M: "I am making brisk progress with my work […] I have written 840 verses, [...] a burlesque [...] barrel organ poem with an introduction and a serious concluding remark, a Low German love quarrel between Korl and Marieken with a practical application concerning the merits of stupidity, and a [...] vagabond poem about Zwirn the tailor, Pech the cobbler and Leim the joiner, which still awaits its final completion.
F: Fritz Reuter, writing to his wife Luise in the summer of 1854. He'd enjoyed his first success. Reuter went on to become involved in local politics. As a member of the municipal assembly and a town councillor, he was responsible for social affairs. In a town of 4,000 souls, everyone knew everyone else and the council meetings regularly ended up in the pub. Reuter was a great storyteller...
M: ... as well as a great listener. He re-worked the comical tales, stories and anecdotes into brief, punchy verse narratives – which were generally appreciated, but found no publisher. His colleagues and friends finally had a whip-round, which meant he was able to self-publish his stories in rhyme:
F: "Läuschen un Rimels" – meaning "untrue made-up stories and rhymes" – appeared in 1853 and immediately found an audience. Bookshops placed orders, Fritz and Luise packed and shipped the books, and the first edition of twelve hundred copies quickly sold out. Encouraged by his success, he wrote "De Reis' nah Bellingen", a preposterous travel tale about four farmers on a calamitous study tour to Belgium.
M: At the same time, Reuter was working as a newspaper publisher, issuing an entertainment weekly entitled "Unterhaltungsblatt für beide Mecklenburg und Pommern". That was where he published the story "Meine Vaterstadt Stavenhagen" about his home town, along with the first chapters of a serial novel about his time in fortress detention – in High German, to comply with the laws governing the press.
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Zitat Reuter: Nenz: Auf immer und ewig Dein Fritz Reuter. Aus dem Leben der Luise Reuter, S. 27.
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