The New International Encyclopædia/Tieck, Ludwig

TIECK, Ludwig (1773-1853). A German romantic novelist, translator, and critic, brother of the preceding, born in Berlin. After studies at Halle, Göttingen, and Erlangen and four years of literary work in Berlin, Tieck went to Jena in 1799 and joined the Schlegels and Novalis in their romantic agitation. Leaving Jena, he went to Dresden, moved to Frankfort on the Oder, visited Italy (1805), England and France (1817), and in 1825 became director of the Dresden Court Theatre after having since 1819 been the centre of a literary circle there. Royal favor brought him in 1841 back to Berlin, where his dramatic talents were used in the production of several Greek plays. Tieck's significant literary career opens with Abdallah (1795), Sternbalds Wanderungen (1798), and William Lovell (1795-96), all novels of ‘storm and stress.’ His youthful imagination ran riot also in mediæval legends and fairy tales, e.g. the three volumes of Volksmärchen (1797), among which were versions of Puss in Boots, Bluebeard, and Red Riding Hood. A comedy, The World Topsy-Turvy (1799), Die verkehrte Welt, proclaimed even more emphatically his period of romantic revolt. To this year belong also the ultra-romantic Phantasien über die Kunst, full of enthusiasm and of a mystic religiosity. His Romantische Dichtungen (2 vols., 1799 and 1800) were the first work to show the direct influence of association with the Schlegels. They were followed by an admirable translation of Don Quixote (1799-1801) and by Kaiser Octavianus (1804), his longest novel. This period of rapid production was succeeded by a nervous breakdown. After his recovery his work is less mystic, less erratic, more artistic, e.g. Phantasus (1812-17), and an edition of Ulrich von Lichtenstein's Frauendienst (1812), but Tieck did not reach the complete maturity of his genius till his visit to England, the direct results of which are Shakespeares Vorschule (1823-29), Dramaturgische Blätter (1826), and his noble continuation of Schlegel's translation of Shakespeare. Indirectly the same influence is seen in the Novellenkranz (1831-35; 12 vols., 1853). Tieck's Works are in 28 volumes (1828-54). Some tales and novels are translated by Carlyle and by Thirlwall. Consult the German studies by Köpke (Leipzig, 1855), Friesen (Vienna, 1871), and Steiner (Berlin, 1893). Carlyle's Essay on Tieck was published in 1823 and introduced him to English readers.