SOURCE: "Achim von Arnim's Der Wintergarten: Introduction," in Bending the Frame in the German Cyclical Narrative: Achim von Arnim's Der Wintergarten & E. T. A. Hoffmann's Die Serapionsbrüder, The Catholic University of America Press, 1991, pp. 9-24.

In the following excerpt, Ziegler presents a broad overview of Der Wintergarten, discussing the work's connections to Arnim's aesthetic philosophy, to German folklore, and to the social and political events of the author's time. Ziegler also examines the relation of the frame narrative to the individual tales in the work.

Es müsste sonderbar in ihren Winter hinein blühen, wenn ihnen so der

Sinn für das Grosse eines Volks aufgehen sollte und für sein Bedürfnis.

—"Von Volksliedern," 1805

"Things would have to flower remarkably in their winter, if for them

the sense of the greatness of a people and its needs were to open up."

—"On Folk Songs," 1805

While...