SOURCE: "The Use of the Leitmotif in Achim von Arnim's Stories," in German Quarterly, Vol. XLII, No. 3, May, 1969, pp. 343-51.

In the essay below, Weiss argues that recurring motifs serve to unify a number of Arnim's seemingly loosely constructed stories and novellas.

Achim von Arnim's tales have repeatedly been censured for lack of structural unity and only a few, for instance Der tolle Invalide and Frau von Saverne, have escaped such criticism. However, attempts have been made recently to reevaluate Arnim's narrative art. In his penetrating study on Die Majoratsherren Heinrich Henel has demonstrated the surprisingly coherent structure of this seemingly confused story. Basing his interpretation on several short narratives by Arnim, Wolfdietrich Rasch has tried to defend the author against his critics on the grounds that such features as the loose plot contruction and sudden transitions of his tales resemble the techniques of an improvising oral storyteller...