Conjectural biography

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Paul around 1797
* 1763 † 1825

The conjectural biography is a short story by Jean Paul that appeared in the context of Jean Paul's letters and forthcoming curriculum vitae on February 27, 1799 at Burmester in Leipzig. Although it was praised by the reviewers at the time, the author did not experience the reprint of the work.

content

Jean Paul's preference for the extraordinary is always evident. In this small font, even the title forces you to look it up: A conjecture has something to do with a conjecture. In this case, the author imagines his future: his own overall biography is written and published at a young age.

Seven epistles , addressed to the friend Christian Otto , are mostly entitled "Leipzig 1798". Jean Paul tells his friend about his plan: "I want to put my life story, which is still ahead of me, faithfully into poetic epistles." The plot is only sparsely interspersed in the "future résumé". Jean Paul does not want to be “just a scholar”. It would be better to be “a kind judge”. What wonder? Jean Paul is still called Richter!

Future “romantic hours” with the future bride Rosinette, who will also be called Hermione, will take up a lot of space. Jean Paul prefers to call his Hermione Rosinette because his "dear mother" was called Rosina. The love project is mentally detailed. Christian Otto would like to see Jean Paul as a “lover of rosinettes” and “a real landowner”. Jean Paul wants to get married on Tuesday after Pentecost. On the fine day he wants to run out and wait for the sunset on a mountain. First the bride and groom set out, and May passes before them as one full of tame warblers and nightingales. The couple hikes the old dewy trails. And Jean Paul is sure that he will be loved by Rosinettes. He tells her that. However, the beloved replies that love suffers with every hope; love only wants the present.

All in all, Jean Paul imagines his marriage as follows: He continues to write his best writings. His children stamp on the deep snow and wait for the godfather. This is Christian Otto. Jean Paul will have four children: Christian, Otto, Hans and Christine. While Jean Paul and his dear wife are “getting old together”, the year 1832 is drawing closer and closer, and the “jubilation author” is being celebrated in his 69th year. When Jean Paul then describes his age, he soon has to interrupt the epistle in question because of old age. A Jean Paul, however, continues to write in every situation. Because his heart cannot age at all because he writes it younger and softer every year.

reception

  • In 1811 Görres recognized in the text the “mild, sun-warm, brightly lit spirituality, a quiet, calm clarity in the middle of the fiery wheel of fantasy”.

The reviewers associate the text with Jean Paul's real résumé. More precisely, Jean Paul married Karoline Mayer on May 27, 1801. This is about premarital encounters.

  • de Bruyn: Before writing the conjectural biography , Jean Paul admirer Charlotte von Kalb wanted to divorce the author in order to marry. Nothing came of it, because Charlotte did not fit Jean Paul's dreams. The author wrote these dreams down in the conjectural biography, rather unencrypted.
  • Ortheil and Höllerer: While the manuscript is being written, no “suitable” bride is in sight. But Jean Paul knows one thing - it shouldn't be a titanid “with a rock self” like Kalb's wife. Rather, he envisions a capable housewife - like his beloved mother.
  • Ueding: Jean Paul, “at the height of his fame”, became engaged to Caroline von Feuchtersleben just before he wrote the conjjectural biography .
  • Höllerer: Jean Paul wrote the text in 1798. In that year he wrote about Emilie von Berlepsch: "Emilie raised me and I her."

literature

source
  • Norbert Miller (Ed.): Jean Paul: Konjekturalbiographie. in: Jean Paul: Complete Works. Section I. Fourth Volume. Smaller narrative writings 1796–1801. Pp. 1025-1080. Scientific Book Society Darmstadt. License edition 2000 (© Carl Hanser Munich Vienna 1962 (4th, corr. Edition 1988), ISBN 978-3-446-10752-6 ). 1263 pages. With notes in the appendix (pp. 1212–1221) and an afterword by Walter Höllerer (pp. 1226–1251), order number 14965-3
First edition
  • Jean Paul: letters and upcoming résumé. Heinsius . Gera and Leipzig 1799. 450 pages. Cardboard tape plain.
Secondary literature

Web links

annotation

  1. ^ Reprinted in 1827 by Reimer in Berlin.

Individual evidence

References to a citation are sometimes noted as (page, line from above).

  1. ↑ Source (1025-1080)
  2. ↑ Source (1212.6. Zvu)
  3. ↑ Source (1212.2. Zvu)
  4. ↑ Source (1027.9)
  5. ↑ Johann Joseph Görres in: Sprengel, p. 91, 16. Zvu
  6. ↑ Ueding (203.6)
  7. ↑ de Bruyn (180.19)
  8. ↑ de Bruyn (180.20-33)
  9. ↑ quoted by Höllerer in the source (1249.6)
  10. ↑ Ortheil (85,17-25)
  11. ↑ Ueding (116, 36ff.)
  12. ↑ Höllerer in the source (1249: 10-16)