Words Full of Deed Prophets and Prophecy in German Literature
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Words Full of Deed Prophets and Prophecy in German Literature around 1800 Patrick J. Walsh Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Patrick J. Walsh All rights reserved Abstract Words Full of Deed: Prophets and Prophecy in German Literature around 1800 Patrick J. Walsh In this dissertation, I consider the role of prophets and prophecy in German drama and dramatic discourse of the Romantic period. Against the backdrop of the upheaval wrought by the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, such discourse exhibits a conspicuous fascination with political and social crisis in general as well as a preoccupation with imagining how the crises of the present could provide an opportunity for national or civilizational renewal. One prominent manifestation of this focus is a pronounced interest in charismatic leaders of the legendary or historical past—among them prophets like Moses, Muhammad and Joan of Arc—who succeeded in uniting their respective societies around a novel vision of collective destiny. In order to better understand the appeal of such figures during this period, I examine works of drama and prose fiction that feature prophets as their protagonists and that center on scenarios of political or religious founding. Reading texts by major authors like Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Achim von Arnim alongside those by the lesser- known writers such as Karoline von Günderrode, August Klingemann and Joseph von Hammer, I analyze the various ways these scenarios are staged and situate them within their specific political, intellectual and literary contexts. In so doing, I show that the figure of the prophet—a figure whose authority is based not on their own wisdom, talent, or cunning, but rather on their claim to speak for a higher, superhuman power—offers authors a paradigm of political and cultural innovation that radically displaces the agency of the rational subject in favor of non-rational factors like language, performance, history, myth and the emotions. Moreover, I argue that this figure reveals an important connection between the history of drama in this period and an emergent, post- Enlightenment political discourse concerned with the origin and nature of sovereignty. Table of Contents Preface: Between Word and Deed…………………………………………………………...…vii Chapter One: The Prophetic Founder as Political and Cultural Origin………………………1 1. Two Models of Prophetic Self-Fashioning: Goethe’s Mahomet and Günderrode’s Mahomed, der Prophet von Mekka……………………………………………………….……………………3 2. The Prophet in History and Culture: Joseph von Hammer’s Die Eroberung von Mekka.............16 3. Prophesying against Empire: Klingemann’s Moses....................................................................27 Chapter Two: Prophecy, Heroism and Nationalism in Friedrich Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orleans..........................................................................................................................................39 1. The Power of Symbols…………………………………………………………………………46 2. Speech, Action and Sovereignty………………………………………………………………58 3. The Leadership of the Good Shepherd………………………………………………………....68 4. A Crisis of Prophetic Calling………………………………………………………………….78 5. Johanna’s Task and Schiller’s Task……………………………………………………………93 Chapter Three: Prophecy, Sociability and Authenticity in Achim von Arnim’s “Melück Maria Blainville”……………………………………………………………………………....105 1. Resolution and Catastrophe…………………………………………………………………..109 2. Enlightenment Sociability between Decorum and Sensibility…………………………...…...114 3. The False Prophecy of Revolution…………………………………………………………....124 i 4. A Prophetic Anecdote……………………………………………………………………...…132 Coda: The Future of Romantic Prophecy……………………………………...……………..144 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..….152 ii Acknowledgments The writing of this dissertation has been a (surprisingly) long and (unsurprisingly) arduous journey, and there are many who I wish to thank for aiding me along the way. I owe a stupendous debt of gratitude to my advisor, Dorothea von Mücke, for her exceptional generosity in offering advice and for keeping me going even when I thought I had reached a dead end. My two readers, Stefan Andriopoulos and Oliver Simons, deserve many thanks for providing guidance at various stages of the writing process and for commenting on drafts. I also want to thank my two external reviewers, Joel B. Lande and Wayne Proudfoot, for their perceptive feedback during the defense. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been part of the wonderful community that is the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Columbia University. The faculty, staff and especially my fellow graduate students were a constant source of encouragement and support. This dissertation benefited greatly from my involvement in the Department’s graduate student colloquium, whose participants read a portion of the chapter on Schiller’s Jungfrau von Orleans and provided me with a useful discussion. I am particularly grateful to the other members of the “Goldene Generation,” a.ka. the “A-Team” of Alex, Arthur and Alexis, who were always up for a Bierchen or to offer a sympathetic ear. I cherish the many conversations I had with my two office mates, Yvonne and Johanna, and am thankful for the help they, along with Julia, gave me in proofreading my German on various occasions. Richard Korb and Jutta Schmiers-Heller—respectively, the former and current Directors of the German Language Program—were excellent mentors and role models for me as I started out as a teacher. Peggy Quisenberry always made me feel at home in the departmental office. The iii intrepid Bill Dellinger was a resourceful and always approachable guide through the bureaucracy of the University administration. My thinking about the topic of prophets and prophecy in literature underwent a profound evolution in the course of a stimulating year I spent researching and writing in Berlin with the financial assistance of a stipend awarded to me by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). During this time, I profited immensely from the resources made available to me by the Humboldt University and the State Library of Berlin. I am grateful as well to my host, Andrea Polaschegg, for her support of my stipend application, for her advice me during my stay, and for the invitation to present my research to her Ph.D. colloquium, whose insightful comments gave me much to think about. I would never have been able to finish the dissertation had I not also received a generous teaching fellowship from the Department of Language and Culture Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. For this, I thank both the Chair of the Department, Daario Del Puppo, and the head of the German Section, Johannes Evelein. Thanks are also owed to my other two colleagues in the German Section, Jason Doerre and Julia Goesser Assaiante, for their friendship and assistance during this time, and to Wendi Delaney for helping me get situated at Trinity and for always knowing whom to call when problems arose. This dissertation—and, indeed, my very life as a scholar—would have been unthinkable without my family and several close friends. I especially want to thank: - Uncle Ed and Aunt Joanne, who never let me forget that they were thinking about me and praying for my success; - Aunt Marilyn, who provided me with invaluable assistance in helping me move to Hartford and who invited me to many fun and delicious cookouts in her backyard; iv - Davin, who was my partner in a pact of mutually assured distraction that kept me sane over the years; and - Caitlin and Martin, who checked in on me during my year in Berlin and who are always a welcome presence at family gatherings. Most of all, I want to thank my parents, Marshall and Deborah. It was an extraordinary privilege for me to grow up in a home filled with books, and to be encouraged constantly to read, think and dream. They have never stopped believing—and letting me know—that I can be whatever I want to be. Their emotional and financial support helped me get through what would have otherwise been a very difficult year. They have consistently been a source of strength and calm for me. This dissertation is dedicated to them. Hartford, June 2017 Patrick J. Walsh v To my parents vi Preface: Between Word and Deed In a stand-alone chapter of the monumental Von Geist der Ebräischen Poesie (1783) titled “Beruf und Amt der Propheten,” Johann Gottfried Herder reflects on the distinctive characteristics of prophecy as it is depicted in the Old Testament of the Bible. For Herder, prophecy is a “Word full of deed” (tatvolle[s] Wort), a kind utterance unique for the way it cannot be conceived apart from the intention that animates it and the singular figure who utters it.1 This figure, the prophet of ancient Israel, emerges from Herder’s imagining as a visionary who is haunted by the catastrophe unfolding before his eyes and who consequently feel compelled to speak out in the most insistent way possible: [Die Propheten] sahen die Sachen, die sie verkündigten, schon werdend; und so werden sie als Seher, ja als Schöpfer des Guten und des Unglücks betrachtet. Sie schlagen das Land mit dem Stabe ihres Mundes und ihr mächtiges Wort befreiets wieder. Gott legt auf ihre Lippen die Botschaft und haucht sie mit göttlichem Feuer an. Voll unwiderstehlichen Triebes reden sie also, oft wider ihren