SOURCE: "'Citronia'—'Kennst du das Land…? ': A Riddle of Sexuality and Desire," in Heine-Jahrbuch 1996, Verlag J. B. Metzler, 1996, pp. 81-112.

In the following excerpt, Cook evaluates Heine's portrayal of sexual desire in his poem "Citronia."

Of all of Heine's posthumously published poems perhaps none has such a checkered past as "Citronia". First mention of it came in June 1856 when Mathilda's lawyer, Henri Julia, placed it first in the list of 35 poems he sent to Christian Schad for publication in Der Deutsche Musenalmanach. But when the final agreement with Schad was reached, "Citronia" was one of the poems Schad decided not to publish because he anticipated difficulties with the German censors. Schad had copies of these poems made before sending them back to Julia, but this copy of "Citronia" has been lost. The title also appeared in the table of contents of a packet with 54 poems Julia sent...