Kategorie: Quellen | Sources
The post presents the anonymous poem that reflects on the growing influence of August von Kotzebue on the British stage and the contemporary defence of Shakespeare’s legacy.
Blending the biblical parable of the prodigal son with echoes of Homer’s Odyssey, Kotzebue’s play “Das Epigramm” (1798) stages homecoming as disguise, recognition, and reconciliation. Discover how satire, sentiment, and autobiographical allusion converge in one of the playwright’s most inventive explorations of return.
Returning home is always bittersweet – a journey of memory, loss, and rediscovery. In August von Kotzebue’s novel “Philibert oder die Verhältnisse” (1809), the protagonist confronts the tender joys and quiet sorrows of homecoming. Explore this moving excerpt on our blog.
What happens when a long-lost husband steps out of the shadows—at a masked ball? In “Die Masken” (1813), August von Kotzebue transforms Homer’s Odysseus into a colonial returnee and places Penelope among the suitors once more. This blog post “Masked Returns and Mythical Echoes: Odysseus Reimagined “ explores Kotzebue’s rich and ironic reworkings of the homecoming motif, tracing explicit references to Penelope across his plays and prose. From theatrical disguises to literary homage, Kotzebue invites us to reencounter ancient myth in the domestic dramas of modernity.
As a preview of the upcoming literary walk in Weimar, we present a memoir by August von Kotzebue in which he recalls his first encounter with the theatre: a performance of Klopstock’s Death of Adam at the Old Riding Hall in Weimar. This moment proved formative—the young Kotzebue was overwhelmed by the stage, and it was here that his passion for drama was first ignited. A vivid glimpse into the origins of an extraordinary theatrical career.
On today’s anniversary of the death of the writer August von Kotzebue (†23 March 1819), we commemorate his fate with a special literary source: Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) visited Kotzebue’s grave in Mannheim and vividly described this experience in his memoirs. The celebrated French author captures the peculiar atmosphere surrounding Kotzebue’s tomb. Dumas’ recollections first appeared in 1866 as a serialised pre-publication in the French newspaper Le Soleil. We present this essay both in the original French and in German translation and warmly invite you to explore these remarkable memoirs.
In December 1911, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche penned her personal reflections on August von Kotzebue, prompted by Baroness Elisabet von Rosen’s recently published Revaler Theaterchronik. Rather than focusing on Kotzebue’s tenure at the Reval Theatre, Förster-Nietzsche used the occasion to explore her family’s historical ties to the controversial playwright. Her essay, published in the St. Petersburger Zeitung an 1 January 1912 and reprinted two decades later in the Revalsche Zeitung, provides a unique familial perspective on Kotzebue, challenging dominant narratives in 19th and early 20th-century German literary historiography. This blog post delves into Förster-Nietzsche’s portrayal of Kotzebue within the Nietzsche family, situating it within broader discussions of his public reception and Friedrich Nietzsche’s own critical engagement with his work.
As we begin a new year, this post revisits Friedrich Nietzsche’s provocative take on August von Kotzebue, offering fresh insights into the dynamics of German theatre culture. In aphorism 170 of Human, All Too Human (1878), Nietzsche describes Kotzebue as the “true theatre talent of the Germans.” This provocative claim compels a re-evaluation of theatre as a cultural institution that values authenticity and popular engagement over idealised intellectualism. By reflecting on Nietzsche’s critique, we re-engage with enduring debates about the intersection of art, audience, and cultural values—a timely prompt for fresh perspectives in the year ahead.
Ein einzigartiges Zeugnis menschlicher Verbundenheit und historischer Tiefe: Der Brief von Christiane Kotzebue an ihre Nichte Erdmuthe Nietzsche öffnet ein Fenster in das private Leben und die emotionale Welt des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts. Er zeigt, wie familiäre Bande Trost und Halt in einer Zeit bieten konnten, die von persönlichen Verlusten und gesellschaftlichen Umbrüchen geprägt war.
„So lange deutsch gesprochen wird, war auch von deutschem Undank die Rede. Das wird allgemein anerkannt, und dennoch bessern wir uns nicht. – Oder wie soll ich es anders nennen, als Undank, daß wir den Zierden unseres Vaterlandes fortwährend öffentliche Ehrendenkmäler versagen?“