Penelope Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower (1995)
Author: Penelope Fitzgerald
Genre: Historical/Literary
Plot Summary:
Coming from the impoverished gentry, Freidrich von Hardenberg must reign in his passions and aspirations to fit the role laid before him - Salt Mine Inspector. But Fritz, a poet and philosopher, later to become the famous Romantic poet Novalis, cannot be completely controlled by his pious yet dominating father. While working as an apprentice, Fritz first sees Sophie von Kuhn, a young, simple girl of twelve years. It is a case of love at first site for him. She becomes his muse, his philosophy, his meaning in life. But Sophie's family has only recently risen to the ranks of gentry, and the Hardenbergs are hard put to understand how Fritz could love such a plain girl who is obviously not his intellectual equal. Fritz's struggle to find his place in society and to make his family and friends understand his love for Sophie drives the story. Sophie's own feelings are not clear and do not seem to contain the passion and dedication of Fritz's love. In this Booker Prize winning historical novel, Fitzgerald follows the love of a poet and the impact that has on his family, friends, and on his beloved. SPOILER: After numerous operations, Sophie finally dies before she and Fritz can be married. Fritz himself does not live to an old age, and most of his siblings die within a few years of the close of the book.
Geographical Setting: Germany
Time Period: 18th Century
Appeal Characteristics:
From the first page, the reader is drawn into life in 18th Century Germany with all of its day-to-day routines and its inherent challenges and struggles. And the reader is never jarringly evicted from this scene. From the horse that Fritz rides, to the operations that Sophie endures, Fitzgerald beautifully describes the time period. The story unfolds in a seemingly haphazard manner - jumping back and forth through time to fill in bits and pieces of important information - which keeps the reader trying to figure out exactly what happened when. By keeping the chapters short, Fitzgerald keeps the story moving ever forward. And a desire to find out how the Hardenbergs will react to Fritz's engagement to Sophie, keeps the reader turning the pages. The inner turmoil and desires with which Fritz are lyrically expressed through poetry fragments of Novalis' actual poems. But it is much harder to get a true understanding of what Sophie is experiencing. Considering the fact that little is known of Sophie's life and feelings, this adds to the historical accuracy, if not to the reader's desire to know the whole story. Fitzgerald makes the reader work at understanding what she is actually saying. This is not an easy, quick read - but rather a deep story with many layers examining what is love, beauty, and friendship.
Read-alikes: An author that is also known for her literary style and attention to historical detail is Tracy Chevalier. Her book Lady and the Unicorn follows the romance between a young artist commissioned to produce tapestries for a newly wealthy Paris family and the beautiful daughter of the family. The familial and social struggles that ensue are reminiscent of the struggles Sophie and Fritz have with their families and expectations. Another author who writes literary historical fiction is J.D. Landis. He has the same talent as Fitzgerald for making it difficult to tell where history leaves off and fiction begins. His book Longing recounts the stormy relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann. Antoine Audouard examines another famous love affair in his book Farewell, My Only One. In this book William, a young student, tells of the love of Heloise and Abelard. While a bit more risque than The Blue Flower this book has an engaging literary style and delves into the feelings and thoughts of early philosophers and intellectuals. Another good read set in Germany in the 18th Century is Gert Hofmann's Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl. This book examines the life of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, a famous mathematician, physicist, and astronomer and also a hunchbacked dwarf. His intellectual prowess is contrasted with his frustrations with finding love. A book that deals with the same issues of disease and the death of a loved one is Harriet Scott Chessman's Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper. Mary Cassatt, the famous American impressionist painter, travels to Paris with her sister Lydia Cassatt, who is dying from Bright's disease. Lydia's reflections on her life and Mary's attempts to help her sister closely parallel the struggles that Fritz and Sophie endure.
Red Flags: Except for the occasional phrase in German and a tendency to lapse into poetry, there isn't much offensive about this book.
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