He was considered the “king of Romanticism,” introduced Shakespeare and Cervantes to Germany with his translations, was a brilliant explorer, promoter and reader – but his own early stories, in which madness, frenzy, fear and terror are raised to the level of literature, have yet to be discovered.
Even as a boy, Tieck absolutely devoured books. And his own imagination took wild turns. “The Stranger,” “The Psychologist,” “Love Spell,” “The Rune Mountain” – these are the titles of just some of his early stories, which, admittedly, hardly anyone knows. A big mistake, according to Jörg Bong and Roland Borgards, who, in honor of the 250th anniversary of Tieck’s birth, have compiled a brilliant selection of them, with brief editorial texts about their author’s genius.
Tieck’s stories have lost none of their thrilling intensity. He developed types of storytelling that remain defining to this day, in everything from literature to movies to Netflix series, in the triad of comedy, horror and fantasy.
