Lotte in Weimar (1939)

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!! ( )

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 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. ( )

44 Jahre, nachdem Charlotte Kestner, geb. Buff, Goethe zum letzten Mal begegnete, reist sie zu ihrer Schwester nach Weimar. Da sie als Vorbild zu Werthers Lotte in literarischen Kreisen durchaus verehrt wird, wird sie sogleich von einer Vielzahl von Besuchern aufgesucht. Es entspinnen sich interessante Gespräche. Mit Augusts Hauslehrer Riemer etwa tauscht sie sich darüber aus, wie seltsam es ist, das Goethe sich seinerzeit in eine Braut verliebt hatte und welche Motive ihn dazu trieben- es hätte genügend ungebundene Damen gegeben. Weitere Besucher sind Miss Cuzzle, August Goethe und Adele Schopenhauer. So wird Goethe zunächst indirekt, dann auch direkt vorgestellt. Denn selbst trifft Lotte ihn erst spät, bei einem Essen im größeren Kreis und schließlich, am Ende des Buches, nach einer Theateraufführung.
Mann erweist sich in diesem Buch als Goethe- Kenner, der sehr interessant diese auf einer wahren Begebenheit beruhende Geschichte erzählt. Seine politischen Ansichten sind zum Beispiel in einer Erzählung Goethes über die Judenvernichtung von Eger niedergelegt. So wird selbst diese vordergründig unpolitische Geschichte brisant und zu ihrer Zeit (1939 erschienen) wichtig und mutig.
Schließlich sagt das Buch auch einiges über Mann selbst: Dass er sich hier am ehesten in Goethe porträtiert, ist offensichtlich. Es wird aber auch deutlich, wie sehr ihm bewusst ist , dass das Leben mit einem großem Mann, einem großem Vater schwierig ist. Goethes Umfeld ist sehr fein beobachtet, die Reaktionen der Tischgesellschaft etwa auf die endlosen Monologe (zustimmend und ehrerbietig) sehr gut dargestellt. "Der große Mann ist ein öffentliches Unglück", so stellt er ein chinesisches Sprichwort zur Diskussion - die Tischgesellschaft aber beeilt sich, sich hierüber äußerst erheitert zu zeigen.
Mit diesem Werk bewies Thomas Mann erneut, wie psychologisch fein er beobachtete und schrieb und dass er auch seine eigenen Eigenheiten und Schattenseiten wahrnahm ( )

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 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. ( )

אני זוכר שנהניתי אבל לא הרבה יותר מזה. ( )