Product Description

Penelope Fitzgerald's final masterpiece. Set in Germany at the very end of the eighteenth century, The Blue Flower is the story of the brilliant Fritz von Hardenberg, a graduate of the Universities of Jena, Leipzig and Wittenberg, learned in Dialectics and Mathematics, who later became the great romantic poet and philosopher Novalis. The passionate and idealistic Fritz needs his father's permission to announce his engagement to his 'heart's heart', his 'true Philosophy', twelve-year-old Sophie von Kuhn. It is a betrothal which amuses, astounds and disturbs his family and friends. How can it be so? One of the most admired of all Penelope Fitzgerald's books, The Blue Flower was chosen as Book of the Year more than any other in 1995. Her final book, it confirmed her reputation as one of the finest novelists of the century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13896 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
'An enchanting novel about heart, body and mind. The writing is ellipitical and witty! so that what could be a sad little love story is constantly funny and always absorbing. This novel is a jewel.' Carmen Callil, Daily Telegraph 'Her sense of time and place is marvellously deft, done in a few words. She knows how they all walked, eased their old joints. She knows the damp smell of decay of the ancient schlosses. In a bare little book she reveals a country and an age as lost as Tolstoy's Russia and which we seem somehow always to have known.' Jane Gardam, Spectator 'Detail, expertly dabbed in, provides a substantial background for the story of a poet which, it is subtly suggested, is also the story of a remarkable moment in the history of civilisation! It is hard to see how the hopes and defeats of Romanticism, or the relation between inspiration and common life, between genius and mere worthiness, could be more deftly rendered than they are in this remarkable novel.' Frank Kermode, LRB 'A minor miracle of sympathy and crispness.' Adam Mars-Jones, Guardian 'An extraordinary imagining! An original masterpiece.' Hermione Lee, Financial Times 'A novel in which the unsaid speaks: it is a masterpiece.' Candia McWilliam 'A masterpiece. How does she do it?' A.S. Byatt 'A magical little book.' Doris Lessing

From the Publisher
Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award
From the reviews of The Blue Flower "The Blue Flower is an enchanting novel about heart, body and mind. The writing is elliptical and witty... so that what could be a sad little love story is constantly funny and always absorbing with a cast of characters both endearing and amusing. This novel is a jewel." Carmen Callil, Daily Telegraph

"Her sense of time and place is marvellously deft, done in a few words. She knows how they all walked, eased their old joints. She knows the damp smell of decay of the ancient schlosses. In a bare little book she reveals a country and an age as lost as Tolstoy's Russia and which we seem somehow always to have known." Jane Gardam, Spectator

"Detail, expertly dabbed in, provides a substantial background for the story of a poet which, it is subtly suggested, is also the story of a remarkable moment in the history of civilisation... It is hard to see how the hopes and defeats of Romanticism, or the relation between inspiration and common life, between genius and mere worthiness, could be more deftly rendered than they are in this admirable novel." Frank Kermode, London Review of Books

"A minor miracle of sympathy and crispness." Adam Mars-Jones, Guardian

"An extraordinary imagining...an original masterpiece." Hermione Lee, Financial Times

"A novel in which the unsaid speaks; it is a masterpiece." Candia McWilliam

"A masterpiece. How does she do it?" A.S. Byatt

"A magical little book." Doris Lessing

"Her limpid, exact prose reflects an unwaveringly clear view of the human predicament. She seems to be one of those rare artists gifted with both the knowledge of how things are, and the skill to record what she knows with s ubtlety and devestating truthfulness." A.N. Wilson, Evening Standard

About the Author
Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. Three of her novels, The Bookshop, The Beginning of Spring and The Gate of Angels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her last novel, The Blue Flower, was the most admired novel of 1995, chosen no fewer than nineteen times in the press as the 'Book of the Year'. It won America's National Book Critics' Circle Award, and this helped to introduce her to a wider international readership. She died in April 2000, at the age of 83.

Customer Reviews

A surprisingly enjoyable, thought-provoking read
Not the type of book I would normally read, I picked up Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower rather reluctantly, since it was recommended by my local book club. The cover blurb mentioned the book's central theme, the relationship between the late 18th century German poet and philosopher Hardenburg and 12 year old Sophie von Kuhn, his 'true philosophy' who captured his heart and became his fiancee. So I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book. However, Fitzgerald's flowing prose and excellent portrayal of the mood and social mores of the times when the book is set soon had me entranced and involved in the story. I was fascinated by the way the suprememly intelligent but very naive Hardenburg falls completely under the spell of the adolescent and not-very-bright Sophie. But as the story unfolded and Sophie's illness touched other people, I too found myself falling under the spell of this young girl. This tale, of course, is based on real lives, and Fitzgerald's afterword rounds the book off nicely. Having read The Blue Flower, I am now keen to read more of Fitzgerald's work, as she has the knack of bringing history to life.

She doesn�t hand this one to you
"I have remained true to my deepest convictions, I mean to the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as comedy, for otherwise how can we manage to bear it?"

The quote above appeared in a story about Penelope Fitzgerald written just after her death. The quote and the ideas it states appear to be very appropriate to "The Blue Flower". I have read two other works of hers "The Bookshop" and "The Golden Child". All three books share her wonderful style of writing, which she can modify to produce three very different books, all the while maintaining the quality of her writing, while demonstrating incredible range.

Of the three I have read this work is the one she makes you work the hardest for. The two previous books laid out their stories in comfortable, familiar settings, both in place and time. The books were constructed so the reader was able to follow a distinct story line. In the case of "The Blue Flower" the story and her method of telling it leaves the reader to fill in the details necessary to make the story flow in a more conventional manner, to read more easily, more comfortably. For those who want all the details, all the motivation of the characters detailed and laid out with a beginning, middle, and end, this work may not rate as one of their favorite works.

This book was comparatively lengthy set side by side with the other books I have mentioned. The briefer works are very straightforward, and I commented when I wrote about "The Bookshop" that I was curious with what she would do with the added length. True to her having been not only a brilliant and highly original Authoress, as the length of her work expanded, it became more complex, less apparent, but yet another phenomenal read.

A simple story told with elegance and intelligence
How does she do it? asks A S Byatt in her review of this delightful work. Well, I for one don't know. Somehow Penelope Fitzgerald managed to take simple stories and deliver them so elegantly and intelligently, and with such unpretentious facility, that the reader becomes enchanted and captivated. These are the qualities of a modern day Jane Austen. In this concise historical novel she fictionalises the early life of the brilliant Friedrich von Hardenberg - before he becomes the renowned German Romantic poet/philosopher Novalis - and his inexplicable love for a rather silly twelve year old girl. It is a tale of deep and sincere love somehow portrayed without any sex scenes, without even a single kiss or description of physical contact. What novelist today could achieve that?
Unlike the novels of A S Byatt, for example, where the historical details are voluminous, in the Blue Flower they are present but unobtrusive and the reader effortlessly finds him/herself transported to eighteenth-century Saxony. This novel was selected as the `Book of the Year' more often that any other in 1995, including by A S Byatt herself and Doris Lessing; praise indeed. Sadly, Penelope Fitzgerald died in 2000, five years after its publication. I can safely recommend this book to anyone, whether they are literary minded or prefer populist works.