Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/116

 110 Heine's "Buck Le Grand " When we meet this same intellectual jugglery with the terms 'Narrheit' and 'Vernunft' in E.T.A. Hoffmann, we must be struck by this parallelism all the more forcibly in view of the striking temperamental resemblance between Hoffman and Heine; for both these men experienced that same dualism, that same oscillation be- tween extremes described by them by the word 'Zerrissenheit.' When we find Hoffmann tormented by this dualism between his outer and his inner life to such an extent that he has to take re- course to "dissipation indulged in on principle, 5 this seems like an anticipation of similar confessions in Heine's early letters. How much of a direct influence Hoffmann's creation, Johannes Kreisler in many respects a portrait of his own self exerted on Heine, I should hesitate to say; the analogy, however, is perfect between the author of 'Das Buch Le Grand' and the eccentric musician who passes from the sublime to the ridiculous at a leap and finds ex- pression for the deepest pathos only in the most scurrilous humor. Only on one occasion, so far as I have been able to find, did Hoffmann follow in the footsteps of Tieck in embodying a dis- cussion of 'Verstand' and 'Narrheit' in a work of the creative ima- gination. But it is one of his most original characters, the ton- sorial artist of 'Die Elixire des Teufels,' who speculates on this subject. This weird personality, Peter Schonfeld or Pietro Bel- campo, is subject to two distinct states of consciousness, and, ac- cording to how the spirit moves him, he bubbles over with the prattle of a lunatic or utters Hoffmann's deepest reflections all in the same tone of grotesque buffoonery. Hoffmann has in this way succeeded in avoiding the bald didactic tone which mars the aesthetic enjoyment of Tieck's plays. Medardus, the criminal- hero of 'Die Elixire,' is saved from death more than once by the fidelity of Schonfeld. When Medardus questions him on one oc- cation as to the reasons for his incomprehensible attachment, he replies: "Ich selbst bin die Narrheit, die ist iiberall hinter Dir her, um Deiner Vernunft beizustehen, und Du magst es nun einsehen oder nicht, in der Narrheit findest Du nur Dein Heil, denn Deine Vernunft ist ein hochst miserables Ding, und kann sich nicht auf- recht erhalten, sie taumelt hin und her wie ein gebrechliches Kind, 8 Ellinger: Hoffmann, 1894, p. 24. Heine's comments on Hoffmann in his 'Briefe aus Berlin' show that he read Hoffmann during his formative period. As to Hoffmann's influence on Heine see Ellinger, p. 183 ff.