Novalis COLLEGE of ARTS and SCIENCES Imunci Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Novalis COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ImUNCI Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures From 1949 to 2004, UNC Press and the UNC Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures published the UNC Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures series. Monographs, anthologies, and critical editions in the series covered an array of topics including medieval and modern literature, theater, linguistics, philology, onomastics, and the history of ideas. Through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, books in the series have been reissued in new paperback and open access digital editions. For a complete list of books visit www.uncpress.org. Novalis German Poet—European Thinker—Christian Mystic Second Edition frederick hiebel UNC Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures Number 10 Copyright © 1954 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons cc by-nc-nd license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses. Suggested citation: Hiebel, Frederick. Novalis: German Poet--European Thinker--Christian Mystic. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954. doi: https://doi.org/10.5149/9781469657554_Hiebel Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hiebel, Frederick. Title: Novalis : German poet — European thinker — Christian mystic / by Frederick Hiebel. Other titles: University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures ; no. 10. Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [1954] Series: University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures. Identifiers: lccn 54062201 | isbn 978-0-8078-8810-0 (pbk: alk. paper) | isbn 978-1-4696-5755-4 (ebook) Subjects: Novalis, 1772-1801. Classification: lcc pd25 .n6 no. 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preface .............................................................. ....................................................................... ix Introduction : N ovalis, Then and Now 1 PART ONE Lile and Love 1. Beginnings ....................... ........................................................................................... 5 2. A Boy Goes Out to Meet the World ................... ........ .................. .... 8 3. Schiller in Jena ........... ....... ... .............. .. .......... .............. .... ............................. 11 4. The Tree of Knowledge....... ................................................... .............. 13 5. The Call of Destiny................. .... ................................................................ 16 6. Orpheus and Eurydice . .. .................. ..... ............... ... .. ..... ................ 18 7. The Diary of Death . ....................... .................. ................................. 24 8. At the Academy of Freiberg .......................... ...... ................. ................. 27 9. The Rise of the Romantic Movement .............................................. 30 10. Death, Herald of Life ... ............... ....... .. ............... ................................. 34 PART TWO The Works 1. Bliitenstaub ...... .......................... ........... .................. 38 2. Novalis and Goethe ...................... ............................................................ 41 3. Magic Idealism ........... ........ ................. .. ............................. .................... 49 4. The Novices of Sais ... .... .................. .............. ... ...................... .... 53 5. The Tale of Eros and Fable ............................ ...................................... 59 6. The Hymns to the Night . .. ..... ............................................................... 68 7. Devotional Songs ........ ........... .............. ... ............... ... .. ..................... 78 8. Christendom or Europe ..... .. .................. ......................... .............................. 87 9. Heinrich von Ofterdingen ..... .................... ............................. 98 10. The Blue Flower ...................................................................................... 111 I. Editions of Novalis' Works in the English Language.. 119 II. Essays and Studies about Novalis and his age, published in the United States and Great Britain 119 III. Index. Persons and Places 123 PREFACE Friedrich von Hardenberg ( 1772-1801), the leading poet of early German romanticism, is known the world over by his pen name N ovalis. All his creative works were written within the short period of three years, namely between the late spring of 1797, when his beloved Sophia died, and the summer of 1800 when he fell mor tally ill. Each of these years reveals a new facet of his creative genius. In the first year, we see the philosopher and natural scientist at work; in the second, the writer of beautiful fairy tales, and finally the mystic poet of Christianity. Novalis died before he reached the age of twenty-nine. His thousands of notations, which he called "literary seed lings," show the universality of his mind. The aphoristic nature of Novalis' literary legacy mak(difficult the presentation of a coherent picture of his life work. The presentation itself may, in spots, appear aphoristic. New vistas, deeper perspectives, reveal themselves at every step. His writings often afford glimpses at an ultimate synthesis, at a vast vision of the world as a whole. While synthesis and vision are not present in a completed form, they ever reveal themselves with the stimulating power of ger mination. Up to the present, the writings of Novalis have been incom pletely available in English translation and many of those exist ing are inadequate or outdated. Thomas Carlyle, in an essay published in 1829, first acquainted the English-speaking world with the German poet, translating a portion of the Fragments that were then available. The novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen was published in English translation by a member of the Har vard faculty under the title Henry of Ofterdingeni (J. Owen, Cambridge, Mass. 1842, second edition H. H. Moore, New York 1853) . An edition of the essay Christendom or Europe appeared in London in 1844, followed by Hymns and Thoughts on Religion, Edinburgh 1888. A much inferior version of Novalis, His Life, Thoughts and Works was compiled by M. J. Hope in Chicago 1891. Hope also translated the brief biography by Just, as well as numerous aphoristic thoughts and the lyric cycle Hymns to the Night. The Geistliche Lieder, in both German and English, were published in 1910 in Chicago, in a volume The Devotional Songs, edited by B. Pick. The fourth volume of Kuno Francke's The German Classics, New York 1913-1914, contained a translation of the fairy-tale Hyacinth and Rosebud, portions of the first two Hymns to the Night, one of the Devotional Songs, one Song of Mary, and a few aphorisms. During the last decades there has been evidence of increasing interest in N ovalis, particularly among the French surrealists. Besides various translations of his works into French, Spanish, Dutch and Russian, a new English translation of the Hymns to the Night by M. Cotterell (with an introductory essay by Au gust Closs, Bristol University) appeared in London in 1948. Numerous aphorisms and poems translated into English were printed in various magazines, to mention only one-Twice a Year, double number XIV-XV, New York 1946/47. A new ren dering of the Novices of Sais by Ralph Manheim, with a preface by Stephen Spender and with sixty illustrations by Paul Klee, was published by Curt Valentin in New York, 1949. This present study is not a translation of the author's book Novalis, der Dicihter der blauen Blume, A. Francke, Berne 1951 (361 pp.). It represents in structure and content a condensed version, adapted for the American reader. It is the first critical evaluation of the life and works of N ovalis to be published in America, or any other English speaking country. It appears with out scholarly apparatus. Scholars and students of the Germanic language and literature can avail themselves of the German book with its complete bibliography and extensive notes pertaining to the entire research on N ovalis. Moreover this monograph does not include any English verse translations. In spite of some good translations, the thought con tent is so difficult and the versification so delicate that it seemed wiser to use the original German wherever the content made quotation necessary. The reader is referred to translations listed in the appendix, particularly to the new rendering of the Hymns to the Night (London 1948). The author wishes here to express his deep appreciation for help on the part of Mr. H. Norden and Mr. Dean Howard who aided him greatly in preparing the English version of this study. and of Professors F. E. Coenen and B. Q. Morgan for their gen erous ad/yce and friendly interest in the final process of its pub lication. The Research Council of Rutgers University has kindly facilitated the completing of the manuscript. Wagner College F. H. Staten Island, N. Y. 1NTROllUGTION NovQ}i,IJ, Then a.n4 NQw Today, JUCll'e than 150 years after the death of Novalis, his spiritual stature has not stopped growing. From behind the his torical personage born Friedrich von Hardenberg, there emerges with ever enhanced grandeur the unique creative personality who chose to call himself N ovalis. The pseudonym had its roots in family history. In previous centuries several Hardenbergs had taken the cognomen "von Rode'' (from the German