Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/118

 112 Heine's "Buck Le Grand" Leuten verderblich, hat gut auf mich gewirkt. Ich fange an, iiber mich selbst zu rasonnieren, und das 1st kein iibles Zeichen! Existiere ich iiberhaupt nur durch mein eigenes Bewusstsein, so kommt es nur darauf an, dass dies Bewusstsein dem Bewusstsein die Hanswurstjacke ausziehe, und ich stehe da als ein solider Gentleman" (#. p. 222). Lastly we find that Hoffmann's philosophy of 'Narrheit,' like Tieck's, is pessimistic at the core. Schonfeld ends in utter insanity, and Prior Leonardus' simple comment on his end is this: "Des Peters Licht ist im Dampf der Narrheit verloscht, in die sich in seinem Innern die Ironic des Lebens umgestaltet" (ib., 300). Exactly the same words would have applied to Kreisler whom the tragic irony of life drove to buffoonery, to a pose of mock insanity sustained so long that finally the cord of contact with normal life snapped completely. This reads like an account of Hoffmann's own life and Heine's too, incidentally with the sole difference that neither Hoffmann nor Heine ever abandoned them- selves to ' Narrheit' so completely as to lose sight of its comple- mentary opposite, 'Vernunft.' Summarizing Tieck's and Hoffmann's philosophizing on the theme treated, the following points stand out clearly in our analysis : (1) Tieck and Hoffmann take an intense delight in dialectical play with the terms 'Vernunft' and ' Narrheit.' (2) They feel an antagonism to 'Vernunft' and a temperamen- tal preference for whatever they associate with ' Narrheit. ' (3) With both Tieck and Hoffmann the direct purpose of this dialectical play is a satirical attack on pre-Kantian rationalism. (4) 'Narrheit' becomes to both a symbol for creative imagina- tion and poetic vision of the highest order. (5) In conjunction with poetical vision 'Narrheit' implies a profound pessimism a 'Weltschmerz' that has penetrated life to its depths. Viewed in the light of this literary background, Heine's play with the antithesis 'Vernunft' and 'Narrheit' loses much of its strangeness. This theme is part of the literary heritage derived from early Romanticism. We shall find Heine treating it, accord- ingly, in true Romantic fashion, with important modifications, however the result of his dual temperament and the philosophical developments of his day.