Frankenstein's Island

Professor Prawer's new book documents Heinrich Heine's lifelong involvement with England and the English. It shows him to have been a witty and intelligent observer of English men and women, institutions and politics, and books and journals of his own day; and to have extended his observation backwards into English history and literature of the past in a way that constantly welds the past to the present. The picture which emerges is one shaped by traditional preconceptions, political considerations, social philosophies and aesthetic experiences. The author (who is an authority on Heine) has amassed a vast amount of quotations; many of these passages have never been available in English before. The book will be an important reference work for scholars of nineteenth-century German literature and history; and, since all quotations are rendered in English, it will appeal to general readers interested in verbal caricature and in the changing image of England and the English in Europe.