The Blue Flower is set in the age of Goethe among the small towns and great universities of 18th-century Germany. It tells the true story of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a passionate, impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the romantic poet Novalis. Fritz seeks his father's permission to wed his "heart's heart," his "spirit's guide"--a plain, simple child named Sophievon Khn. It is an attachment that shocks his family and friends. Their brilliant young Fritz, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard? How can this be?
Their rationality of love, the transfiguration of the commonplace, the clarity of purpose that comes with knowing one's own fate-- these are the themes of this beguiling novel, themes treated with a mix of wit, grace, and mischievous humor.
"An extraordinary imagining . . . an original masterpiece."--Financial Times
"An astonishing book...Fitzgerald's greatest triumph."--New York Times Book Review
The Blue Flower is set in the age of Goethe among the small towns and great universities of 18th-century Germany. It tells the true story of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a passionate, impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the romantic poet Novalis. Fritz seeks his father's permission to wed his "heart's heart," his "spirit's guide"--a plain, simple child named Sophievon Khn. It is an attachment that shocks his family and friends. Their brilliant young Fritz, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard? How can this be?
Their rationality of love, the transfiguration of the commonplace, the clarity of purpose that comes with knowing one's own fate-- these are the themes of this beguiling novel, themes treated with a mix of wit, grace, and mischievous humor.
"An extraordinary imagining . . . an original masterpiece."--Financial Times
"An astonishing book...Fitzgerald's greatest triumph."--New York Times Book Review
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