views of these two poets are not the same, and the aesthetic pursuits are also very different, they have cooperated closely, not only exchanging ideas and exchanging views, but also achieving you have me and I have you in creation. On December 26, 1795, Goethe told Schiller: "I am honoured that people confuse our works; this shows that we are increasingly freed from our shackles and gradually infiltrating into the common spiritual wealth." This way it can be considered that if we hold each other with one hand and reach the far reaches that nature allows us to reach with the other, then we can cross the great chasm and make a difference. ”
Weimar, Germany, a statue of the German writer Goethe with the poet Schiller.
Regarding their cooperation, Goethe said in a conversation with Eckerman on December 16, 1828: "Two friends like Schiller and I, who have been together for many years, have the same interests, talk day and night, interact with each other, influence each other, and the two are like one, so it is difficult to say which of them are his and which are mine, and there are many verses that we work together, sometimes meaning that I came up with, and the poems he wrote, and sometimes the opposite, sometimes he makes the first sentence, I make the second sentence, How can there be a distinction between you and me here? ”
Without friendship, they could not have created these outstanding works, and without these outstanding works, their friendship would lose its content. It is worth noting that in the process of the development of this friendship, Goethe was often the one who asked Schiller for help and support, although he was more famous than Schiller and had a higher status, but they were two poets of equal standing and equal status in spirit.
While Goethe was composing the novel "Wilhelm Meister," Schiller made a long exposition of Goethe's masterpiece, and Goethe wrote on July 5, 1796, asking Schiller: "You continue to excite me, inspire me!" Then he said, "Please do not hesitate to teach me and tell me your opinion." Finally he said, "Reading your letter is now my only pleasure, and you will feel how grateful I am to you for helping me solve so many problems at once." ”
Schiller's greatest help to Goethe was to constantly remind Goethe not to distract himself from the distractions of tedious affairs, but to concentrate on literary creation, especially not to forget to continue writing Faust and complete this great work. Schiller advised Goethe on 27 January 1797: "I hope that you will soon be able to get rid of all your juggling business and return to the arms of the muse." He felt that Goethe's administrative work greatly influenced his literary creation, and Goethe's studies of optics, botany, and colorology made Goethe's energy extremely distracted. On 22 June 1797, Goethe told Schiller that he wanted to continue writing Faust: "Since it was necessary for me to find something to do for myself when I was not at peace with myself, I decided to write my Faust. It seems that Goethe's determination about this matter is not too great, so he asks for Schiller's help: "But I hope that you will take the trouble to think about it carefully on sleepless nights, to present to me your demands on the whole, and in this way, as a true prophet, to tell and explain my own dreams to me." Schiller immediately reacted to Goethe's decision, writing to Goethe the next day: "It really surprised me that you decided to start writing Faust, especially now that you are preparing for a trip to Italy." But I have given up on measuring you by conventional logic once and for all, so I am convinced in advance that your genius will make you successful. In accordance with Goethe's wishes, Schiller immediately offered his personal opinion on the writing of Faust: "In short, the demand for Faust is both philosophical and literary, and whether you like it or not, the nature of the subject matter determines that you must deal with it in a philosophical way, while the imagination reluctantly agrees to serve a reasonable idea." For various reasons, Goethe's work on Faust was always intermittent. Schiller cared as much about Goethe's work as he cared about his own creations. On March 3, 1799, Goethe wrote to Schiller: "I am in a very bad mood at the moment, and I probably will not get better unless an important work is successful again." Schiller was extremely disturbed when he received the letter. Two days later he wrote to Goethe: "This winter I have found that you are not as cheerful and courageous as usual, and this often pains me. Because of this, I always wish I could have more spiritual freedom and thus be of greater help to you. He then encouraged Goethe: "Nature has commissioned you to create something remarkable." Any other situation, if it lasts for a while, is contrary to your nature. You have stopped writing and rested in literature and art for such a long time this time, this situation cannot happen again. You have to make up your mind and pick yourself up. ”
Schiller also received constant advice and support from Goethe in the creative process, taking "Wallenstein" as an example. On October 23, 1796, Schiller told Goethe: "Although I have begun to write Wallenstein, I am still wandering, waiting for a strong hand to push me and let me devote myself to creation. The letter marked the entry of Schiller's main work, the Wallenstein trilogy, into Schiller's writing program. Three days later Goethe wrote to Schiller, responding positively to the news: "I hope to hear that Wallenstein has seized you, which will be of great benefit to you and to German theatre." On November 13, 1796, Schiller told Goethe that he was studying the original material of Wallenstein and that considerable progress had been made. However, he realized that the task was still quite arduous, and that "it would be difficult for me to continue writing without some bold belief in myself." Two days later Goethe wrote back to Schiller: "The most pleasant thing about the news you have reported to me is your perseverance in writing Wallenstein and your firm belief in being able to complete it." This remark was naturally a great encouragement to Schiller, and Goethe went on to say that after their astonishing act of co-writing satirical short poems, "we must try our best to write large works of value... to shame all our opponents". In this way, with Goethe's encouragement, Schiller closed the door, lived in simplicity, and pondered Wallenstein's writing plan in loneliness, reporting to Goethe on his progress and seeking Goethe's opinion with each step forward. On August 21, 1798, Schiller wrote to Goethe: "I read to you the last two acts of Wallenstein and am sure that I will be welcomed by you, which gives me great relief and will give me courage, and I will maintain this courage, which is exactly what I desperately need to complete this play." In this way, Schiller, in his friendship with Goethe, drew courage and strength, and finally completed the historical tragedy "Wallenstein" trilogy with Goethe's encouragement and help.
The content of this book also includes the various ideas exchanged between the two masters on literature, art, philosophy, politics, etc., their evaluation of some ancient and contemporary writers and their works, their different methods of learning and creation, and the narrative and description of the details of life and family trivia. These records give us a glimpse of the situation and mood of Schiller and Goethe at that time, how Goethe was troubled by socializing and administrative offices, troubled by the inability to concentrate on writing, and distracted by his obsession with scientific research. We also see Schiller tormented by illness, persecuted by life, painstakingly and painstakingly creating one tragedy after another, until his own tragedy— his early death in his prime—prevented him from completing his last tragedy. Therefore, this book is not only a rich treasure trove of literary theory, but also an important document for studying the creation and thought of goethe and Schiller, the two poets.
This concise book, a faithful account of ten years of friendship and ten years of cooperation between the two poets, began on June 13, 1794, when Schiller wrote a letter inviting Goethe to participate in the editing of The Goddess of the Seasons. On 26 or 27 April 1805, Goethe wrote to Schiller for the last time, but did not receive a reply because Schiller was seriously ill at the time. The ten-year correspondence between the two poets ended with this letter. On 1 May, Schiller, accompanied by his wife's sister, Mrs. Carolina von Wotzogen, made his last appearance at the theatre. On the way to the theater, Schiller met Goethe for the last time, and Goethe wrote in his 1805 Notes on the Years: "The meeting between us has been interrupted, we have exchanged short notes, and the few text messages he (Schiller) wrote between February and March also prove that he is sick, sick, resigned to fate, and less and less hopeful." At the beginning of May I got up the courage to go out and met him who was planning to go to the theater, I didn't want to stop him from going, I was unwell myself, so I didn't accompany him to the theater. So we broke up at his doorstep and never saw each other again. A week later, on May 9, 1805, Schiller fell ill and died. ”
Nostalgia for his deceased friend prompted Goethe to organize Schiller's letters to him after a serious illness in February and March 1823. In November Goethe fell seriously ill again, and the plan to organize his letters was not completed until the spring of 1824. On April 10, 1824, Schiller's wife Charlotte sent Goethe a letter to Schiller. By the end of December, the editing of shujian was initially completed. Four years later, in November 1828, the first and second volumes of shujian, correspondence between 1794 and 1796, were published in the Koda Publishing House. In November 1829, the other four volumes were also completed. In our translation, we used the edition of the Emile Former publishing house in Munich, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the edition of the Leipzig Island publishing house in the GDR, which collected one thousand and eleven eleven letters and one thousand and thirteen letters respectively. The Île Edition contained two more letters, a letter from Goethe and Vogt to Schiller on 18 May 1798 and a letter from Schiller to Goethe on 11-29 November 1798. Due to the limited space of the translation, we can only select some of the letters and some paragraphs of some of the letters. The choice is inevitably improper, and I still pray for the reader's forgiveness. Fallacies are inevitable, and readers are kindly asked to correct them.
(This article is a postscript to the translation of Goethe Schiller's Literary Brief)