Reading Order
ObermannObermann Reading Order
Obermann (1804) by Étienne Pivert de Senancour is one of the great neglected masterpieces of French Romantic literature — a long, digressive epistolary novel about a young man's retreat to the Swiss Alps and his sustained meditation on the impossibility of finding happiness, purpose, or metaphysical grounding in the world as it is. Senancour's hero Obermann corresponds with a friend but primarily meditates aloud: on the landscape, on the failure of social institutions, on the impossibility of love, on his own temperamental incapacity for action or satisfaction. The novel is less a narrative than a sustained prose-poem of Romantic melancholy, and it is the most philosophically serious of the French mal du siècle texts — more rigorous in its pessimism than Chateaubriand's René, more reflective and less dramatic than Musset's Confession of a Child of the Century. Matthew Arnold, who was perhaps the novel's most important English reader, wrote two poems about Obermann (Stanzas in Memory of the Author of 'Obermann,' 1852, and Obermann Once More, 1867) that give the best account of why a mid-Victorian English intellectual found the novel's pessimism so compelling. 'His insight never had joy,' Arnold wrote — and found that absence of joy more honest than the consolations of Victorian faith or progress. Obermann was largely forgotten after Senancour's death and has never received the English-language readership it deserves.
Where to start
Obermann (1804) — the Penguin Classics edition does not currently include it; the most accessible English translation is the E.P. Dutton edition translated by Arthur Edward Waite (1903), which can be found in reprint. The novel is long and discursive; reading Matthew Arnold's two Obermann poems alongside the novel illuminates both. Alternatively, read Senancour's shorter lyric essays in the Rêveries sur la nature primitive de l'homme as an introduction to his mode.
Complete Obermann Book List
- 1Buy
René
François-René de Chateaubriand·1802·The companion text of French Romantic melancholy published two years before Obermann — Chateaubriand's René and Senancour's Obermann are the two defining texts of the mal du siècle; where René is brief and passionate, Obermann is long and reflective; reading both gives the full range of the form. - 2Buy
Adolphe
Benjamin Constant·1816·The third great text of French Romantic male melancholy — where Obermann retreats into the Alps and meditates on the impossibility of happiness, Adolphe meditates on a specific failed love affair; the three texts (René, Obermann, Adolphe) together define the mal du siècle tradition. - 3Buy
Selected Poetry of Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold·1853·Arnold's poems 'Stanzas in Memory of the Author of Obermann' (1852) and 'Obermann Once More' (1867) give the best account of why Senancour's novel was compelling to a Victorian English reader; reading Arnold alongside Obermann makes both more intelligible. - 4Buy
Reveries of the Solitary Walker
Jean-Jacques Rousseau·1782·The predecessor that Obermann is developing — Rousseau's meditative prose, his Alpine landscape, and his sense of alienation from society are the direct sources of Obermann's mode; reading the Rêveries alongside Obermann shows the line from Rousseau to Senancour. - 5Buy
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe·1774·The German predecessor of the whole French mal du siècle tradition — Werther's emotional oversensitivity is the German original of which René and Obermann are French developments; reading Werther alongside Obermann shows what Senancour inherited from the German Romantic tradition and what he transformed.
Obermann — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Obermann by Senancour about?
Obermann (1804) by Étienne Pivert de Senancour is an epistolary novel about a young man who retreats to the Swiss Alps and meditates at length on the impossibility of finding happiness, purpose, or metaphysical grounding in the world as it is. Less a narrative than a sustained prose-poem of Romantic melancholy, Obermann is one of the defining texts of the French 'mal du siècle' (century's disease) alongside Chateaubriand's René and Constant's Adolphe. Matthew Arnold was one of its most important English readers, writing two poems in tribute to the novel's honest pessimism.
Why is Obermann important in French Romanticism?
Obermann (1804) is important in French Romanticism as the most philosophically rigorous of the mal du siècle texts — more sustained in its pessimism than Chateaubriand's brief René, and more reflective than Musset's dramatic Confession of a Child of the Century. Senancour's Alpine landscape, his sense of social alienation, and his meditative prose directly descend from Rousseau's Reveries of the Solitary Walker, but Senancour is less consoled by nature than Rousseau — the landscape is beautiful but cannot fill the metaphysical emptiness Obermann describes. Matthew Arnold, who wrote two tribute poems, called Senancour 'the most modern of our French forebears' and found in Obermann an honesty about spiritual desolation that Victorian culture preferred to suppress.
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.