Undine

Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron FouqueProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Undine by Freiherr de Friedrich Heinrich Karl La Motte-FouquéAuthor: La Motte-Fouqué, Friedrich Heinrich Karl, Freiherr de, 1777-1843,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jul 4, 2006

Editor's review

Undine is the best-known work of the German Romantic writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. It tells of the water sprite Undine, who longs for a human soul and falls in love with the knight Huldbrand, only to be betrayed in the end. In clear, elegiac prose it portrays the divide between nature spirits and the human world, and it is regarded as a key source for later motifs such as Andersen's The Little Mermaid. This Project Gutenberg electronic edition is in English and fairly short, making it a good introduction to Romantic literature and useful for readers studying fairy tales, folklore, and nature-spirit themes. Watch for the author's use of water and forest imagery and the tension among love, fidelity, and fate.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in German Romantic literature who want to know the classics firsthand
Fans of water-sprite and mermaid motifs who want to trace the source stories
Learners needing short English literary texts for extensive reading practice
Students and enthusiasts of fairy-tale adaptation, folklore, and comparative literature

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a Chinese translation and are not comfortable with English
Readers of popular fiction who prefer tight plotting and modern narrative pace
Readers drawn only to contemporary fantasy epics and impatient with classical Romantic style

Reading tips

Read through once for the story, then return to the passages describing water and forest to appreciate the Romantic view of nature.
Read alongside Andersen's The Little Mermaid or Grimms' tales and note how the same motif is handled differently.
Keep pen and paper at hand to trace Undine's psychological change from sprite to soul-bearing being.
Weaker English readers can read a plot summary first, then the original, to reduce interruptions from unfamiliar words.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in English or Chinese?

This is the English electronic edition released by Project Gutenberg. The original is in German, and this is an English translation. For Chinese, you would need to find a separate Chinese translation; the feel of the language will differ.

Can I read it without having read German Romantic literature before?

Yes. The story is short and its main line is clear, so it can be understood without background knowledge. For deeper reading, learn a little about Romanticism's fondness for nature and the supernatural first; its symbolic meanings will then be easier to grasp.

How is the Undine story related to later works?

The motif of a water sprite who gains a soul through love recurs in later fairy tales and literature, and is often compared with works such as The Little Mermaid. As you read, notice how this motif changes under different authors.

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About the author

Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouque Author · German · 1777–1843

La Motte-Fouqué, Friedrich Heinrich Karl, Freiherr (Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué, 1777–1843) was a German Romantic writer. Born into a noble family in Brandenburg, he was descended from French Huguenot exiles and served in the military during the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for the fairy tale Undine (1811). His works often draw on Norse mythology, sagas, and medieval chivalric romance, and he also wrote the trilogy The Hero of the North. The library holds six of his works, including Undine, Sintram and His Companions, The Two Captains, and Aslauga's Knight. His writing blends myth and legend with chivalric romance, bearing the mysterious and fantastic character of the Romantic school. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted, with emphasis on his themes and literary influence.