Germany. A Winter Tale (Bilingual: Deutschland. Ein Wintermaerchen) (German Edition) [Paperback]

Heinrich Heine (Author), Andrew Moore (Editor), Edgar Alfred Bowring (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2007

Germany. A Winter Tale (Deutschland. Ein Wintermaerchen) is a satirical verse epic by German author Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). --- Since 1831 Heine had been living in exile in France; because of his critical works, he no longer felt safe from the German censors and police. In 1835 the German Bundestag passed a decree banning his writings. --- In late 1843 Heine went back to Germany for a few weeks to visit his mother and his publisher, Julius Campe, in Hamburg. It was on his return journey that the first draft of Germany. A Winter Tale took shape. The verse epic appeared in 1844, published by Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg; and before the year was out, the book was banned in Prussia and the stock confiscated. In December 1844 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia issued a warrant for Heinrich Heine's arrest. Before the book could be published elsewhere in Germany, outside Prussia, Heine had to shorten and rewrite it. --- Our historic bilingual edition presents the German text in a version dating from 1887 and a translation by Edgar Alfred Bowring from the same year. Heine's 1844 Preface was retranslated by Annette Bridges for our 2007 edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Mondial; Bilingual edition (October 25, 2007)
• Language: German
• ISBN-10: 1595690719
• ISBN-13: 978-1595690715
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 19th Century Hippie with Clairvoyant Powers, March 29, 2010

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Richard C. Geschke "In search of History!!" (Bristol, Ct) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Germany. A Winter Tale (Bilingual: Deutschland. Ein Wintermaerchen) (German Edition) (Paperback)

When Heinrich Heine wrote this epic poem describing his return journey to the Fatherland, the political situation in Europe was dominated by the age of Metternich which exposed the old line status quo. Heine protested these politics and was an advocate for change and non-military solutions. His protest led him to a life in post Napoleon France which suited his basic freedom, but left him homesick for his beloved Germany.
This rather long poem divided over 27 caputs, describes Heine's travels in returning to Germany in order to visit his Mother and his publisher Campe. He meets ghosts of Kings long gone and has dreams of German fantasies and sees horrors of much dreaded enemies of the Fatherland along with old warriors who fought the great battles of Teutonic lore.
His journey is sarcastic and at times tongue in cheek, which during these times suffered the Censor's ax. This seems to be the entire reaction by readers, critics and censors alike. A rather long political and sarcastic look of the current German government of the 1840's, which undoubtedly it was.
However, I don't believe I'm reading something into this work that isn't there. What do I speak of? I do believe Heine saw something of the future (whether intentionally or quite by accident) that would take place 95 years hence with these fateful lines:
* "Yes Germany's future there thou'lt see,
* "Like wondrously rolling phantasmas;
* "But shudder not, if out of filth
* "Arise any foul miasmas!
*
* She spoke, and she laugh'd a singular laugh,
* But I undauntedly hasted
* To hold my head over the terrible hole,
* And there I eagerly placed it
*
* I'll not betray, for silence I vow'd,
* The things that I saw and felt there;
* I scarcely dare to utter a word,
* Good heavens, of what I smelt there!
*
* With deep disgust I think to this day
* Of that smell, which blended together,
* In vile and accursed union, a stench
* Of old cabbage and Russian leather.
I don't know about you, but to me the smell emanates from a union of the Swastika and the Soviet Hammer and Sickle. How prescient to foresee the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.
Does anyone else see this?