[EARLY GERMAN BIEDERMEIER FARCE WITH LATE ENLIGHTENMENT SATIRICAL THEMES] Der Gasthof von Swarzenberg, oder Alle Ridicüllen: ein Lustspiel in fünf Aufzügen von einem jungen Abt, der sich die Nase nicht mit dem Fuse putz [The inn at Swarzenberg, or all sorts of absurdities: a comedy in five acts by a young abbot who doesn't clean his nose with his foot].
[Germany], 1815. Small octavo (16.6 × 10.2 cm). Contemporary blue card boards pasted over with light pink paper wrapper; manuscript title to spine ("Der Gasthof"); 102 leaves of manuscript in brown ink to rectos and versos, in a neat Kurrent hand, with occasional corrections and one case of self-censorship in the fifth act (an entire lengthy passage titled "The officer" crossed through repeatedly in ink). Boards somewhat worn, with corners scuffed; paper-cover splitting at hinges; some worm holes to hinges; internally very good. Item #55086
Apparently unpublished satirical play by an anonymous author from Germany, perhaps best characterized as a Restoration-era private comedy with theological themes, densely populated with recognizable literary allusions and stock figures, such as Zoraida ("a young Moorish woman"), a name alluding to the Spanish-Moorish romance genre; the young Castanio; an unknown nun; an unknown general; a French officer; Hernandes, an Inquisitor and uncle of Castanio; Don Quichote and Sancho Panza. These figures are involved in scenes of travel that take place somewhere near Algiers. This group is contrasted to another setting, an inn named after an obscure nobleman, which features the following characters: the innkeeper, the village pastor, his sacristan Rotundo, the schoolmaster Gluton, his seminarian, and a Capuchin monk.
The play thus appears to be a highly intertextual work of parody that engages various levels of criticism of religious, secular, pedagogical, and other forms of authority, without articulating a direct critique or expressing subversive content. It was likely written for private circulation and entertainment, possibly in the milieu of a former cleric. The effaced passage, which belongs to a dialogue about theology and Voltaire (whom the officer defends and the pastor denigrates), suggest a keen awareness of the limits of what could and could not be said.
Price: €1,400.00