HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Heinrich Heine
this book, Ellis found outlined the program for the
future of mankind: Heine's vision of the triumph
of democracy. Ellis also took issue with the critics
who saw in Atta Troll a sneer at the most sacred
ideals of the human race. In his eyes, this mock epic
was rather an assertion of these ideals against the
individuals who would narrow them down to their
own petty scope. It was a protest against the tame
conceptions of bourgeois equality and the httle
catchwords of solemn, unsmiling little men. It was
a defense of the inalienable rights of the spirit, rights
that towered above and beyond the demands for
immediate political progress. Heine's place was beside
Luther and Lessing. According to Ellis, Heine
was the third great intellectual liberator in the heart
of Europe. His vision was directed toward a democracy
of gods, all equally holy, blessed, and
glorious. Others might be content with simple
clothing, ascetic morals, unseasoned enjoyments.
Heine desired for all mankind nectar and ambrosia,
purple robes, costiy perfumes, pleasure and splendor,
dances of laughing nymphs, music and plays.
With such an unlimited objective and with a scorn
of mere palliatives, Heine was probably unfit to
edit a popular democratic newspaper or to represent
adequately a radical constituency. All the more
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