Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter

Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter, a novel by C. Brentano, published in 2 vols. in 1801, and described on the title-page as Ein verwilderter Roman von Maria, a pseudonym used by Brentano for his early works. It is a capricious Romantic Bildungsroman, the first volume of which is in the form of letters written by Godwi himself, his half-brother Römer, the depressive Werdo Senne, the painter Antonio Firmenti, and the three women to whom Godwi is attracted, Molly Hodefield, Joduno von Eichenwehen, and Ottilie Senne. This volume is chiefly occupied with Godwi's emotional response to the three women. The second volume (Zweiter und letzter Teil) purports to be edited by friends of Maria, who has died (Herausgegeben von den Freunden des Verstorbenen, mit Nachrichten von seinem Leben, seinen Arbeiten und seinem Tode). It narrates obliquely and spasmodically an intricate story of family relations in which Godwi and Römer are involved, and spans two generations. Its final episode is a beautifully told story of the corruption and redemption of the young girl Violette. Appended to the story is an ironical obituary of Maria, i.e. of Brentano by himself.

Godwi is perhaps the most wayward of all Romantic novels, deliberately eccentric in structure, and repeatedly cut across by destructive irony. Though baffling and perplexing as a whole, it has passages of brilliant perception and narrative episodes of singular beauty. It is strewn with many of Brentano's finest early poems, including the ballad ‘Zu Bacharach am Rheine’ (first line), usually known as ‘Die Lore Lay’ (see Lorelei).