A romantic rebellion against the world and growth…
With clever political overtones, the German Romanticist Eichendorff tells the adventures of a miller’s useless son who, unlike the man of the 19th century, dreams not of dominating nature but of exploring it, of travel, love and adventure.
A young man who doesn’t want to live his life in a confined way can’t resist his wanderlust. He is seduced by the allure of faraway lands; he would rather go to Italy than work in his father’s mill. He takes his violin and sets off, leaving behind his home and everything he knows. He wants to find his place in the world.
Joseph von Eichendorff’s “Bir Aylağın Hayatından,” published in 1826, is one of the iconic works of late German Romantic literature, with its wanderer-loafer character who cannot resist the call of the faraway. With a musical style that combines epic and lyrical elements, Bir Aylağın Hayatından is a romantic rebellion against the world and growing up.
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JOSEPH VON EICHENDORFF was born in 1788 at Lubowitz Castle in Ratibor in Upper Silesia, now in Poland. He was one of the most important poets of the German Romantic period. His father was a Baron of the Royal Prussian Army and his mother was a Baroness of the Silesian nobility. He grew up with knight’s tales, legends and adventure novels. As a child of an aristocratic family, he received a good education. He discovered his love for writing in 1801 at the boarding school he attended with his brother Wilhelm. In 1805 he decided to study law in Halle. During this time he became acquainted with the plays of Goethe and Schiller. He went first to Heidelberg and then to Vienna to continue his studies. He then traveled to Berlin, where he attended private lectures given by the German philosopher Fichte. As part of his studies and educational travels, he met some of the most important writers and poets of his time, such as Achim von Arnim and Heinrich von Kleist. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars on the Prussian side. He entered the Prussian civil service and moved to Berlin. He retired in 1843 due to ill health and devoted himself entirely to writing. In his works, Eichendorff always dealt with the inner world of man. His poems are about longing, wanderlust and dreams associated with nature. Many of his poems, plays and stories are classics today. Bir Aylağın Hayatından is one of the fundamental works of German romantic literature. Eichendorff died in 1857 in Neisse.
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BİLGE UĞURLAR was born in Istanbul in 1964. He graduated from Istanbul High School for Boys in 1982 and from Boğaziçi University, Department of Sociology in 1989. He is the author of Rudolf Borchardt’s Gece Yatısı, Peter Handke’s Don Juan, Friedrich Schiller’s Hayaletgören and Ihlamurlar Altında Gezinti, Franz Grillparzer’s Fakir Çalgıcı, Sendomir Manastırı, Joseph Roth’s Hotel Savoy, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Kedi Murr’un Hayat Görüşü, Küçük Zaches Namıdiğer Zinnober, Üstat Pire, Altın Çanak, Prenses Brambilla and Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas.
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TÜRKİS NOYAN, born in Istanbul in 1929, graduated from Istanbul University with a degree in German. She has translated Stephan Gerlach’s Gerlach Seyahatnamesi, Tobias Heinzelmann’s Osmanlı Karikatüründe Balkan Sorunu: 1908-1914 and Osmanlı’da Bir Köle: Brettenli Michael Haberer’in Anıları: 1585-1588 are some of the works he has translated. He has also translated Joseph Roth, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Friedrich Schiller and Heinrich von Kleist with Bilge Uğurlar.
TITLE
Book Title: Bir Aylağın Hayatından
Author: Joseph von Eichendorff
Translation: Bilge Uğurlar – Türkis Noyan
Publisher: Can Yayınları
Series: Classic
Genre: Novel
Pages: 128
