Wieland and the French Revolution: The Writings of the First Year

W iela n d a n d th e F ren ch R evo lu tio n :mlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA T h e W ritin g s o f th e F irst Y ea r L 1 E S E L O T T E K U R T H - V O I G T Although the writings of Christoph Martin W ieland that treat, exclusively or incidentally, the French Revolution have received a fair share of scholarly attention ever since the first comprehensive study by Harald von Koskull appeared in 1901,1 these works deserve still fur­ ther analyses and interpretation. Close and detailed readings of the texts should prove particularly rewarding if significant factors of histor­ ical and literary contextuality are carefully considered, if the identities of the personae are meticulously analyzed, and if precise attention is given to the complex interrelation of these variants as they are uniquely combined in each of W ieland’s relevant contributions. More specifically, every one of these pieces should be treated strictly in chronological order and in the context of the actual occurrences that are mirrored in the work. Furthermore, each work has to be viewed in its relation to contemporary publications, with which the author and his fictional figures were well acquainted; their critical reactions to crucial incidents and public documents always reach beyond the frame of a single work and must be understood as a participation in the continuing controversy of political reality. Most important, however, it is necessary to define the personalities of the fictional characters, 79 80 / L WVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA I E S E L O T T E K U R T H ~ V O I G T the ir prejudices and idiosyncrasies, for W ieland created many of his figures with the distinct purpose of making them present subjective views on the controversial events of his time.2 Several of the relevant works are dialogues, and it is essential to remember W ieland’s reasons for selecting a specific variant of this form for the treatment of political matters. From Cicero, Lucian, and, later, Shaftesbury he had learned that in contrast to Plato’s biased characterizations, the creation of intelligent and well-informed inter­ locutors enables a writer to present various perspectives, each wellfounded and seriously meant,3 none necessarily revealing the author’s personal stance. The resulting neutrality, so very carefully designed by W ieland, has often been violated by critics who interpret fictional statements as expressions of his own views, thus creating inconsisten­ cies or contradictions which they then attack as evidence of his vacil­ lation. Goethe, for one, knew better. Although he recognized the danger inherent in the artistic manipulation of opinions, he did not reject W ieland’s intentions but defended them perceptively in one of his conversations with Falk: “. . . es war W ieland in alien Stricken weniger um einen festen Standpunkt als um eine geistreiche Debatte zu tun.”4 The undogmatic consideration of men and matters from different points of view was characteristic of W ieland,5 and as he looks back upon his participation in the critical examination of historic events he admits these tendencies: “Meine natiirliche Geneigtheit, Alles (Personen und Sachen) von alien Seiten und aus alien moglichen Gesichtspunkten anzusehen, und ein herzlicher Widerwille gegen das nur allzu gewohnliche einseitige U rtheilen und Parteynehm en, ist ein wesentliches Stuck meiner Individualitat .”6 In the analysis of his literary works it is necessary, of course, to distinguish carefully between the essays in which W ieland distinctly voices his own opinions and other writings in which mythological, historical, or invented figures express their personal convictions. W ie­ land, it will be remembered, was an acknowledged master of the art of characterization, and the literary figures he created were convincingly human, each unique in its make-up but at the same time frequently sharing the beliefs and antipathies of the groups they were meant to W iela n d a n d th e F ren ch R evo lu tio n ImlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGF 81 re pre se nt.Therefore, instead of seeing the individual spokesman as a mask for W ieland, it would be more enlightening to analyze each as an independent, self...