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Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
published by Heinrich von Kleist
Heinrich von Kleist
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
and Adam Heinrich Müller in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
between January 1808 and December 1808, in twelve issues grouped into nine instalments. Many of Kleist's most famous works appeared in print for the first time within its covers.
Original plans
The journal's name is that of the sun-god Phoebus, generally associated with the Greek ApolloApollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
. The frontispiece of the first issue, designed by Ferdinand Hartmann, shows Phoebus in a chariot, drawn by sun-horses over the town of Dresden. Kleist wrote: "Thunder on, O thou, with thy flaming steeds, / Phoebus, bringer of day, into infinite space!"
The periodical was modelled on Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's journal Die Horen. The original plan of including the work of Schiller and Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
came unravelled early on, especially when Goethe distanced himself from the project. Müller and Kleist having neither well-developed plans nor good contacts with book-sellers, the journal quickly failed and lost them money. The exact circulation is not known, but the biographer Klaus Günzel estimates that hardly more than 150 copies were printed of each issue.
Content and development
The first issue contained a fragment of Kleist's drama PenthesileaPenthesilea (Kleist)
Penthesilea is a tragedy by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. The play, about the mythological Amazonian queen, Penthesilea, is an exploration of sexual frenzy. Goethe rejected the play as "unplayable".-Plot summary:...
, which, like the journal itself, was poorly received by critics. Goethe was unimpressed, although Kleist had submitted the first issue with a humble dedication "on the knees of his heart". Contributions to the journal from Goethe were not forthcoming and its fate was thus sealed from the very beginning.
Nevertheless Kleist and Müller pressed on. The complete failure of Goethe's bungled production of Der zerbrochene Krug at Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
goaded Kleist to include extracts from the comedy in the third issue, which only exacerbated public indignation over its "indecency" and cemented the failure. Accumulating debts led quickly to tensions between the two men, who wrote the bulk of the magazine's content; after Müller finally sold the magazine behind Kleist's back to a Dresden book-seller, in exchange for the remission of debts, relations between the two men cooled markedly, and in 1809 Müller returned to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Issue 1 (January)
- Prologue (Kleist)
- Organic fragment from the tragedy PenthesileaPenthesilea (Kleist)Penthesilea is a tragedy by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. The play, about the mythological Amazonian queen, Penthesilea, is an exploration of sexual frenzy. Goethe rejected the play as "unplayable".-Plot summary:...
(Kleist) - On the meaning of dance (Christian Gottfried KörnerChristian Gottfried KörnerChristian Gottfried Körner was a German jurist. His home was a literary and musical salon, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller.-Biography:...
) - The angel at the tomb of Our Lord (Kleist)
- To Dorothee (NovalisNovalisNovalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:...
) - Notes on dramatic poesy and art (Müller)
- Popularity and mysticism (Müller)
- On the literary character of Frau von Stael-HolsteinAnne Louise Germaine de StaëlAnne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :...
(Müller) - Epilogue (Kleist)
Issue 2 (February)
- Die Marquise von O. (Kleist)
- The pair of dovesThe Two PigeonsThe Two Pigeons is a fable by Jean de la Fontaine that was adapted as a ballet with music by André Messager in the 19th century and rechoreagraphed to the same music by Frederick Ashton in the 20th....
, a fable of La Fontaine (Kleist) - Lectures on beauty (Müller)
- On Corinne, or Italy, by Mme de Stael-HolsteinAnne Louise Germaine de StaëlAnne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :...
(Müller)
Issue 3 (March)
- Lectures on beauty, cont'd (Müller)
- Fragments from the comedy Der zerbrochene Krug (Kleist)
- Fables (Kleist)
- Pelegrin (extracts) (Friedrich de la Motte FouquéFriedrich de la Motte FouquéFriedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué was a German writer of the romantic style.-Biography:He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in his family name...
)
Issues 4 and 5 (April and May)
- Fragment from the tragedy Robert Guiskard (Kleist)
- The ancient and his translator (Karl Friedrich Gottlob WetzelKarl Friedrich Gottlob WetzelKarl Friedrich Gottlob Wetzel was a German writer. He studied medicine in Leipzig and Jena, then philosophy....
) - The adventures of the fiddler at ShirazShirazShiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
(Gotthilf Heinrich von SchubertGotthilf Heinrich von SchubertGotthilf Heinrich von Schubert was a German physician and naturalist....
) - M. and S. (NovalisNovalisNovalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:...
) - Lectures on beauty, cont'd (Müller)
- Faareveile (Adam Gottlob OehlenschlägerAdam Gottlob OehlenschlägerAdam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature.-Biography:He was born in Vesterbro, then a suburb of Copenhagen, on 14 November 1779...
) - Irony, comedy, AristophanesAristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
(Müller) - Fragments from a lecture (Schubert)
- Twentyfour epigrams (Kleist)
- On landscape painting (Müller)
- Variation on the Muses and Graces in the Mark (Wetzel)
- Fragment from the play Das Käthchen von HeilbronnDas Käthchen von HeilbronnKäthchen of Heilbronn or The Trial by Fire is a "great historical knightly play" in five acts by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. The action of the drama takes place in Swabia during the Middle Ages.The play was first performed at the Vienna Theater on March 17, 1810 and then published...
(Kleist) - Saul and David (Wetzel)
Issue 6 (June)
- The victory feast on the return of the Greeks (Anne Louise Germaine de StaëlAnne Louise Germaine de StaëlAnne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :...
) - The tale of the long nose (Wetzel)
- Great Christoph (Wetzel)
- Michael KohlhaasMichael KohlhaasMichael Kohlhaas is an 1811 novella by Heinrich von Kleist, based on a 16th-century story of Hans Kohlhase.Both the theme and the style are surprisingly modern...
(Kleist) - Apologia for French dramatic literature (Müller)
- Art criticism (Müller)
- Twenty epigrams (Kleist)
Issue 7 (July)
- On the character of Spanish poetry (Müller)
- On didactic poetry (Wilhelm NienstädtWilhelm NienstädtWilhelm Nienstädt was a Prussian educator and writer.The son of a minister, he studied theology at Helmstedt and Göttingen...
) - Iduna, Goddess of Immortality (Wetzel)
- God's river, from the TalmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
(Wetzel) - The neglected church (Wetzel)
- Philosophical and critical miscellany (Müller and Wetzel)
Issue 8 (August)
- The seeress's grave—the northern requiem, from the EddaEddaThe term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...
(Wetzel) - Introduction to the study of Greek drama (Müller)
- Kleobis and BitonKleobis and BitonKleobis and Biton are the names of two human brothers in Greek mythology. It is also the name conventionally given to a pair of lifesize Archaic Greek statues, or kouroi, which are now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum, at Delphi Greece...
(Wetzel) - On didactic poetry, cont'd (Nienstädt)
- Philosophical and critical miscellany (Müller)
- The school of Johann von Müller (Müller)
- Further thoughts on the difference between the Ancient Theatre and the Modern (Müller)
Issues 9 and 10 (September and October)
- On the religious character of Greek drama (Müller)
- The grape harvest (Novalis)
- Second fragment from the play (Kleist)
- Notes on William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
(Müller) - Short occasional poems (Kleist)
Issues 11 and 12 (November and December)
- Prolegomena to a philosophy of art (Müller)
- Song of youth (Wetzel)
- Death (Wetzel)
- The curse of time (Wetzel)
- The treasure (Wetzel)
- A fright while bathing: an idyll (Kleist)
- Kunz von Kauffungen (Otto Heinrich von LöbenOtto Heinrich von LöbenFerdinand August Otto Heinrich, Graf von Loeben was a German writer.He was born into an aristocratic Protestant family, and was educated by private tutors...
) - The dying Mary (von Löben)
- The Assumption of Mary (von Löben)
- The soul's burden (Müller)
- Italian theatre, masks, extemporisations (Müller)
- The presence of spirit (Wetzel)
- On German family-portraiture (Müller)
- To J. (Müller)
- Invisible writing (Wetzel)
- A wanderer's sojourn (Wetzel)
- A wanderer's evening (Wetzel)
- A wanderer's encampment (Wetzel)
- On art criticism (Ferdinand Hartmann)
- Need-and-assistance book for artists and art enthusiasts in Mildheim (Basilius von RamdohrBasilius von RamdohrFriedrich Wilhelm Basilius von Ramdohr was a German conservative lawyer, art critic and journalist based in Dresden. From 1806 he was a Prussian diplomat to Rome and Naples.-Life:...
)