88. Two Different Measures

The book "Heine, Dostojewskij und Gorkij" by Dr. J. E. Poritzky (published by Richard Wöpke in Leipzig), which has just appeared, offers, among many other noteworthy remarks, an examination of Heine literature at the end of the nineteenth century. One is reminded of the fundamental evils of our literary present when reading Poritzky's thoughts. In particular, the independence of judgment of many literary figures of our time becomes questionable when one follows Heine's reflections. For what Poritzky points out is undoubtedly correct (p. 6): "The Germanic judgments of Julian Schmidt and Heintich v. Treitschke have still not been overcome; on the contrary, they continue their effect in silence." Unfortunately, there are many "writers" today who have neither the ability nor the will to examine such judgments impartially for their value. These "writers", who can sometimes occupy quite prestigious positions, certainly need to make a judgment; they are more likely to do without one. Heine's literature is a good basis for making observations in these directions.

You only need to follow things carefully and you will find that the phrases used by Heine's opponents are always the same. Now there is something quite special about Heine. There may be people who are otherwise not insignificant and who are denied an unbiased judgment of Heine. Poritzky aptly points out one such example (p. 6 fl.): "The otherwise witty Hehn calls Heine a Jewish slacker."

Victor Hehn wrote a book about Goethe that is highly regarded. The following sentences can be found in this book: "Heine has no mind, only a great talent for imitation. Just as some of his fellow tribesmen can click their tongues so artfully that one really believes one can hear a nightingale, just as another can accurately reproduce the manner and style of "famous patterns", just as in the long years of Kladderadatsch he indulged in all the Iyrian forms of all poets and schools of poetry, so Heine also knew the simple-minded fidelity of the folk song, the fantasies of E. Th. A. Hoffmann and E. Th. A. Hoffmann. Th. A. Hoffmann's and Romanticism's fantasies, Goethe's heartfelt lute and melodious song with such virtuoso art that one was deceived and thought the similes were genuine." Poritzky shows that such an accusation can, if one wishes, be leveled at any creative spirit; but that, on the other hand, nothing is said at all if one proves a model for this or that intellectual product.

But one wonders: how do such absurdities come among the many healthy, witty remarks that Hehn makes in his "Thoughts on Goethe"? One can find no other reason for this than that Hehn immediately lost his sound judgment when he came across the "Jew" Heine. He had a general judgment, which of course should better be called prejudice, about the "Jew", and that made it impossible for him to make a special examination of the individual personality of Heine. Now there is something in Victor Hehn that Poritzky could not emphasize according to the task he set himself, but which I would like to add here.

Goethe once speaks of the spirits who have exerted the greatest influence on his development and names them as such: Shakespeare, Spinoza and Linn. That Spinoza's Judaism is not only not indifferent to the whole structure of his world view, but has exerted a profound influence on it, has been proved by Lazarus in his excellent book on the "Ethics of Judaism". It is now beyond doubt that Spinoza's effect on Goethe was quite extraordinary. We can only understand some of Goethe's feelings and ideas if we realize that he immersed himself again and again in Spinoza's world of ideas, indeed that Goethe's stormy passions often found their inner balance by immersing himself in the philosophical calm of the Amsterdam sage. Goethe, and we with him, owe much of what Hehn admires in Goethe to Spinoza. And after passing through Goethe's mind, Victor Hehn also accepts the "Jewish" philosophy of Spinoza as something great. - But if he believes he can prove a very similar relationship to Goethe in Heine, then - Heine croaks like a nightingale.

In the face of such phenomena, isn't it glaringly obvious how non-judgmental even important personalities can become if they are more or less openly anti-Semitic? Incidentally, on page 7 of his pamphlet, Poritzky has provided a compilation of recent assessments of Heine, which shows in a truly delightful way how all sound judgment can cease in literature when the temptation arises to no longer apply the same yardstick.