In the development of Ludwig Tieck 1795 and 1796 were decisive years. For several years previous to 1795 Tieck had been giver to a pessimistic and rather negative view of life, according to which human existence seemed to have but little meaning, and poetry, art, and idealism appeared to him to be delusions. While this nihilistic tendency held sway over Tieck's mind not even the works of Goethe, Shakespeare, or Cervantes, which he had read eagerly ever since early boyhood, or his friendship with Wackenroder represented saving forces in his life. William Lovell, Tieck's novel of almost seven hundred pages, adequately reflects the distressed state of his mind during this early period of his life, although the work was written for the most part after the worst throes of his pessimism and despair had spent their force.