Writing Absolute Music: Modernity's Linguistic
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WRITING ABSOLUTE MUSIC: MODERNITY’S LINGUISTIC SYMPHONY Shelley L. Hay A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Dr. Clayton Koelb (Advisor) Dr. Alice Kuzniar Dr. Jonathan Hess Dr. Eric Downing Dr. Thomas Pfau ©2010 Shelley L. Hay ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Shelley L. Hay Writing Absolute Music: Modernity’s Linguistic Symphony (Under the direction of Dr. Clayton Koelb) Writing Absolute Music: Modernity’s Linguistic Symphony explores one facet of the relationship between music and language in 19 th - and 20 th -century German literature and philosophy. By examining the vital role that the idea of “absolute music” has played in works by thinkers and authors such as Novalis, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Hermann Hesse, I argue that the somewhat counterintuitive phenomenon of writing about music in order to overcome problems associated with language originates in early German Romanticism and continues to influence German authors throughout the first half of the 20th century. Focusing in large part on Hesse’s masterpiece, Das Glasperlenspiel, I establish that authors who seek to overcome language’s inherent limitations and approach a transcendental reality by emulating musical structures in their novels and short stories ultimately fail to achieve their fundamental goal. I demonstrate that Hesse is the last great heir to this Romantic legacy and that the failure of Das Glasperlenspiel to access an absolute through words explains the shift in German literature around 1950 away from the Romantic ideal of turning language into music toward a less optimistic, more humble depiction of music’s role within works of German literature. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are a number of people who helped make the completion of this dissertation possible. I am grateful to my committee members and my fellow graduate students at UNC and Duke for their comments and suggestions throughout the various stages of this project. A special thanks to Dr. Alice Kuzniar for beginning this journey with me. Your general general enthusiasm for my project was infectious. I am especially grateful to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Clayton Koelb. You always seemed to know exactly what to say and when to say it. Your pep talks helped me continue writing during the most challenging times. To my Mom, Dad, and Davi: Thank you for your unwavering love and support during this whole process. And most of all, thanks to my friend and colleague, Rebeccah (Bess) Dawson. I would not have survived graduate school without you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations………………………………………………………………………..viii Introduction: Hermann Hesse’s Romantic heritage………………………………..………….1 I. The popularity and “Tabuisierung” of Hesse’s works…………….………………...1 II. Romantic influences in Hesse’s writing………………………..………..…………2 III. The origins and meaning of absolute music…………….....……………..…….....4 Chapter One: The influence of absolute music in 19 th -century German literature and philosophy………..………………………………………………………………..…11 I. Novalis’ cosmic symphony……………………..…………………………..……..11 II. Schopenhauer and the world as Will or music……………..……….….....………23 III. Apollonian vs. Dionysian forces: Nietzsche and Wagner…………………..…...35 Chapter Two: Hesse’s Glasperlenspiel and the failure of language……...…………..……...46 I. Expectations and failures of language in Hesse’s early works…………..………...46 II. The first failure of language: depicting empirical reality……………………..…..57 i. The chronicler’s battle with history ………………………………….…....58 III. The second failure of language: communication…………………………..…….68 i. Plinio Designori and the impossibility of communication between Castalia and the outside world…………………………….…………………68 ii. The Musikmeister and the inability to communicate within Castalia….....77 IV. The third failure of language: transcending empirical boundaries……..………..83 i. Knecht’s desire to access a non-phenomenal reality.……... ………...……83 ii. Knecht’s first poetic attempts……………………………..………………90 v iii. Knecht’s hope for the glass bead game………………………………..…97 iv. The Age of the Feuilleton and the creation of the glass bead game...…..105 v. Knecht’s disillusionment and the failure of the glass bead game……..…114 Chapter Three: Hesse’s Glasperlenspiel and the power of music………….….…………...123 I. The musical solution……………………………..…………………………….…123 II. Music as the key to communication……………………………..………………125 i. The beauty of non-instrumental, 18 th-century music……………….....….126 ii. Music aiding linguistic communication: Pater Jakobus and the Designoris…………………………………………………………………..133 iii. Music replacing language: Der Musikmeister …………….…………….137 III. Describing empirical reality through musical analogies……………………..…140 i. Romantic analogies in Hesse’s earlier works……………..……………...141 ii. Castalia’s musical hierarchy……………………………..………………148 iii. The ultimate musical analogy: the glass bead game……………….……156 IV. Absolute music…………………………………..……………………………..163 i. Writing about absolute music…………………………………....………164 ii. Writing absolute music: transmedialization………………………..……173 V. The end of a dream…………………………………………..………………….197 Conclusion: Music in literature after the Second World War..…………….………..…..…204 I. Hesse’s personal failure…………………………..………………………………204 II. The atrocities of war and its effect on art…………………………..……………206 III. The physical and sensual in literary depictions of music.………………..….…211 vi Works Cited…………………………………..…………………………………………….214 Works Consulted……………………………………………..……………………………..220 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GPS: Das Glasperlenspiel GW: Friedrich Nietzsche. Gesammelte Werke Hesse: Novalis. Dokumente seines Lebens und Sterbens Klein: “Klein und Wagner” Klingsor: “Klingsors letzter Sommer” KSA: Friedrich Nietzsche. Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe Kurgast: Der Kurgast Morgenlandfahrt: Die Morgenlandfahrt Narziß: Narziß und Goldmund SB: Friedrich Nietzsche. Sämtliche Briefe: Kritische Studienausgabe Steppenwolf: Der Steppenwolf Tragödie: Geburt der Tragödie viii INTRODUCTION Hermann Hesse’s Romantic heritage I. The popularity and “Tabuisierung” of Hesse’s works Fame and reputation alone do not justify a scholarly investigation into a particular author’s works, although it is difficult to ignore the fact that Hermann Hesse’s stories are so popular that they have been translated into more than sixty languages, making him the most widely translated German author of all time next to the Brothers Grimm (Limberg 128). This in combination with the strong reader reactions, both positive and negative, to Hesse’s multifarious novels and poems, along with the many prizes he has won over the years, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, does, however, begin to explain the necessity of looking at his writings in more detail and combating the general “Tabuisierung seitens der Germanistik” that has ensued with regard to this particular author since the mid- 1950s (Limberg 129). Additionally, the recent claim made by some scholars that Hesse’s works – despite being heavily influenced by early German Romanticism – are still modern and useful to their readers in answering existential life questions, makes it irresponsible not to examine them more closely. Michael Limberg claims, “[w]er von der Literatur…Hilfe und Antworten für das eigene Leben erwartet, wird nach wie vor [Hesses] Bücher lesen” (135). I believe that the same holds true for German literary criticism. Scholars who seek answers to questions raised with regard to 20 th -century literature must explore Hesse’s writing in more thematic and structural detail than has been done in the past. Furthermore, any individual wanting to understand the development and eventual disappearance of “absolute music” in German literature cannot neglect this renowned author’s writing. This dissertation investigates the intersections between language and music in Hermann Hesse’s masterpiece Das Glasperlenspiel and demonstrates that Hesse is the last great modern heir to the early German Romantic legacy surrounding the concept of “absolute music.” II. Romantic influences in Hesse’s writing The connection between Hermann Hesse and early German Romanticism is a relatively obvious one. Indeed, a large number of scholars have commented on the influence of writers such as Novalis or Ludwig Tieck on the 20 th -century author. 1 Joseph Mileck notes in his article “The Prose of Hermann Hesse: Life, Substance and Form” that romantic themes can be found in nearly all of Hesse’s stories and poems. Mileck divides Hesse’s life work into three periods and mentions the influence that various romantic ideas play in each of these phases. He argues that works from the earliest period, from the beginning of Hesse’s literary career until roughly 1917, are “held together primarily by a common, decadent romantic spirit” ( Prose 164). The famous author’s style becomes less romantic in some stories from the following decade, although Hesse still writes tales such as “Klingsors letzter Sommer,” which Mileck likens to “a romantic fragment” and describes as another instance of “decadent romanticism” ( Prose 168). Finally, Mileck argues that Hesse’s later works are perhaps the most romantic of all. Mileck sees in them “a romantic spirit purged of its decadence, becom[ing] mature and mellow, wider in scope, deeper in thought, less aware of 1 E.R. Curtius notes, for instance, that Hesse’s