Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/139

 Weigand 133 Heine's own statements permit no doubt about the fact that in 'Le Grand' he strove to write not merely an autobiography but to create an aesthetic whole. He felt confident of having suc- ceeded, too. For in letters to his friends he repeatedly expresses his satisfaction over having achieved in 'Le Grand' a humor of the highest order. He looks upon his work as "ein Produkt des reinen, urbehaglichen Humors" (Moser, Oct. 14, 1826). We may best render his meaning by styling 'Le Grand' a comedy in narra- tive form. Could anything be more strange than to hear this medley of tragedy, irony and satire, with its profoundly pessimistic conclusion, called a comedy, a product of free humor, of 'pure' humor, as he says in another letter a humor leaving nothing to be desired? Certainly if this is humor, then no amount of straining the concept in its ordinary acceptance will help us to appreciate the humor of 'Le Grand.' But again we must turn to Heine's letters for the solution of the problem. Heine's intention begins to become clear as we read his thoughts on the idea of Romantic Comedy as developed in his letter of Oct. 25, 1825, to Friederike Robert. His line of thought here runs somewhat as follows: Romantic Comedy in the true sense of the term must be both comedy and tragedy. It must, above all things, express a philo- sophy of life, a 'Weltanschauung/ if it is to rise above the common level of French society-comedy. No philosophy, however, which is not fundamentally tragic can stir man's aesthetic sensibilities to the core. This great truth had dawned on Aristophanes, the greatest comedian of antiquity, who saw human life as a monstrous tragedy of insanity and who conceived a transvaluation of values so colossal in scope as to go utterly beyond anything attempted since. This philosophy of human life as a riot of insanity is so abysmal as to utterly defy serious expression. This, at least, is Heine's esoteric interpretation of Aristophanes' 'Birds' and, as we may add, it would have been fully endorsed by Tieck and Hoffmann. Where serious expression fails, irony must come to the rescue. Wherever the monstrous, the gruesome, the horrible surpasses the limits of serious aesthetic expression it must be relieved by ridicule. "Darum hat auch Shakespeare das Grasslichste im 'Lear' durch den Narren sagen lassen, darum hat auch Goethe zu dem furcht-