Author
Ludwig Tieck is documented in Fuller’s letters, books, published essays, journals, and manuscripts (1832–1846). 8 distinct works are named, most often in Letter to James F. Clarke, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “excerpted”.
Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this author is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →
Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had Ludwig Tieck’s work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.
“with the writings of Tieck, Korner, Bichter, and Novalis”
Mem-3 Reminiscences of Edna Cheney · She began the study of German in 1832 ... within the year
Same dated 1832-1833 claim regarding Tieck.
“Tieck's William Lovel, Prince Zerbino, and other works”
Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli · within the year [1832]
Continuation of the same dated (1832) memoir reading list, naming specific Tieck works.
“with the writings also of Tieck, Korner, Richter, and Novalis”
Mem-4 Margaret Fuller by Julia Ward Howe · within the year of 1832
Same dated (1832-33) passage extends the explicit reading list to Tieck.
“The works of Novalis must charm the sincere lover of Wisdom and Art. At first he will meet much of unexpected and incomprehensible, but nearer acquaintance will enable him to trace the workings of one animating spirit amid the most various thoughts...' / Ludwig Tieck. / Life of Novalis. / The Baron von Hardenberg, his father was director to the salt-works in Saxony. He had been a soldier, and retained through life a predilection for the profession. [...] Ludwig Tieck.”
This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.
Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.
“I am obliged to rebuke my pupils between every sentence for all their little natural ways which surely go to prove the accuracy of Tiecks proposition that all Krieg is natural to man”
Inferred Fuller cites a specific proposition by Ludwig Tieck, the central Romantic figure, that "all Krieg [war/conflict] is natural to man," though no specific work is named; the proposition may derive from his essays, dramatic criticism, or literary writings.
“I do not know the Kantites but sich as Goethe and Tieck give the senses their place, I think, ministring to and acting from the Soul”
Inferred Fuller pairs Tieck with Goethe as exemplars of a philosophy that honors the senses while preserving the soul's authority, demonstrating literary-philosophical judgment based on her reading, though no specific work is named.
“Will you get from the library the 12th Vol Tieck and read gth Scene 2d Act, and be amused. Perhaps you may think it worth translating- I had not time before I sent it back.”
Inferred Fuller recommends to Clarke a specific scene (9th Scene, 2d Act) from vol. 12 of a Tieck edition, possibly worth translating; she had borrowed it from a library and had read and evaluated the scene, though Hudspeth notes the specific edition remains unclear.
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. VI. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988.
“Yes! Truly speak’st thou Tieck. -truly Elizabeth / Falsely the story looks. Yet no! both mingled / The truth and falsehood.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Journal 1833–1834." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (4); Box 5 (83).
Inferred Fuller invokes Tieck alongside a character named ‘Elizabeth’ in a verse meditation. -truly Elizabeth / Falsely the story looks’ suggests Fuller is paraphrasing or alluding to a specific dramatic passage, most probably Genoveva. Fuller names Tieck explicitly and pairs his name with ‘Elizabeth’ (a character).
The most likely identification is Tieck’s tragedy Leben und Tod der heiligen Genoveva (Jena: Frommann, 1800), which contains an ‘Else/Elizabeth’ figure, and which Fuller is known to have engaged with as part of her German Romantic reading.
“[Hedge proposed a society based on those portrayed by E. T. A. Hoffmann in Serapionsbruder and by Ludwig Tieck in Phantasus]”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Vol. I: 1817-1838. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.
Hudspeth's notes identify Tieck's Phantasus as the model for Hedge's proposed literary circle alongside Hoffmann's Serapionsbrüder.
“I will send also the Tieck which I shall not use as I intended.”
Fuller, Margaret. "To Frederic H. Hedge, 30 November 1834." In The Letters of Margaret Fuller, Vol. I: 1817–1838, edited by Robert N. Hudspeth, 212–215. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.
Inferred Fuller is returning volumes 3, 9, and 10 of Tieck's collected works to Hedge, noting she "shall not use as I intended" because Hedge indicated he would not pursue the literary club project ("visiting the Planets") they had discussed. She likely had planned to read these volumes for that collaborative effort.
“Die Verlobung a novel by Tieck.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Fragmentary Reading Notes and Autobiographical Reflections." Houghton Library, Harvard University.
“parts of Tieck's Phantasus”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. I. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.
“The vol of Tieck could not I presume, be bought, you might get it from the library of Harvard university, if you have a friend there.”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.
“Tieck who has embodied so many Runic secrets explained to me what I have often felt when he tells of the poor changeling child when turned from the door of her adopted home she sat down on a stone and felt such a pity for herself that she wept.”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Hudspeth identified: 'Fuller refers to Ludwig Tieck's "Blonde Eckbert," Fuller refers to two specific elements of the story: (1) the 'poor changeling child' who weeps on a stone when turned from her adopted home — this is Bertha in the tale; (2) 'the wonderful bird singing in the wild forest' — the magic bird that Bertha stole and that sings a distinctive song.
“One is the “Urania,” to which Tieck was formerly a contributor, published by Brockhaus in Leipsic.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Correspondence of the Schnellpost." New-York Daily Tribune, 27 January 1845. · 27 January 1845
“In Germany these questions have already been fairly weighed, and those who read the sketches of her great actors, as given by Tieck, know that there, at least, they took with the best minds of their age and country their proper place.”
Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.
“while we feel that Dante would crush him at once as Tieck represents him to do with the modern critic in the “Garden of Poetry.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Leigh Hunt’s Italian Poets." New-York Daily Tribune, 18 February 1846. · 18 February 1846
Undated
Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.
“In Novalis are exhibited with the simplicity of youth these traits of The Romantic School which may be more thoroughly studied out because exhibited with the skill and flexibility of mature taste in Tieck.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Journal 1833–1842." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (83); Box 5 (83).
Inferred No specific title is named; title left as general inferred.
Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.
“TlECK^ who has embodied so many Runic secrets^ explained to me what I have often felt toward myself^ when he tells of the poor change- ling, who, turned from the door of her adopted home, sat down on a stone and so pitied herself that she wept.”
Inferred In this passage from her autobiography, Margaret Fuller engages with Ludwig Tieck's collection Phantasus (1812–16), describing the author as one who "has embodied so many Runic secrets." Fuller recounts a changeling’s self-pity and then a "wonderful bird, singing in the wild forest," echoing motifs suggestive of Tieck’s tales, particularly "Der blonde Eckbert" or "Die Elfen," both featured within Phantasus.
“parts of Tieck's Phantasus”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.
“Tieck's William Lovel, Prince Zerbino, and other works”
In the annotated 1832 reading list, this specific title is identified, suggesting Fuller's direct acquaintance with Tieck's exploration of aesthetic judgment.
“I should wish to devote at least eight numbers to Tieck, and should use the Garden of Poesy, and my other translations.”
Inferred Her reference to "the Garden of Poesy" likely alludes to her own translation, Der Garten der Poesie, an anthology of poetry by various authors collected and presented by Tieck.
“I have sometimes thought of translating his Little Red Riding Hood, for children.”
Inferred Margaret Fuller contemplated translating Ludwig Tieck's dramatic adaptation of "Little Red Riding Hood" for a child audience. The excerpt refers only to this tale, not to Tieck's Puss in Boots. Tieck's version of the classic fairy tale was published in 1800, and Fuller's interest suggests its accessibility and appeal for younger readers.
“she had read German books, and for the three years before I knew her, almost exclusively, — Lessing, Schiller, Richter, Tieck, Novalis, and, above all, Goethe.”
Inferred This passage notes Margaret Fuller's extensive engagement with German literature, specifically mentioning Ludwig Tieck among authors she read "almost exclusively" for three years prior to Emerson's acquaintance. The editors infer this refers to Tieck's broader literary contributions, acknowledging Fuller's deep immersion in German Romanticism alongside figures like Lessing, Schiller, Richter, Novalis, and Goethe.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.