page_title: Brocken
section_title: Literary mentions
hierarchical_section_title: Brocken / Literary mentions
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kupferstich von W. Jury nach Johann Heinrich Ramberg - Walpurgisnachtszene aus Faust 1 Русский: Вальпургиева ночь. Сцена из Фауста
context_page_description: The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of Northern Germany; it is located near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m. The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C. It is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany; travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the Ural Mountains in Russia.
  The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the legends in his play Faust. The Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects.
  Today the Brocken is part of the Harz National Park and hosts a historic botanical garden of about 1,600 alpine mountain plants.
context_section_description: Goethe described the Brocken in his Faust, first published in 1808, as the center of revelry for witches on Walpurgisnacht (30 April; the eve of St Walpurga's Day).
  Now, to the Brocken, the witches ride;
  The stubble is gold and the corn is green;
  There is the carnival crew to be seen,
  And Squire Urianus will come to preside.
  So over the valleys, our company floats,
  With witches a-farting on stinking old goats.
  Goethe may have gained inspiration from two rock formations on the mountain's summit, the Teufelskanzel (Devil's Pulpit) and the Hexenaltar (Witches' Altar).
  The Brocken is similarly mentioned in many other literary and musical works based on Faust
  Another famous visitor on the Brocken, author Heinrich Heine, wrote his book Die Harzreise ("The Harz Journey") published in 1826. He says:
  The mountain somehow appears so Germanically stoical, so understanding, so tolerant, just because it affords a view so high and wide and clear. And should such mountain open its giant eyes, it may well see more than we, who like dwarfs just trample on it, staring from stupid eyes.
  The summit register entry Many stones, tired bones, views: none, Heinrich Heine ("Viele Steine, müde Beine, Aussicht keine, Heinrich Heine") is a popular, though unsourced phrase related to the weary ascent and the mostly foggy conditions.
  The teacher Heinrich Pröhle collected the Brockensagen tales and legends as well as the etymology of the geographic names in the Harz. He carefully examined the Teufelskanzel and the Hexenaltar, mentioned above.
  Slothrop and Geli Tripping experience the famous Brocken Spectre in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, as the Mittelbau-Dora labour camp in the Harz mountains north of Nordhausen from 1943 was the home of the V-2 rocket production. In David Foster Wallace's Pynchon-influenced Infinite Jest the characters Remy Marathe and Hugh Steeply also experience the Brocken spectre on a ridge in the desert outside Tucson.
caption: Walpurgis' Night, engraving after an illustration by Johann Heinrich Ramberg, 1829
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