It's exhausting to keep smiling when your toes are bleeding on the floor

[sovay]

"Oh, God," exclaimed Kreisler, his face alive with the most diverse play of muscles, as always happened when his sense of humor came to the fore, "oh, God, most gracious Princess—how entirely am I, a poor Kapellmeister, of your kind and gracious opinion! Is it not against all convention and propriety to bring into company a breast with all its melancholy, all its pain, all its rapture enclosed therein, without first veiling it heavily with the fichu of admirable conduct and decorum? Are they any good, all those institutions of sanitization that afford a comfortable tone everywhere, are they really any good, are they enough to put out those naphtha-flames that will keep blazing up here and there? Do we swill down so much tea, so much sugar-water, so much polite conversation, even so much kindly idiocy, just for some shameless arsonist to launch a Congreve rocket into our midst and up bursts the flame, bursts and actually burns, as never happens with pure moonshine! Yes, most gracious Princess, yes—of all Kapellmeisters the unluckiest on this earth, I have committed a disgraceful crime with this inexcusable duet, which like a firework from hell struck through this whole company with all kinds of flares, rockets, gushers, and cannon-fire and tragically, I see, it has struck sparks almost everywhere! Hey! Fire! fire!—murder! it's burning—call the fire department—water! water!—save us, help!"

—E.T.A. Hoffmann, Lebensansichten des Katers Murr (1819—1821)

Comments

[blubeagle.livejournal.com]

I like this. And I *love* that song (as well as the whole CD).

[sovay]

I like this.

It's one of my favorite novels. I love E.T.A. Hoffmann.

And I *love* that song (as well as the whole CD).

I have not yet heard the rest of the CD! I picked up the song from my brother, who played it for me while we were running errands a few weeks ago; it permanently affixed itself to the inside of my head. I will have to ask him for the rest.

[blubeagle.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, it is their best CD. It's dark yet hopeful (well, as hopeful as Depeche Mode gets *grin*) and every song is great. And it's deeply personal, which is definitely a selling point for me. The first single, "Precious," makes me cry. It's beautiful and touching. It was written for Martin Gore's children during his divorce.

I know. I know. Too much information. :+)

[blubeagle.livejournal.com]

Is there an English translation of this novel? (I forgot to ask.)

[sovay]

Is there an English translation of this novel?

Yes. (Its full title is Lebensansichten des Katers Murr nebst fragmentarischer Biographie des Kapellmeisters Johannes Kreisler in zufälligen Makulaturblättern—Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr along with a Fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on Random Scrap Paper. And the novel is more or less what it sounds like.) It's much harder to find his short stories; there's a very good translation of his first collection Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier (Fantasy Pieces in the Style of Callot) by Joseph M. Hayse, but almost everything else is anthologized or rearranged into best-ofs, which annoys me. And my German is not in fact good enough to produce publishable translations of all his work!

[blubeagle.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much, Miss S. :+)

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Interesting quote. Amn't at all familiar with this author.

I do wish I had German, sometimes.