On the Heights

'On the Heights' is a novel by German author Berthold Auerbach. It reflects a period of constitutional political conflict in Germany, and is the most widely known of Auerbach's novels. The central figure is a king whose self-confident individuality comes in conflict with his love of popular freedom. Anticipating the superman of later writers, he feels that his nature is cast in too large a mold to be confined by constitutional restraints or ethical conventions. In conflict with a majority of the elected representatives of the people over some ecclesiastical question, he dissolves the assembly in his impatience of any outer control.