H. C. Andersen’s ‘Schiller Fairy Tale’ and the Post-Romantic Religion of Art

Abstract

In his story ‘Den gamle Kirkeklokke’ [‘The Old Church Bell’], Andersen transforms, reinterprets, and dissolves Schiller’s popular poem ‘Das Lied von der Glocke’ [‘The Song of the Bell’] into prose. Written for the Schiller celebrations in 1859, it re-establishes the Romantic cult of the artist under profoundly changed cultural conditions. The article examines Andersen’s complex relationship with the Weimar culture and reveals the hidden autobiographical patters in his Schiller narrative. By adopting Schiller’s role for himself and at the same time linking it to the biography of Thorvaldsen, Andersen manages to bridge the only recently developed national gap between Danish and German culture. He simultaneously arranges the story as a critical commentary on his own Romantic tale ‘Klokken’ [‘The Bell’]. Thus, ‘my Schiller fairy tale’ turns out to be a post-Romantic legend that succeeds Wackenroder’s and Tieck’s outdated ‘religion of art’ in a decidedly ‘prasaic’ mode.