x dismiss this message
Did you know you can edit this page?
-
Sign Into Shelfari
-
Choose something to edit
-
Save your contributions
see page history
Description edit
In eighteenth-century Germany, the impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the Romantic poet Novalis seeks his father's permission to wed his true philosophy -- a plain, simple child named Sophie. The attachment shocks his family and friends. This brilliant young man,... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Fritz: Add a description of this character.
- Sophie Von Kuhn
- Freiherr Von Hardenberg
- Sidonie
- Mandelsloh
- Karoline
- Bernhard
- Karl
- Dietmahler
- George
- Frau Rockenthien
- Anton
- Rahel
- Tennstedt
- Frau Winkler
- Hoffmann
- Erasmus
- Gottfried
- Severin
- Caroline
- Lukas
- Louise
- Christoph
- Friederike
- Wilhelm
- Mimi
- Gunther
- Frau Leutnant
- Friedrich Schlegel
- Dr Brown
- Coelestin Just
- Herr Rockenthien
- Dorothea
- Rudi
- Raphael
- Brachmann
Quotes edit
-
“From time to time the room grew brighter when the moonlight shown in. The young man lay restlessly on his bed and remembered the stranger and his stories. "It was not the thought of the treasure which stirred up such unspeakable longings in me," he said to himself. "I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower. It lies incessantly at my heart, and I can imagine and think about nothing else. Never did I feel like this before. It is as if until now I had been dreaming, or as if sleep had carried me into another world. For in the world I used to live in, who would have troubled himself about flowers? Such a wild passion for a flower was never heard of there. But where could this stranger have come from? None of us had ever seen such a man before." And yet I don't know how it was that I alone was truly caught and held by what he told us. Everyone else heard what I did, and yet none of them paid him serious attention.”
Friedrich von Hardenberg "Fritz" -
“'But why do you do all this reading? You are not a student any more.''He would not read if he was,' said the Mandelsloh. 'Students do not ready, they drink.''Why do they drink?' Sophie asked.'Because they desire to know the whole truth,' said Fritz, 'and that makes them desperate.'Günther, who had been half asleep, came to, and protested.'What would it cost them,' Sophie asked, ' to know the whole truth?''They can't reckon that,' said Fritz, 'but they know they can get drunk for three groshen.'”
-
“Silence between them said more.”
-
“But she was artless, and that pleased. Nature always pleases.”
-
“But rest assured, it is not her understanding that we love in a young girl. We love her beauty, her innocence, her trust in us, her airs and graces, her God knows what - but we don't love her for her understanding - nor, I am sure, does Hardenberg. He will be happy, at least for a certain number of years, with what she can offer him, and then he may have the incomparable blessing of children, while his poetry -”
Dr. Goethe -
“At this time Fritz had a persistent image which hovered at the edge of his dreaming mind. Finally he stood aside to let it in. He was a student once again in Jena, listening to Fichte's lecture on the Self, and it came to him that he should not be doing this, that he was in the wrong place, because he had heard that his friend Hardenberg lived only two hours ride away, at Schlöben. His horse was not a good one, and he did not arrive until it was dark. He knocked at the door, which was opened by a young girl with dark hair. He thought that this might be his friend Hardenberg's wife, but did not like to ask. At Schlöben he lived as a welcome guest for two weeks. When the time came for him to leave, his host accepted his thanks, but told him he must not come again.”
Friedrich Von Hardenberg -
“'I should prefer us all to be children,' said Erasmus, 'then we should have a kingdom of our own.''This is not at all my experience,' said Bernhard”
-
“'You know that whatever consent or permission he has give, he still considers the marriage quite unsuitable -''It is quite unsuitable,' the Bernhard interrupted him. 'It is our business to see the beauty of that.'”
Erasmus to Bernhard -
“Come, we're Saxons. We can make a good diner, even if our hearts are breaking.”
Mandelsloh
First Sentence edit
Jacob Dietmahler was not such a fool that he could not see that they had arrived at his friend's home on the washday.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Penelope Fitzgerald (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Great Britain
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: Add the page count.
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Great Britain
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: Add the page count.
Awards edit
- National Book Critics Circle Award (1997: Fiction, Winner)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 823.914
Subjects edit
Popular Tags
We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.
