COOPER IN GERMANY 



57 



'The Pioneers' from Septeml)er 30 to October 2, 1826; 'The Last of 

 the Mohicans,' October 15-16, 1826; 'The Spy,' October 22-24, 

 1826; 'The Pilot,' November 4; 'The Prairie,' June 23-27, 1827; 

 'Red Rover,' January 21-29, 1828. These readings bore dir(^ct 

 fruit in a work upon which Goethe was then engaged. As early 

 as 1797 Goethe had been occupied with material for an epic, of 

 which Schiller had in its embryonic state spoken as the "Lowen- 

 und Tigergeschichte, " and also called it "Die Jagd. " Goethe pro- 

 gressed very slowly with this material and finally discontinued it 

 entirely. Almost thirty years later Goethe completed the tale 

 known only as 'Novelle.'® In a conversation with Eckermann 

 Goethe remarks that the development of the action of his 'Novelle' 

 was none other than that of the earlier discontinued epic. The 

 ' Tagebiicher' for 1826 show^s that it wias just at the time that Goethe 

 was reading Cooper that he returned to his old project and carried 

 it to its completion in 1827. 



In an admirable monograph,' Dr. Sp. Wukadinovic, of the Ger- 

 man University of Prague, has shown that Cooper's novels, and 

 especially 'The Pioneers,' have left unmistakable traces in the 

 'Novelle.' Of Cooper's novels read by Goethe it was only 'The 

 Pioneers' which was carefully read and studied. 'The Last of 

 the Mohicans' and 'The Spy' were read hastily and there is no 

 statement to show that Goethe ever finished reading 'The Pilot.'® 



Cf. Bernhard SenfEert. 'Goethe's Novelle.' 'Goethe .Jahvbuch.' 10. Bd. 

 s. 133 f. 



T Goethe's 'Novelle-' Halle a. S. 1909. 



s The following notices from the "Tagebiicher' for ] 826 (cited from Wuka- 

 dinovic) will show how the reading of Cooper and work on the 'Novelle' were carried 

 on together : 



Sept. 30. Das Delta von New-Orleans. Foitgesetztes Lesen der Quellen des 

 Susquehanna. Betrachtungen iiber den Roman iiberhaupt. 



Okt. 1. Den Coopcvischen Roman zum zweytenmal angefangen und die Personen 

 ausgeschrieben. Auch .das Knnstreiche davan nilher _ betrachtet, 

 geordnet und fortgesetzt. 



2. Papiere durchgesucht. Die Quellen von Susquehanna fortgesetzt. 



3. Altere Aufsiitze und Schemata gesucht. 



4. Erneuertes Schema der wunderbaren Jagd. 



8. An der Jagdgeschichte schematisirt. Eine Reiuabschrift des Schema 

 dictirt. 



9. Die Jagd, tlieilweise Ausfiihrung. 



10. Kleines Gedicht zum Abschluss d. pro.iectirten Novelle. 



11. Betrachtung der Novelle. 



14. Abends John dictirt an der Novelle. 



1."). An der Novelle dictirt. Blieb fiir mich uud las den letzti-n Mohican. 



16. Einiges an der Novelle dictirt. Ich las den Ictzten Mohican hinaus. 



Schrieb an der Novelle foi-t. 



17. Erster Entwurf der Novelle geschlossen. 



15. An der Novelle redigirt. 



19. Einiges an der Novelle. 



20. An der Novelle redigirt. John mundirte die Noyelle., , . ' , 



