novalis and the problem of romanticism

7/27/2019 Novalis and the Problem of Romanticism

1/10

Novalis and the Problem of RomanticismAuthor(s): Frederick HiebelSource: Monatshefte, Vol. 39, No. 8 (Dec., 1947), pp. 515-523Published by: University of Wisconsin PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30164617 .

Accessed: 21/07/2013 14:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

University of Wisconsin Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Monatshefte.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 130.132.173.96 on Sun, 21 Jul 2013 14:47:06 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=uwischttp://www.jstor.org/stable/30164617?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/30164617?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=uwisc


2/10

NOVALISAND THE PROBLEMOF ROMANTICISM

FREDERICK HIEBELRutgers University

In considering Novalis and the problem of romanticism we have todivide our contemplation into three parts: first we have to look at thechange of the meaning of the concept romanticism in general, then wehave to recognize the use of the words "romanticising" (romantisieren)and romantic (romantisch) coined and formed by Novalis; finally we arechallenged to comprehend the work and life of Novalis as an indivisibleentity, independent of the early romanticists and to some extent differentfrom them.

Wilhelm Dilthey in his Novalis essay (1865),' through which he in-troduced the scholarly research about Friedrich von Hardenberg, urged usalready eighty years ago to free ourselves from the "abuse which hasbeen perpetrated for more than half a century upon the word romanticismand to get rid of it entirely." Dilthey introduced the concept of thegeneration into the history of literature and ushered in a method ofresearch which was taken over by Rudolf Haym in characterising theRomantic School.2 From then on research of romanticism grew intounprecedented proportions and Julius Petersen, sixty years after theNovalis essay by Dilthey, stated in his book Wesensbestimmung derRomantik:3 "Die moderne Geistesgeschichte, die dem Vorbilde und denAnregungen Wilhelm Diltheys folgt, hat ihre Wurzeln in der Romantik."Petersen suggested to call the aim and purpose of our modern literaryhistory after a changed term of Friedrich Schlegel "progressive Universal-wissenschaft." In explaining the concept of romanticism Petersen pointsto the facts of "BewuBl3tseinssteigerung"nd "magisches Selbstvertrauen"as fundamentals of the consciousness of romanticists while Fritz Strichintroduced in his Deutsche Klassik und Romantik the term "Entgren-zung" as the essential trend and attitude of the romantic mind.Petersen b divided the main research of romanticism into threegroups: the ethnological section (A. Sauer, J. Nadler, E. Bertram) whichdealt with the geographical-racial concept of the "Ostliche Bewegung;"the ideological group which followed the research of R. Unger, Fr.Schneider,O. Walzel, H. A. Korff and saw romanticism n fundamentalopposition to enlightenmentand rationalism. The third part which ischaracterised y works like those by Fritz Strich in his connection with

1 Wilhelm Dilthey: Novalis, essay in PreuBische Jahrbiicher 1865,now in thebook: Das Erlebnisund die Dichbtung,. Auflage,Leipzig1922.2 R. Haym: Die Romantische Schule, 187o.a Julius Petersen: Wesensbestimmungder deutschen Romantik, eine Einfiihrungin die moderne Literaturwissenschaft,Leipzig 1926, p. 7.SFritz Strich:DeutscheKlassikundRomantik, . Aufl., MiinchenL928.a J. Petersenop. cit.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/10

516 MonatshefteWb1fflin'sand Worringer'sdoctrines of history of art revolves aroundaesthetic questions of style-problems. Romanticism finally occupiedalso the minds of philosophersike N. Hartmann," . Spranger and KarlJaspers.8Among American scholarsR. M. Wernaer's book on romanticismstandsout. "Romanticisms the cultivationof the free world of the spiritin art and life. And this free world of the spirit had its well springsinman's heart always."" Or at anotherplace Wernaer wrote: "Classicismis foundedon duty;romanticism n love."1' Yet becomingafraidof usingthesegeneralitieshe decided:"To be entirelyaccurate,we should have tospeakof a romanticism f Wackenroder... Tieck... Novalis... schoolmeansmerelythat a numberof individualwriters cametogether." 2

Gode-von Aesch 3amadea more recent contribution o the problemof romanticism n his very elaboratedoctoraldissertation,which is pub-lished under the title Natural science in German romanticism.' Heavoided abstractonesidednessand stated: "The idea that romanticism sa living processrather than a static achievementhas its origin with theromanticists hemselves. 'Life,' said Hardenberg,'is like colors, sounds,force etc. and the romanticiststudies life as the painter,musician,me-chanic studies color, sound, or force. The careful study of life makesthe romanticist'."5Franz Schulz dealt in his remarkable rticle"Romantikund roman-tisch als literarhistorische erminologienund Begriffsbildungen"s withthe question that none of the leading romanticistscalled themselves assuch nor used the term Romantic School for their movement. "His(Novalis) writing can prove that he used the concept romanticismonthe one hand in a historicaland general sense and on the other handwith a metaphysicalandmagic meaning... There is no exception amongthe membersof the earlyRomanticSchool: romanticismand romanticasnamesand termsof their faction did not enter their mind." Under theguidanceof FranzSchulz, R. Ullmann and H. Gottharddealt with this

" Nicolai Hartmann: Die Philosophie des deutschen Idealismus,Berlin 1923, S.186 f.? Eduard Spranger: Psychologie des Jugendalters,Leipzig 1925.

s Karl Jaspers:Psychologie der Weltanschauungen, Berlin 1919.Robert M. Wernaer: Romanticism and the Romantic School in Germany,New York 19xo.R. M. Wernaer, op. Cit. p. 7.1x ibid. p.7.12 ibid. P. 55."s A.G.F. Gode-von Aesch: Natural science in German romanticism,ColumbiaUniversity Press, New York 1941.14 ibid. p.s.15 ibid. p. 5.Franz Schultz: "Romantikund romantischals literarhistorischeTerminologienund Begriffsbildungen,"Deutsche Viertelsjahrsschrift iir LiteraturwissenschaftundGeistesgeschichte, (I924), pp. 349-66.17 ibid, pp. 349 ff.



4/10

Novalis 517suggestionin an exhaustivedouble dissertation.18n the same directionKurtMay 9 leads us with an article,arrivingat the result that in Novalistheoriginof romanticismoes not seemto contradict lassicism s anti-thesisversus hesis,"sondern rscheint ls Versuchzur SteigerungderKlassik in einem h6heren Ausgleich, einer Synthese zwischen ihr undeinem Gegensatz,der fiir sich gar nicht realisiert st. Oder ist das nunRomantiknicht mehr?"

On the basis of this recent criticismin regardto a definition of theterm romanticismwe come to furtherinvestigations oncerningNovalis'concept of romanticism.Contrary o FranzSchulz, however,we shall beable to find a centralpoint amongthe variousstatementsof FriedrichvonHardenberg's ragmentarythoughts.This centralpointis the verb "romanticise"romantisieren)romwhichNovalis derivedthe adjective "romantic"(romantisch). Then, but lessfrequently, he used the term "the romantic" (das Romantische). Hestarted with the verb romanticiseor romanticising(romantisieren)andthereforeour researchhas to begin with an examinationof this term.The fundamental sentence is: "Die Welt muB romantisiert werden. Sofindet man den urspriiunglichen Sinn wieder. Romantisieren ist nichtsals eine qualitative Potenzierung. Das niedere Selbst wird mit einembesseren Selbst in dieser Operation identifiziert. So wie wir selbst eine

solche qualitative Potenzreihe sind. Diese Operation ist noch ganzunbekannt. Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn, dem Gewihn-lichen ein geheimnisvolles Ansehen, dem Bekannten die Wiirde desUnbekannten, dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe, so roman-tisiere ich." 20 Another fragment reads: "Romantisieren iihnlich demAlgebraisieren."21 Or: "Absolutierung - Universalisierung - Klassifika-tion des individuellen Moments, der individuellen Situation etc. ist daseigentliche Wesen des Romantisierens. Vide Meister. Mairchen." 2Novalis used the verb "romantisieren" (romanticise) in pointing toan activity of the mind. He did not coin a noun as an abstract concept,the words "Romantik" or "Romantische Schule" did not occur in hiswritings. He interpreted the verb romanticising with many words, com-parisons and metaphors and we must follow him in his mental journeyif we want to understand his term. Romanticise is a process of the soulrather than a state of mind. It is connected with the poet's activity to

is Richard Ullmann und Helene Gotthard: Geschichte des Begriffs Romantischin Deutschland (GermanischeStudien, Heft 50) Berlin 1927.xoKurt May: Weltbild und innere Form der Klassikund Romantik im WilhelmMeister und Heinrich von Ofterdingen, in: "Romantik Forschungen," DeutscheViertelsjahrschrift fiir Literaturwissenschaft,Buchreihe, 16. Band, Max Niemeyer,Halle 1929, pp. 185 ft.

20 NovaliS Schriften, ed. by Paul Kluckhohn and Richard Samuel, four vols.,Meyers KlassikerAusgaben, BibliographischesInstitut, Leipzig I929 quoted Novalis(KI.) 11/355.21 Novalis (Kl.) III/63.22 Novalis (KI.) III/75.



5/10

518 Monatsheftefind the way back to the origin, i.e. the original meaning or sense. InNovalis' mind it means the true state of being naive as the original, greatestpoets and artists were. It means also to find back to the world of the truemyth and fable, which stands at the origin of every truly creative artin which the fairy-tale reveals the higher truth. Therefore we read inthe fragment after the word "das eigentliche Wesen des Romantisierens"the remarks:" Vide Meister. Mirchen." Novalis points to Goethe's novelWilhelm Meister and to the fairy-story Das Mdrchen at the end of theUnterbaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderter,23these two works which ex-ercised the greatest influence upon the mind of Novalis in the years 1795and 1796 before the death of Sophie von Kiihn (March 1797) and accom-panied him through the years which followed the soul-shaking experienceof the death of his bride through which Friedrich von Hardenberg ultim-ately became the poet Novalis. The above mentioned fragments, concern-ing romanticising (romantisieren) are to be found in Vorarbeiten zuneuen Fragmentensammlungen.24 Paul Kluckhohn, the editor of thelast textual critical edition of Novalis Schriften puts the first men-tioned fragment Die Welt muf romantisiert Iwerden25 to a group of frag-ments which were written between Februaryand May 1798.26 The twolater mentioned fragmentary thoughts27 appear in the so-called Dasallgemeine Brouillon, 1798-99 and were written either in the secondhalf of the year 1798 or in the early part of 1799. Thus they reaffirmhis ideas and mention the application to Goethe's Meister and Mirchen.Novalis was certainly conscious of the difficulty in describing or de-fining his term romanticising. Therefore he avoided any strict or harshdefinition but he rather points to a process of various actions. "Roman-tisieren ist nichts als eine qualitative Potenzierung." 28 He used this word"qualitative Potenzierung potentialising qualitatively) as a mathematicalterm of raising to a higher power, because he wished to say it as preciselyand exactly as possible what he meant in speaking of finding back theoriginal meaning, that operation, through which our lower Self can beidentified with the better Self. He understands the mind of man as capableof raising to a higher power, yet he confessed in the next followingsentence, that this operationis not yet known. This "not yet known"means, of course, that now - through Novalis. - it will be known moreandmore. Thesesentenceswhich followed hat statement rethe poeticprogram r prospectus f the poetryof Novalis. It is not unessentialto note that the last sentenceswere also written in the form of the

23 See CamillaLucerna,DasMiirchen,GoethesNaturphilosophiels Kunstwerk,Weimar 1910o.ThomasCarlyle o Eckermann: To me it seemsone of the noblestPoemsorProphecies roducedor manyages; nexhaustiblen meaning, eepereverynew timeI look into it." (GoetheJahrb.XXIV, I2).2* Novalis (KI.) II/3x1 ft.a5bid.II/335.26 ibid.II/312.

2T ibid.TII/57ff.28 ibid. II/335.



6/10

Novalis 519first person: "I romanticise, while I am giving a high meaning to thecommon, profane, vulgar; while I am giving a mysterious appearanceto the ordinary or customary, an infinite radiance to the finite."

There cannot be found a more precise description to the aim ofNovalis' poetry than his thoughts about romanticising. They are the keyfor an understanding of his life, character and destiny as well as of hiswork. In another fragment the verb romanticise occurs in the form ofthe present participle" romantisierend" and it is most revealing forcharacter and destiny of his life. It reads: "Der Tod ist das romanti-sierende Prinzip unseres Lebens. Der Tod-, das Leben +. Durch denTod wird das Leben verstirkt. "(III/287) This is the philosophical re-flection upon the death-experience of Sophie von Kiihn. If this sentencewere written by anybody else among the early romantics we could easilycomprehend this thought as an intellectual game of analogies. Thesewords, written by Novalis, are autobiographical confessions of primaryimportance. Here the word "romantisierend" means metamorphosing,uplifting and glorifying. The death of Sophie became this romantisingprinciple which aroused the "miraculous." When this experience becamestronger and firmer within the mind of Novalis, particularly after 1798,in the two last years of his life, he became more and more aware of theshortcomings of Goethe's Meister and he exclaimed:" Das Romantischegeht darin zugrunde - auch die Naturpoesie, das Wunderbare."29 Inanother passage he said: "Sch6in, romantisch, harmonisch sind nurTeilausdriicke des Poetischen." 30 Or: "Die Kunst zu lieben ist immerromantisch gewesen."31 He explains the adjective romantic through dif-ferent verbs, time and again: "Die Kunst auf eine angenehme Art zubefremden, einen Gegenstand fremd zu machen und doch bekannt undanziehend, das ist die romantische Poetik." 32

Romanticising as the process of finding the way back to the originalstate of life creates the realm of the true fairy tale and he proclaimed:"Alles ist ein Miirchen."33 Shortly before his last illness, on June I8, I8oo,he wrote to Friedrich Schlegel about his Mairchen in Heinrich yonOfterdingen: "Das Unbekanntheilige, die Vesta in Sophien, die Ver-mischung des Romantischen aller Zeiten . . . so betrachte nun meinMiirchen."34 This statement appears like a sumtotal of his reflectionsupon romanticising as the inner sanctum of his poetic work.

Let us now look at his novel Heinrich yon Ofterdingen in regard to theuse of the adjective "romantic" which occurs in various passages severaltimes. One should notice, however, how the word romantic appears inthe whole structure of the sentences, not only the fact that it appears.29 ibid. III/324.8o ibid. III/342.31 ibid. III/371.32 ibid. III/349.84 ibid. I/4oo.** ibid. IV/343.



7/10

520 MonatshefteNovalis used the word romantic,for instance, n mentioningold belong-ingsof the house:"Zogdas Geheimnisder Naturund dieEntstehung hrerKorper den ahnenden Geist an, so erh6hte die seltnere Kunst ihrerBearbeitung, ie romantischeFerneausder mansie erhielt... die Neigungzu diesen stummenGefihrten des Lebens."5 The same verb "erh6hen"(lifting up) reappearedn the adjective:"Eineh6here Macht schien denKnoten schneller 1lsen zu wollen und brachte sie unter sonderbarenUmstiindenn diese romantischeLage."36"Sie beschriebdie romantischenSchbnheitender fruchtbarenarabischenGegenden .. wie Kolonien desParadieses."37"Das Land der Poesie, das romantischeMorgenland,hateuch mit seinersiiMenWehmut begriil3t."B"Auf einer Anhohe erblick-ten sie ein romantischesLand." 9 Or in regardto war and soldiers:DieLeute glaubensich fiir irgendeinenarmseligenBesitzschlagenzu miissen,und merkennicht daB ie derromantischeGeistaufregt." 0 And similarlyexpressed: "Todeslust ist Kriegergeist. RomantischesLeben des Krie-gers."1 Finally one of the most important passages n the second partof Heinrich von Ofterdingenreadsin connectionwith conscience: "DasGewissen erscheintmir wie der Geist des Weltgedichtes,wie der Zufallder ewigen romantischenZusammenkunft es unendlich verinderlichenGesamtlebens."42To definethe termromanticisingwith an abstractconcept would becontrary to the intention of Novalis. Defining means to set down tofinite limits. Romanticising n the sense of Novalis points towards theinfinite and unlimited. A definition clarifies a concept of an object.Romanticising s the descriptionof an inner process. This process in-cludes:findingthe way backto the original,givingthe world the radianceof the distant, he magic,the absolute, he universaland the transcendental.It createsthe true fairy tale, unfolds the miraculous,develops the truepower of love which is in its deepestsenseequalto the power of magic,metamorphosis nd death. It stengthenslife, glorifies the human mind,it is linkedup with the Unknown, Sophia,the higherworld, the home ofpoetry and the heaven in which the voice of conscience is rooted. Allin all expressedby Novalis in his most precise fragment:Romanticisingis to raisequalitatively o a higher power, to identify the lower with thebetterSelf... An activity,unknown as yet.To be sure, that sounds complicated;it appearsas a multitude ofverbosetermswhich can easilymislead o contradictionsand misinterpre-tations. And yet, rightly understood,on the solid basis of the data andfacts of Novalis' life and works, it can guide us into the inner sanctumof the ideas of romanticism.Novalis did not only theorize about thisfunction of raisingto higher power of the qualitiesof the soul, whatJulius Petersen called in characterisingthe concept of romanticism

ibid. I/Io9.36 ibid. I/127.ibid. I/x14.as ibid. I/187.

39 ibid.I/202.40 ibid. I/i88.41 ibid ibid. 1/245.ibid. I/235.



8/10

Novalis 521"Bewuatseinssteigerung"nd "MagischesSelbstvertrauen,"ut he exper-ienced it as a mystic and revealed t as a poet. The definiteproof of hisexperiencesare his writings. The works of Novalis are a world offragments,but not a fragmentof a world. They are a whole because heyare centered around an individualitywho raised his faculties of thesoul qualitatively o a higherpower. Novalis called this in philosophicalterms"magicidealism."The magic idealismof Novalis is but a fragmentlike all his otherwritings, yet it is the most significantexpressionof the world-conceptionof the early romanticist. In fact, it was the most obvious attempt toovercome Kant'sdogma of the limits to knowledge" SiegbertElkuss"opened a fruitful discussionabout the position of the early romanticiststo Kant. He showed that all of them beganto think with Kant,but thatthey all graduallyovercameand contradictedhim. Germanromanticismwas an unanimousprotest against enlightenmentas a whole and againstKant'sphilosophy n particular.From this point of view there is hardlyadivergenceof opinion from R. Ungers45Hamann und die Aufklidrungto H. A. Korffs Geist der Goethezeit46and Paul Kluckhohnstatedin hisbook on romanticism:7 "In der Tat, lag darin ein wesentlich Neues,das die Romantikeriberdie Stiirmerund Dringer und auch iiberHerderhinausfiihrte, arin,daBsie durchdie Schule Kantsund Fichtes hindurch-gangen waren"and he addedin speakingof Goethe as the antipodeofKant: "Wesentlich ist das: die Romantiker waren Goetheaner."8

Two factors are indispensableor an understanding f the problemof romanticismn generaland of the magicidealismof Novalis in particu-lar: the struggle againstKant and the veneration or Goethe.The developmentof Novalis'smind started with the study of Kantunder Reinhold in Jena (1790/91), continued with the ardent disciple-ship of Fichte (since 1794) and culminated n his own magic idealism(from 1797 on). Novalis called the whole Kantianmethod onesided49and he characterizedhis mentality as "Advokatengeist."In regard toKant'smainproblemof his Theory of Knowledge,his question,wetherthere is a synthetic judgmenta priori possibleoutside of the realm ofmathematics e exclaimed:"Gibtes ein mathematischesGenie?wie ist esm6glich? Genie ist das synthetisierendePrinzip, das Genie macht dasUnm6gliche m6glich - das Mdgliche unmaglich - das Unbekanntebekannt- das Bekannteunbekanntetc. Kurz es ist das moralisierendetranssubstantiierenderinzip."0Kant: Critique of Pure Reason.44Siegbert Flkuss: Zur Beurteilung der Romantik und zur Kritik ihrer Erfor-schung, Hist. Bibl., 39. Bd., herausg.v. F. Schultz, Miinchen 1918.

45R. Unger: Hamann und die Aufklirung, Studien zur Vorgeschichte derRomantik, 19146Hermann August Korff: Geist der Goetheseit Versuch einer ideelleenEntwicklung der klassisch-romantischenLiteraturgeschichte, Leipzig 1930." Paul Kluckhohn, Die deutsche Romantik, Leipzig 1924, p. I8.48 ibid.p. 23.SNovalis K.) II/306.



9/10

522 MonatshefteNovalis' magic idealism asked the fundamentalquestion: is there aknowledge of the supersensiblepossible, "gibt es noch autersinnlicheErkenntnis?" "Nach Kant bezieht sich reine Mathematik und reine

Naturwissenschaftauf die Formen der EuBerenSinnlichkeit. WelcheWissenschaftbeziehtsich denn auf die Formen der innerenSinnlichkeit?Gibt es noch auBersinnliche rkennmtnis?st noch ein andrerWeg offen,aus sich selbst herauszugehenund zu anderen Wesen zu gelangen odervon ihnen affiziertzu werden?"

The answer o thisquestion s giventhrough ife and work of Novalis.Novalis victoriousstruggleagainstKant went parallelwith the approachto the world of Goethe. Novalis did not only call Goethe "den Statthalterdes poetischenGeistes auf Erden" 2 but he recognisedhim also as theforemost physicist of his time and he became the first interpreterofGoethe's Miirchen,which A. W. Schlegel called the loveliest fairy talewhich ever fell from heavenof phantasy o the dry earth." The Miirchenwas enthusiastically eceived by all romanticistsand made a lasting im-pressionon Novalis.53He never found a reason to modify his judgmentor change his appraisal s he did in regardto Wilhelm Meister. On thecontrary,he becamethe firstamongthe legion of interpreterswho triedto unriddle the enigmaof Goethe'stale.

TheMirchen was published n Schiller'sHoren in 1795and writtenat the very beginningof the friendshipwith Schiller who wrote at thattime his Briefezur aesthetischenErziehungdes Menschen. Schiller'scon-cept of the "schaneSeele"and the "Spieltrieb"particularly he latter,asexpressedn hisLettersaboutthe aestheticeducationof man) camenearestto the world of Goethe and was most distantto the philosophyof Kant.In fact, Schiller'sconcept of the "SchbneSeele"andhis Spieltrieb" epel-led Kan'tcategorical mperative n a similarway as Novalis' magic ideal-ismexcludedKantsagnosticismwith its theory of the limits to knowledge.Novalis received Goethe'sMiirchenso enthusiastically ecause he foundexpressed n it the principleof romanticising, s the way to find back tothe original,this raisingto higher power, this identifying of the lowerwith the better Self. Goethe's Marchenwas the dream of the roman-ticist, who, like the young man in Goethe's tale, ventured across thebridge to the realm of the white lily. To find the bridge between theworld of matter and that of spirit, between the lower and the betterSelf is the content of the imaginations f Goethe's Miirchen.The build-ing and crossingof this bridge is "romanticising."The time is at handfor this processof romanticising:"Es ist an der Zeit" was the solemncallwhich soundedin the subterraneanempleof Goethe's tale. And "Es istan der Zeit" becamethe title of a poem of Novalis which he wrote inimmediateresponse o Goethe'sMiirchen.

so ibid. III/25.51 ibid. II/304.52 ibid. II/41.5s ibid.II/327, m/129, 145.



10/10

novalis and the problem of romanticism

Documents