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Review
'Unflappable Epicureanism suffuses this 1826 novella by a German Romantic writer (1788-1857) best known for his lyrical lieder. Von Eichendorff's unnamed, highly engaging layabout (and narrator) is dismissed by his hardworking father, employed as a (particularly inept) assistant gardener at a Viennese estate whose beauteous daughter thereafter fills his dreams; then he's subjected to miscellaneous adventures and perils in Italy and Austria (including encounters with Leonardo da Vinci and an abusive parrot), before a coincidence-driven finale rewards him with far more happiness than he has earned. A delightful tale, featuring a Candide who wouldn't think of exerting himself to cultivate his garden, preferring instead to sit back and smell the flowers.' --Kirkus Review
Product Description
'The Life of a Good-for-nothing' is a delightful picaresque tale and a classic of German literature. Despaired of by his father and impatient with his lot, a young man hears the enticing call of life on the road. Leaving his home and all that he knows, he embarks upon a journey in search of adventures and glory. One day enjoying fortune and plenty, the next at the mercy of villains and rogues, his life becomes one full of chance and wonder.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the most enjoyable and charming of all European novels, this tiny book is a sort of shaggy-dog story filled with lovely palaces, unattainable aristocratic women and Italian bandits. It only just makes sense, but it doesn't matter - the whole journey is pure pleasure and the hero a role model everyone should emulate.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
brilliant!
25 July 2003
Format:Paperback
well, im actually in the middle of writing an essay on the implementation of music in this book, in a romantic literature seminar in freiburg, germany. this is one of the most brilliant books we've read during the entire semester, exactly because, upon first reading this book, one sets it down with a smile and assumes that he has just enjoyed a splendid little novel about a "taugenichts" as a good for nothing is referred to in german. however, only upon examining the oft surfacing poetical songs of the novel and the easily over read subtleties of the lesser characters does one realize that the entire point and central theme of the book are something completely different that at first assumed. i can never remember so stark a smack in the face than i received while reading this book the fourth time through. the highest recommendation to anyone interested at all in the german literary romantic movement, or anyone else looking for a good, quick read (it's perfectly satisfying, as i've said, even if you dont dig deep).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
What fun!
12 May 2011
Format:Paperback
Joseph Von Eichendorff, Life of a Good-for-Nothing
Translated by F.G. Nichols
Hesperus, 2002
This is the kind of book where, when the hero gets bored and impatient, he climbs a tree.
Maybe you can resist books like that. I can't.
No one ever falls asleep in this book without being transported to a new location or surrounded by flowers. A man lost in the forest comes upon a trio of woodwinds. That's just how it works. It's all an exercise in divine providence - everyone the hero meets is going precisely where he needs to go.
Life of a Good-for-Nothing was written in 1826 by Eichendorff, a lyric poet and novelist. It is said to be a perfect example of German Romanticism. Of course, you shouldn't read it for that reason. Read it because it is an extraordinarily good time. In just a hundred pages there are so many adventures and rewards - there is even an argument with a parrot!
A sentence from the first page gives the feeling of the whole: "I was secretly delighted when to right and left I saw all my old friends and acquaintances going out to work, to dig and plough, as they had done the day before and the day before that and the day before that, while I was free to wander off into the world. In my pride and happiness I called out `Farewell!' to all the wretched people around, but nobody took much notice."
The translation reads beautifully and is studded with delights:
"The gardener scolded me for my laziness, and I was discontented, and the tip of my nose seemed to get in the way when I looked out upon God's wide world."(10)
More on noses:"I consider your delicately pointed nose, and regard you as a genius on vacation." (77)
Despair, in this book, is extreme. And lasts approximately twenty-five seconds. "I firmly resolved to turn my back for ever on the treacherous land of Italy, with its crazy painters, its oranges and its chambermaids." (82)
And, my favorite: "Tollkeeper, we haven't much time, so please be so good as to get all your astonishment done with as quickly as possible." (100)
I'd never heard of this book when I found it in a bookshop in the Himalayan foothills and it fairly flew off the shelf to me. Good fortune! What a gem it is, and a balm. One last suggestion: I think anyone who loved this book should hurry to read Gyula Krudy's Sunflower.
Translated by F.G. Nichols
Hesperus, 2002
This is the kind of book where, when the hero gets bored and impatient, he climbs a tree.
Maybe you can resist books like that. I can't.
No one ever falls asleep in this book without being transported to a new location or surrounded by flowers. A man lost in the forest comes upon a trio of woodwinds. That's just how it works. It's all an exercise in divine providence - everyone the hero meets is going precisely where he needs to go.
Life of a Good-for-Nothing was written in 1826 by Eichendorff, a lyric poet and novelist. It is said to be a perfect example of German Romanticism. Of course, you shouldn't read it for that reason. Read it because it is an extraordinarily good time. In just a hundred pages there are so many adventures and rewards - there is even an argument with a parrot!
A sentence from the first page gives the feeling of the whole: "I was secretly delighted when to right and left I saw all my old friends and acquaintances going out to work, to dig and plough, as they had done the day before and the day before that and the day before that, while I was free to wander off into the world. In my pride and happiness I called out `Farewell!' to all the wretched people around, but nobody took much notice."
The translation reads beautifully and is studded with delights:
"The gardener scolded me for my laziness, and I was discontented, and the tip of my nose seemed to get in the way when I looked out upon God's wide world."(10)
More on noses:"I consider your delicately pointed nose, and regard you as a genius on vacation." (77)
Despair, in this book, is extreme. And lasts approximately twenty-five seconds. "I firmly resolved to turn my back for ever on the treacherous land of Italy, with its crazy painters, its oranges and its chambermaids." (82)
And, my favorite: "Tollkeeper, we haven't much time, so please be so good as to get all your astonishment done with as quickly as possible." (100)
I'd never heard of this book when I found it in a bookshop in the Himalayan foothills and it fairly flew off the shelf to me. Good fortune! What a gem it is, and a balm. One last suggestion: I think anyone who loved this book should hurry to read Gyula Krudy's Sunflower.
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