The Literary Rheingau

Wanderings through a Poetic Landscape

The Rheingau is not only a very beautiful landscape, but also a downright poetic one. At least Heiner Boehncke and Hans Sarkowicz are convinced of this, and in their book "Der literarische Rheingau" they take their readers on a very special hike through this region. This travel guide of a somewhat different kind is intended to give readers the opportunity to choose from three options for exploring this wonderful cultural landscape. The first option is to simply be inspired to take a walk or bike ride to see the sites featured in the book, such as Johannisberg Castle, the Queen Victoria Monument in Hochheim am Main, Eberbach Monastery, the Rheingau Cathedral in Geisenheim, or the Saint Rochus Chapel near Bingen. In this case, the book functions like a normal travel guide.

The second option is to explore the literary references presented in the book on site after reading it. To walk in Goethe's footsteps or to look at what Heinrich Heine, Clemens Brentano, Eva Demski or Robert Gernhardt wrote about in sometimes very different but always passionate and rapturous ways. The third option is to visit the reading places mentioned in the book and then enjoy the harmony of landscape and literature on site. No matter which option the reader chooses, the book is in any case an interesting, sometimes surprising and always worth reading source of inspiration for excursions through the Rheingau.

The texts are a mixture of cultural and literary history, enriched with vivid descriptions of places and beautiful photographs taken by Christian Seeling. The places visited in the book are described by literary quotations, which is intended not only to whet the appetite for visiting those very places, but also to read the quoted poems, novels and texts in their entirety. Finally, the importance of the Rheingau as a cultural landscape is once again highlighted by an essay on the renowned Rheingau Music Festival.

Heiner Boehncke and Hans Sarkowicz have put together a book that is both worth reading and seeing, which not only offers many interesting insights into the rich history of the Rheingau, but also beautifully demonstrates the close relationship between literature and landscape. For those who would like to experience the Rheingau with different eyes, this book can be absolutely recommended.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp