An early outing

Offended by Heinrich Heine’s mockery of “die Orientsucht” – the obsession with the Orient in poetry – in his work Reisebilder, zweiter Teil (1827), von Platen expressed anti-Semitic sentiment directed at Heine in his work Der romantische Oedipus (1828). Heine reacted in turn by publicizing von Platen’s homosexuality in Reisebilder dritter Teil (1830). This back and forth of mockery and ad hominem attacks are also referred to as “die von Platen Affaire”.