Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/108

 102 Heine's "Buck Le Grand" HEINE'S 'BUCH LE GRAND' I INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Heine's 'Buch Le Grand' has been subjected to careful analysis in recent years by two well-known commentators of his works Ernst Elster and Karl Hessel. 1 To both these critics we owe en- lightenment on many points which, to the uninitiated, have made this work of Heine's a series of riddles, of mystifying innuendos, a mere rhapsodic hodge-podge of whims, moods and reflections. To Elster belongs the credit of having discovered in 'Le Grand' Heine's confession of his love for Therese Heine, the younger sister of his counsin Amalie, who used to be regarded as the sole object of his serious passion. Hessel has succeeded in proving that the lady so constantly addressed as 'Madam' in 'Le Grand' can not be dismissed as a fictitious personage; she is Friederike Robert, the beautiful friend and patroness of Heine during his Berlin days. In connection with this discovery Hessel has thrown light on many passages which could be read intelligently only on the basis of an intimate knowledge of the nature of his relations with that gifted lady. Nevertheless, in interpreting the book as a whole, both these critics have erred, it seems to me, as a result of preconceived favorite theories. After discovering Heine's relations to Therese, Elster came to think of 'Le Grand' as a book seriously planned and written with the prime object of winning Therese's love and her family's approval of the match. In accordance with this idea he believed Therese to be concealed under that fictitious name Evelina, while he regarded the poet's rambling account as addressed to her mother the most influential person in a family matter of this kind. Developing this idea, Elster had to be pre- pared to go so far as to view chapter 13 the essay on learning as a serious attempt to convince his uncle's family of his scholarly attainments and to view chapter 14 that delightful dissertation on fools and their value to the poet as a capital investment as a 1 Essays by both are found in the ' Vierteljahrschrift fur Literaturgeschichte. Elster: <Zu Heines Biographie,' vol. IV, 1891; Hessel: 'Heines Buch Le Grand,' vol. V, 1892.