A Mutually Gratifying Relationship: Goethe and Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bowman, Peter James
• Is Part Of: Publications of the English Goethe Society. Volume 86:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 28
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Goethe -- Pückler-Muskau -- Briefe eines Verstorbenen -- Karl August Varnhagen von Ense -- Sarah Austin -- British periodicals -- Faust -- landscape gardening -- travel writing; German literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; German literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; 830.9006
• DOI: 10.1080/09593683.2017.1281999
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-3683

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents the available evidence of meetings between Goethe and the travel writer and landscape gardener Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871), including Pückler's unpublished account of one of them, and charts their correspondence. Goethe thought Pückler's Briefe eines Verstorbenen depicted an ideal art of living, and his laudatory review assisted the prince's rise to literary fame, not least in Great Britain, where critical responses to the review shed light on contemporary British attitudes to Goethe. Briefe eines Verstorbenen also inspired some scenes in Faust II, and to a greater extent than hitherto recognized. For his part, Pückler was a lifelong admirer of Goethe, and his approach to his work as a park designer was imbued with Goethean principles.