Ludwig Tieck's Des Lebens Uberfluss: The Crisis of a Conservative
1973; Wiley; Volume: 46; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/403772
ISSN1756-1183
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistics and language evolution
ResumoDespite its fame as the most accomplished of Tieck's late novellas,' Des Lebens UberfluB has received surprisingly little critical attention.2 There is, however, a certain consensus regarding this tale. It is generally thought of as a late romantic work, a fairy-tale or, at least, a novella with fairy-tale characteristics.3 The development of the plot supposedly requires a tragic outcome, but this is artificially averted by the employment of a deus ex machina.4 The famous burning of the staircase is seen as the destruction of the final bridge to everyday reality in order to create a higher poetic realm5 or, even more extreme, as the destruction of reality itself.6 The passages which lend themselves to such an interpretation are easy to find and generally quoted by critics. At one point Clara remarks: Wir leben eigentlich . . . ein Mirchen, leben so wunderlich, wie es nur in der Tausend und einen Nacht geschildert werden kann.7 Heinrich expresses a desire to transcend material existence: Zwar sind wir immer noch, wenn ich an die Wiinsche denke, die unser Geist in manchen Stunden fal3t, angekettet: die Psyche ist in die Leimrute, die uns klebend hilt und von der wir nicht losflattern k6nnen, weif3 der Himmel wie, hineingesprungen und wir und Rute sind nun so eins, daBl wir zuweilen das Gefdingnis fiir unser besseres Selbst halten (p. 900). He also compares his and Clara's life in their isolated dwelling to Adam and Eve in paradise (p. 897) and even claims that he has magic powers (p. 913). Taken by themselves, these passages do suggest romantic tendencies, do remind one of the statements of characters in romantic Kunstmiirchen. In their context here, however, they are no more than metaphors and images with which Heinrich and Clara express their momentary emotions. They are not accurate descriptions of the real situation, nor do they represent the central characters' guiding philosophy of existence. This is amply demonstrated in the case of Heinrich by his persiflage at the end of the romantic attitude delineated in his remarks referred to above.8
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