Editing Wilhelm Busch (section)

===Last works===
Among Busch's last works were the stories, ''Clement Dove, the Poet Thwarted'' (Balduin Bählamm, der verhinderte Dichter) (1883) and ''Painter Squirtle'' (Maler Klecksel) (1884), both of which focus on artistic failure, and indirectly his own failure.<ref>Diers, p. 147</ref> Both stories begin with a preface, which, for biographer Joseph Kraus, were bravura pieces of "Komische Lyrik"&nbsp;— German comic poetry.<ref>Kraus, p. 101</ref> ''Clement Dove'' ridicules the bourgeois amateur poet circle of Munich, "The Crocodiles" ([[Die Krokodile]]), and their prominent members [[Emanuel Geibel]], [[Paul Heyse|Paul von Heyse]], and [[Adolf Wilbrandt]]. ''Painter Squirtle'' criticizes the bourgeois art connoisseur who believes the worth of art is gauged by its price.<ref>Arndt, p. 160</ref>

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<poem>
Mit scharfen Blick nach Kennerweise
Seh ich zunächst mal nach dem Preise,
Und bei genauerer Betrachtung
Steigt mit dem Preise auch die Achtung.
Ich blicke durch die hohle Hand,
Ich blinzle, nicke: "Ah, scharmant!"
Das Kolorit, die Pinselführung,
Die Farbentöne, die Gruppierung,
Dies Lüster, diese Harmonie,
Ein Meisterwerk der Phantasie.
</poem>
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<poem>
For just a minute comment lags,
While secretly I note the tags.
(I emulate the trade's elect:
High price engenders high respect.)
I form a spyglass with my hand,
I squint, I nod, I back-step: "Grand!"
What feeling, both naive and deep!
What broad authoritative sweep!
The thrill transmitted as one traces
That lattice-work of patterned spaces!
Those economical designs
Of trailing asymptotic lines!
</poem>
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The prose play ''Edwards Dream'' (Eduards Traum) was released in 1891, composed of several small grouped episodes, rather than one linear storyline. The work received mixed reception. Joseph Kraus felt it was the peak of the life works by Busch,<ref>Kraus, p. 130</ref> his nephews called it a masterwork of world literature, and the publisher of a critical collective edition spoke of a narrative style that is not found in contemporary literature.<ref>Weissweiler, pp. 316–317</ref> Eva Weissweiler saw in the play Busch's attempt to prove himself in the novella genre, believing that everything that angered or insulted him, and his accompanying emotional depths, are apparent in the story.<ref>Weissweiler, pp. 320–322.</ref> The 1895 story ''The Butterfly'' (Der Schmetterling) parodies themes and motifs and ridicules the religious optimism of a German romanticism that contradicted Busch's realistic [[anthropology]] influenced by Schopenhauer and [[Charles Darwin]].<ref>Clemens Heydenreich: ''"...&nbsp;und damit gut!" Wilhelm Buschs Märchen "Der Schmetterling" als Trümmerfeld der "Taugenichts"-Romantik''. (In German) In: Aurora. Jahrbuch der Eichendorff-Gesellschaft, 68/69 (2010), pp. 67–78</ref> Its prose is more stringent in narrative style when compared to ''Edwards Dream''. Both were not popular amongst readers, because of their unfamiliar style.<ref>Weissweiler, pp. 330–331</ref>