The Birth of Novalis , livre ebook

168

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
Novalis , Friedrich Von Hardenberg ,
traduit par Bruce Donehower

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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168

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791480687

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

4 Mo

Friedrich von Hardenberg, who later became known as the poet Novalis, kept a journal between April and July 1797 that captured his moods, thoughts, and observations following the death of his fifteen-year-old fiancée Sophie von Kühn and his dearly loved younger brother Erasmus. The journal's short, day-to-day entries allow a frank and candid glimpse into the inner life of the maturing poet, and are complemented by selections from Hardenberg's letters. Taken together, and read in conjunction with the fragments written before, during, and shortly after this period of time, the journal and letters shed light on a process of self-discovery during which Hardenberg became convinced of his poetic vocation and acknowledged this conviction in an act of self-christening, as the poet Novalis.

Introduction

“Reading” Novalis

The Meeting with Sophie von Kühn

The Journal of 1797 and Selected Letters

Selected Letters and Documents: 1792–1797

Journal: April 18–July 6, 1797

Autobiographical and Biographical Testimonies

Friedrich von Hardenberg: Excerpt from a Letter to Finance Minister von Oppel, 1800

Karl von Hardenberg: Biography of His Brother Novalis, 1802

August Cölestin Just: Friedrich von Hardenberg, Assessor of Salt Mines in Saxony and Designated Department Director in Thuringia, 1805

Ludwig Tieck: “Biography of Novalis,” 1815

Timeline of Events

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Voir

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791480687

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

4 Mo

D onehower

T he B irth of

N ovalis

SUNY

TheBirth of Novalis

Friedrich von Hardenberg’s Journal of 1797, with Selected Letters and Documents

Translated, edited, and with an introduction by Bruce Donehower

The Birth of Novalis

SUNY series, Intersections:

Philosophy and Critical Theory

Rodolphe Gasché, editor

The Birth of Novalis

Friedrich von Hardenberg’s Journal of 1797, with Selected Letters and Documents

Translated and Edited by Bruce Donehower

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Fran Keneston

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Novalis, 1772–1801. [Selections. English. 2007] The birth of Novalis : Friedrich von Hardenberg’s journal of 1797, with selected letters and documents / Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) ; translated and edited by, Bruce Donehower. p. cm — (SUNY series Intersections—philosophy and critical theory) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6969-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Novalis, 1772–1801—Diaries. 2. Novalis, 1772–1801—Correspondence. 3. Authors, German—18th century—Biography. 4. Novalis, 1772–1801— Translations into English. I. Donehower, Bruce. II. Title. III. Series: Intersections (Albany, N.Y.)

PT2291.Z5A3 2007 831'.6—dc22

2006007117

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents 

Introduction “Reading” Novalis The Meeting with Sophie von Kühn The Journal of 1797 and Selected Letters

Selected Letters and Documents: 1792–1797

Journal: April 18–July 6, 1797

Autobiographical and Biographical Testimonies Friedrich von Hardenberg: Excerpt from a Letter to Finance Minister von Oppel, 1800 Karl von Hardenberg: Biography of His Brother Novalis, 1802 August Cölestin Just: Friedrich von Hardenberg, Assessor of Salt Mines in Saxony and Designated Department Director in Thuringia, 1805 Ludwig Tieck: “Biography of Novalis,” 1815

Timeline of Events

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

1 1 16 26

105

110 126

137

141

151

157

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Introduction 

“Reading” Novalis

Between April and July 1797, the twenty-five-year-old Saxon aristocrat and former apprentice law clerk Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801) kept a journal that captured the moods, thoughts, and observations that followed the deaths of his fifteen-year-old fiancée, Sophie von Kühn (1782–1797), and his dearly loved younger brother, Erasmus (1774–1797). This journal, which consists of short, day-to-day entries, is complemented biographically by what has been preserved of Hardenberg’s letters. Taken together—and read in conjunction with surviving notebook entries and fragments written shortly before, during, and shortly after this period of time—the jour-nal and letters shed light on a process of maturation and self-discov-ery during which Friedrich von Hardenberg reimagined his identity. Novalis, the name Hardenberg chose as his poetic inscription, signified past and future. It had roots in Hardenberg family history, as we shall see. But it also heralded things to come: namely, that brief springtide of literary brilliance known as early German romanticism. This moment had its center in Jena and occurred during the years that Hardenberg did his most significant poetic work: 1798–1801. The story of Hardenberg’s transformation—the birth of Novalis— has been told many times: how he met by chance and immediately fell in love with twelve-year-old Sophie, a “mere quarter hour” that changed his life; how Sophie and he became engaged, at first secretly in fear of his parents’ reaction; how Sophie took ill and died just a few days past her fifteenth birthday; how he mourned her to the verge of suicide until, like Dante with Beatrice, he found himself united with her again in a moment of ecstatic, mystical vision; how from this

The Birth of Novalis

moment the mere mortal Friedrich von Hardenberg gave way to the immortal poet Novalis, romantic herald of a Golden Age. Howsoever possible, Sophie became the center of Hardenberg’s poetic universe, the point around which his creative identity constellated. She was, as Hardenberg called her, his “religion,” and his continued devotion to her became an article of personal faith. The famous visionary mo-ment at Sophie’s grave, which he recorded briefly in a journal entry dated May 13, 1797, became inspiration for the third hymn inHymns to the Night, which may have been drafted at that time.

Once when I was shedding bitter tears, dissolved in pain, my hope dis-appearing, and I stood alone by the barren hill that hid the form of my life in coffined darkness—lonely as no other has ever been, driv-en by unspeakable fear—powerless, only a thought of misery remaining.—As I looked frantically for help, unable to go forward or turn back, as I clung to the fleeting, extinguished life with endless longing:—then, out of the blue distances—from the heights of my for-mer ecstasy, came a shiver of twilight—and at once the bond of birth broke apart—light’s manacles. Away fled the splendor of the earth, along with my sorrow—and with it my sadness flowed into a new, fath-omless world—you inspiration of night, you heavenly sleep, you over-came me—the countryside was exalted; my newborn spirit soared. The mound became a cloud of dust—and through the cloud I saw the transfigured countenance of my beloved. Eternity reposed within her eyes—I seized her hands, and the tears became a sparkling, unbreak-able bond of union. Millennia, like thunderheads, swept upwards in the distance. I wept ecstatic tears upon her neck to welcome the new life. It was the first, incomparable dream—and since then I have held an eternal, changeless faith in the heaven of night and its light, the beloved. (I, 135)

This poeticized moment of erotic-mystical yearning and transfig-uration became within a few years after the poet’s death a widely ac-cepted key to his biography. The apotheosis of Sophie von Kühn—her conflation with Sophia, Maria, and Isis—became likewise a paradig-matic axiom for the understanding of Novalis and his work. While Hardenberg, for a variety of reasons, played no small part in this mythic endeavor, perhaps the most significant impetus for the myth’s acceptance came from Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), Har-denberg’s friend and literary executor. Ironically, Tieck never met Sophie; Tieck and Hardenberg became friends in 1799, two years after

Introduction

Sophie’s death. But Tieck’s revised introduction to the third edition of the NovalisSchriften(1815; edited by Ludwig Tieck and Friedrich Schlegel) brought to full expression the tendency to idealize Novalis, and Tieck’s interpretative statements regarding the biography of No-valis were decisively important in setting the agenda for Hardenberg’s 1 posthumous reception. Tieck ignored or minimized the complexity of Hardenberg’s interests and activities, celebrated the poet’s relation to Sophie as a rite of passage to supernormal realms, and conflated refer-ences to Dante, Raphael, and John the Evangelist to create a literary-spiritual fable with enormous popular appeal. This extratextual glamour of the Novalis mythology became stun-ningly persuasive after the poet died. Indeed, it dramatically increased Hardenberg’s readership, which during his lifetime was confined to a small circle of family and friends. Within less than a decade after Hardenberg’s death from tuberculosis in 1801, the biography of No-valis had become one of the foremost Romantic texts: aMärchen(fairy tale) that presented an archetypal tale ofSehnsucht(yearning) and long-ing for the hereafter. 2 Suitable iconography soon appeared. Idealized, heroic busts of Novalis became shrines for romantic pilgrims. Illustrations to question-ably edited editions of the dead poet’s works showed a similar represen-tational trend. It became common to refer to Hardenberg as Novalis in regard to the entire span of his life. When Hardenberg’s dear friend and mentor, August Cölestin Just—who knew Hardenberg from the early days in Tennstedt before Hardenberg took the pen name Novalis— referred to the poet in a biography (1805) as “Friedrich von Hardenberg: Assessor of Salt Mines in Saxony and Designated Department Director in Thuringia,” he was criticized for his gauche accent on correct histori-cal detail and for his philistine ignorance of the sublimely mythic and spiritual. “It is an impossible task to describe Hardenberg’s life, but Just has failed to achieve even the least that’s possible,” Hardenberg’s cousin Hans Georg von Carlowitz wrote to his wife in 1806. And a few years later, in another reader’s reaction to the same text by Just:

Vienna, January 25, 1810 Justinus Kerner to Ludwig Uhland in Tübingen I am sending you this excerpt [from Just’s biography] be-cause I know that it will interest you immensely. But it makes a rather extraordinary and disturbing impression

Voir