Vegetational fatherhood almost reads as a story written in reverse, starting with a ludicrous ending, an then building a story to support it. The story is odd in how it refuses to either fully enter a magical realm, or try to justify the story in the real world as the seven brides of Bluebeard did. Instead it sits awkwardly between both my making frequent hints that stranger things have happened and the narrative could be within the realm of the possible. It seems like all of the standard fairy tale characters are present, the enchanting and silent bride, the worried parent and the curious spouse, but in this version the fantastical ends with the death of the bride, and instead crashes back into reality, causing a very un-fairytale ending of institutionalization.

I think the flower metaphor is used to show how differently flowers (and the properties and powers vested in it by Mynona) are seen by men and women. While a flower is something hypnotizing to the later mother-in-law, enough to put her in a dream daze, enough power to eventually get her pregnant, for the male, there is a different connotation. Dr. Rosenberger
(I am sure there is a pun on that name) is scared of the flower when he sees the flower bush on his bed. Enough so that he tosses it down to Emma. Men therefore are threatened by flowers and woman are infatuated by them.
A flower is something a woman wants and a male can never embody. Everything a flower stands for is emasculating and yet it is something hypnotizing to woman.

First, I would like to point out how this story resembles that of Jesus in the Bible. A young woman is impregnated "illegitimately" and given a child with near perfection - just like the Virgin Mary. I think this is very interesting because I feel like this theme is so common to us nowadays that no one give it much thought. 

Second, I really like the introduction about the will of the plants and how they can think for themselves. It is very thought provoking and offers a unique introduction to such a story.

Probably the most fascinating part of the story though, is its deviation from a normal fairytale type. I mean, the beginning seems like a normal story, with some weird event, a transformation, a young maiden, etc... However, not many fairytales end in mystery, the unwarranted death of the heroine, and the need of asylums for the other characters. It is very different from other German fairytales in this sense. 

May I say that, first off, a rose should not resort to date rape. The results aren't good. When I first read "The Vegetational Fatherhood" I thought that this story was a parody on the social injustices women face when they have a child out of wedlock during the late nineteenth century/ early twentieth century. The father, the rose, is completely held irresponsible for the young woman's condition, of which she had no say in the matter, and the woman is told that instead that she suffers from delusions when, in fact, the doctors think she is an unmarried-mother-to-be.

And then there is the pretty young maiden that is silent- similar to the silent maiden motif we have seen in Snow White and other fairy tales- and she, too, would have had to deal with the same sort of fate her mother did if she had not died. Because of nature, women have to be silent and deal with the consequences of being involved with men

Assignment: 7 April 2009

Please write an interpretation of/response to “The Vegetational Fatherhood.” Don't forget to post comments by Wednesday.

Music and poetic language are not the same. Poetic language, I think, is a part of music, but there is something about music that language can never have. You can have lyrics, but without the entire concept of music, it is not the same. You cannot talk about a melody or tune, or about the specific notes you hear. You have to hear it, making music a more emotional and passionate experience. Music has the ability to describe feelings and thoughts that could never be expressed with language, so therefore, language simply points to music. 

"A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint" has many elements of a fairy tale, such as its progress. It begins with a problem, has a transformation, and ends happily. Also, elements such as unspecified time make this story very fairy-tale like. Nevertheless, it has many elements of a kunstmarchen. It is very musical sounding (poetic language) and very artistic, with much description given. 

POST.

What is the relationship between music and poetic language? Is the power evoked by music also accessible to language? Or does language merely point to music?

There is an inextricable disconnect between music and language. Music is something heard. Language, something read. Music appeals to someone on an immediate level; One where immediate pleasures outweigh the critical analysis derived in language. Thus, disparity in immediacy and simplicity of thought and the requirement of analytics separates the two. While music and language both have the ability to sound the same, the process to arriving at the same sensation is inherently different. And it is in this difference that the two can never be seen as interchangeable, but rather different means to potentially equivalent ends.

Also, consider how Wackenroder’s story is a fairy tale. What elements are fairy-tale-like? And what makes it, more specifically, a Kunstmärchen?

Perhaps the most telling facets of this story that suggests it is a fairy tale is the suspended disbelief of the reader. That, and the mystic setting of the story. One where there is a mythical quality to its time and place.

The character being crazy most certainly suggests this fairy tale to be a Kunstmarchen. The literary freedom and stylistic qualities in the way the story was told also lends weight to this idea.