Army-Chaplain Schmelzle’s Journey to Flaetz and Life of Quintus Fixlein

Thomas Carlyle’s preoccupation with German literature and the German spirit, beginning in 1819, had acquainted him with two creative giants, Goethe and Schiller, motivating him to translate Wilhelm Meister and to write hisLife of Schiller. But then he discovered another great figure, even closer to his heart: Jean Paul Friedrich Richter. The study of Richter’s works developed into a very personal encounter. Carlyle even adopted Jean Paul’s mannerisms in his own style, and all of this had a decisive impact on the content, structure and style of Sartor Resartus (1833). Wulf Koepke’s introduction places Jean Paul in the context of the English-speaking worldof the mid-19th century.