The perfect Faust or Romania in Jauer

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The completed Faust or Romanien in Jauer (1836) is a German-language, satirical play by the Danish writer Jens Immanuel Baggesen .

Emergence

The piece was written during the first decade of the 19th century, but was not published posthumously until 1836 as part of the German edition of works published by Baggesen's sons.

Content and structure

The play consists of two parts and takes place on two levels: At the beginning, the elite from politics, the military, literature, philosophy and science of the Romanian state meet in an inn in Jauer. Everyone is full of unrest as a decisive battle against the vandals conquering the country is about to take place. But you don't let that disturb your pleasures. Since the inn is too small, one decides to dine in the town madhouse , a castle, and is lucky enough to have a performance of the play "The Complete Faust" written by the inmates. So this is a piece within a piece, the performance of which is then repeatedly commented on by those present. There can be no question of a uniform, chronological plot, all the more since the actors in the Faust play keep falling out of character.

satire

The play is a multiple satire. At first it is a fragment based on Goethe's Faust . Then there are explicitly real role models hidden behind some figures: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Jean Paul , Madame de Stael , Christoph Martin Wieland . But the ridicule here is very limited. The insane asylum seekers, however, mean the romantics and the representatives of Sturm und Drang with their cult of genius . Baggesen leaves no good hair on them. And last but not least, Baggesen shows how those responsible for the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation failed miserably in the face of the threat posed by Napoleon and his troops and suffered devastating military defeats.

reception

A larger direct reception could not take place because of the posthumous publication, but Baggesen had repeatedly read from the play in private circles. It is possible that the publisher Cotta did not publish the whole piece out of consideration for Goethe. Later literary studies took on the play. And even if many of the allusions to Baggesen's presence are no longer understood today, the fact remains that it is a piece full of linguistic power and satirical sharpness that still stands up to criticism today. Attempts to assign a real person to all the characters in the play have rather speculatively fizzled out.

expenditure

  • The perfect Faust or Romania in Jauer . In: Jens Baggesen's poetic works in German. Third part. 1836.
  • The perfect Faust or Romania in Jauer . Lang 1985. Edited by Leif Ludwig Albertsen. (Reprint of the work edition from 1836). ISBN 3-261-04033-5 .
  • The perfect Faust or Romania in Jauer . BoD 2012. Edited by Martin Abraham. (Linguistic modernized version). ISBN 978-3-8482-0520-2

literature

  • Martin Abraham. Epilogue to the 2012 edition.
  • Leif Ludwig Albertsen. Foreword to the 1985 edition.
  • Leif Ludwig Albertsen. Immanuel. One turned from Jens Baggesen . Rosenkilde og excavator 1991.
  • Anna Sandberg. Jens Baggesens liv og værk . Spring 2010.

Web links