Ernst August Friedrich Klingemann (31 August 1777 in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

– 25 January 1831 in Braunschweig) was a German writer. He is generally agreed to be the author of the 1804 novel ''Nachtwachen'' (Nightwatches) under the pseudonym Bonaventura.

Life

As a young boy, Klingemann developed an interest in the theatre which would last his whole life. After he completed his education at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig, he went to

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

in 1798 to study law and philosophy. There he heard lectures by Johann Gottlieb Fichte,

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...

and

August Wilhelm Schlegel August Wilhelm (after 1812: von) Schlegel (; 8 September 176712 May 1845), usually cited as August Schlegel, was a German poet, translator and critic, and with his brother Friedrich Schlegel the leading influence within Jena Romanticism. His trans ...

and became friends with

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz ...

. However, in 1801 he left Jena and returned to Braunschweig, where he became editor of ''Zeitung für die elegante Welt'' (Newspaper for the Elegant World). In 1810 Klingemann married Elise Anschuetz, an actress. In 1818 he became the director of the Braunschweiger Theatre. Under Klingemann the Braunschweiger theatre soon acquired a good reputation. It was here that the first performance of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

’s Faust (Part 1) was staged, on 19 January 1829. In the same year Klingemann accepted a professorship at his old school, the Collegium Carolinum but only one year later he was once again the director at the theatre. In 1831 Ernst August Friedrich Klingemann died. He is buried in the Magni cemetery in Braunschweig.

Controversy of Nachtwachen Authorship

The authorship of ''Nachtwachen'' was disputed for a long time. It has been attributed to, among others,

Friedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...

Caroline Schelling Caroline Schelling, née Michaelis, widowed Böhmer, divorced Schlegel (2 September 1763 – 7 September 1809), was a noted German intellectual. She was one of the so-called '' Universitätsmamsellen'', a group of five academically active women d ...

and Karl Friedrich Gottlob Wetzel.

Jean Paul Jean Paul (; born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories. Life and work Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Fichtelgebirge mountain ...

was of the opinion that Friedrich Schelling was the author, having noticed some similarities with his ''Gianozzo''. Scholars today, however, are in general agreement that Bonaventura was Klingemann. The crucial evidence is a handwritten list by Klingemann found among other papers in the university library of Amsterdam by Ruth Haag.Ruth Haag: "Noch einmal. Der Verfasser der 'Nachtwachen von Bonaventura'". 1804. In: ''Euphorion''. Bd. 81 (1987).

Works

Klingemann wrote many novels and dramas, which are written in the spirit of Romanticism and enjoyed large popularity at that time. Only his most famous, The Nightwatches of Bonaventura, has been recently translated: * ''The Nightwatches of Bonaventura''. Translated and with a new Introduction by Gerald Gillespie. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

Novels

*''Wildgraf Eckard von der Wölpe'' (1795) *''Die Ruinen im Schwarzwalde'' (The Ruins in the Black Forest) (1797-1799) *''Romano'' (1800-1801) *''Albano, der Lautenspieler'' (1803) *''Die Lazzaroni'' (1803) *''Nachtwachen. Von Bonaventura'' (1804)

Plays

*''Die Asseburg. Historisch-romantisches Gemählde'' (1796/1797) *''Die Maske'' (The Mask) (1797) *''Selbstgefühl'' (1800) *''Freimüthigkeiten'' (1804) *''Der Schweizerbund'' (The Swiss Federation) (1804-1805) *''Der Lazzaroni oder Der Bettler von Neapel'' (The Beggar of Naples) (1806) *''Heinrich von Wolfenschießen'' (1806) *''Columbus'' (1808) *''Heinrich der Löwe'' (Heinrich the Lion) (1808) *''Schill oder Das Deklamatorium zu Krähwinkel'' (1812) *''Moses. A dramatic Poem. '' (1812) *''Faust'' (1815) *''Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Dramatic Play with Singing.'' (1815) *''Deutsche Treue'' (German Loyalty) (1816) *''Die Grube zur Dorothea'' (1817) *''Das Kreuz im Norden'' (The Cross in the North) (1818) *''Ahasver'' (1827) *''Melpomene (2 Dramas: The Bride of Kynast; Bianca di Sepolcro) (1830)

Bibliography

* Ruth Haag: "Noch einmal. Der Verfasser der 'Nachtwachen von Bonaventura'". 1804. In: ''Euphorion''. Bd. 81 (1987) * Kenneth Ralston: ''The captured horizon.

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

and the "Nachtwachen von Bonaventura"''. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1994.

References

External links

''Nachtwachen'' Full text (in German)

Nachtwachen (PDF)

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klingemann, Ernst August Friedrich 1777 births 1831 deaths Writers from Braunschweig People from the Duchy of Brunswick 18th-century German novelists 19th-century German novelists German journalists German male novelists German male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights German male journalists 19th-century German male writers 18th-century German male writers