SOURCE: “Relocating the Author: A New Perspective on the Narrator in Der arme Spielmann,” in Grillparzer's Der arme Spielmann: New Directions in Criticism, edited by Clifford Albrecht Bernd, Camden House, 1988, pp. 322-36.

In the following essay, Cook reassesses the function of the narrator in Der arme Spielmann, arguing that it provides insight into the relationship between author and text.

Begun in 1831, but not completed until 1842 (published only in 1847), Der arme Spielmann was written during a period of transition for both German literature and the socio-political climate of the German-speaking regions. The development of a more volatile public consciousness, which had erupted in the violence of the 1830 July Revolution, added new significance to any literary work which dealt with contemporary social relationships. As the story of a social misfit, Grillparzer's novella reveals some problematical aspects of the emerging social order. Against the foil of the eccentric fiddler, the novella...