Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-11-14
Germany's Golden "Geni
Periodic
Pan Gazette.l

And its longing and yearning be satisfied.
"
4 Germany's Golden Scenic
> Periodic
c Pail Mall Gazette.l
j The passion for centenary observanees
G of the birth OF their great men has beer
g nowhere carried to such extremes IS
= among the Germans. The achievement
e OF national unity gave further impulse
5 to 8 tendency already sufficiently
e strong, and most people are beginning t
: weary OF the search for heroes in remote
D | ages, Gnd OF attempts to revive mem
: cries that had faded from sill hut the
D | mind of the professional scholar, il
: order to giOrify the fstheTland. The
{ ! world Is not likely to prove soon indif-
p, ferent 10 anything that will elucidate
t the life and character Of Goethe, but il
/ will require all the magic influence OF
. his name and fame to save him from
the indigDity which the centenary i'm
petus seems about to put upon him. Ii
has been bad enough TO celebrate the
centenary anniversaries OF the birth OF
all Germans who have won areputstiOn
but BOW the word has gone forth to cele-
brate in addition ali the epochs into
which Germans are 50 fond, with their
|
great life. The first faults Of this idea
are present in the plan for COnmemora-
ting, on the seventh of November, 1915,
: the centenary Of GOethe's entry into
Weilnsr, which took place on the
seventh Of November, l775. On that
date it is proposed to mold "SskulaT-
feier"; and, % preliminary, 8 "FestSa
bsn suited to the occasion mas been pre-
pared by Herr Keil, in two small
volumes, and has just seen the light at
Leipzig. Although Herr Keil serves up
afresh much that has become stale, he
has yet collected some interesting
material regarding the early year of
Goethe in Weimar, and his relations
at that time with Corona ScbrOter.
Goethe and Weimsr occupy the first
volume, aud Goethe and Corona, the
! beautiful and fascinating artistic, the
! second. Fer q time she took captive
the Grant, fancy Of the poet, so that he
sang of her:
Es gonnten ihr die Musen Jede Gunst,
/ IND die Natur erschuf in inr die Kunst;
| So hauft sic willig jeden eiZ auf sich,
| Und selbst Dein Name zierJ, Corona, Dich.
Leaving aside for the present the plea
| SAINT and picturesque chapters on Corona,
we cOnfins ourselves to the illustTa-
| tons of GOethe's character and
career in early life at Weimar during
the days Of Garmany's "Genie-Pericde,
/ when the feast Of reason and the flow Of
| soul were fuller, richer and more stimu.
| lating than IN any bnt the feW ex-
| ceptiOnal periods that stand Ort prOmi-
nentiy in histOry-such as the sge of
| PeTieies in Greece, the Elizabethan age
in England, and the later period Of
development of English genius during
the latter part Of the eighteenth and
the opening of the nineteenth centuries
| Weimar was the center Of the German
culture of the period, though it only
shared with ether rivals the honor of
contributing to the development of
genuine German literature. Herr Kei's |
contributions to GOethesn literature do 7
not bind Us to approve OF the !
Goethe "SakUlarfeier." Goethe en-
tered WeimaT as the guest Of 1
the Duke, ChsTlss Augustus, on the /
seventh OF November, 1775, and there /
with commenced an association which /
was to endure throughout the poets life.
OF cOuIse, the author of "A Hundred
Years Ago" assures Us that q new epoch
began on that day, not for Goethe and
Weimar only, but for all German litera-
tUe. Whether the years between I775 and
1852 were the most attractive OF Goethe's
life or not, there is both freshness and
ple8ssutness in the light which is
thrown on the life of the poet, the
character and doings of his royal friend
and patron, and his relations with the
most charming Of German srtists. The
contribution which chiefly interests one
is the diary of Goethe from the year
1875 to 1882, which has not been before
published except In extracts. The let
tiers which are pIefixed to the diary are
Of much lees Importance and have been
already published in part. The one Of !
principal moment is addrt ssed to Goethe
from the duks-tne first he sent TO the .
poet and of which only fragment had /
previously appeared. The pOetic2l adj /
dress OF q politician to society on the I
sixth of January, l776, though the i
names Of the persons referred 20 in it
are said to have been filed in by GOsthe
in pencil, will not prove Of much adj ;
vantage either 20 history CT Literature. !
The diary Of Goethe occupies a different
position from the other contents OF tine !
volume. /. has been remarked that 1
GCeLhe lett 10 descriptions ia those Z
happy days OF the "Genie.PeIiOdep I
spent in WCimag, although be has Ief. a j
of what il might have been, {
In the statement tina. an account of 7
what was done in them would appear 5
fabulous and Incredible. He may have I
been re=traiCet by feelings o. deliCacy {
the friends and 'Freundin- /
men" of the time; and nIOre especially (
BY the respect he felt for the Duke :
Charles Augustus and his family. Yet I
lll the while Goethe had preserved q '
'aithful representation Of the character \
1T cs Of Weimsr life and his own share [
n its labOIs and exercises in the secret 8
tary which contained a chronicle % :
what passed. RiemsT. GCethe's conf S
ientisl friend, "a bis Essays on GOsthe, [
S4l !" published fragments OF the diary, O
ana thus made them the common prop- o
srty Of the literary world. Seven years 3
ater, in 1S4S, "G0ethe's letters to a
Frau Won Stein, from the year Z
776 toI826, " appeared, edited by SchOll, I
md contained extracts from the diary e.
4 the year l777. Yet more recently Q
3Urkbardt printed in the GrenzbOteH OF Y
S74 further fragments, but only now il
or the first time have We the diary ia
utire. The editor has had access to Il
40 complete copies dating from March "
/, l776, to March 5, 1882, which agree y
D all substantial respects. A careful fC
has assured him that he has hi
iven the original correctly in all i'm a.
ortant particulars, and the diary is 81
made Ineligible to the public by run a,
ing commentary, supplied in notes fl
nd by Illustrations from letters Of the OF
eriOd. The eleventh OF March, 1875, is m
le first date in the diary, aud, although n,
the hsbit Of disry-keeping n,
as msintalned by the poet throughout b,
is life, be does not seem to have kept o,
ny document Of the kind before he be- "
an the one in question st Weimar. h,
he form Of the entities is, for the most h,
SIT, OF the baldest and curtest descrip- 81
OD. Bare notices OF events are given "
. the briefest possible terms, and by aid W
a sort Of hierOglyPhs, which require ar
} be interpreted. In the later parts the of
oct is more communicative, and to-
ether with remarks on the events and
OF the day We have retisc-
Ons on himself and mis- own character, w
ld on the dispositions of his friends, so IA
ist the document becomes q mirror Of pc
lie time. Astronomical sigus serve the ia
lTpose Of abDreviatiOus for the namt o4
indlviduals. The sign for Jupiter e
ssignates the duke, the sign Of the
Oon stands for the Duchess Anna
mahs, the sign # the sun desig- m
ltes the Prince Won Stein, and W
hec signs sand for the Duchess "
OUis- and n - EpupEasa NUa,fnsr NJ II