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The Blue Flower
Candia McWilliam
Penelope Fitzgerald
From the Booker Prize-winning author of ‘Offshore’ and ‘Innocence’ comes this unusual romance between the poet Novalis and his fiancée Sophie.Set in Germany at the very end of the eighteenth century, The Blue Flower is the story of the brilliant Fritz von Hardenberg, a graduate of the Universities of Jena, Leipzig and Wittenberg, learned in Dialectics and Mathematics, who later became the great romantic poet and philosopher Novalis. The passionate and idealistic Fritz needs his father’s permission to announce his engagement to his ‘heart’s heart’, his ‘true Philosophy’, twelve-year-old Sophie von Kuhn. It is a betrothal which amuses, astounds and disturbs his family and friends. How can it be so?One of the most admired of all Penelope Fitzgerald’s books, The Blue Flower was chosen as Book of the Year more than any other in 1995. Her final book, it confirmed her reputation as one of the finest novelists of the century.
The Blue Flower
Penelope Fitzgerald
From the reviews of The Blue Flower: (#ulink_6bb245af-8f84-5ccd-aafd-be294b47cf6b)
‘A minor miracle of sympathy and crispness’
Adam Mars-Jones, Guardian
‘An extraordinary imagining … an original masterpiece’
Hermione Lee, FinancialTimes
‘The Blue Flower is an utterly gripping and involving novel which lingers long in the mind. I know of no contemporary writer who more exactly fulfils the brief which Lord Grey of Fallodon drafted apropos of Jane Austen (‘‘With all these limitations you are to write, not only one novel, but several, which … shall be classed among the first rank of the novels written in your language in your country’’).
‘So how does she do it? Is it the style? To an extent, yes, but not in any obvious way. The prose is rapid, plain and unassuming, with a fondness for dry wit and familiar allocutions. There is little imagery and no recondite vocabulary. Obliquity, timing, and the virtues of omission and allusion are her secrets. Paragraphing bears no obvious relation to temporal or spatial co-ordinates. We flit from one point of time, one view and place, with the nonchalance of a ministering yet invisible spirit.
‘These are, in a sense, negative virtues, and this may be the key to the mystery. How many historical novelists seem to view the past like someone scanning a brochure of Tuscan villasina grey November, asa foreign country where they do things not just differently but more interestingly? And when real historical figures with a known fate and stature are involved, how hard not to fall into the fallacy of assuming that they and their contemporaries were either aware of or wholly unconcerned about the figures they would cut for us, backlit by the retrospective glow which posterity has bestowed on them. Penelope Fitzgerald does not just step safely through this minefield, she makes of it a dance arena in which not only the central characters but all their numerous siblings, relatives and friends come to tumultuous and convincing life. Her past is as present, this being as ‘‘unbearably light’’, its search for meaning as urgent and provisional, as our own.’
Michael Dibdin, Independent on Sunday
‘There are twenty perfectly competent novelists at work in Britain today, but only a handful producing what one could plausibly call works of literature. Of this handful, Penelope Fitzgerald possesses what one can only call the purest imagination. Her limpid, exact prose reflects an unwaveringly clear view of the human predicament. She seems to be one of those rare artists gifted with both the knowledge of how things are, and the skill to record what she knows with subtlety and devastating truthfulness.’
A.N. Wilson, Evening Standard
‘The tension between Fitzgerald’s cool and the alien turbulence of most of her characters adds piquancy … each one, however briefly he or she appears, is as visible and audible as the twigs scraping the windows. Fitzgerald tells you what they eat (goose, eel, cabbage, plums), what they read (if they read), and what they think about the French Revolution. It is fastidious, funny, sad, clever and very engaging.’
Gabriele Annan, TLS
‘She is an intelligent writer, superbly and unfailingly so. But her dry wit is also allied to a great talent for emotional sympathy. The disappointment of Karoline Just … is as terrible and as penetratingly understood as the humiliation of Chekhov’s Varya rummaging for galoshes while the cherry orchard changes hands. A wise and funny novel.’
Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Sunday Times
‘The life of Fritz von Hardenberg, the German romantic poet Novalis, might not seem a likely subject for Fitzgerald’s ironic gift. In fact, the cool examination of the poet’s grotesque family, all the minute historical details which are never laboured and always convincing, and the unsentimental, moving account of Fritz’s slightly absurd passions are all very beautifully done. Fitzgerald never seemsto try too hard; she never bullies the reader, but her dry, small-scale prose manages to produce large-scale emotional effects.’
Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
‘The Blue Flower is a model of what historical fiction can be at its best – when the radical otherness of other times is not merely acknowledged but made integral to the fictional experience. It's also Fitzgerald at her best – elegant, inventive, hilarious, unsparing. I adore this book.’
Jonathan Franzen
Contents
COVER (#ub4f200ee-5380-5edd-903e-ce6afa3d0a34)
TITLE PAGE (#u7ddb4318-94df-573d-b995-e09e2a458fc1)
PRAISE (#u5f5babd7-c9e4-5b3d-a462-e7816feedcdf)
PREFACE BY HERMIONE LEE, ADVISORY EDITOR (#u80a16536-0c34-5aff-adb2-dc6512715907)
INTRODUCTION (#u80e22150-86a7-5770-93ce-00317a228a25)
EPIGRAPH (#uc6e17fa7-2229-539e-a0ac-c20b3dfa2e49)
1. WASHDAY (#u9a7452bd-c8e4-5e7b-a5b3-34ae8d95ce40)
2. THE STUDY (#uf3ef445b-f2e0-5479-9169-85be096bde28)
3. THE BERNHARD (#ua75ac233-b37a-502c-8c60-77cf83099441)
4. BERNHARD’S RED CAP (#u4eb10927-5e95-5100-81a5-fc65e9a124a3)
5. THE HISTORY OF FREIHERR HEINRICH VON HARDENBERG (#u6120522c-606e-5029-b949-273ba9795d3d)
6. UNCLE WILHELM (#u6f4eed08-cf95-569b-891b-e91c18e1550a)
7. THE FREIHERR AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (#ud12d68c8-6fa3-5374-81ac-1ede032c2766)
8. IN JENA (#uc09ddf59-1a1f-53a2-aceb-d797671823a9)
9. AN INCIDENT IN STUDENT LIFE (#u2816478a-0bf3-598e-9066-f1b43b50a3bc)
10. A QUESTION OF MONEY (#u4baf43dd-0153-569c-9fb7-a37153849f7d)
11. A DISAGREEMENT (#ud7c4d3db-9029-583c-a136-ae87207797fe)
12. THE SENSE OF IMMORTALITY (#u5d873f53-fd4c-54e3-bf8d-e36faf734b68)
13. THE JUST FAMILY (#u732b96fa-2878-5d45-83e8-246977650133)
14. FRITZ AT TENNSTEDT (#u2624e82e-64eb-5d94-bbfe-85328331c04f)
15. JUSTEN (#u79dcc796-1301-5b52-9624-1d1f32db976c)
16. THE JENA CIRCLE (#ubdc89753-f25e-550d-a60b-5ae91f92f671)
17. WHAT IS THE MEANING? (#u82f3ee11-a7fb-55a9-a3ef-2373f15604ef)
18. THE ROCKENTHIENS (#u9b661698-bad4-5af7-b7c7-bd7f062fabb3)
19. A QUARTER OF AN HOUR (#u50f94aa7-df9c-5950-87e8-7551fa31ea0b)
20. THE NATURE OF DESIRE (#ub3608472-6e9b-5263-9aef-96a45c01055e)
21. SNOW (#ub4b6a2c0-859b-5abd-a903-daea042127c9)
22. NOW LET ME GET TO KNOW HER (#u4917a7d9-48e6-57ef-a22e-50c9076c61b4)
23. I CAN’T COMPREHEND HER (#ue95b1dca-4ed8-5e77-a7cc-cace07af2509)
24. THE BROTHERS (#u2ea07b3f-f534-583b-8751-f56c11ba178a)
25. CHRISTMAS AT WEISSENFELS (#u4d3bdb2d-eea4-585b-a1bb-31b74df1c5e8)
26. THE MANDELSLOH (#ucb20a189-71ee-5d71-b8e3-231252b62daf)
27. ERASMUS CALLS ON KAROLINE JUST (#u161dd374-075f-5b21-bb71-8832f3755f1d)
28. FROM SOPHIE’S DIARY, 1795 (#u49746642-183b-58e4-a979-6e79067b1790)
29. A SECOND READING (#ubf473292-4620-5f7d-9ba8-3dba8986ab2a)
30. SOPHIE’S LIKENESS (#u1f215c6a-84fb-5dfc-a755-6106af9294a7)
31. I COULD NOT PAINT HER (#ued83d8c3-ef34-579f-8d21-18328e05fbf0)
32. THE WAY LEADS INWARDS (#u9a6a1fb8-1e27-543e-9ade-ca4ac663f495)
33. AT JENA (#u5631cdcd-b6e6-5bd8-a4da-5e832e949b1a)
34. THE GARDEN-HOUSE (#u719e5119-159d-5182-91a3-e46df38686b2)
35. SOPHIE IS COLD THROUGH AND THROUGH (#u8f7b13ff-fbcc-5c41-bf61-297b4d70640f)
36. DR HOFRAT EBHARD (#u0fca580b-b359-5fb6-a73d-5aa345775c74)
37. WHAT IS PAIN? (#ua84c1615-fbea-5a8e-940e-870030d516a8)
38. KAROLINE AT GRüNINGEN (#u92622803-fee8-50a7-9e67-53b8b6dbc527)
39. THE QUARREL (#u18ccaef7-9f56-5b4e-adc8-495e048268ca)
40. HOW TO RUN A SALT MINE (#u841969f8-b827-5583-b144-6f68b17c7232)
41. SOPHIE AT FOURTEEN (#u2b8197ef-544a-5ee8-8fbc-a1f09ac52af3)
42. THE FREIFRAU IN THE GARDEN (#u1b76617e-d2c1-5964-8e2b-ef71ea8b46b1)
43. THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY (#ud632370d-907e-549e-9953-dfb3300aa9d3)
44. THE INTENDED (#u40b390cf-f183-500d-aa6e-c5e5df5e2e9d)
45. SHE MUST GO TO JENA (#u204e8b80-ccc9-513c-a0b6-43e593ce738b)
46. VISITORS (#uaba7d5b2-301e-522c-aa9b-1fd895bd30d1)
47. HOW PROFESSOR STARK MANAGED (#u3183c72d-90ab-5c50-9e49-983274acd796)
48. TO SCHLÖBEN (#u5b5196b3-3cf8-5836-b4af-7f20ad5693bc)
49. AT THE ROSE (#u07cc3e0c-3f5d-5e64-9f6a-de5328e0bd79)
50. A DREAM (#u235c311b-35d1-5d4e-828e-b98163d827a9)
51. AUTUMN 1796 (#u53491f0a-1c8b-5b8b-9d4e-2b21f969522c)
52. ERASMUS IS OF SERVICE (#u48525987-3d83-534f-bc48-4ac9939e28b8)
53. A VISIT TO MAGISTER KEGEL (#u15c1a6b4-37c9-5514-8461-0c723542493e)
54. ALGEBRA, LIKE LAUDANUM, DEADENS PAIN (#u2c602103-5e05-5d74-a8e1-ec41256819ca)
55. MAGISTER KEGEL’S LESSON (#u35eba72f-1cc0-5c38-9b30-0a3eabaa3e19)
AFTERWORD (#u462ead76-61cd-5015-b133-e4062ce11d47)
AUTHOR’S NOTE (#u5610dabd-af6e-593d-8d81-63ce3a18172f)
BY THE SAME AUTHOR (#u4ebcfaab-3f35-5ec5-8fdc-6f7771817c31)
COPYRIGHT (#u5eb68a61-3ff6-59c0-95d8-d3b67929bf68)
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#udc96c6cb-668d-5eba-9b02-acf2a02968b6)
Penelope Fitzgerald (#ulink_d6272331-5366-50fb-90ea-b189a4c2f146)
Preface by Hermione Lee, Advisory Editor (#ulink_d6272331-5366-50fb-90ea-b189a4c2f146)
When Penelope Fitzgerald unexpectedly won the Booker Prize with Offshore, in 1979, at the age of sixty-three, she said to her friends: ‘I knew I was an outsider.’ The people she wrote about in her novels and biographies were outsiders, too: misfits, romantic artists, hopeful failures, misunderstood lovers, orphans and oddities. She was drawn to unsettled characters who lived on the edges. She wrote about the vulnerable and the unprivileged, children, women trying to cope on their own, gentle, muddled, unsuccessful men. Her view of the world was that it divided into ‘exterminators’ and ‘exterminatees’. She would say: ‘I am drawn to people who seem to have been born defeated or even profoundly lost.’ She was a humorous writer with a tragic sense of life.
Outsiders in literature were close to her heart, too. She was fond of underrated, idiosyncratic writers with distinctive voices, like the novelist J. L. Carr, or Harold Monro of the Poetry Bookshop, or the remarkable and tragic poet Charlotte Mew. The publisher Virago’s enterprise of bringing neglected women writers back to life appealed to her, and under their imprint she championed the nineteenth-century novelist Margaret Oliphant. She enjoyed eccentrics like Stevie Smith. She liked writers, and people, who stood at an odd angle to the world. The child of an unusual, literary, middle-class English family, she inherited the Evangelical principles of her bishop grandfathers and the qualities of her Knox father and uncles: integrity, austerity, understatement, brilliance and a laconic, wry sense of humour.
She did not expect success, though she knew her own worth. Her writing career was not a usual one. She began publishing late in her life, around sixty, and in twenty years she published nine novels, three biographies and many essays and reviews. She changed publisher four times when she started publishing, before settling with Collins, and she never had an agent to look after her interests, though her publishers mostly became her friends and advocates. She was a dark horse, whose Booker Prize, with her third novel, was a surprise to everyone. But, by the end of her life, she had been short listed for it several times, had won a number of other British prizes, was a well-known figure on the literary scene, and became famous, at eighty, with the publication of The Blue Flower and its winning, in the United States, the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Yet she always had a quiet reputation. She was a novelist with a passionate following of careful readers, not a big name. She wrote compact, subtle novels. They are funny, but they are also dark. They are eloquent and clear, but also elusive and indirect. They leave a great deal unsaid. Whether she was drawing on the experiences of her own life – working for the BBC in the Blitz, helping to make a go of a small-town Suffolk bookshop, living on a leaky barge on the Thames in the 1960s, teaching children at a stage-school – or, in her last four great novels, going back in time and sometimes out of England to historical periods which she evoked with astonishing authenticity – she created whole worlds with striking economy. Her books inhabit a small space, but seem, magically, to reach out beyond it.
After her death at eighty-three, in 2000, there might have been a danger of this extraordinary voice fading away into silence and neglect. But she has been kept from oblivion by her executors and her admirers. The posthumous publication of her stories, essays and letters is now being followed by a biography (Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life, by Hermione Lee, Chatto & Windus, 2013), and by these very welcome reissues of her work. The fine writers who have provided introductions to these new editions show what a distinguished following she has. I hope that many new readers will now discover, and fall in love with, the work of one of the most spellbinding English novelists of the twentieth century.
Introduction (#ulink_4a8632a4-e5b2-5907-ad8f-ef5f8b5ffc5b)
Penelope Fitzgerald, in an all-too-short autobiographical piece entitled ‘Curriculum Vitae’, writes that she could ‘honestly say that I never shell peas in summer without thinking of Ruskin and of my grandfather’. That grandfather, like the one on her father’s side, was a bishop who ‘had started out with next to nothing’. He fell under the influence of Ruskin, who would describe, ‘with keenest relish’, the joy of shelling peas – ‘the pop which assures one of a successful start, the fresh colour and scent of the juicy row within, and the pleasure of skilfully scooping the bouncing peas with one’s thumb into the vessel by one’s side’.
