Achim von Arnim

Biography

Ludwig Joachim von Arnim was raised as an orphan by his grandmother in Berlin. His father was not only very busy as a diplomat, but also as director of the Berlin Opera and managing his estate in the Uckermark and did not find time to raise his son. Arnim studied law and natural sciences in Halle from 1798 to 1799. From 1800 he devoted himself to mathematical studies at the University of Georgia-Augusta in Göttingen. There he first met early romantics like Ludwig Tieck. After meeting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Clemens Brentano, he became primarily interested in literature. A close, lifelong friendship and later romantic working relationship developed between Clemens Brentano and Arnim. From 1801 to 1804 he went on several educational trips through Europe with his brother - including France, Switzerland and England. Before and during his travels, he collected oral folk songs. Then, in 1804, he began to compile the three-volume song collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (1806 - 1808) with Clemens Brentano in Heidelberg. The first volume was published in 1805. Arnim didn't stop at collecting, but changed the texts, adapted them or rewritten them. In Heidelberg, Arnim and Brentano met the poets Joseph Karl Benedikt Freiherr von Eichendorff, Johann Joseph von Görres, Justinus Kerner, Ludwig Tieck and Philipp Otto Runge, with whom they formed the core of the Heidelberg Romantics. For political reasons, this circle turned to the Middle Ages in order to create national unity through this art era; the aesthetic aspect of art was of less interest. After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, Arnim moved to Kassel and, together with Clemens Brentano, completed the second and third parts of the "Wunderhorn" with over 600 songs. Goethe received the work with enthusiasm, which was also a great success and had a lasting effect on Romantic song poetry. The suggestions that came from this were reflected in ballads by Eduard Mörike, Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Uhland and Theodor Storm. In 1809 Arnim returned to Berlin and tried in vain to get a job in the Prussian civil service. The relationship with Clemens Brentano became even closer when Arnim married his sister Bettine Brentano. The two had already met in 1802. She became a writer herself after the death of Achim von Arnim. From 1808 to 1812, Armin joined the Berlin "Christian-German Table Society" of the patriots Heinrich Kleist, Adam Müller, Adalbert Chamisso, Ernst Moritz Arndt, Friedrich Baron da la Motte Fouqué and others who campaigned for the liberation of Prussia. In 1813, Arnim took part in the War of Freedom as captain of a Landsturm battalion. In 1814 the von Arnim couple moved to the Wieperdorf estate, but also spent part of their time in Berlin. Armin linked his literary work to a political renewal that he saw as achievable with the help of art. The revival of traditional poetry played an important role. In the short story collection "The Winter Garden" (1809), traditional texts are edited and adapted. A year later, the novel "Poverty, Wealth, Guilt and Penance of Countess Dolores" (1810) was written, which represented a typically early romantic theme with its supernatural content and influenced other works of this era. His "Magazine for Hermits," which he published in collaboration with Brentano, also reflects this sign of renewal. In it he published numerous works by other romantics such as the brothers Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm. In book form, the journal is entitled "Solace-Loneliness". His fantastic narrative works, such as the novella "Isabella of Egypt", which also integrate surreal, critical and historical elements, are becoming more widely known and are an important contribution to the early romantic era. His two major novels, "Countess Dolores" as a marriage novel and the fragmentary "Crown Guard" (1817) as a historical work, are period pieces that address contemporary society and address its shortcomings. With the latter work, Arnim significantly pushed forward the renewal of the historical novel in Germany. In 1818 his novella "The Mad Invalid at Fort Ratonneau" was published. Achim von Arnim's dramas are adaptations of traditional works such as the title "The Equals" or the play "Halle and Jerusalem", which goes back to Andreas Gryphius' tragedy "Cardenio and Celinde". After the freedom fights, Achim von Arnim withdrew to his estates in Wiepersdorf near Berlin and devoted himself to managing them. Achim von Arnim died on January 21, 1831 in Wiepersdorf, Jüter district.