The Blue Flower

The Blue Flower is a critically acclaimed 1995 historical novel by author Penelope Fitzgerald. It tells the story of the formative years of early Romantic poet Friedrich von Hardenberg (1772-1801), who would later achieve acclaim under the pen name “Novalis.” Hardenberg has two obsessions, a twelve-year-old named Sophie von Kühn, and the blue flower that dominates the first chapter of a book he is writing. Hardenberg asks those who have read the chapter (including young Sophie) what they think the flower symbolizes; this question becomes one of the most important motifs in the book. Michael Hoffman of The New York Times described The Blue Flower as “a masterpiece.”

Friedrich “Fritz” von Hardenberg was born in 1772, the second of a brood of eleven. His youngest sibling, referred to cryptically as “the Bernhard” is supernaturally intelligent, but his gift is never fully explained. Fritz's father, Director of the Salt Mining Administration of Saxony, runs a salt mine in Weissenfels on behalf of the Prince. A hard-working man of high birth but dwindling fortune, the elder Hardenberg converts to the Herrenhut Brotherhood. He intends Fritz to eventually enter the salt trade as well. Disapproving of Fritz's youthful idealism and burgeoning romanticism, he attempts to nip his heretical ideas in the bud by sending him to boarding school. This does little to change Fritz into a more stolid and practical young man, however.

Fritz goes on to study at universities in Jena, Leipzig, and Wittenberg, where he studies a variety of subjects: history, philosophy, natural science, and law. There he encounters many historical figures who would themselves also become central to the Romantic Movement. These include philosopher Johann Fichte and historian Friedrich von Schiller, who are lecturers at the universities. Philologist and philosopher Friedrich von Schlegel also makes an appearance as a schoolmate of Fritz's. Schlegel would, historically, become the single most influential Romantic literary critic; indeed, his writings helped to define the movement and its goals.



Fritz's sterling education (he passes his exams with distinction) does not immediately translate into a profession, however, so his father sends him to stay with his friend Coelestin Just, a tax collector in the small town of Tennstedt. There, Fritz meets the young Sophie von Kühn. Fritz is enthralled by Sophie, although for reasons no one else understands. The young girl is neither beautiful, intelligent, nor from a wealthy family. Nonetheless, becoming nearly obsessed with her, Fritz courts her. He sets about to do so, successfully convincing his father and Sophie's stepfather of the sense of the arrangement.

Fritz's fervent pursuit of Sophie – whom he comes to refer to as his “Philosophy” – lies at the heart of the novel; his worship of the good-natured, but otherwise unremarkable girl comes to color and impact every other relationship in his life. For instance, his decision to wed Sophie shatters his friend Karoline Just. The intelligent Karoline, Coelestin's niece and housekeeper, is secretly in love with Fritz, and had hoped he would one day notice and marry her – but she is utterly eclipsed by the dull girl-child. Fritz's own brother, Erasmus, initially cannot understand why Fritz wastes his time on Sophie, memorably arguing, “Fritz, she is not beautiful, she is not even pretty. I say again this Sophie is empty-headed, moreover, at twelve years old she has a double chin.” Yet, unexpectedly, Erasmus, too, comes to adore Sophie. And so, eventually, does Fritz' father.

Before the resolution of Fritz's extended courtship of Sophie, however, she dies of tuberculosis at fifteen. Tragically, Fritz's brother dies a month later. Fritz lives on for another four years before also succumbing to tuberculosis. His novel, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, in which he had created the figure of the elusive and all-consuming blue flower, lies unfinished.



Fitzgerald's novel has been the subject of much critical scrutiny, and many have called it her finest work. It was the novelist's final book before her death (she wrote it when she was seventy-nine). As a historical novel, the characters in The Blue Flower are based on historical figures, which Fitzgerald studiously researched before writing. Critics consider the novel an accurate portrayal of eighteenth-century Germany.

Also central to Fitzgerald's novel is a refusal to tie up loose ends. She never explains what the blue flower in Novalis's book symbolizes, or the source of Sophie's uncanny charisma. Doing so, she not only creates an obvious parallel between Sophie and the flower, but foregrounds the irrational and irreducible nature of desire. This is well in line with Romanticism's own embrace of irrational emotion. Fitzgerald's unique contribution to Romantic studies, as a novelist, is to ground this dynamic in a living, historically accurate context, bringing to life both the genius and the equally pronounced shortcomings of one of the Romantic era's earliest literary stars.