The Ghost-Seer

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The Ghost-Seer – From the papers of the Marchioness of O**

Author	Friedrich Schiller
Country	Germany
Language	German
Publication date	1787 to 1789

The prince, engraving about 1859

The Ghost-Seer (full title: Der Geisterseher – Aus den Papieren des Grafen von O**; literally, The Ghost-Seer – From the papers of the Count of O**) or The Apparitionist is an unfinished novel by Friedrich Schiller. It first appeared in several instalments from 1787 to 1789 in the journal Thalia, later appearing as a three-volume book in its own right. Although it remained unfinished, its audiences were the largest for any of Schiller's work during his lifetime. The readership was attracted by its elements typical of the time, such as necromancy, spiritualism and conspiracies.

Structurally and stylistically it is not a single story, but tells of a Jesuit secret society trying to convert a Protestant German prince to Catholicism and bring him to the throne back home in order to bolster its own power base. Writing of the Prince's fate, Schiller shows him as the key to the conflict between passion and morality, passion and duty. The work's passages on religious and historical philosophy show Schiller's Enlightenment ideals, with his critique of religion and society to the fore, though a deeper exploration of Immanuel Kant was to follow later. Due to the novel's slow formation and the author's antipathy to it, it was not planned from start to finish and its style and structure is not uniform throughout, ranging from rhetorical prose, to theatrical prose, to dialogues reminiscent of Don Carlos, to the popular elements of Gothic fiction.

It is thought that Johann Georg Schröpfer may have provided the inspiration for the novel.

Plot

Introduction

St Mark's Square, Venice)

The work is narrated in the first person by the 'Graf von O**' (Count of O**). It describes the story of a German prince visiting Venice at carnival time. Right at the start of the work, the Count stresses that this story might sound incredible, but that he had witnessed it with own eyes. Furthermore he talks of his disinterest in deceiving the public as "at the time these pages will tread into the world, I will not be and will neither win nor lose by the account given."

Bibliography

Friedrich Schiller, The Armenian, or The Ghost Seer…, 2 voll., translated by W.. Render, C. Wittington, 1800.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Ghost-Seer.

The Ghost-Seer at Project Gutenberg

v t e Works by Friedrich Schiller

Plays	The Robbers Semele Fiesco Intrigue and Love Körners Vormittag Don Carlos Wallenstein Wallenstein's Camp The Piccolomini Wallenstein's Death Mary Stuart The Maid of Orleans The Bride of Messina William Tell Die Huldigung der Künste Demetrius

Selected poems	Ode to Joy Resignation Die Götter Griechenlandes Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais Die Teilung der Erde Xenien Der Handschuh Der Taucher Die Kraniche des Ibykus Ritter Toggenburg Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer Der Ring des Polykrates Der Kampf mit dem Drachen Die Bürgschaft Das Lied von der Glocke Nänie Der Antritt des neuen Jahrhunderts Das Siegesfest

Selected prose works	Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre Der Geisterseher Eine großmütige Handlung

Selected philosophical works	Die Schaubühne als eine moralische Anstalt betrachtet Über den Grund des Vergnügens an tragischen Gegenständen Augustenburger Briefe Über Anmut und Würde Über das Pathetische Kallias-Briefe Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen Über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung Über das Erhabene

Historical works	Was heißt und zu welchem Ende studiert man Universalgeschichte?

Journals	Wirtembergisches Repertorium Thalia Die Horen

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