The Nightwatches of Bonaventura
Translated and with a new Introduction by Gerald Gillespie
216 pages
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5 1/2 x 8 1/2
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© 2014
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface
Introduction
THE NIGHTWATCHES
Nightwatch 1. The dying freethinker
Nightwatch 2. The devil’s apparition
Nightwatch 3. Stony Crispin’s discourse on the chapter de adulteriis
Nightwatch 4. Woodcuts; along with the life of a madman as a marionette play
Nightwatch 5. The brothers
Nightwatch 6. Doomsday
Nightwatch 7. Self-portraiture—Funeral oration on a child’s birthday—The itinerant minstrel—Suit for slander
Nightwatch 8. The poet’s apotheosis—Farewell letter to life—Hanswurst’s prologue to the tragedy Man
Nightwatch 9. The madhouse—Monologue of the insane creator of the world—The reasonable fool
Nightwatch 10. The winter’s night—Love’s dream—The white and the crimson bride—The nun’s burial—Run through the musical scale
Nightwatch 11. Premonitions of one born blind—The vow—The first sunrise
Nightwatch 12. The solar eagle—The immortal wig—The false pigtail—Apology of life—The comedian
Nightwatch 13. Dithyramb on spring—The title without book—The invalid home of the gods—The backside of Venus
Nightwatch 14. The love of two fools
Nightwatch 15. The marionette theater
Nightwatch 16. The Bohemian woman—The man with second sight—The father’s grave
Afterword: Authorship and Reception
Notes
Select Bibliography
Introduction
THE NIGHTWATCHES
Nightwatch 1. The dying freethinker
Nightwatch 2. The devil’s apparition
Nightwatch 3. Stony Crispin’s discourse on the chapter de adulteriis
Nightwatch 4. Woodcuts; along with the life of a madman as a marionette play
Nightwatch 5. The brothers
Nightwatch 6. Doomsday
Nightwatch 7. Self-portraiture—Funeral oration on a child’s birthday—The itinerant minstrel—Suit for slander
Nightwatch 8. The poet’s apotheosis—Farewell letter to life—Hanswurst’s prologue to the tragedy Man
Nightwatch 9. The madhouse—Monologue of the insane creator of the world—The reasonable fool
Nightwatch 10. The winter’s night—Love’s dream—The white and the crimson bride—The nun’s burial—Run through the musical scale
Nightwatch 11. Premonitions of one born blind—The vow—The first sunrise
Nightwatch 12. The solar eagle—The immortal wig—The false pigtail—Apology of life—The comedian
Nightwatch 13. Dithyramb on spring—The title without book—The invalid home of the gods—The backside of Venus
Nightwatch 14. The love of two fools
Nightwatch 15. The marionette theater
Nightwatch 16. The Bohemian woman—The man with second sight—The father’s grave
Afterword: Authorship and Reception
Notes
Select Bibliography
Review Quotes
Publishers Weekly
“Fans of upscale horror, postmodern literature, and literary analysis will find something to like in this unusual, fractured novel, first published in Germany in 1804. It unfolds as a series of spooky episodes, 16 ‘Nightwatches,’ told by a ringmaster and raconteur who refers to himself as a night watchman, a spectral and sometimes melodramatic figure—‘I’ve touched on my madcap deeds; but then the worst of them all is my life itself.’ In baroque, often murky prose, he shares dreams, observations both literal and philosophical, literary analyses, and dark tales reminiscent of Poe and Lovecraft.”
Spectator
“In style The Nightwatches is fantastically overblown, as was the custom for these early novels, and comically nihilistic: ‘Sobriety is the tomb of art!’ says a young actor in the book, for example, who the narrator has encountered in a cemetery, naturally enough, ‘dawdling in the moonlight’, and who has just held an empty pistol to his forehead and fired it, in an early example of method acting. . . . A common theme in this oddly modern book is the failure of idealism and the shipwreck of dreams. . . . An essential read for anyone interested in Gothic literature or Romanticism.”
Times Literary Supplement
“The Nightwatches of Bonaventura is a comic novel that exudes mystery. From the dark and disturbing musings of its shadowy protagonist, the nightwatchman Kreuzgang, to the veiled identity of the author, known for years simply as Bonaventura but now widely held to be the theatre director August Kingemann, everything about it compels the reader to find out more.”
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