PREFACE THE position which Max Müller occupies in literary history is a peculiar one. Though a German born and reared, he lived for the most part of his life on English soil. And in English he wrote that long list of works which has given him a place among the foremost scholars of all time. His only venture in the field of fiction, however, was written in German and deals with purely, German themes. This was his exquisite idyl Deutsche Liebe. I claim for this story, which Bunsen pronounced the finest specimen of German writing he had ever read, a much higher order of literary merit than may be discovered in most short stories customarily read in our German classes. As Mr. Upton, in the preface to his translation, says: "Without plot, incidents, or situations, it is nevertheless dramatically constructed, unflagging in interest, abounding in beauty, grace, and pathos, and filled with the tenderest feeling of sympathy, which will go straight to the heart of every lover of the ideal in the world of humanity, and every worshiper in the world of nature. Its brief essays upon theology, literature, and social habits, contained in the dialogues between the hero and the heroine, will commend themselves to the thoughtful reader by their clearness and beauty of statement, as well as by their freedom from prejudice. Deutsche Liebe is a poem in prose, whose setting is all the more beautiful and tender in that it is freed from the bondage of meter, and has been the unacknowledged source of many a poet's most striking utterances." Both Introduction and Notes are designed to be concise and practical and adapted to the actual needs of the student, while to the Vocabulary the most careful attention has been given to render it complete and thoroughly helpful. A list of all the irregular verbs, including all the necessary information pertaining to them, is given at the close of the Vocabulary. The text is that of the thirteenth Brockhaus edition, which is based on the original edition published at Leipzig by Brockhaus in 1857. This latter Max Müller wished to .be regarded as the final edition. Deutsche Liebe is adapted to the needs of students in their second year's reading; for more advanced students it will offer interesting rapid or sight reading. I wish to express my obligation to Longmans, Green & Co. for the free use I have made of The Life and Letters of the Right Honorable Max Müller, to the Scribners for Auld Lang Syne, and to such other translators and editors of Max Müller's works as I found useful in the preparation of the text. In the Notes, the translations of the passages from the Deutsche Theologie are taken from Georgina Müller's translation of Deutsche Liebe and are Max Müller's own. All other borrowed matter I believe is properly credited in the Notes. HARRISONBURG, Va., JAMES CHAPMAN JOHNSTON. |