Margaret Fuller’s Reading Worlds

Author

Bettina von Arnim (Brentano)(1785–1859)

Bettina von Arnim is a translated author and a personal identification at once. Fuller translated the correspondence with Goethe as part of her larger Goethe project, but her real affinity was with Die Günderode, the correspondence between Bettina and the poet Karoline von Günderode, in which “the two girls are equal natures, and both in earnest.” The distinction she draws between the two women — interesting versus dear and admirable — is characteristic: she identified with the passion while keeping a critical distance from the performance of it.

Bettine only interesting

“Goethe made a puppet-show, for his private entertainment, of Bettine’s life... Günderode is to me dear and admirable, Bettine only interesting.” One of Fuller’s sharpest dismissals-with-qualification.

Engagement
TranslatedExcerptedAnalyzedQuotedReadMentioned
Translated
  • Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde [Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child] — translated by Margaret Fuller
Present in
Letters · Books · Essays · Journals · Manuscripts
Documented
1839–1850

Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

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 →

Confirmed reading

Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had Bettina von Arnim (Brentano)’s work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.

  • Dated
  • 1839(her book, i.e. Goethe's Correspondence with a Child)Attested

    “I did not value Bettine so much... I knew Bettine would end in nothing when I read her book.”

    Manuscripts (Houghton Library, Margaret Fuller Family Papers) · 1839 (date supplied by merged witness re69, Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (sections))

    MERGED 2026-10-11: absorbed duplicate witness(es) re69 (Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (sections), Mem-2-05, line 10609; tier A; date taken from this witness; same passage) — counted once here. First-person statement 'when I read her book' explicitly describing reading Bettina's book.

  • 1841Die GunderodeDemonstrated

    “I meant to have translated for you the best passages of "Die Gunderode" (which I prefer to the correspondence with Goethe.”

    Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · 19 February 1841

    Engagement_type is Translated, which automatically qualifies for the Demonstrated tier.

  • 1842Die GunderodeDemonstrated

    “I finished the 1st no Giinderode last night, it will be out early next week. The two vols are to be translated in four numbers.”

    Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · Boston, March 8th, 1842.

    Engagement type Translated automatically qualifies; she is actively translating Die Gunderode.

In Emerson’s letters to Fuller (L-3)

Books Emerson sent or offered, his secondhand reports, and his own references — never counted in Fuller’s totals.

  • 24 May 1838Bettina von Arnim's book, in Fuller's possessionReported by Emerson · not counted

    Possession (not reading) · Myerson, letter of 24 May 1838 (page locator provisional)

    John Sullivan Dwight's request to borrow it, relayed by Emerson, evidences her possession — the earliest dated (1838). Possession is not reading. The copy's chain Fuller → Emerson → Ward (1838–39) is now traceable.

Phases of engagement

  1. 1839–1844

    Translation and peak engagement — Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child translated; Die Günderode analyzed; Bettina a figure in the Boston Conversations.

  2. 1846–1850

    Quieter presence — Arnim remains in view as the intensive engagement shifts to the Italian years.

In Fuller’s words

“I prefer [Die Günderode] to the correspondence with Goethe. The two girls are equal natures, and both in earnest. Goethe made a puppet-show, for his private entertainment, of Bettine’s life... Günderode is to me dear and admirable, Bettine only interesting.”
Letter · 1841 — Die Günderode
“He was not willing to play with other little children, unless they were very fair... His mother was surprised, that when his brother Jacob died, who had been his playmate, he shed no tear.”
Fuller’s translation, published 1841 — Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child
“The full, free expression of feeling must be rare, for this book of Bettina Brentano’s to produce such an effect. Men who have lived in the society of women all their days, seem never before to have dreamed of their nature.”
Journal, as later reported in the Memoirs · 1844 — Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child

When Fuller engaged with Bettina von Arnim (Brentano)

I. Childhood
II. Adolescence
III. Self-Directed
IV. Transcendentalist11records
V. New York2records
VI. Europe4records
✦. Memoirs (1852)1record
1810
1820
1832
1836
1844
1846
1850

Arnim in Fuller’s reading world

Translated by Fuller

  • Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde [Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child]

Analyzed in depth

  • Die Günderode [Correspondence of Fräulein Günderode and Bettine von Arnim]·
  • Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde — analyzed as a document of Goethe’s life

Further works

  • Des Knaben Wunderhorn (co-edited with Achim von Arnim and Brentano)

Further works documented in the catalogue

Documentary evidence

Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.

1839—

Letter to Elizabeth Hoar

p84
read
“it occurred to me that I had better write by post and ask you to tell him that it shall be found as well as the Brentano vols. at Mr Adams Thursday by 10, morning.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

Inferred Hudspeth identified "the Brentano vols." refers to Bettina von Arnim's Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde, which Fuller is sending to Emerson through Adams; the volumes are identified by Arnim's maiden name Brentano, though she married Joachim von Arnim in 1811.

1839—

Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger

p12
analyzed · readManuscript page
“I did not value Bettina so much, she had not pride enough for me, only now when I am sure of myself, could I pour out my soul at the feet of another [...] I knew Bettina would end in nothing when I read her book.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

1840—

Letter to William H. Channing

p171
analyzed · read
“I am astonished to see how much Bettine's book is to all these people. This shows how little courage they have had to live out themselves. She really brings them a revelation.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

Inferred Fuller is commenting at length on the mpact of Bettina's book on her social circle. Fuller was also translating another Arnim work (Goethe's Correspondence with a Child) and knew Arnim's writing well.

1841—

Letter to William H. Channing

p202
analyzed · quoted · read3 selected passages
“I meant to have translated for you the best passages of "Die Gunderode" (which I prefer to the correspondence with Goethe. The two girls are equal natures, and both in earnest.”
“which I prefer to the correspondence with Goethe. The two girls are equal natures, and both in earnest.”
“Today in the exquisite calm of this scene I felt as poor Bettine did to Gunderode. "Oh could I bear thee in my arms through the world to a soft mossy place.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

1841—

The Dial

“Menzel's View of Goethe” · Vol. 1, No. 3, January 1841
excerpted · analyzed · quoted · read4 selected passages
“Such denials of the crown can only fix it more firmly on the head of the 'Old Heathen.' To such the best answer may be given in the words of Bettina Brentan: 'The others criticise thy works; I only know that they lead us on and on till we live in them.”

This work is also quoted in Fuller's essay on Goethe (B-1-02).

“Of Goethe's childhood. ?”

Fuller explicitly attributes these anecdotes of Goethe’s childhood to "his mother to Bettina" (line 574), drawing from Bettina von Arnim's Goethe's Correspondence with a Child.

“To appreciate any man, learn first what object he proposed to himself; next, what degree of earnestness he showed with regard to attaining that object.”

Fuller attributes this maxim explicitly to Goethe, stating, "Now, Goethe has given us both his own standard and the way to apply it." The sentiment aligns with Goethe's reflections as recorded in works such as Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe or his Maxims and Reflections. A precise verbatim source for this phrase has not been identified.

“Extract from a letter of Beethoven to Bettina Brentano, Toplitz, 1812.”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860.

1841—

Genesis of the Greek Gods

p8
quoted · readManuscript page
“what Bettina says to Gunderode, 'Ah Gunderode there is no religion in the world fit for thee and me, let us found one.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Genesis of the Greek Gods." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086.

1841—

Reading Notes, 1841

p6
excerpted · analyzed · quoted · read
“Gunderode! thou art always longing to free thyself from the narrow limits of thy being while it is my only happiness that God has made thee in that very individuality thou dost disdain.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Reading Notes, 1841." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1221 (Caroline Sturgis Tappan papers, 1838–1921).

1843—

On Beethoven

p6, p13
analyzed · readManuscript page
“Bettina's dramatic sketches [...] Of Bettina's visit.”

Fuller, Margaret. "On Beethoven." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

1844—

Letter to Georgiana Bruce

p250
analyzed · read2 selected passages
“I will get you, if any friend has it here, Goethe's "Correspondence with a Child" (more properly it should be named, "A Child's Correspondence with Herself).”
“I send this number of "Günderode." The remainder I hope to publish if ever I have time and money.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.

1846—

Papers on Literature and Art

p94
analyzed · read
“Schindler, as well as others, devoted ... and Bettina Brentano. ... As for Bettina, it was evident to every discerning reader that ... Yet "the good Bettina" gives us the soul of the”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.

Inferred Fuller refers to 'Bettina' and 'Bettina Brentano' as a source of knowledge about Beethoven — likely the Beethoven letters published in Goethe's Correspondence with a Child (1835) or in Ilius Pamphilius (1848); the specific source available to Fuller in the 1840s was the Goethe correspondence. Fuller discusses 'Bettina' as a biographical source for Beethoven, alongside Ries and Schindler.

1846—

Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish . . .

“Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish . . .”
mentioned
“The Correspondence of Bettina Brentano with Goethe, commonly called Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child, which has afforded to many minds delight so fresh and peculiar, was published at Lowell by him.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish . . ." New-York Daily Tribune, 12 February 1846. · 12 February 1846

1846—

Lives of the Great Composers

“Lives of the Great Composers”
mentioned
“But u the good Bettina" was faithful to her professions, and of essential use to Beethoven, by interesting her family in the conduct of his affairs.”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846. · p276

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p276; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

Preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.

1835—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p21
analyzed · read
“When I first knew George Sand, I thought I found tried the experiment I wanted.”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.

1840—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p126
analyzed · read2 selected passages
“In 1841, she translated the Letters of Gunderode and Bettine, and published them as far as the sale warranted the work.”
“I meant to have translated the best passages of "Die Gunderode," — which I prefer to Bettine's correspondence with Goethe. The two girls are equal natures, and both in earnest.”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.

1852—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p140
analyzed · read
“The full, free expression of feeling must be rare, for this book of Bettina Brentano's to produce such an effect.”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.

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