"Lieblingsblick" - Annette von Droste-Hülshoff

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff – Lieblingsblick

Mostly pastoral description of the view of the Alps from a mountain hut in the woods. Mostly typical, but definitely has Romantic overtones – especially excurs at the end about the view of the mountains being most well suited to loneliness. She describes the view of the mountains as “der Tod in seinr grossartigsten Gestalt.”

Interesting aspects: she wanders through the mountains purely in her head, while looking at them. Experience through seeing and not doing. Also, heavy resonance with Prospect/Refuge theory. Mountain hut allows prospect with distance (refuge). Also, her favorite bench (she prefers to sit outside) is shaded/hidden by grapevines.

She's one of the few female writers on the list. Interesting that she seems so drawn to the mountains, which one would seem to see as a specifically male space. Perhaps her ruminations on them and insistence on her superior knowledge of them is in reference to the forbidden nature of the mountains to women. This frustration may also be reflected in her defiance in choosing the hard path to get to the hut (softened by reference to sin/religion, but still with a heavy defiant tone).