The apprentices at Sais

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The apprentices to Sais is the title of a natural-philosophical novel by Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg). It was written between 1798 and 1799 and was published posthumously in 1802 (edited by Friedrich Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck ).

Origin and influences

The basic theme of the novel, which was planned as a “real symbolic natural novel ” , is the connection between spirit and nature, or between self-knowledge and knowledge of nature, as well as the development of man's sense of nature. The term “nature” denotes nature not only in the physical sense, but the entire “being-in-the-world” of man. A reference to Schiller's poem “The veiled image of Sais”, published in 1795, is obvious. In contrast to “Die Lehrlinge zu Sais” , however, the educational process in Schiller's poem fails because the youth's hubris , his thirst for knowledge, is punished. Novalis postponed the completion of the “Apprentices to Sais” in favor of working on his most famous work, Heinrich von Ofterdingen . Another reason for the interruption of the work on the “apprentices to Sais” was the new, nature-mystical thought processes of Hardenberg, which had been stimulated by the study of Jakob Boehme's writings . They would have made a revision of the novel necessary. However, due to his untimely death on March 25, 1801, Novalis could no longer complete the work. At the time of its creation, Novalis was studying at the Bergakademie Freiberg and dealt extensively with scientific and natural philosophical issues. This had a huge impact on the novel.

Structure and content

The text consists of two parts: a first, shorter part “The Apprentice” and a second, longer part entitled “The Nature”.

The novel contains hardly any external plot, but mostly conversations or statements on a common topic. The scene of the event is the temple at Sais . The two parts of the fragment consist of a multitude of different voices that express themselves in different ways about nature and the knowledge of nature. The basic idea of ​​the novel is to transform this multitude of ideas from natural philosophy into a conversation with one another. The romantic art fairy tale of “Hyacinth and Rosenblüthe”, told in the second part, occupies a special position . Both "The Apprentice" and "The Nature" can be brought into a triadically structured scheme :

I. "The apprentice"

  1. Speech reflection
  2. Teacher, child and clumsy
  3. apprentice

II. "Nature"

  1. Triad:
    • Nature reflection
    • Four possible views of nature
    • Apprentice confusion
  2. Triad: fairy tales of "Hyacinth and rose bloom"
  3. Triad:
    • Self-expression of nature
    • Twice four views of the travelers
    • Closing talks

The classification of the triads, which do not offer syntheses , is done differently in research and should be seen as an open structural classification. Part I.1 contains a linguistic reflection on the cipher writing of nature. In part I.2 the teacher, the child and the clumsy appear. Part I.3 consists of the self-talk of the apprentice who rejects the previously expressed views and sees the need to find one's own way. The figure of the apprentice may represent a self-portrait by Novalis when he was a student in Freiberg; His professor Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750–1817) can be seen in the figure of the teacher .

The triads in Part II are broken down again. The first part of the 1st triad can be broken down according to the romantic triad pattern: The starting point is an old, simple state of nature in which nature was still understandable. This is followed by an age of alienation from humans and nature. The third part is the possible return of a golden age, the restoration of the original state on a higher level. A spiral movement is thus carried out. In the second part of the first triad, four different, partly competing, natural philosophical concepts are expressed. Here, among other things, allusions to rationalism and Johann Gottlieb Fichte's philosophy become clear. The third part of the first triad shows the confusion of the apprentice, who can learn some truth from all the views expressed. A cheerful "playmate" now appears who says that philosophy lacks the mood (love and longing). This figure tells the fairy tale of "Hyacinth and rose blossom".

The third triad begins with a self-expression of nature, which complains about the lack of human feeling for the original unity. This is followed by four views of travelers on the rapprochement between man and nature, each of which is modified once. The novel breaks off with the third stage of the third triad. This is where the travelers, the apprentice and the teacher meet. The travelers tell of their search for the original language that led them to Sais. The teacher tells of his efforts to recognize and maintain the systems in his apprentices.

The fairy tale of Hyacinth and the rose blossom

Hyacinth and Rosenblüthe live happily ever after and in love with one another. This relationship is disturbed when a strange, old man appears who tells Hyacinth for three days about strange countries and wonderful things. After the husband's visit, Hyacinth fell ill with the romantic disease of melancholy (which had been a literary theme since the 18th century) . He lives quietly and lonely until one day an old woman in the forest tells him how he can find healing. He is now moving away from home and hiking through nature in search of the veiled Virgin. The initially alienated nature becomes more and more familiar to him in the course of his wandering, and finally he reaches the temple of Isis and falls asleep there. In the dream he now succeeds in lifting the veil of the goddess, and he recognizes the higher self of his beloved rose blossom, which also means his higher self. From now on he will live happily with her until the end of his life.

Through love, Hyacinth is able to see behind the veil. It has gone through a development and in the end there is knowledge. The goddess and his beloved merge in a mixture of dream and reality. The "romanticizing" can be made clear here: The unknown sacred, the goddess, is logarithmized and becomes rose blossom. In the reverse, however, the rose blossom is potentiated to the goddess .

This fairy tale can be seen as the quintessence of “The Apprentices to Sais”. The boundaries between individuals and nature are blurring. The strange and the familiar are made of the same material, and love is experienced as the highest knowledge. It thus follows that perfect knowledge of nature is higher self-knowledge.

This fairy tale is structured according to the already described romantic triad pattern. The initial state of unity is destroyed, followed by a phase of alienation. At the end there is the golden age, and Hyacinth lives on a higher level with rose blossom. A spiral movement has thus taken place.

interpretation

Any interpretation and interpretation of the "Apprentices to Sais" is always to be seen with the reservation that the considered text is a fragment about whose final, planned form, despite numerous paralipomena , there is no ultimate certainty.

The entire novel is a composition of fragments. Various utterances are put together, but none of the utterances reveals the ultimate truth. The unity of the work lies rather in its diversity of voices. The individual sections have numerous relationships and links with one another. This multi-perspective procedure enables reciprocal additions and relativizations. Like threads, leitmotifs and central ideas weave together a large fabric. This composition principle is similar to the composition of nature. Thus the novel reflects the unity of nature. The meaning of the novel must therefore be seen especially in its form. However, this fabric is not closed, but the whole universe is seen as an eternal conversation of the diversity of voices. The reader is invited to continue this conversation started in the novel and thus to be an expanded or expanding author. The goal here is the integration of humans into the organism of nature. This means becoming one with nature.

expenditure

For an overview of the various editions, see the article Novalis and the Novalis International Bibliography (URL under Web Links ).

literature

  • Jürgen Daiber : Experimental Physics of the Mind. Novalis and the Romantic Experiment. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-20811-1 .
  • Ulrich Gaier: The crooked rule. Novalis' "construction theory of the creative spirit" and its tradition. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1970, ISBN 3-484-10131-8 ( studies on the history of German literature 4).
  • Elke Heidenreich : The Sais apprentices . In: Walter Jens (Ed.): Kindlers new literary dictionary . Kindler, Munich 1988–1992.
  • Hermann Kurzke : Novalis. Beck, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-32436-3 ( Beck'sche series 606 authors' books ).
  • Reinhard Leusing: The voice as a form of knowledge. To Novalis' novel "The Apprentices at Sais". M and P, Publishing House for Science and Research, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-476-45033-3 .
  • Lothar Pikulik: Early Romanticism. Epoch - works - effect. Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-36787-9 ( workbooks on the history of literature ).
  • Herbert Uerlings: Friedrich von Hardenberg, called Novalis. Work and research. Metzler, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-476-00779-0 .
  • Herbert Uerlings: Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg). Reclam, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-017612-3 ( Reclam's Universal Library No. 17612 Literature Studies ).

Web links