Retribution in the Mountains

Schiller's Wilhelm Tell in the Distorting Mirror of Heine's Satire Atta Troll: Ein Sommernachtstraum

Author: Reeves, Nigel

Source: Oxford German Studies, Volume 37, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 27-35(9)

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Abstract:

This article surveys some of the known sources of Heine's complex parody Atta Troll, Ein Sommernachtstraum, Freiligrath's Der Mohrenfürst, the Rolandslied, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, and Schiller's Die Götter Griechenlands, but then proceeds to trace through textual comparison a previously unidentified source, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, uncovering both thematic and linguistic echoes. Substituting the Pyrenees for the Alps and Ronceval for Küssnacht, where Tell shoots down the Austrian tyrant, Gessler, Heine reverses the roles of huntsman and hunted, transforms the loving father Tell into the loving father-bear Troll and Tell, the avenging marksman, into the mysterious Laskaro, who, like Tell, has escaped death and in the name of human justice acts as an executioner of the self-declared enemy of mankind, Troll.

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/174592108x334418

Publication date: 2008-05-01

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