Eugene Stelzig is een vooraanstaand geleerde wiens werk diep ingaat op het landschap van literaire grootheden, met een bijzondere focus op romantische auteurs als Wordsworth, Hesse, Rousseau en Goethe. Zijn kritische analyses staan bekend om hun nauwgezette onderzoek, waarbij hij de ingewikkelde lagen van deze invloedrijke werken probeert te ontrafelen. Naast zijn academische bezigheden is Stelzig ook dichter en vertaler van Duitse poëzie, wat zijn brede betrokkenheid bij de kunst van taal aantoont. Zijn uitgebreide publicaties dragen significant bij aan een dieper begrip van canonieke literaire figuren.
Stelzig (English, SUNY Geneseo) compares Russeau and Goethe, the foremost practitioners of Romantic autobiography. He analyzes their conceptions of the genre and their output, combining critical reading of selected episodes with psychobiographical analysis. In the process, he explores how their presentations of their relationships with others are at times defensive and self-serving, revealing a more complex truth than they acknowledge. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
Autobiography and the Confessional Imagination
Focusing on Hermann Hesse's role as an autobiographical writer, this work explores the interplay between his life and literary creations. Eugene Stelzig analyzes Hesse's major and minor works within the context of his psychological journey, presenting him as more than a cult figure of the 1960s. By situating Hesse in a broader tradition of world literature, the author engages with various literary, psychological, philosophical, and religious themes, offering a comprehensive understanding of Hesse's significance beyond German culture.
Exploring the author's hybrid identity, the essays reflect on significant life stages, from his Austrian childhood to his teenage years in France. They delve into his transition to the U.S. for college, experiences studying in England, and ultimately establishing an academic career in America. Each period reveals the complexities of cultural influences and personal growth, offering a rich narrative of identity formation across different landscapes.
The book will be of interest to students of autobiography and life writing as well as specialists in Romantic literature and Anglo-German literary relations. The book includes sections on Robinson and nineteenth-century autobiography, on the different stages of Robinson's five years in Germany, including his initial stay in Frankfurt; his personal friendships and first meeting with literary lions; his days as a Jena student and aspiring "literator"; his contacts with Weimar; and his role as a philosophical informant for Mme de Stael on her visit there; his return to England and the failure of his hopes of achieving the professional literary career that he had dreamed about in Germany. --Book Jacket.