Friedrich Schiller is my favourite German writer. I found his ' The Robbers ', ' Don Carlos ', ' Wallenstein ' and ' William Tell ' fascinating.
But when I mentioned about him and his works to some German friends they seemed hardly interested. They had read these books in school in Germany, but said they found them boring. On the other hand I found them very interesting.
I think the reason for this is that India today is to some extent similar to Germany in Schiller's time, that is, passing through a stormy, transitional period in its history.
Schiller was part of the Romantic ' Sturm und Drang ' ( Storm and Stress ) movement in Germany, to which great writers like Goethe, Lessing and Wieland also belonged
For example, in 'The Robbers' there are two brothers, the elder brother Karl being an idealist who becomes a rebel, while the younger Franz is a selfish person who only wants to inherit his father's property and accumulate money. Thus, there is a clash of values, as is happening in India today.
' Don Carlos' is about the freedom loving Don Carlos, the son of his tyrannical father, Philip the Second, the King of Spain who wants to suppress the Dutch and impose the Inquisition. Don Carlos takes the side of the freedom loving people of Netherlands, who are in revolt against their ruler, the despotic King of Spain.
The patriotic Indians, who are rebels like Karl or Don Carlos, want to take India forward, while the selfish people like Franz ( who are in the vast majority ) only want to make money by any means.
Germany has passed this transitional period, and hence naturally Germans find Schiller's plays uninteresting.
