Lotte in Weimar

The premise for this book is the recorded fact that Charlotte Kestner, the woman who was famously the original of the heroine of Werther, made a visit to Weimar in the autumn of 1816, during which she met Goethe again for the first time in 44 years. Mann ingeniously uses this rather flimsy hook as the support for a complicated historical novel exploring Goethe and his relationships with his creative talent, with his family and entourage, with the court and people of Weimar, and with German politics and culture. Like all historical novels, it seems to be as much about the time it is written in as the time it is set in: Mann's strong identification with Goethe's role as a literary and political celebrity, his ageing and ill-health, and show more his troublesome family, are very obvious, whilst the reflections on Germanness Mann puts into Goethe's mouth sometimes risk turning him into the prophet who foretold the rise of Hitler. (This element of the book notoriously got Mann into trouble later on, when the prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, Sir Hartley Shawcross, quoted one of Goethe's prescient speeches from the novel thinking he was quoting Goethe's own words.)

As you would expect from Mann, the form of the book is far from conventional. It's written, quite literally, in the language of Goethe: not only does Mann choose to use early-19th-century idioms, spelling, and grammatical forms throughout, but most of the time he also has his characters talk like characters in an early-19th-century novel - only more so. The speeches are long-winded, theatrical (in a good way), and deeply thoughtful. Worthy of Weimar, in every way. Fortunately, Mann has the very un-Weimarish and practical widow Lotte on hand to interrupt them and pull them back to earth when they get too full of their own hot air.

We only meet Goethe face to face about two-thirds of the way through the book: before that, Lotte has had long conversations with several peripheral figures: the Irish celebrity-hunter "Miß Cuzzens", the secretary Dr Riemer, Adele Schopenhauer, and Goethe's son August. And missed her lunch with the sister she has come to visit. So we get to see Goethe in the first place through the eyes of the people (including Lotte) whose lives take place largely in his shadow. When we do actually meet him, Mann surprises us by shifting to a modernist stream-of-consciousness style (though more than ever sticking to Goethe's own language - he constantly seems to be paraphrasing his own work) as we encounter the great man waking up, itemising his old man's aches and pains, launching into his duties of the day, and studiously avoiding showing any excitement about the sudden reappearance of his long-lost love.

Not exactly light reading, but fascinating, very clever, and unexpectedly modest and witty at the same time. show less

social philosophy disguised as literary criticism disguised as a modernist novel disguised as historical fiction. do you want to read 100 pp of platonic dialogue on the nature of genius between Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer and Charlotte Buff? do you want to read 100 pp of florid melodrama narrated by a young Adele Schopenhauer? how about 100 pp of alternatingly hilarious, infuriating, and breathtaking stream-of-consciousness from the mind of the genius himself, JW von Goethe?

and beyond all these intensely revivified personae, Mann still allows some time for himself, easing us into the book with some delightful character sketches. he’s at his most nuclear here, the most focused in his themes and the most refined in his prose. truly perfect!!

Direct zet Thomas Mann de toon. Als de heer Mager in dienst van Gasthof "Zum Elephanten" in Weimar ontdekt dat Hofräthin Charlotte Kestner, geb. Buff zich onder zijn nieuwe gasten bevindt, begint hij dit nieuwtje direct rond te bazuinen. Waarom? Zij is Lotte uit Goethes "Die Leiden des jungen Werther". Charlotte was al verloofd, toen Goethe in Wetzlar op het toneel verscheen en haar het hof maakte. Ze koos ervoor om mevrouw Kestner te worden en Goethe verdween weer van het toneel. In het boek pleegt Werther zelfmoord, maar dat moet je eerder in de romantische context van "Sturm und Drang" zien. De realiteit was gelukkig niet zo dramatisch.

Mager is het ultieme bewijs dat niet enkel vrouwen goed zijn in roddelen, want nog voor Charlotte show more uitgerust is van haar reis, staat er al een rij nieuwsgierigen te wachten. Eerst is er Miss Cuzzle, een paparazzo avant-la-lettre, die een portret van haar wil tekenen. Het verhaal speelt zich in de herfst van 1816 af, anders had ze wel enkele foto's genomen.

Zij wordt afgelost door Dr. Riemer. Hij was privéleraar van August, Goethes zoon, maar dat liep niet zo vlot. Hij was ook secretaris van Goethe, voor wie hij een diepe bewondering koestert. Langzaam komen ook de kleine kantjes van de grote Goethe ter sprake. Zo klaagt Charlotte dat Goethe hen nooit heeft opgezocht, waarop Dr. Riemer antwoordt dat hij zelfs zijn eigen moeder niet ging bezoeken, ook niet als hij in de buurt was. Charlotte is in Weimar zogezegd om haar jongere zus en haar schoonbroer te bezoeken, maar eigenlijk wil ze Goethe nog eens ontmoeten. Ze denkt daarbij aan de jonge Goethe, die zich als een koekoek tussen haar en haar verloofde kwam nestelen.

We maken ook kennis met Adèle Schopenhauer, zus van Arthur, die niet zo'n fraai beeld van August schetst en Charlotte vraagt om het huwelijk met haar beste vriendin Ottilien te verhinderen. In haar monoloog komt de schrijver Goethe over als een tiran die helemaal niet open staat voor nieuwe ideeën of schrijvers.

Tenslotte maakt Charlotte kennis met August, die haar komt uitnodigen voor het middageten enkele dagen later. Als ze August ziet, die haar aan de jonge Goethe herinnert, vergeet ze op slag alle negatieve kritiek van Adèle.

Was het beter dat Charlotte Goethe nooit meer had ontmoet? Beide vertonen tekenen van ouderdom, waardoor er barsten in het vroegere beeld komen. Het choqueert Charlotte ook dat Goethes "vrienden" niet meer zijn dan een stelletje ja-knikkers die zelfs lachen op bevel.

Thomas Mann maakt handig van de gelegenheid gebruik om kritiek te spuien op nazi-Duitsland. Hij publiceerde het boek in 1939 en was toen al uit Duitsland verdreven. Een mooi voorbeeld is hoe hij Goethe over een progmor ten nadele van de Joden laat vertellen. Verder schetst hij ook treffend de verhouding van Goethe tot Napoleon en de algemene tijdsgeest in het begin van de 19de eeuw.

Ik begrijp dat het boek op sommige lezers enkel een saaie indruk maakt, een aaneenschakeling van monologen zonder dat er iets gebeurt. Ik heb het boek in het Duits gelezen, oude spelling by the way, en ik heb genoten van de rijke taal, de overpeinzingen over de tijd en de personen, de humor. Het boek heeft me aangenaam verrast. show less

First, a warning: This is not for the young. Wait until you are 40 or, better still, 50. You also have to have read Goethe and be interested in him as a person. It is a novel without action, at least hardly any overt action, all action lies in the encounters, their tensions revealed through dialogs and thoughts of the protagonists, above all Lotte, the heroine of the ‘Werther’, Goethe’s beloved 40 years earlier, and the large shadow of Goethe – he presents himself in a long monologue but otherwise remains invisible except for a brief encounter - who dominates the thoughts and lives of all around him. So a portrait of Goethe is drawn here through the eyes of the persons with whom he comes into daily contact, each and all show more conscious of their respective social positions in the tiny principality of Weimar in the early 19th century.
The little principalities were unique to Germany of that time. In 1786, 30 years prior to Lotte’s stay in Weimar, Goethe had broken out of their claustrophobic and suffocating intimacy and escaped to Italy.* The small haut-bourgeois / aristocratic circle adopted a rigid social etiquette and a formalized language. The language of the dialogues cannot be separated from this particular social milieu; can it then be convincingly translated into English? I had no opportunity to compare the translations, but I doubt it.
Goethe selbst dazu: „So unübersetzlich sind die Eigenheiten jeder Sprache: denn vom höchsten bis zum tiefsten Wort bezieht sich alles auf Eigentümlichkeiten der Nation, es sei nun in Charakter, Gesinnungen oder Zuständen.“ (Goethe, It.R., 5. Okt. 1786 Nachts)
In addition, the very distinct language of Thomas Mann, in its complicated sentence structure comparable to Proust, is here in the refined dialogues taken a hundred years further back. The French, the language of diplomacy, may lend itself, but I doubt the English, to convey its courtoisie let alone the very dry humor of Th. Mann that shines through here and there. Reading it gave me tremendous pleasure that surpassed even the pleasure of the last novel I read, Hoffmann’s Murr. (III-12) *****

* I was mistaken: this was not his motives. Rather his passion for Antiquity among others. He mentions these several times in the ‘Italienische Reise’.

Einige Notizen (die Seitenangaben beziehen sich auf die 1959 Ausgabe in der Fischer Bücherei):
„Es giebt überall und jederzeit ... so manches Mißverständnis und Mißverhältnis zwischen Eltern und Kindern, so manche Unduldsamkeit der Kinder gegen das Eigenleben der Eltern, der denn auch ein mangelnder Sinn der Eltern für das besondere Recht der Kinder [...] erwiedern mag.“ (55)
Über den Künstler G. und den Prozess des Schaffens (60-61): Es handelt sich „keineswegs um eine Schöpfung des Augenblicks“ sondern „ein durch Jahre ... Vorbereitetes und Gehegtes“, ein „im Geheimen sich Ausbildende“.
Riemer über G‘s Prosa-Sprache: (68-69)
R. (Th.M.?) über Gott und Teufel (70): „daß es ganz irrtümlich ist, Gott und Teufel als entgegengesetzte Principien aufzufassen ... Da Gott das Ganze ist, so ist er auch der Teufel, ...“, und später (75): „Identität von All und Nichts“, und (71): „Der Blick ... der absoluten Kunst, welche zugleich die absolute Liebe und die absolute Vernichtung oder Gleichgültigkeit ist und [ ... eine] erschreckende Annäherung ans Göttlich-Teuflische bedeutet“
- „der Doppelsegen [oder Fluch] des Geistes und der Natur“
R über G: „Kälte und Steifigkeit, ein gepanzertes Ceremoniell,“ ... (76) „magische Ordung“ (77)

Adele Sch.: „Einmal mehr ward ich … gewahr, wie gering mein Glaube ist an die übermäßige Echtheit der Empfindungen, aus welchen die Menschen zu handeln vorgeben. Nicht aus sich selbst handeln sie, sondern nach Maßgabe einer Situation, die ihnen ein bestimmtes, conventionelles Verhaltenscliché in die Hand giebt. Ist es Grausamkeit, wozu die Situation Erlaubnis giebt – desto besser. ... die meisten Menschen warten nur darauf, daß endlich einmal die Umstände ... ihnen gestatten, nach Herzenslust brutal zu sein.“ Th.M. illustriert dies in G‘s Erzählung einer Nacht des Judenmordens in Eger, die Bevölkerung aufgewiegelt durch die Predigt eines Barfüßermönches (330).
Th.M. läßt G. über die Deutschen urteilen: „daß ihnen Dunst und Rausch und all berserkerisches Unmaß so teuer ist ... – daß sie sich jedem verzückten Schurken gläubig hingeben, der ihr Niedrigstes aufruft, sie in ihren Lastern bestärkt und sie lehrt, Nationalität als Isolierung und Rohheit zu begreifen, - u.s.w.“ (267). Alles Anspielungen auf die Hitlerzeit natürlich.

Der alte G. über den jungen G. des Werther (258): „spatzenjung und schon ganz bereit, Liebe, Leben und Menschheit an die Kunst zu verraten.“ (dazu G. in Lottes Traum: „sein Schicksal sei es vielleicht von jeher, sich in unschuldiger Schuld zu winden“ (360)

Über das Altern (Metamorphose: Hoffunung und Begierde) und die Wiederbegegnung im Alter: Verzicht/Untreute – Erfüllung ) pp.356 show less

I can't believe I actually finished reading this. Lotte in Weimar is probably one of the most boring books I've ever read, mostly because I managed to finish it where similar books would have been back on the shelf weeks before. My reason: I don't do well with dialogue, and the novel is pretty much all dialogue, for all four hundred fifty pages. Dear Thomas Mann: It's not you, it's me. So sorry I didn't like your book that much.

It wasn't all bad and boring, though. Thomas Mann is a great writer and did a really nice job with telling the tale of Lotte's later life and dealings with Goethe, it's just that my teenage mind kept zoning out of the interminable discussions. I'm sure a seventy-page view of Goethe's inner mind is fascinating, show more but I can't focus on his ramblings for that long. I was able to identify some with Lotte, though she's several decades older than myself. The feeling of love with another person being avoided by a few twists of everyday fate, the wondering of the what-could-have-been, the longing to see and talk to the other person some, even if just within your own mind, can be universal across ages. I also caught the reflection upon the sacrifices other people make to the "genius" of an author, which reminded me of Sofia Tolstoy's diary. Mann's Goethe bore similarities in temperament and "genius" to Sofia Tolstoy's images of her famous husband, which makes me glad that Lotte did not further engage herself with Goethe and end up in a position similar to that of Sofia. The novel also re-emphasized my dislike of the whiny, selfish Werther of Goethe's novel and how, whatever his immediate desires, Werther's want to be with Lotte could never have ended up well in the long run. So, Thomas Mann, I will happily revisit your novel later when I feel more up to the task of dealing with all that talking. show less

Thomas Mann admired Goethe tremendously, wrote essays about him and gave lectures on this author. It is safe to say that Mann was fascinated by the author. This novel portrays Goethe as a difficult, irritating, selfish aging man who is devoted primarily to his own special interests and pursuits. The psychology of a man like this is plumbed with the acuity of the great writer that Mann was by the late nineteen-thirties. The character of Goethe is delineated through the perspectives of Lotte, Goethe's son August, and Adele Schopenhauer. The views of Goethe of each of these in turn seem to mirror their perspectives. Filled with scenes from Goethe's life his character is gradually revealed, his genius as a writer is plumbed, and his works show more are revealed through interpolated quotations. The novel is an interesting experiment in style that differs in many ways from other of Mann's works I have read, while still maintaining the voice of the author. show less

Tja, Thomas Mann muss man lieben - oder verabscheuen...