Chapter I: Front Matter

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Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive

Transcriber's Notes:

1. Page scan source:
http://www.archive.org/details/problematicchar00veregoog

2. The diphthong oe is represented by [Oe] or [oe].

BY COPYRIGHT ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR.

F. Spielhagen's Complete Works.

_Translated from the German_.

_JUST PUBLISHED_.

I.

PROBLEMATIC CHARACTERS.

A Novel. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. 12mo. Cloth. $2.00.

II.

THROUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT.

A Novel. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. Uniform with the above. 12mo. cloth. $2.00.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

"Such a novel as no English author with whom we are acquainted could have written, and no American author except Hawthorne. What separates it from the multitude of American and English novels is the perfection of its plot, and it's author's insight into the souls of his characters.... If Germany is poorer than England, as regards the number of its novelists, it in richer when we consider the intellectual value of their works. If it has not produced a Thackeray, or a Dickens, it has produced, we venture to think, two writers who are equal to them in genius, and superior to them in the depth and spirituality of their art--Auerbach and Spielhagen."--_Putnam's Magazine_.

"The name is suggested by a passage in Goethe, which serves as a motto to the book. Spielhagen means to illustrate what Goethe speaks of--natures not in full possession of themselves, who are not equal to any situation in life, and whom no situation satisfies"--the Hamlet of our latest civilisation. With these he deals in a poetic, ideal fashion, yet also with humor, and, what is less to be expected in a German, with sparkling, flashing wit, and a cynical vein that reminds one of Heine. He has none of the tiresome detail of Auerbach, while he lacks somewhat that excellent man's profound devotion to the moral sentiment. There is more depth of passion and of thought in Spielhagen, together with a French liveliness by no means common in German novelists.... At any rate, they are vastly superior to the bulk of English novels which are annually poured out upon us--as much above Trollope's as Steinberger Cabinet is better than London porter.--_Springfield Republican_.

"The reader lives among them (the characters) as he does among his acquaintances, and may plead each one's case as plausibly to his own judgment as he can those of the men whose mixed motives and actions he sees around him. In other words, these characters live, they are men and women, and the whole mystery of humanity is upon each of them. Has no superior in German romance for its enthusiastic and lively descriptions, and for the dignity and the tenderness with which its leading characters are invested."--_New York Evening Post_.

"He strikes with a blow like a blacksmith, making the sparks fly and the anvil ring. Terse, pointed, brilliant, rapid, and no dreamer, he has the best traits of the French manner, while in earnestness and fulness of matter he is thoroughly German. One sees, moreover, in his pages, how powerful is the impression which America has of late been making upon the mind of Europe."--_Boston Commonwealth_.

"The work is one of immense vigor; the characters are extraordinary, yet not unnatural; the plot is the sequence of an admirably-sustained web of incident and action. The portraitures of characteristic foibles and peculiarities remind one much of the masterhand of the great Thackeray. The author Spielhagen in Germany ranks very much as Thackeray does with us, and many of his English reviewers place him at the head and front of German novelists."--_Troy Daily Times_.

"His characters have, perhaps, more passion, and act their parts with as much dramatic effect as those which have passed under the hand of Auerbach."--_Cincinnati Chronicle_.

The N. Y. Times, of Oct. 23d, in a long Review of the above two works, says: "The descriptions of nature and art, the portrayals of character and emotion, are always striking and truthful. As one reads, there grows upon him gradually the conviction that this is one of the greatest of works of fiction.... No one, that is not a pure _egoiste_, can read _Problematic Characters_ without profound and even solemn interest. It is altogether a tragic work, the tragedy of the nineteenth century--greater in its truth and earnestness, and absence of _Hugoese_ affectation, than any tragedy the century has produced. It stands far above any of the productions of either _Freytag_ or _Auerbach_."

IN PRESS.

III. The Hohenstein Family. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. IV. Hammer and Anvil. V. In Rank And File. VI. Rose, And The Village Coquette.

_LEYPOLDT & HOLT, Publishers_,

451 BROOME ST., NEW YORK.

PROBLEMATIC

CHARACTERS.

_A Novel_

BY
FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN.

_Author's Edition_.

NEW YORK
LEYPOLDT & HOLT
1870.

Problematic Characters

A Novel

BY
FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN

FROM THE GERMAN
BY
PROF. SCHELE DE VERE

_Author's Edition_.

"There are problematic characters, who are not equal to any situation in life, and whom no situation satisfies. This causes an immense discord within, and their whole life is spent without enjoyment."

GOETHE.

NEW YORK
LEYPOLDT & HOLT
1870

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
LEYPOLDT & HOLT,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Southern District of New York.

The New York Printing Company,
81, 83, _and_ 85 _Centre St._,
New York.

FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN.

_Extract from the Westminster Review, October, 1868_.

From biographical notices of Spielhagen in German periodicals,[1] we gather that he was born in Magdeburg, in 1829, and is the son of a Prussian functionary of considerable rank (Regierungsrath). His youth was passed in the romantic old town of Stralsund, to which his father was removed in 1835, and the scenery of that neighborhood, and of the near lying island Ruegen, appears to have become so deeply impressed on the opening mind of the boy, that he subsequently painted it with enthusiasm in several of his romances. His course of "gymnasial" education in Stralsund having been completed in 1847, he went in that year to the University of Berlin, intending to study medicine. But his poetical nature soon caused him to give up all thoughts of the medical profession, and the following year he removed to Bonn to study philology. He remained at Bonn till 1850, when he returned to Berlin, continuing his studies partly at that university and partly at that of Greifswald. Whilst at these universities he appears to have studied a variety of subjects, but discursively rather than with reference to any regular profession--for which both his poetical vein and his thirst for observations of actual life seem to have disqualified him. After serving his allotted time in the Prussian army, and occupying the post of tutor in the family of a Pomeranian nobleman, he went to Leipzig, in 1854, to devote himself to general literature, and he afterwards became a teacher (_Privat Docent_) of modern literature and aesthetics.

His first romance, "Clara Vere," was published in 1857, and in the following year a short romance, "Auf der Duene" ("On the Downs"), appeared, and attracted considerable attention. In the six years Spielhagen resided at Leipzig he wrote many critical essays for periodicals, translated a considerable number of French, English, and American works[2]--particularly of American poets, and published there two more short romances, one of which, "Roeschen vom Hofe," a charming idyl, rapidly passed through four editions. In 1860 he went to Hanover, where he married; and the following year he removed to Berlin, where he has since resided, displaying great activity in connection with a leading periodical, and as romance writer. In 1861 his first large romance, "Problematische Naturen," appeared, and at once established for the writer a great reputation. It was followed the next year by a continuation, "Durch Nacht zum Lichte" ("Through Night to Light"). In 1864 another long romance, "Die von Hohenstein," was published, and lastly, in the autumn of 1866, "In Reih' und Glied" ("In the Ranks"), a romance in six volumes.[3]

The scenes of all Spielhagen's romances, with the exception of his first, "Clara Vere," are laid in the Baltic provinces or islands, in the Prussian capital, or on the Rhine.... The heroes in many of Spielhagen's romances are not made of common stuff. They are very unusual natures, gifted with more than the average of intellectual power, even for our intellectual age. A few have even Titanic qualities,--towering ambition, insatiable cravings, and overwhelming passions, which bring them to a miserable end. That the heroes in romances--which have been styled the modern epics--should stand at least a foot higher than ordinary men is but what we have a right to expect. It can interest none but the most unrefined minds, to be occupied chiefly in works of fiction with commonplace, vulgar natures and their unpoetical surroundings, or with stilted heroes clothed in tinsel, and talking in high-flown fashion amidst scenes of extravagant conception. In Spielhagen's heroes psychological truth is never violated. The principal personages in his romances live before us and fix our interest. Their dispositions are not described, but impressed upon our minds in action. The plots of his romances too, despite the great number of scenes and characters introduced, are nevertheless skilful, consistent, and artistic. He makes no extravagant use of improbable coincidences, nor is the reader kept on the tenter-hooks of suspense whilst the intricacies of a plot are unravelled. It was Schiller, we believe, who called the romancist the half-brother of the poet. To Spielhagen's glowing descriptions of nature, which are never tediously minute, and are invariably brought into harmony with, or made to enhance by contrast, the moods and actions of his personages, a true poetical charm is given. In this respect they may be said to occupy a happy position between the vague and shadowy pictures formerly met with in German romances, and the photographic realism or word-painting, so wearisome to readers of taste in many of our modern English novels. With a skilful hand, too, he paints the tender emotions and longings of the heart, particularly in his female characters. Though the interest in his stories is generally well sustained, yet in many of them the _denouments_ are sad, a foreboding of which, as the consequences of vices, errors, or weaknesses in the actors, too soon perhaps arises in the reader's mind.... But the comic elements, satire, wit, and humor, are not wanting to afford amusement to the reader. Apart from the national coloring pertaining to his characters, their peculiar qualities are shown to have little to do with external circumstances. We see the hereditary influences of temperament and other organic conditions indicated; and in descriptions of bodily gestures, and expressions of the countenance, much knowledge of human nature, in its morbid as well as healthy state, is displayed. But enough of general observation on this author. We have before us numerous criticisms of his works in well-accredited German periodicals, which could be cited in proof that we have not overestimated his powers nor his popularity. Indeed, in Germany he is generally acknowledged to occupy the foremost rank amongst modern writers of fiction; an opinion, moreover, confirmed to some extent by the publication of his romances in a collected form.

In agreement with German critics, we consider "Problematic Natures" to be the most interesting and poetical of our author's productions.[4]...

Goethe says in his "Dichtung und Wahrheit": "There are problematic natures who are not equal to any situation in which they are placed, and for whom no situation is good enough. A fearful conflict results therefrom, which consumes life without enjoyment." These pregnant words of the great German poet are placed as motto on the title-page of the work before us, and Spielhagen has built upon them a tale full of poetry and psychological interest. In the course of the romance the author, through one of his personages, more specifically characterizes problematic natures as "beings for the most part liberally endowed by nature with good qualities; whose feelings and endeavors in general are directed to what is good, yet who all, without exception, come to a sad end, because they understand, either never or too late, that the most enthusiastic efforts and the loftiest aims not only remain uncrowned by success, but at length destroy the struggler himself if he overlooks the conditions of our earthly existence. Such people are not satisfied with anything--with themselves least of all. Possessed of endless susceptibilities, they seize everything with avidity, cast it, however, away as soon as its limited nature becomes clear to them. The world does not satisfy them, and they do not satisfy the world. The world lets those who despise it fall, despair, die of hunger, as may be; and it is right it should be so, for naturally those only can be rewarded who, sacrificing their egotistical desires, strive to serve the world earnestly and diligently."

... Detestation of the aristocracy is prominent in all Spielhagen's romances. The aristocracy in general--though there are several most favorable exceptions--is shown in them to be rotten and out of date. In some of his romances, a very pandemonium of "Junker" arrogance, frivolity, and debauchery--particularly of the military "Junker"--is painted, perhaps in colors somewhat too dark. In the people, including the _Buerger_ class, healthy virtues and high intelligence are shown to dwell almost as prerogatives. Still, as regards the citizen classes, he has guarded himself against the reproach of one-sidedness, for several of his low-born characters are innately weak and vicious, and amongst his political democrats he has sketched popularity-hunting demagogues, actuated likewise by motives entirely base and selfish. Amongst the distinguished and good personages our author introduces, young physicians, and other students of science and nature occupy the foremost places. They are some of them evidently painted after life; and in his great appreciation of physical sciences, and the men who devote to them their energies, he does but give expression to sentiments now-a-days prevailing in Germany. And in his low estimate of the nobility, he forms no exception to modern writers of fiction in Germany. Indeed, Immermann, in his village tales, and even Goethe, in "Wilhelm Meister" and the "Wanderjahre," display anti-aristocratic sympathies. To these great writers of fiction the names of Gutzkow, Auerbach, Freitag, Schloenbach, and many others may be added.

One chief cause of the antipathy of the citizen classes in Germany to the nobility we have already mentioned in speaking of "Problematical Natures." Another cause may be found in the circumstance that the nobility, since 1848, has in general used whatever political influence it possesses in a reactionary, ultraconservative spirit. As a consequence, however, of the strict line of demarcation, based on pedigree, between nobles and the citizen classes in Germany, the vulgar conceit and mean struggles for social position, so well known in this country, and so fertile a theme with our satirical novelists, are but seldom experienced in that country. The characters in Spielhagen's romances most resembling our snobs are worldly-minded, sycophantic clergymen and the low-born _nouveaux riches_....

Although in some respects this popular German romance-writer displays subjective biases; yet, on the whole, he is objective, and most decidedly reflects opinions now prevalent in his country. In fact, one of his critics avers, that "a psychological historian of the future may turn to his works for valuable data on many aspects of social life in the present times." As a delineator of individual characters--many of them types of different classes of society; as a painter of various situations, scenic and social, he appears to us unequalled by any other modern German writer of fiction.

Problematic Characters.

Part First.