Heinrich Stilling's wanderings
Heinrich Stillings Wandering (originally Henrich Stillings Wandering ) is the third part of the autobiography by Johann Heinrich Jung (called Jung-Stilling ), published in 1778. As a continuation of Heinrich Stillings Jugend (1777) and Heinrich Stillings Jünglingsjahre (1778) it is sufficient for leaving his homeland at the age of 21 until his doctorate. It was followed by Heinrich Stilling's home life (1789), Heinrich Stilling's formative years (1804).
content
Henrich's life problems continued on the first stages of his wandering: the difficulty of financing his life, the change between tailoring and teaching and the search for his God-given calling. His route leads from Salen via Holzheim (in the tavern Conrad Brauer tells him how his brother cheated on him), Dornfeld (Preacher Dahlheim cannot find a job for him), Rasenheim and Schönenthal to Schauberg , where Pastor Stollbein, the son of his Florenburg preacher , gave him a job , a job as a tailor's apprentice at Meister Nagel He is kindly received by pious people. The same happens to him later with Master Isaak in the small town of Waldstätt , in whose Christian company he feels very comfortable. They become friends, and Isaak takes Henrich to visit friends in the area. As here, at all stages of his path, he very quickly found friends in pietistic circles who wanted to hear his life story and tell him their own.
Between these two occupations he has to have another painful experience because, as he later reproaches himself with, he has deviated from the predetermined path. In Schauberg he has a vision and decides never to strive for higher things against God's plan. But three weeks later, through the mediation of the city schoolmaster, he became a private tutor to the rich merchant Hochberg, who lived in an upper-class house near Holzheim. There are upscale manners that he first has to learn. From morning to evening he teaches the three good children until they are exhausted. The magnificently dressed mistress is satisfied with his work, but because of his worn clothes people mistrust him and keep a human distance from him. Then he falls into a deep depression. He complains to Pastor Brück of his misfortune, who explains his suffering as "a fire of purification [...] through which eternal love sweeps him from his bad habits and wants to make him something strange". But the consolation only helps him for a short time and in April 1762 he can no longer bear the situation, leaves the house without saying goodbye and wandering through the area and after renewed divine inspiration, which he has alone in the dark forest, wanders to Waldstätt, where he becomes a journeyman at Isaac's master tailor. But it is precisely this good master who promotes his enticement in 1763, admittedly without intention, and Henrich also sees in it that, as in his failures, a hint of divine providence that he must follow, the way is not clear to him either. One of Isaak's customers, the Spaniard businessman in Rothenbeck , releases Henrich from his contract, compensates the master for his expenses and hires Stilling as a tutor. In order to expand his range of courses, he finances him a two-month training course in French with the language teacher Heesfeld in Dornfeld. Stilling stayed with Spanier for seven years, teaching the children, also helping with his hardware store and learning philosophical writings by Wolff, Gottsched, Leibnitz and others in the library. a. but they do not help him in the search for the guidelines of his life. After almost three and a half years, he interrupts his work, takes vacation and visits his family: his uncle, father and stepmother and the dying grandmother.
After his return to Rothenbeck, Henrich's new stage of development is gradually emerging. While reading, he suddenly feels like learning Greek and Hebrew from Pastor Seelburg, which gives Spaniards the idea that Stilling should study medicine, first of all self-taught with the help of specialist books. A great opportunity arises when Henrich, while visiting his uncle, learns that the old priest and ophthalmologist Molitor has written a script about his treatment methods that he would like to hand over to a suitable successor. Henrich and Molitor come to an agreement on the conditions that Molitor formulates when she leaves (cover picture): “The ubiquitous! Work through his holy spirit: to be the best person, the best Christian and the best doctor! ”. After Henrich has come to an understanding with Spanier about the new division of labor, he familiarizes himself with the new subject and is successful with his first treatments. In 1769, through one of his patients with eye problems in Rasenheim, he met his neighbor, the Kaufmanns Friedenberg. On his fortnightly visits he stays with him, they become friends and he treats the ailing, often melancholy eldest daughter, the twenty-year-old Christine. She is in love with him and he likes the cute, kind young girl. They secretly get engaged and their condition improves. After a short time they inform the parents, and Friedenberg agrees, although the friend's future is not secure and he cannot finance his medical studies at a university. But Henrich wants to start this training and hopes in his trust in God that the financial problems will be solved. And the project succeeds thanks to several lucky coincidences.
His previous patron, Spaniard, no longer owes him anything and is not ready to support him because he had other plans for him, but Friedenberg gives him an entry fee and he takes the opportunity to travel to Strasbourg with the surgeon Troost via Frankfurt and Mannheim to travel. Pietist merchants, relatives from home, his father-in-law and even his landlord help him in a strange way when his money needs are greatest during the three years. At the university he took courses in the natural sciences, anatomy with dissections, obstetrics, etc. and gained experience in the treatment of sick people in hospitals. He works conscientiously and is praised by his professors for this. In addition to his studies, Henrich expanded his philosophical and literary horizons, v. a. through his friendship with Goethe , whom he met in his inn and with whose support he was accepted into the “Society of Beautiful Sciences”, who u. a. Lenz , Lerse and later also Herder belong to. Through her he learned the poems of Ossian, Shakespeare, Fielding and Sterne, and he lectured in philosophy at the university. Goethe admires him for his brave struggle for life, accepts his consistent religiosity and protects him against the ridicule of free spirits. This orderly life is interrupted by a disturbing message. After Romeo and Juliet went to the theater , he learned from a letter from Friedenberg that his fiancée had become weaker and more melancholy during his absence, and he asked him to come home. He immediately travels by ship via Mainz to Cologne, surviving the attempted murder of two robbers, then on foot to Rasenheim. Christine recovers from his presence and they get married. At the end of his studies, Henrich returned to Strasbourg, took his exam in 1772 and received his license and doctorate. Now he can move to Schönenthal with Christine and open a practice there. When he hugs his happy wife on his return from Strasbourg, he says to her: “Our whole life, in time and eternity, should be thankful. Rejoice now that the Lord has helped us until then. "
style
In contrast to the previous volumes, the Wandering does not contain any allegorical stories. There is an anecdote about the conversion of a rabid husband by his pious wife ( “you are the man who did this!” Cf. 2 Samuel 12, verse 7). In a long poem the author thanks his master Isaak, in a two-line God for his help, in the final poem he dedicates his life to God. He tells a tragic love story about a fellow traveler with a happy ending.
He repeatedly describes inner struggles for decision-making and awakening experiences, then his divinely instilled drive to advance and amazing intellectual achievements. Quotes from the Bible are common. The characterization of people has also increased, whereby he mentions the character theory of Johann Kaspar Lavater .
Mentioned places, people and books
Place and person names have been re-encrypted: Holzheim is Hückeswagen , Rasenheim is Ronsdorf , Schönenthal is Elberfeld , Schauberg is Solingen , Waldstätt is Radevormwald , Rothenbeck is Neuenrade . Master Isaak is Johann Jakob Becker, Mr. Spanier is Peter Johannes Flender .
For dinner party included, in addition Stilling and his travel companion Troost total of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Waldberg (the doctor Johannes Meyer), a Mr. Melzer , Leoše ( Franz Christian Lerse ), then a good Rabe with peacock feathers and Mr. Actuary Salzmann ( Johann David Salzmann ). Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz appears later.
Stilling mentioned, in Spanier a. a. To have read the following books: Paradise Lost by John Milton , Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality by Edward Young , Der Messias by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , Wolff's German writings as a whole, as well as Gottsched's entire philosophy, Leibniz's theodicy , Baumeister's little logic and metaphysics . After his decision to study medicine, he mentions the natural philosophy of Johann Gottlob Krüger . Göthe introduced him to the works of Ossian , Shakespeare , Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne .
literature
- Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. pp. 195-301. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )
Web links
- Heinrich Stilling's wanderings near Gutenberg-DE
- Jung-Stilling research
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jung-Stilling later mentions his name in retrospect on Stilling's previous life story after Heinrich Stilling's apprenticeship . (Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich: Lebensgeschichte. Complete text based on the first prints (1777–1817). With an afterword by Wolfgang Pfeiffer-Belli. P. 475. Munich, 1968. Winkler Verlag; ISBN 3-538-06037-1 )
- ^ Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. p. 275. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )
- ^ Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. p. 297. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )
- ^ Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. pp. 242-243. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )
- ^ Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. p. 250. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )
- ^ Jung-Stilling, Johann Heinrich. Henrich Stilling's youth, adolescence, wandering and domestic life. Bibliographically amended edition. Stuttgart 1997. p. 282. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-000662-7 )