I like the description of time and place, the sarcastic family in the dissolute castle, the laundry and the bad medicine. If I knew anything about Novalis the revelation of the poets identity at the end of the book might have given me more wry knowing grin points, but it didn't really matter. The image of the blue flower, sad, unattainable, perfect love, is complete and beautiful. The dialogue - from an age when things were more likely to be left unsaid - is just the sort of finely balanced and nuanced thing I love. I should start getting the evidence out of the book for these reviews - I'm gonna quote - one tiny scene chosen pretty much at random, prisoners are begging for money and the mother throws down her purse. Three brothers discuss it:
."They will cut each others' throats for it" said Karl.
"No. I am sure they have a system of distribution," saids Erasmus.
"Very probably the youngest will get least" said the Bernard.
A subtle delight. Likewise the description of the characters internal worlds - "Doctor Ebhard, perhaps relieved to have something definite to say had forbidden dancing absolutely" and the authorial asides - his real motive was one of the strongest known to humanity, the need to torment himself.
I'm going to read The Offshore next - Fitzgerald on the Thames. Sounds brilliant. Well I might read something else first, but this is an acute, sympathetic writer, whose warmth made me feel good.
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