Joseph Schreyvogel

[2] He received much of his early "education" from an aunt who noticed how he delighted in the puppet theatre of her own children, and whose home he frequently visited.

[2] His interest thus pricked, he learned to read with remarkable rapidity, and quickly steeped himself in the comedic repertoire of the puppet world.

[4] In 1788 he suffered some kind of a mental crisis which led him to turn to the writings of Immanuel Kant, still a radical and polarising figure.

He became involved in a savage literary feud with Franz Felix Hofstätter,[3] the former Jesuit whom Schreyvogel was happy to smear as a Jacobin, traitor and freemason.

[1] Towards the end of 1794 he moved to Jena where a new intellectual awakening was taking place in the growing circle surrounding the philosopher-poet, Friedrich Schiller.

During the next couple of years, without at this stage disclosing his authorship, Schreyvogel contributed a two act comedy, "Die Witwe" ("The Widow") (1973) to Schiller's "Neue Thalia" journal, also contributing to Wieland's literary journal "Mercur" the first parts of his novel "Der neue Lovelace" ("The New Lovelace") (1795/96) and numerous less substantial articles to the Jena Literature Newspaper.

[1] After 1804 he had also remained active as a journalist, and in 1807/08 set up the "Sonntagsblatte" (Sunday newspaper), described in one source as a treasure chest of study, intelligent reading, philosophy and opinions on life and art.

[2] In Metternich's Vienna he proved adept, as a theatrical director, at balancing commercial and popular priorities with the restrictions of censorship.

[4] He himself was appointed an assistant to the official censor in 1817[2] (or January 1818) with duties in the areas of fiction, journalism and, till 1823, theatre productions.