Rinaldo Rinaldini (1799) – ›Terrible Prestige‹ (Melville) oder ›Zauberklang‹ (Benjamin)

The novel about the robber chief Rinaldo Rinaldini (1799) by Christian August Vulpius is a remarkable example of the unpredictable ups and downs of popularity. The novel and its hero enjoyed the greatest possible popularity, especially in the 19^th century. At the same time, critics scolded the novel as trivial, shallow and commercial. Despite this first-order depopularization (the novel should not be considered from the point of view of the ›educated‹), the novel is noticed by many. This article explores the immanent poetology and the narrative techniques of the novel, which maintain popularity. The paper then reconstructs the extensive reception history of Rinaldini from the first reaction at Goethe to the adaptation of the material for a television series in the 1960s. Finally, the focus is on the creeping oblivion of the novel, which leads to its disregard today (second-order depopularization).