登陆注册
14731500000009

第9章

T his brings to a close the first Act of the drama of Kinkel's life and nothing worthy of mention then occurs before the outbreak of the February Revolution. The publishing house of Cotta accepted his poems but without offering him a royalty and most of the copies remained unsold until the celebrated stray bullet in Baden gave a poetic nimbus to the author and created a market for his products.

Incidentally, our biographer omits mention of one momentous fact.

The self-confessed goal of Kinkel's desires was that he should die as an old theatre director: his ideal was a certain old Eisenhut who together with his troupe used to roam up and down the Rhine as a travelling Pickelhäring [clown] and who afterwards went mad.

Alongside his lectures with their rhetoric of the pulpit Gottfried also gave a number of theological and aesthetic performances in Cologne from time to time. When the February Revolution broke out, he concluded them with this prophetic utterance:

"The thunder of battle reverberates over to us from Paris and opens a new and glorious era for Germany and the whole continent of Europe. The raging storm will be followed by Zephyr's breezes with their message of freedom. On this day is born the great, bountiful epoch of -- constitutional monarchy!"The constitutional monarchy expressed its thanks to Kinkel for this compliment by appointing him to a professorial chair. Such recognition could however not suffice for our grand homme en herbe. The constitutional monarchy showed no eagerness to cause his "fame to encircle the globe". Moreover, the laurels Freiligrath had collected for his recent political poems prevented our crowned Maybug poet from sleeping. Heinrich von Ofterdingen, therefore, resolved upon a swing to the left and became first a constitutional democrat and then a republican democrat (honnête et modéré). He set out to become a deputy but the May elections took him neither to Berlin nor to Frankfurt. Despite this initial setback he pursued his objective undismayed and it can truthfully be said that he did not spare himself.

He wisely limited himself at first to his immediate environment. He founded the Bonner Zeitung [Bonn News], a modest local product distinguished only by the peculiar feebleness of its democratic rhetoric and the naivete with which it aspired to save the nation. He elevated the Maybug Club to the rank of a democratic Students' Club and from this there duly flowed a host of disciples that bore the Master's renown into every corner of the district of Bonn, importuning every assembly with the fame of Professor Kinkel. He himself politicked with the grocers in their club, he extended a brotherly hand to the worthy manufacturers and even hawked the warm breath of freedom among the peasantry of Kindenich and Seelscheid. Above all he reserved his sympathy for the honourable caste of master craftsmen. He wept together with them over the decay of handicrafts, the monstrous effects of free competition, the modern dominance of capital and of machines. Together with them he devised plans to restore the guilds and to prevent the violation of guild regulations by the journeymen. So as to do everything of which he was capable he set down the results of his pub deliberations with the petty guild masters in the pamphlet entitled Handicraft, save yourself!

Lest there be any doubt as to Mr. Kinkel's position and to the significance of his little tract for Frankfurt and the nation he dedicated it to the "thirty members of the economic committee of the Frankfurt National Assembly".

Heinrich von Ofterdingen's researches into the "beauty" of the artisan class led him immediately to the discovery that "the whole artisan class is at present divided by a yawning chasm" (p. 5). This chasm consists in the fact that some artisans "frequent the clubs of the grocers and officials"(what progress!) and that others do not do this and also in the fact that some artisans are educated and others are not. Despite this chasm the author regards the artisans' clubs, the assemblies springing up everywhere in the beloved fatherland and the agitation for improving the state of handicrafts (reminiscent of the congresses à la Winkelblech [24] of 1848) as the portent of a happy future. To ensure that his own good advice should not be missing from this beneficent movement he devises his own programme of salvation.

He begins by asking how to eradicate the evil effects of free competition by restricting it but without eliminating it altogether.

The solutions he proposes are these:

"A youth who lacks the requisite ability and maturity should be debarred by law from becoming a master" (p. 20).

"No master shall be permitted to have more than one apprentice (p. 29)"The course of instruction in a craft shall be concluded by an examination" (p. 30).

"The master of an apprentice must unfailingly attend the examination"(p. 31).

"On the question of maturity it should become mandatory that henceforth no apprentice may become a master before completion of his twenty-fifth year" (p. 42).

"As evidence of ability every candidate for the title of master should be required to pass a public examination" (p. 43).

"In this context it is of vital importance that the examination should be free" (p. 44). "All provincial masters of the same guild must likewise submit themselves to the same examination" (p. 55).

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 阳阳鬼差:迷惘

    阳阳鬼差:迷惘

    一场车祸,让夜山成为阳间了鬼差,随后便也遇到了同是鬼差的苏莫以及阴阳师王攀……而他的鬼差之旅也才刚刚开始。午夜的孤影,出租屋异客,废楼鬼故事,国庆节旅游,灵魂摆渡人……这一切的一切看似很简单,实则暗藏玄机……传说中的精灵魂是何方神圣?每次他们遇险时一只千年僵尸为何都出手相救?记住,有时候亡灵并不可怕,可怕的是人性。
  • 霸道世子:强宠变装千金

    霸道世子:强宠变装千金

    恋爱甜文。前方鲜肉预警!?小小少女易装成少年,进入国子监,化身鲜肉一枚。?跟着新铃卫老大:野性少年陈淮亭,苦学射箭,遂,善射。?立足国子监——这里有温文尔雅却狡诈无比的天才学子,有腹黑深沉的离异大叔,有家财万贯离经叛道的土豪皇商,有全国各种优质股美男。?而我们的鲜肉女主,却被皇帝点将,开始了任劳任怨的万草丛中过,汗滴禾下土的生活。?而她据说快病死了的未婚夫,竟伪装成其他人,一直在她身侧保护?
  • 叶罗丽精灵梦之幻情

    叶罗丽精灵梦之幻情

    当叶罗丽战士们和仙境对战时,一位女子站在墙角默默观看。混血美少女——世界第一巨星兼并世界第一美少女的馨紫儿来到了王默的班级和她成为同学。紫儿的亦正亦邪和那天生就惊美绝伦的容颜,雪媚儿的魅惑动人无不让王墨他们和让他们的守护仙子羡慕。紫儿那悲伤的眼睛隐藏着怎样的秘密?雪媚儿是仙境所是从未见过的仙子,她又有何身份?欢迎加入QQ群:575340413
  • 全世界只有一抹微光

    全世界只有一抹微光

    四十八层的大厦上方,刹那间满眼烟火。有这么一个人,花巨资,买下一整层楼,只为了吃一顿饭,只为了放着一场新年烟火,告诉我他喜欢我。然而,我眼前忽而浮现出了大学时候,林远乔站在雪地里,小心翼翼点燃的“安沫沫,我喜欢你”那些烟火。我还记得那个时候,林远乔张开双手,他的身后是吱吱升起在天空的绚烂烟花。我还记得那时的我急急忙忙地跑下楼,心跳不已地拥抱了他。他的脸庞被烟火照亮,笑容青涩,却温暖了我整个冬季。我们从青春走到荒芜,从炎炎夏日走到皑皑冬季,感情在时光挤压中破碎变形。但那个时候的雀跃不是假的,那个时候的小鹿乱撞也不是假的。那时的林远乔,是我这一辈子,最最喜欢的人。
  • 怎奈娘子太癫狂

    怎奈娘子太癫狂

    床前明月光,我爸是李刚。要问他咋样,坑蒙拐骗装。哟,你还在拼爹呢?out啦!现在可是拼贱的时代←_←准确来说,谁见谁无敌~( ̄▽ ̄~)~一朝穿越,别人都是金手指大开,各色美男靠上来。而沈河清却是个可怜的,穿过去爹不疼娘不爱,姨娘庶姐来陷害,未婚夫还嫌她傻,孤零零地顶着个相府嫡女身份,还好死不死的“毁了”某只妖孽的清白。
  • exo艺妍萌晴

    exo艺妍萌晴

    她是一个千金,但她过得很平凡,她很漂亮,在她平凡的生活中有一群他们出现改变了她的生活,她和他们发生了什么呢?鹿晗:我要你在我身边吴世勋:你永远都是我的女人黄子韬:我只允许我欺负你张艺兴:我永远都在背后守护你吴亦凡:我爱你,你却不知道边伯贤:我是你的波波虎,我爱你朴灿烈:我要把我的快乐病毒传给你
  • 诡村(下)

    诡村(下)

    《诡村》首度披露关中乡村的百年诡情,全程揭开关中村庄的神奇的、凄美的传说。关中地区多怪诞,且不言“陕西八大怪”,其乡野间所见之怪诞事不胜枚举。此地多葬帝王将相,故以风水阴阳为业者夥矣。有任氏,十数代居于此地,善卜阴阳。每代必有一子生得五子,其余四兄弟绝无男丁。而第五子必为阴阳生,终身孤独,不得娶妻生子,以因袭祖制。至任儒云父辈一代,到达鼎盛,任儒云五叔(文中五爷)自幼于山中学得异术,能差鬼神,卜吉凶,知后事,却因此而死。唯遗《任氏家言》一册,为其所著,书中所载鬼狐之事,颇为精妙,后任儒云与任桀叔侄以此为典,解人危难,善人沉冤得雪,亦见恶人恶行得昭。
  • 天岚剑

    天岚剑

    自由是这么来的,可奴性也是这么来的,当你高呼自己掌控了命运的时候,却没有看见苍穹背后,那张嘲讽的脸,所谓命运,不过是一场阴谋……
  • 菩提心离相论

    菩提心离相论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 谁来唤醒我

    谁来唤醒我

    你有没有发现,一旦你陷入一幕回忆之中,你就将呈现出一个立体的形态,你可以轻易看清她背后的一切景致,你也可以望见自己背后的形形色色。或许这些不过是你想象出的空间画面,那些你所熟悉的场景,你把它们任意地安放在那个空间里,然后把自己摆了进去。