The Blue Flower is set in theage of Goethe, in the small towns and great universities of lateeighteenth-century Germany. It tells the true story of Friedrich vonHardenberg, a passionate, impetuous student of philosophy who will later gainfame as the romantic poet Novalis. Fritz seeks his father's permission to wedhis "heart's heart," his "spirit's guide"-a plain, simple child named Sophievon Kühn. It is an attachment that shocks his family and friends. Theirbrilliant young Fritz, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard? How can this be?
Theirrationality of love, the transfiguration of the commonplace, the clarity ofpurpose that comes with knowing one's own fate-these are the themes of thisbeguiling novel, themes treated with a mix of wit, grace, and mischievous humor.