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The Blue Flower

by Penelope Fitzgerald

August 1999

Synopsis

"This "is a historical novel based on the life of the poet, aphorist, novelist, Friedrich von Hardenberg, a Saxon nobleman who wrote under the name of Novalis. Novalis had a vision of a unique blue flower as the goal of a quest. In the waking life of Fritz von Hardenberg the part of the flower was played by Sophie von Kuhn. She is 12 years old when he meets her and designates her his future bride and his incarnation of Wisdom. Reluctant parental permission is obtained for their betrothal, but Sophie (as well as not being noble) is tubercular. Their relationship, and Fritz's dealings with his own family and Sophie's, are the main business of the novel." (London Rev Books)

Reviews

"The main narrative is fragmentary and rather distanced. What is so impressive is the sureness and economy with which the setting is established. Great men--Goethe, the Schlegels, Fichte--walk on without seeming in the least intrusive. Fitzgerald, who delights in knowing this kind of thing, . . . knows how winter supplies of wood were delivered, how coaches were sprung, why the wrist-watch was invented and how Christmas was celebrated in pious homes. Detail, expertly dabbed in, provides in the end a substantial background for the story of a poet which, it is subtly suggested, is also the story of a remarkable moment in the history of civilization. It is hard to see how the hopes and defeats of Romanticism, or the relation between inspiration and common life, between genius and mere worthiness, could be more deftly rendered than they are in this admirable novel." (Frank Kermode - London Review of Books)
"Good as {Ms. Fitzgerald's} other books are, 'The Blue Flower' is better. It is a quite astonishing book, a masterpiece. Set in provincial Saxony in the 1790's, this is, on the face of it, Ms. Fitzgerald's most recondite and challenging book. It is also her greatest triumph, as luminous and authentic a piece of imaginative writing about a writer, in this case a seminal German writer, as Georg Buchner's 'Lenz,' Hugo von Hofmannsthal's 'Letter of Lord Chandos' or Thomas Mann's tiny story about Schiller, 'Weary Hour'--three of the great glories of German literature. 'The Blue Flower' ranges far beyond itself. It is an interrogation of life, love, purpose, experience and horizons, which has found its perfect vehicle in a few years from the pitifully short life of a German youth about to become a great poet." (Michael Hofmann - The New York Times Book Review)

Book Club Rating and Comments

If you or your book club has read this book and would like to share your comments, please email us at upthecreekbc@yahoo.com.

Other Books by Penelope Fitzgerald

'At Freddie's'
'The Beginning of Spring'
'The Bookshop'
'Edward Burne-Jones'
'The Gate of Angels'
'The Golden Child'
'Human Voices'
'Innocence'
'The Knox Brothers'
'The Means of Escape'
'Offshore'