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Durham E-Theses Grillparzer's adoption and adaptation of the philosophy and vocabulary of Weimar classicism Roe, Ian Frank How to cite: Roe, Ian Frank (1978) Grillparzer's adoption and adaptation of the philosophy and vocabulary of Weimar classicism, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7954/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Summary After a summary of German Classicism and of Grillparzer's at times confusing references to it, the main body of the thesis aims to assess Grillparzer's use of the philosophy and vocahulary of Classicism, with particular reference to his ethical, social and political ideas, Grillparzer's earliest work, including Blanka, leans heavily on Goethe and Schiller, but such plagiarism is avoided after 1810. Following the success of Ahnfrau, however, Grillparzer returns to a much more widespread use of Classical themes, motifs and vocabulary, especially in Sappho, Grillparzer's mood in the period 1816-21 was one of introversion and pessimism, and there is an emphasis on the vocabulary of quiet peace and withdrawal. In Vliefi, these ideals cannot help man out of the disaster and despair which Grillparzer repeatedly depicts in the I8l0s and early 1820s, and there is a consequent tendency for the optimistic vocabulary of Classicism to appear incongruous. The more political plays of the l820s reject the style and vocabulary of Classicism but still retain its central moral ideals. From I830 onwards, Grillparzer begins to examine more closely those ideals and concepts inherited from Goethe and Schiller, which had been doomed to failure in the pessimistic atmosphere of earlier years. The very validity of such ideals is now appraised, their relevance in political situations which Classicism had often neglected to depict. It is recognised that ideals considered as absolutes can only be achieved in isolation from chaotic human reality, and that any attempt to transfer aesthetic ideals to political and moral spheres may be detrimental to humanity rather than advantageous. There is a gradual return to Classical concepts such as moderation, limitation, right, truth, and especially "der f.lensch", but these ideals must be standards for, not barriers to life and humanity. GRILLPARZER'S ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION OF THE PHILOSOPHY AND VOCABULARY OF WEIMAR CLASSICISM Ian Frank Roe Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Durham. German Department 1978. Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1, German Classicism 12 Chapter 2. Grillparzer's discussion of Classicism .. 53 Chapter 3. The debt to Classicismj Grillparzer's youthful works 71 Chapter ^. Pitfalls of ambitiont the rejection of Classicism? 11^ i) Die Ahnfrau 115 ii) Sappho 118 iii) Das goldene Vliefi 138 iv) Der Traum ein Leben 1^9 v) Ambition and withdrawal 15^ vi) Grillparzer's vocabulary, 1816-21 .. 174 Chapter 5* Early political views 185 Chapter 6. The conflict of love and duty 221 i) Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen as a-Classical play 222 ii) The depiction of love in Grillparzer's work 225 iii) The concept of duty 235 iv) Virtue and purity: the danger of absolutes 2^5 v) The value of "Sammlung" 263 Chapter 7. Humanity and truth: Weh dem, der lugtl .. 271 Chapter 8. Grillparzer's mature political writings . 300 i) Grillparzer's approach to politics after 1830: the concept of freedom . 304 ii) 1848; nationalism and the masses ... 312 iii) . Law, order, and limitation 319 iv) The ideal state and the concept of right 328 v) Moderation and humanity 34l Conclusion: Per arme.^ S^ielrnann 358 Bibliography 382 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. I hereby declare that no part of this thesis has been submitted for a degree in Durham or any other university, and that all work in the thesis is the author's own. I.F, Roe, Reading, November I978, References and Abbreviations Wherever possible, reference is made to volume and page of the Hanser edition of Grillparzer's works (e.g. 1,213). Line references only are given for plays and major poemsi diary entries and conversations are identified by the conventional numeration and the abbreviations "Tgb." and "Gespr.Where necessary, reference is made to the critical Vienna edition, abbreviated "HKA" (e.g. HKA l/l, 173). Conversations not in the Hanser edition are referred to by the numbered entries in Sauer's edition of the Gespr'ache. References to the Jahrbuch der Grillparzer-Gesellschaft and the Grillparzer-Forum Forchtenstein are abbreviated GrJb and GFF respectively. References to Classical works and the abbreviations used are. as explained in the notes. Modem orthography has been adopted in all quotations from Classical writers. The titles of the major works by Grillparzer and the Classical writers have been abbreviated in the notes and references, and also in the text where this seemed appropriate (e.g. Vliefi, Traum, Weh demi Tasso, Lehrjahrei Jungfrau, Braut). In the notes and references, Wallensteins Tod has been abbreviated to Tod, Pes Meeres und der Liebe Wellen to PMudLW. 1 - Introduction "Die Werke Franz Grillparzers kann eigentlich nur der t3sterreicher ganz verstehen", ^"'•^ This view of Moriz Enzinger's in 1923 has become a standard line of Grillparzer criticism, which has inevitably attracted Austrian critics above all. Especially in recent years, much work has been carried out to stress Grillparzer's links with Austrian traditions. This has been primarily in stylistic and dramatic matters, where Herbert Seidler has sought to demonstrate Grillparzer's adoption of the techniques of the Viennese stage and the Austrian Baroque tradition as a whole I similar work has been undertaken by other critics, Austrian and otherwise (Nadler, Oplatka, Alker, Gmiir, von Matt, Helmensdorfer, Parti, Pichl),^^^ In the same vein are the suggestions that Grillparzer's philosophical ideas go back to the Austrian or Josefinian Enlightenment, In Richard Alewyn's opinion, "seine Begriffe entstammten der Aufklarung", according to Seidler, "Grillparzer wird vom deutschen Idealismus imd der deutschen Klassik nur ins of em angesprochen und angeregt, als er sie mit dem Geist der Aufklarung in Einklang bringen kann", yet in discussing the same theme in another context, Seidler's comments, especially his valid distinction between Grillparzer's and Schreyvogel's attitudes to literature, make it unintentionally apparent that Grillparzer was influenced by Classicism as opposed to the Enlightenment. Politzer, Oplatka and Alker equally seek to stress Grillparzer's links with the Austrian Enlightenment, Where Classicism is mentioned as a possible influence, this is usually done in order to dismiss it. The natural corollary to Enzinger's view is Erail Staiger's insistence that Grillparzer cannot be understood from Weimar. Robert r^uhlher, writing immediately after the Second World War, sought to prove that Grillparzer embodied the very opposite of the German idealistic philosophy that had paved the way for recent atrocities, but Miihlher's work shows a marked abhorrence of all things German, a dangerous tendency to generalise about Classicism and a confusion of - 2 - Classicism and idealism. Equally prone to generalisations is Kaufmann's article on Grillparzer and idealism.^ ' Various reasons are given by critics for their insistence on Grillparzer's distance from Weimar, in addition to the dramatic criteria already mentioned: the "Ritzen und Risse" in his character (Politzer), his "Zerrissenheit" (Morris), his "Auffassung von der Gespaltenheit der Welt" (Oplatka), his need to be isolated, ."weltfem" (Fricke), his lack of decisiveness, what Gerhart Baumann calls "das Unschliissige" in his work. Hence for Andreas Oplatka, "der klassische Augenblick ist fur ihn unwiederbringlich vorbei".^^^ There is some truth in most of these views, as we shall see, but neither Staiger's nor Oplatka's conclusions can be accepted as logical assumptions. Very often the insistence on Grillparzer's need for withdrawal, for "Sammlung" goes hand in hand with the attempt to see Grillparzer as a Biedermeier writer (Bietak, Alewyn, Sengle, Gmiir), an approach which is even more suspect than the study of Grillparzer's obvious connections with the traditions of his capital city, and Jost Hermand has rightly insisted that a writer as complex as Grillparzer cannot be adequately summed up under the "Biedermeier" label. There can certainly be no doubt that Grillparzer was conscious of writing for the theatre audience of his native Vienna, and that consequently he strove for dramatic effect to a far greater extent than did Goethe and Schiller, Nevertheless one does Grillparzer a great injustice by linking him too closely with Viennese traditions of popular theatre of which he himself was repeatedly scornful. He refers to Goethe's attempts to give the audience what it needed rather than what it wanted, and it is clear that his own plays, except the obviously popular Ahnfrau and Traum ein Leben, are part of a similar attempt to encourage his audience to appreciate something on a higher plane than the plays of Meisl and Gleich or even of Nestroy and Raimundi he was in fact annoyed that Die Ahnfrau and Traum ein Leben were his most successful plays.