A Scandal in Königsberg
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Description
A remarkable micro-history from the author of The Sleepwalkers and Revolutionary Spring
'It takes a confident historian to write a short book... the story is distilled to its powerful essence; he knows precisely what's important... This small book is many things, but for me what shines brightest is a tale of two renegade preachers who understood women and love' - Gerard de Groot, The Times
Now part of the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the former Prussian and German port of Königsberg has always been a somewhat sleepy place, doomed to be famous for having once been the residence of Immanuel Kant. But in the late 1830s, just for a short while, it became famous for all the wrong reasons.
Christopher Clark's brilliant new book is the result of many years of fascination with this strange case. Sensational accusations were bandied about, implying that beneath the town's somnolent surface there were dark erotic currents and wrenching betrayals of trust. For the Prussian authorities this was just the sort of moral collapse they feared most. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which had unsettled a generation, every lapse could be seen as the harbinger of new storms.
A Scandal in Königsberg beautifully brings to life a time and a place that we would now situate in the tranquil 'Biedermeier' years between the seismic upheavals of the 1810s and 1840s. But there is a timeless quality to this small vortex of turbulence, in which spiritual hunger, vanity, professional rivalry, sexual incontinence, naivety and sheer human waywardness threatened to tear a city apart.
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Interessantes Bild eines unbekannten Skandals
Meine Motivation dieses Buch zu lesen rührte nicht unbedingt aus dem Versprechen von Skandal und Intrigen, sondern aus dem Setting in Königsberg im 19 Jahrhundert. Die Geschichte Preusens und Königsberg speziell haben mich schon eine ganze Weile fasziniert und dieses Buch gibt einem einen sehr guten Einblick in das Leben, Religion und die Regierung und Verwaltung zur damaligen Zeit. Das Buch verliert bei meiner Bewertung etwas an Punkten, weil zum einen der eigentliche Skandal mir nie deutlich genug beschrieben wurde. Dies finde ich alleine schon aufgrund des Titels verwunderlich. Darüber hinaus finde ich den Schreibstil mindestens gewöhnungsbedürftig, wenn nicht sogar schwierig. Lesenswert ist das Buch dennoch aus meiner Sicht.
Description
A remarkable micro-history from the author of The Sleepwalkers and Revolutionary Spring
'It takes a confident historian to write a short book... the story is distilled to its powerful essence; he knows precisely what's important... This small book is many things, but for me what shines brightest is a tale of two renegade preachers who understood women and love' - Gerard de Groot, The Times
Now part of the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the former Prussian and German port of Königsberg has always been a somewhat sleepy place, doomed to be famous for having once been the residence of Immanuel Kant. But in the late 1830s, just for a short while, it became famous for all the wrong reasons.
Christopher Clark's brilliant new book is the result of many years of fascination with this strange case. Sensational accusations were bandied about, implying that beneath the town's somnolent surface there were dark erotic currents and wrenching betrayals of trust. For the Prussian authorities this was just the sort of moral collapse they feared most. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which had unsettled a generation, every lapse could be seen as the harbinger of new storms.
A Scandal in Königsberg beautifully brings to life a time and a place that we would now situate in the tranquil 'Biedermeier' years between the seismic upheavals of the 1810s and 1840s. But there is a timeless quality to this small vortex of turbulence, in which spiritual hunger, vanity, professional rivalry, sexual incontinence, naivety and sheer human waywardness threatened to tear a city apart.
Book Information
Posts
Interessantes Bild eines unbekannten Skandals
Meine Motivation dieses Buch zu lesen rührte nicht unbedingt aus dem Versprechen von Skandal und Intrigen, sondern aus dem Setting in Königsberg im 19 Jahrhundert. Die Geschichte Preusens und Königsberg speziell haben mich schon eine ganze Weile fasziniert und dieses Buch gibt einem einen sehr guten Einblick in das Leben, Religion und die Regierung und Verwaltung zur damaligen Zeit. Das Buch verliert bei meiner Bewertung etwas an Punkten, weil zum einen der eigentliche Skandal mir nie deutlich genug beschrieben wurde. Dies finde ich alleine schon aufgrund des Titels verwunderlich. Darüber hinaus finde ich den Schreibstil mindestens gewöhnungsbedürftig, wenn nicht sogar schwierig. Lesenswert ist das Buch dennoch aus meiner Sicht.