SOURCE: “Poetry and Prose,” in Franz Grillparzer, Twayne Publishers, 1981, pp. 80-94.

In the following excerpt, Thompson contrasts Grillparzer's two works of short fiction, Der arme Spielmann and Das Kloster bei Sendomir.

In view of the fact that Grillparzer regarded poetry so much more highly than prose, it is more surprising that he should have written creatively in prose at all, than that he should have made only two contributions to the most popular genre of the nineteenth century in Germany, the shorter prose narrative. Grillparzer's two short stories, Das Kloster bei Sendomir and Der arme Spielmann, are dissimilar in content and atmosphere, and have also had markedly contrasting receptions. The former, published in 1827, has been generally regarded as a minor work and has received scant critical attention, but the latter, published in 1847, has been the subject of numerous critical studies, and has been acclaimed as one of the...