Roger F. Cook

Die Wiederkehr der Religion

An einer wohlbekannten Stelle in »Die Stadt Lucca« behauptet Heine, dass »die Gewerbefreiheit der Gotter« (B 3, 518) das einzige Mittel sei, die Religion zu retten. Er erklart dann weiter: »Wie den Gewerben ist auch den Religionen das Monopolsystem schadlich, durch freie Konkurrenz bleiben sie kraftig« (B 3, 518). Heine vertritt diese These im Kontext einer ausfuhrlichen Denunzierung der Staatsreligion als einer »Misgeburt«, die Verketzerung, Gesinnungsspionage und falsche Privilegien hervorbringt und auf diese Weise das wahre Christentum verdirbt. Die in »Die Stadt Lucca« geforderte Trennung von Kirche und Staat fasste allerdings weder in Deutschland noch uberhaupt im alten Europa Fus, sondern fand fruchtbaren Boden erst in den neuen Staaten Nordamerikas. Mit dieser Trennung gab es im Verlauf des 19. Jahrhunderts in Nordamerika eine freie Konkurrenz von religiosen Ideen und eine Versplitterung der alten europaischen Staatsreligionen in einige protestantische Sekten. Und wie Heine an der gleichen Stelle in »Die Stadt Lucca« andeutet, fuhrte der Wettbewerb unter diesen verschiedenen religiosen Vorstellungen zu einer erhohten spirituellen Begeisterung und einer starkeren Opferbereitschaft der Glaubigen.

The demise of the author : autonomy and the German writer, 1770-1848

Contents: Classicist and Romantic concepts of the autonomous in German literary history, in relation to the growth of the reading public and developments in publishing practices. Depictions of the writer in works of Goethe, Novalis, Spitzweg, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Grillparzer.

By the Rivers of Babylon: Heinrich Heine's Late Songs and Reflections

Roger Cook offers an analysis of Heines vehement renunciation of the Hegelian ideas that had shaped his earlier conception of history. Refuting accepted opinions that this shift in thought was a displaced opposition to social developments, Cook contends that these late writings represent Heines consistent rejection of idealist philosophy and reveal Heines new understanding of poetrys role as a transmitter of myth.

»Citronia« — »Kennst du das Land …?«: A Riddle of Sexuality and Desire

Of all of Heine’s posthumously published poems perhaps none has such a checkered past as »Citronia«. First mention of it came in June 1856 when Mathilda’s lawyer, Henri Julia, placed it first in the list of 35 poems he sent to Christian Schad for publication in Der Deutsche Musenalmanach. But when the final agreement with Schad was reached, »Citronia« was one of the poems Schad decided not to publish because he anticipated difficulties with the German censors. Schad had copies of these poems made before sending them back to Julia, but this copy of »Citronia« has been lost. The title also appeared in the table of contents of a packet with 54 poems Julia sent to Campe for inclusion in the first collected works. In this collection, that was copied by the same writer who prepared the texts for the Musenalmanach, »Citronia« was listed together with »Fragment«, an entry that probably referred to the »Nachwort« as a separate poem. However, due to inconsistencies in the manuscripts Campe decided not to use them. The copy of »Citronia« and the separately listed »Nachwort« is one of only eight poems from this packet that are missing from the collection at the Houghton Library today. Nor was »Citronia« one of a group of 25 posthumously published poems in the handwriting of Heine’s private secretary Richard Reinhardt that are preserved as part of the Gottschalk collection at the Heine-Institut. But a single copy of »Citronia« in Reinhardt’s handwriting has been preserved. While not in a final, clean form, it does present a finished version and, on the basis of Jules Legras’ 1894 description of a working manuscript in Heine’s handwriting (since lost), we know that it is a complete and accurate rendition of Heine’s work.1