O Wilhelm, Wilhelm, Wilhelm! So at last we are hearing from 
you. Now, manikin, now you're going to hear something: I am 
now an enthusiastic Straussian. Just you come here, I have now 
got arms, shield and helmet; now I am secure, just you come here 
and I'll give you such a drubbing, despite all your theologia, that 
you won't know where to run. Yes, Guillermo, jacta est alea* I am 
now a Straussian; I, a poor, miserable poet, have crept under the 
wing of the genius David Friedrich Strauss. Just hear what a fellow 
he is! There lie the four gospels in a crisp and colourful chaos; 
mysticism lies in front of them and adores them— and behold, in 
comes David Strauss like a young god and brings the chaos out 
into the light of day and— Adios faith! It is as full of holes as a 
sponge. He sees too much myth here and there, but only in 
unimportant matters, otherwise he is a man of real genius. If you 
can refute Strauss— eh bien, I'll become a pietist once again.— I 
could also have learned from your letter that Mengs was an 
important artist, if, unfortunately, I had not already known it for 
a long time. With Die Zauberflote (music by Mozart) it is exactly the 
same. The reading-room is splendidly arranged, and among the 
most recent literary productions I draw your attention to Konig 
Saul, a tragedy by Gutzkow; Skizzenbuch by the same author; 
Dichtungen by Th. Creizenach (a Jew); Deutschland und die 
Deutschen by Beurmann; Die Dramatiker der Jetztzeit, Vol. 1, by L. 
Wienbarg, etc. I am very anxious to hear your opinion about Saul. 
Beurmann quoted extracts from my article in the Telegraph?"* in 
his Deutschland und die Deutschen, in which he speaks about 
Wuppertal.— On the other hand, I warn you against the Geschichte 
des polnischen Aufstands (1830-31) by Smitt, Berlin, 1839, which was 
undoubtedly written on the direct order of the King of Prussia. 
The chapter about the beginning of the revolution is headed with 
a motto from Thucydides which runs something like this: But we, 
who were unprepared for anything untoward, were suddenly 
invaded by them without any cause!!!!!! Oh, what gigantic non- 
sense! Splendid, on the other hand, is the history of this glorious 
uprising by Count Soltyk, which was published in German in 

Stuttgart in 18347'°—in your place, of course, it will have been 
banned, like everything good. Another important piece of news 
is that I am writing a short story which will be printed in 
January, always provided, of course, that it is passed by the censor, 
which is an annoying dilemma. 

I really don’t know whether or not I should continue sending 
you poems, but I think I did send you my Odysseus Redivivus*' 
lately and J beg you to let me have your criticisms of the last 
consignment. We have a novice here from your part of the coun- 
try, someone called Muller, who is going to sail to the South 
Seas as a ship’s preacher. He is staying at our house and has the 
most extravagant views about Christianity, which you will un- 
derstand when I tell you that he has spent his time recently 
under the influence of Gossner. It is not easy to have more ex- 
alted views about the efficacy of prayer and direct divine inter- 
vention in life. Instead of saying that one can sharpen one’s 
senses, one’s hearing, one’s sight, he says that when the Lord gives 
me a duty to fulfil, He is also bound to provide me with the power 
to fulfil it; of course there must be fervent prayer and hard work 
for one’s own part too, otherwise there is nothing doing. And so 
he restricts to believers only this familiar fact that holds for all 
men. Even a Krummacher would have to grant me that such an 
outlook is really too childlike and childish 1 am very pleased to 
hear that you have a better opinion of my Telegraph article. It was, 
of course, written in haste, as a result of which it has a style such 
as 1 only hope my short story will have, but also some one- 
sidednesses and half-truths. Krummacher, as you probably know, 
got to know Gutzkow in Frankfurt am Main and is said to be 
making up mirabilia* about it—proof of the correctness of 
Strauss’ views about myths. I am now taking to the modern style, 
which is without doubt the ideal of all style. Models for it are 
Heine’s writings, but especially Kühne and Gutzkow, although 
Wienbarg is its real master. Among earlier elements that have had 
a particularly favourable influence on it are Lessing, Goethe, Jean 
Paul and, above all, Borne. Oh, Borne—he writes a style that 
surpasses everything. Mer.el, der Franzosenfresser is stylistically the 
best piece of work in German and likewise the first one that sets 
out to annihilate an author completely; and in your place it is also 
banned to make sure that no better style shall be written than 
what is turned out in the royal offices. The modern style unites in 
itself every excellence of style—compact brevity and pregnancy 

To Wilhelm Graeber, October 8, 1839 473 

which hits the mark with a word, alternating with epic, calm 
description; simple language alternating with shimmering images 
and brilliant sparks of wit, a Ganymede with the strength of youth, 
roses twined round his head and in his hand the weapon that slew 
the python. At the same time, the greatest freedom is left to the 
author’s individuality, so that despite affinity none imitates the 
other. Heine writes dazzlingly, Wienbarg with cordial warmth and 
radiance, Gutzkow with a razor-sharp precision over which there 
sometimes plays a comforting sunlight. Kuhne is pleasantly de- 
scriptive with rather too much light and too little shade. Laube 
imitates Heine and now Goethe as well, but in a wrong manner, 
for he imitates the Goethean Varnhagen, and Mundt likewise 
imitates Varnhagen. Marggraff still writes rather too generally and 
with too much puffing out of his cheeks, but that will pass, and 
Beck’s prose has not yet got beyond studies.— If you combine Jean 
Paul’s ornateness with Borne’s precision then you have the 
essentials of the modern style. Gutzkow has been able to assimilate 
the brilliant, light but dry style of the French most fortunately. 
This French style is like a thread of gossamer, the modern 
German like a wisp of silk (this image has unfortunately gone . 
somewhat awry). My studies of Goethe’s divine songs show that I do 
not forget the old in my enthusiasm for the new. But one must study 
them musically and best of all in different musical settings. Here, 
for example, I reproduce Reichardt’s tune for the Bundeslied.* 

I have forgotten the bars again; get Heuser to put them in for 
you. The melody is marvellous and through its always harmonious 

simplicity it is better suited than any other to the poem. Wonder- 
fully effective is the rise at v. 6 from E by a seventh to D, and the 
sudden fall at v. 8 from B by a ninth to A. I shall write to Heuser 
about Leonardo Leo’s Miserere. 

In the next few days I shall send you a good friend, Adolf 
Torstrick, who is going to study there. He is jolly and liberal and 
understands Greek very well. The other Bremen people who are 
coming are not up to much. Torstrick will have letters from me to 
you. Receive him well, I hope you get to like him. Fritz has not yet 
written to me, the vermicle* was going to write to me from 
Elberfeld but didn’t do so out of laziness— for which please give 
him a dressing down. If Heuser—whom I cannot write to in 
Elberfeld for fear I miss him—should arrive, tell him he may 
hope for something from me soon. 

Yours,