Review (PDF) The Robbers And Wallenstein (Penguin Classics)
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was one of the most influential of all playwrights, the author of deeply moving dramas that explored human fears, desires and ideals. Written at the age of twenty-one, The Robbers was his first play. A passionate consideration of liberty, fraternity and deep betrayal, it quickly established his fame throughout Germany and wider Europe. Wallenstein, produced nineteen years later, is regarded as Schiller's masterpiece: a deeply moving exploration of a flawed general's struggle to bring the Thirty Years War to an end against the will of his Emperor. Depicting the deep corruption caused by constant fighting between Protestants and Catholics, it is at once a meditation on the unbounded possible strength of humanity, and a tragic recognition of what can happen when men allow themselves to be weak.
Series: Penguin Classics
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics; Penguin Classics edition (February 28, 1980)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140443681
ISBN-13: 978-0140443684
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #395,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #267 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Ancient & Classical #915 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Regional & Cultural > European #1395 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > European
I have reviewed The Robbers separately in another edition, so I am going to focus on Wallenstein here.Schiller had written a history of the 30 Years War in Germany (1618 to 48). One of the side products of that work was the drama trilogy about Wallenstein, the Bohemian leader of the Catholic (and Austrian) Kaiser's armies in the war against Gustav Adolf, the Swedish patron of German Protestantism. The drama is standard fare on German stages. Its first part was first staged in 1798, while the complete trilogy was published in 1800, after a work process of 10 years.The play is largely based on history, but takes some freedom with facts, eg adds persons that are not historical. The main plot is about loyalty and betrayal, which is another departure for Schiller, who was previously more interested in hot emotions and starry eyed idealism. Wallenstein is a successful military leader and becomes too popular for the emperor's taste. Attempts are made to split his following and to reduce his command: divide and rule. He learns about these efforts to undermine him and starts his own initiatives, exploring possibilities to change sides and ally himself with the Swedes (whose king is not alive any more by now) against the emperor. He loses the political game and gets assassinated.For historical background I recommend three quite different books:The magnificent Wallenstein biography by Thomas Mann's son Golo.The equally magnificent `picaresque' novel Simplicius Simplicissimus by Jakob Grimmelshausen, a contemporary of the 30 Years War.For dessert: Guenter Grass, Das Treffen in Telgte, a short novel about a writers' meeting (a 17th century PEN conference?) near the location of the peace agreement of 1648.
The Robbers and Wallenstein (Penguin Classics) Turning Money into Rebellion: The Unlikely Story of Denmark's Revolutionary Bank Robbers Penguin Classics Fear and Trembling: Dialectical Lyric By Johannes De Silentio (Penguin Pocket Hardbacks) The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English (Penguin Classics) The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry (Penguin Classics) The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) The Penguin Book of the Undead: Fifteen Hundred Years of Supernatural Encounters (Penguin Classics) Modern Classics Journeys End (Modern Classics (Penguin)) Little Black Classics Box Set (Penguin Little Black Classics) Modern Classics Selected Poetry (Penguin Modern Classics) American Indians and the Law: The Penguin Library of American Indian History (Penguin's Library of American Indian History) The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Penguin Dictionary) The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers (Penguin Press Science) Homosexual Verse, The Penguin Book of (Penguin poets) The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory (Penguin Reference Books) Betrayal in Paris: How the Treaty of Versailles Led to China's Long Revolution: Penguin Special (Penguin Specials) Opera on Compact Discs, The Penguin Guide to (Penguin Handbooks) The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology (Penguin Dictionary) The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols (Dictionary, Penguin) Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems Selected and Translated with an Introduction and Notes (Penguin Classics)
