2 - From Estate to Civil Society
Summary
The Frankfurt physician Heinrich Hoffmann (1809–94), who authored the famous picture book Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) in 1845, was also a keen satirist. In 1849, amid the chaotic demise of the Revolution, he wrote a caricature of the reactionaries horror-stricken at the prospect of a Red Terror, as well as a satire of the boisterous and tippling democrats. Having declined both extremities, Hoffmann positioned himself in the sensible centre:
Whence might it come that the stubborn adversaries in the chambers of estates always sit on the left? … On the left side, one is somewhat further from the president, who calls for order with his right hand. The left hand is clumsier and weaker than the right; the left is awkward, the right violent. Left lies the heart, right the liver, i.e. cheekiness on the left and anger on the right. Be all of that as it may, the cleverest and most comfortable seat is that in the middle. The physical individual can move with his voice now right now left; his convictions remain calmly where they really belong.
This chapter investigates the approximately two decades leading to the Revolution as a period of crucial transformation in Frankfurt's public life. Significantly, the National Assembly at the Paulskirche plays only a marginal role in the historiography of the city.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Science and Societies in Frankfurt am Main , pp. 45 - 70Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014