Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Sex, Religion, and Violence: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Herzog Theodor von Gothland
- 2 The Denomination of the Devil: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung
- 3 “Was soll ich nicht sagen?”: Heinrich Heine's Briefe aus Berlin
- 4 Smuggling or Stalemate?: Heinrich Heine's Reise von München nach Genua
- 5 Too Nice a King for the People?: Franz Grillparzer's König Ottokars Glück und Ende
- 6 The Artist Fights Back: Franz Grillparzer's Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Too Nice a King for the People?: Franz Grillparzer's König Ottokars Glück und Ende
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Sex, Religion, and Violence: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Herzog Theodor von Gothland
- 2 The Denomination of the Devil: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung
- 3 “Was soll ich nicht sagen?”: Heinrich Heine's Briefe aus Berlin
- 4 Smuggling or Stalemate?: Heinrich Heine's Reise von München nach Genua
- 5 Too Nice a King for the People?: Franz Grillparzer's König Ottokars Glück und Ende
- 6 The Artist Fights Back: Franz Grillparzer's Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
FRANZ GRILLPARZER'S OWN ACCOUNT of the painful passage of König Ottokars Glück und Ende through Viennese censorship mechanisms has become one of the most celebrated anecdotes of Austrian censorship history. According to the playwright's “Selbstbiographie” (written in 1853), when he handed his historical drama over to the censors in 1823, neither he nor Josef Schreyvogel, the Theatersekretär at the Burgtheater, expected any problems, “da, wenn das regierende Haus eigens einen Schmeichler bezahlt hätte, dieser der Handlung keine günstigere Wendung geben konnte, als die dramatische Notwendigkeit von selber aufgedrungen hatte.” Despite this confidence, however, nothing was heard about the manuscript for two years.
Then — so the story goes — Empress Karoline fell ill and wanted something to read. She instructed the poet Matthäus Collin to go to the Burgtheater and see what they could offer her. There, he was told that they had nothing more interesting than Grillparzer's König Ottokar, which, however, had not been seen since its submission to the censors. Collin managed to retrieve the play and read it to the empress. She was so impressed — and so surprised that it had not been passed for performance — that she told the emperor, who duly instructed the censors to authorize it. A few years later, Grillparzer happened to meet one of the censors involved in the case, and asked him what had been considered so dangerous about his play. “Gar nichts,” replied the man, “aber ich dachte mir: man kann doch nicht wissen.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Literature and Censorship in Restoration GermanyRepression and Rhetoric, pp. 118 - 169Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009