Text: Palmer Cobb, “Chapter II,” The Influence of E. T. A. Hoffman on the Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, 1908, pp. 15-19

[page 15:]

A question which naturally suggests itself is: What stimulus did Poe have for an interest in German literature? America was in those days far more isolated from Europe than in this latter-day era of express steamers and rapid transit. How was it possible for an American man of letters to be so in touch with the productions of a European country as to have his thoughts guided and his work colored by that of a European nation? The answer to this question leads to others. Namely, to what extent was German literature known and studied in America during the time of Poe's activity as a story writer, 1830 to 1848 in round numbers? What impetus would an American man of letters have had to a study of German literature: and, granting his interest once aroused, what means would he have had of gratifying this interest? Disregarding, for the moment, the possibility of a first hand access to the, original, there remain two possibilities: translations, and magazine literature.

It is impossible, of course, to give anything like an exhaustive survey of this subject here. A few translations and magazine articles will suffice to indicate a general interest in those of the Romanticists to whom Poe is indebted. Up to 1845, the following translations of the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann had appeared in English: Blackwood's Magazine brought out as early as 1824 a translation of Die Elixiere des Teufels. There was also a separate print. In Carlyle's German Romance, London, 1827, there was a translation of Der goldene Topf, together with a discussion of Hoffmann. In 1826 there appeared in London three volumes translated by Robert Pierce Gillies, and containing translations of Das Fräulein von Scudery, and Das Majorat. In 1826 there also appeared a volume of translations by G. [page 16:] Soane, which contained a translation of Hoffmann's Meister Floh. In 1844 appeared translations of Die Jesuiterkirche in G., Der Sandmann, and Der Elementargeist, by John Oxenford.

The following translations of Tieck appeared during the same period: The Old Man of the Mountain, Love Charm, and Pietro of Abano, London, 1831; The Pictures and The Betrothal, London, 1825; The Poet's Life, Leipzig, 1830; The Roman Matron, or Vittoria Colonna, London, 1845. No translations of Novalis are recorded up to 1845. Poe's first tale, A Manuscript Found in a Bottle, appeared in 1833.

Poe was always a close observer of French Literature, and the German romanticists were early cultivated in France. Hoffmann, even in those days, was better known and more widely read in France than in his own country. French literary journals were constantly busied with Hoffmann, and besides numerous single translations of his work, a complete edition was begun in 1829 by Francois Adolphe Loeve Veimars, and completed in 1833, the year of Poe's first tale.(1) Another edition was begun in 1830 by Th. Toussenel.

In 1829 also the Revue de Paris published a translation of a part of Scott's article in the Foreign Quarterly.(2) The article is entitled Du Merveilleux dans le Roman.

In the article by Prof. Belden (Anglia 23), already cited, the author discusses Poe's criticism of Hawthorne, namely, that the latter's style was identical with that of Tieck., He accords to Poe's criticism the high value which the poet himself placed upon it, and which is its undeniable due. But he questions Poe's knowledge of German. “To the question whether Poe knew German, it will probably never be possible to give a definite answer.” Further, he asks himself: “What means had a man not master of German of knowing the character of Tieck's works?” These means, he decides, were the English and American periodicals. He concludes [page 17:] that Poe's criticism might have been perfectly sincere, solely from an idea of Tieck which he might have gathered from magazine articles. In substantiation of his theory he gives a survey of British and American magazine articles of the Thirties and Forties, some of which are as follows:

The American Quarterly Review, for example, contained between 1827 and 1831 six articles on German literature, one of which deals with Bouterwek's Geschichte der deutschen Poesie and Beredsamkeit. The article contained a critique of the Schlegels, Tieck, and Nov alis. In 1836 there appeared in Boston a translation of Heine's Zur Geschichte der neueren schöneu Literatur in Deutschland. There were numerous translations from Fouqué. The Democratic Review, beginning with 1842, had in almost every number a translation from the German, or an article on some German writer. Fr. Schlegel's lectures were translated in New York in 1841, and mention of them is found in a short sketch by Poe.(4)

Besides these mentioned by Prof. Belden, there appeared a translation of Fouque's Undine, New York, 1839, and a volume entitled Tales from the German, translated by Nathaniel Greene, Boston, 1837. The latter a two-volumed publication, contained several stories by C. F. van der Velde. In 1839 a small volume was published in New York containing Der todte Gast, by Heinrich Zschokke, and Spieler Glück, by E. T. A. Hoffmann. These two tales were printed in the original. A significant statement relative to American appreciation of German literature of the period is to be found in the North American Review, January, 1840, page 279. In connection with a review of a new German grammar the reviewer observes:

The interest in German Romanticism in England was earlier awakened, and more lively. Carlyle's German Romance appeared in 1827. The article in the Foreign Quarterly Review for July, 1827, has already been mentioned. Besides this, the following numbers up to 1844 contained upwards of forty articles dealing with German literature, reviews, criticisms, etc. Fraser's for 1831 has articles on The Old Man of the Mountain, Love Charm, and Pietro of Abano, translations from Tieck. Blackwood's for February, 1833, has a criticism of Bluebeard. The same magazine for September, 1837, has a review of Dichterleben.

Among the translations, an important contribution included four volumes of stories entitled The German Novelists; Tales selected from Ancient and Modern Authors, translated by Thomas Roscoe, London, 1826. The work contained two tales from Fouqué, four from Schiller, four from Tieck, six from Langbein, and two from Engel. Another volume of translations appeared in 1826 in Edinburgh, entitled Tales from the German. The translator was Richard Holcroft. Another volume of Tales from the German appeared in London, 1829.

These statistics, though not exhaustive, will suffice to show that there was a lively interest in German Romanticism both in America and England in the Thirties and Forties. Poe, in his capacity of magazine editor, was a zealous reader of magazines and followed closely American and foreign publications. Compare his sketch, How to write a Blackwood [page 19:] Article. It was impossible that he should not have been affected by this general interest in German romance. And it is just as impossible to read his works, especially his criticism, without recognizing that he had a more intimate acquaintance with German literature than it would have been possible to gain from magazine reading.

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 16:]

1.  MS. found in a Bottle. Baltimore Saturday Visitor [[Visiter]]. Oct. 12, 1833.

2.  Revue de Paris. Vol. 1, page 25.

[[Note, there is no footnote 3 in the original, presumably in error. It may have been for the quotation by Professor Belden, from Anglia 23, instead given parenthetically in the text — JAS]]

[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 17:]

4.  Ingram. Vol. IV, page 89.