SOURCE: “Grillparzer: Der arme Spielmann,” in The German Novelle,” Princeton University Press, 1977, pp. 114-32.

In the following essay, Swales discusses the importance of narrative perspective in Der arme Spielmann, in particular, the narrator's attitude toward the protagonist, Jacob.

Franz Grillparzer was born in Vienna on January 15, 1791. He studied law at the university, and from 1813 to 1856 he was employed as a civil servant, finally reaching the post of Archivdirektor. His was not a life rich in spectacular events; there were, admittedly, occasional visits abroad (to Italy, Germany, France, England, Greece), but on the whole, irresolution and timorousness prevailed (as in his agonized relationship to Katharina Fröhlich, the “eternal fiancée” whom he was never to marry). His career as an artist began with the considerable public success of Die Ahnfrau (The Ancestress) of 1817, but it was a triumph that was not to be repeated. The disastrous reception accorded...