Heinrich Heine, Romanzero

Willi Goetschel (University of Toronto)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1851

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

Romanzero, Heinrich Heine's final collection of poetry published in 1851, is also his poetic legacy: an irreverent review of both life's depths and superficialities, which more often than not co-exist, sometimes as literal bed fellows as the opening poem “Rhampsenit” suggests. Breaking into the pharaoh's treasure chamber, Rhampsenit the daredevil not only walks away with the stolen goods, but is also awarded half the kingdom and the pharaoh's daughter as his bride, whose virginity he stole in the first place. In this figure, Pharaoh meets his equal, Heine suggests, and Egypt gets its most effective ruler. Romanzero ends by describing the nose of another queen – with a sense of smell both delicate and obtuse – …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1845 words

Citation: Goetschel, Willi. "Romanzero". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11185, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Save this article