Tag- und nachtseiten: Göteborg in E.M. Arndts "Reise durch schweden im jahr 1804" und dessen dunkle, intertextuelle erkundung in E.T.A. Hoffmanns "Die bergwerke zu falun"

Abstract

This paper examines the intertextual relationship between E.M. Arndt’s Voyage Through Sweden in 1804 and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Mines of Falun focusing on how the city of Gothenburg is portrayed in both texts. Many scholars have pointed out that Arndt’s travelogue is an important pre- or hypotext for The Mines of Falun, while mostly reducing its role to a source text from which Hoffmann extracted information about local, that is to say Swedish, conditions and customs, terminology etc. This paper argues and illustrates that the intertextual relationship between these two texts goes much further than this: Hoffmann uses Arndt’s favourable depiction of Gothenburg as a progressive and socially responsible city as a starting point for the introductory scene in The Mines of Falun, which focuses on and explores the darker sides of Arndt’s literary depiction of early 19th century Gothenburg.