By Heinrich Heine (writer), Sabine Ribka (translator)

In 1831, Heine decided to go into exile in France, feeling that in Germany the climate was becoming increasingly suffocating for him. In Paris he became the leader of the radical group "Young Germany" and acted as a bridge between German and French culture. This work brings together three of the most important essays of conceptual content that he wrote at this stage: On the history of religion and philosophy in Germany, The romantic school and Elemental spirits, three works that give him a position of maximum relevance in the history of thought and in the philosophical, political and journalistic debate of his time. In the first essay, he bitterly satirizes the despotic and feudal regimes of the German kingdoms and duchies. In the second essay, he subjects Romanticism to a ruthless analysis, and in the third he presents a collection of tales and legends of Central European tradition, especially German, with great historical value.