Two People: A Novel in Romantic Verse

Two People: A Novel in Romantic VerseThis work, Two People: A Novel in Romantic Verse by Richard Dehmel, has never been translated before in whole from German to English. Hank Schwab knew this work as a student and began work on it in his eighth decade, figuring hed not finish it in his lifetime. He proved himself wrong. The novel in verse ranks as a major achievement in the high German literary tradition of Goethes Faust. Schnberg used a section of the poem with startling effectiveness

This work, Two People: A Novel in Romantic Verse by Richard Dehmel, has never been translated before in whole from German to English. Hank Schwab knew this work as a student and began work on it in his eighth decade, figuring heÕd not finish it in his lifetime. He proved himself wrong. The Ònovel in verseÓ ranks as a major achievement in the high-German literary tradition of GoetheÕs Faust. Schšnberg used a section of the poem with startling effectiveness in his VerklŠrte Nacht. The work itself is an extraordinary manifesto on the transcendence of love and its all consuming creative and destructive power. The vast landscapes and cataclysmic storms these two lovers encounter in their progressive obsession and isolation is in the grand romantic tradition that evokes the nineteenth century American landscapes or exploits of the Victorian era explorers.