Heinrich von Ofterdingen

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Heinrich von Ofterdingen is a fragmentary novel by Novalis (actually Friedrich von Hardenberg ), which was written in the course of 1800 and was only published posthumously by Friedrich Schlegel in1802. The title refers to a fabulous, historically unproven singer of the 13th century, who u. a. from the praise of the princes in the Middle High German epic song war on the Wartburg (mhd. Singerkriec ûf Wartburc ; created around 1260) ETA Hoffmann dealt with thesame subject in its collection of novelsThe Serapion brothers in the story The Struggle of the Singers from 1819.

Due to the professional obligations of Hardenberg and under the pressure of his illness, he had to give up the completion of the novel. The first part (The Expectation) and part of the opening chapter of the second part (The Fulfillment) are completed . The first, posthumously published edition (June 1802) contained only the first part of the novel. It was not until the end of 1802 that the novel was published “in full” for the first time. The planned continuation of the novel is relatively easy to understand based on the numerous notes that Hardenberg has handed down. A report by Ludwig Tieck about the continuation, which he constructed from personal conversations with Novalis and from his letters and legacies, is also informative . As required by romantic novel poetics, Heinrich von Ofterdingen contains numerous interludes in the form of fairy tales , dreams, conversations or songs.

The Ofterdingen fountain in front of the Kelkheim town hall , designed in 1974 by the Stuttgart sculptor Angelika Wetzel

The fundamental theme of the Ofterdingen is poetry in the broader, romantic sense of the poetry of life. Novalis himself describes the novel as the " apotheosis of poetry". For him the only form of representation of poetry in the broader sense is poetry in the narrower sense, that is, poetry. The basic romantic idea that life and art refer to one another and challenge one another can be seen in it. The ego is in infinite progress on the way to a higher, unifying totality of nature and man. This universality of the concept of poetry is often linked with science. In addition, the reader is encouraged to think independently, since the content of the text is not revealed by mere reading, but requires in-depth consideration. The well-known symbol of the " blue flower ", which has become emblematic for Romanticism, comes from Heinrich von Ofterdingen .

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Novalis received his first suggestions for the novel in 1799 during an inspection trip to Artern am Kyffhäuser . Here he met the cavalry master and historian Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Funck and read his biography about Friedrich II. Encouraged by this, Novalis dealt with various chronicles that introduced him to the saga of the singer's war on the Wartburg . The Duringian Chronicle written by the Eisenach town clerk Johannes Rothe († 1434) and the legend of St. Elisabeth, also recorded by Rothe, come into question . The Mansfeld Chronicle written by Cyriacus Spangenberg could also have been an inspiration for Novalis. Like Novalis, all of these sources use the spelling “Afterdingen”. With the publication of Heinrich von Ofterdingen this spelling was changed.

Goethe's educational novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Years (see below: Heinrich von Ofterdingen and Wilhelm Meister) had a great influence on Novalis' novel . Furthermore, the poet of Ofterdingen was influenced by Tiecks Franz Sternbald's wanderings (1798) as well as the natural-philosophical considerations of Jakob Boehme . In addition, he draws on folkloric and literary traditions, mythologies, fairy tales, philosophical writings and natural science.

Heinrich von Ofterdingen and Wilhelm Meister

The Heinrich von Ofterdingen is in direct response to Goethe in many ways Wilhelm Meister created. The text should appear in the same format and by the same publisher (Unger, Berlin). In terms of content, the Ofterdingen is also a testimony to the examination of Goethe's text. Hardenberg's assessment of Wilhelm Meister changed very much over time. At first he had enthusiastically welcomed the publication of the novel and admired the poetics of this text. Novalis was enthusiastic about Goethe's talent for making completely strange and uninteresting objects fertile for poetry, and by the ability to raise the insignificant to the level of significance by linking them. However, criticism of the master grew over time, and Novalis was the first early romantic to break with the adoration of this novel. He finally condemned the master as leaky in the highest degree and as an artifact, a work of understanding and economy that triumphs over poetry, that poetry takes itself to absurdity and is only a satire on it. When it came to the choice of his subjects, Goethe was limited to the worldly and pragmatic, and his novel was downright prosaic and modern. Novalis complained that the master only dealt with ordinary, human things and that nature and the mystical were completely absent. He therefore assessed this novel as a poetic, bourgeois story.

With his own novel Novalis wanted to surpass Goethe's. With regard to Wilhelm Meister , he wanted to dissolve everything into poetry, and the novel should gradually turn into a fairy tale. Therefore certain similarities between the two texts cannot be dismissed out of hand, because the Ofterdingen also bears the traits of an educational novel. Both Heinrich and Master encounter certain educator figures; however, Meister collects his experiences more in the outer world, while Heinrich gets to know the hidden inner world, in an understanding-deciphering process. In addition, the “education” of an individual is not presented in Ofterdingen , but a transition process into the “golden age” based on the higher overall context. The individual and social utopia is thus expanded into a universal utopia according to the ideas of the early romantics. This also explains why Novalis does not speak of “years of apprenticeship” but of “transition years”.

Poetics and style

In terms of style, Novalis has adopted the alternation of conversation and action from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister . This created a special rhythm for his novel. The relative lack of action and tension can be explained by this desired rhythm, because Novalis wanted a particularly calm style. So he consciously breaks with the realistic-psychological narrative conventions, that is, the causal-pragmatic nexus of action , plays a subordinate role. Rather, Novalis wants to create a melody in style so that the text becomes a flowing whole. The accents in the novel do not follow dramaturgical aspects, but aspects of a poetic 'melody'. So the novel is not designed for mere understanding; rather, the style is supposed to symbolize the intellectual content of calm dissolution, fusion and new emergence. This calm is also reflected in the choice of less descriptive and relatively worn adjectives (e.g. “beautiful”). Novalis doesn't care much about the design of distinctive, coherent characters. The figures are rather series of variations that have many references to each other (for example Zulima – Mathilde – Zyane). He sees people as variations on a broader being. The seclusion of the sections is also striking: everyone could stand on their own. The parts are representatives of the whole; they refer to the whole of nature.

Content and structure

Moritz von Schwind : The Singers' War , fresco on the Wartburg , 1854

The figure "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" was seen by scholars around 1800 not as a fictional, but as a real, historical figure and as a medieval poet. It is linked to the legendary singer's war at the Wartburg , in which Walther von der Vogelweide , Wolfram von Eschenbach and others are said to have participated. Klingsohr is also often mentioned as a participant in this competition. However, Novalis not only chooses a medieval character as the main character in his novel, but also relocates the plot back to the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were seen by Novalis - here a clear contrast to the Enlightenment - not as a dark age, but as an epoch that was home to poetry. He thus chooses the Middle Ages as a positive, poetic counter-image to his own time, which he perceives as prosaic and utilitarian. However, the Middle Ages should not be equated with the golden age , rather it should be seen as a transition period. In the novel, Heinrich was supposed to usher in the golden age; consequently, the threshold to the golden age is shown. Outwardly, the novel is divided into two large sections. The first section, Expectation, consists of nine chapters. Of the second section, The Fulfillment , only the first chapter, entitled The Monastery, or the Courtyard, is completed. In this dichotomy one can see an analogy to the dichotomy in the Bible , because Hardenberg's notes show that the figures and motifs of the first part should appear again in varied form in the second part.

The expectation

The expectation describes Heinrich's experiences, which allowed him to mature into a poet. Heinrich grew up in Eisenach, Thuringia, as the son of middle-class parents. In the first chapter you learn that before the beginning of the novel, a stranger told the twenty-year-old Heinrich about mysterious distant places, wonderful treasures and a wonder flower. The novel begins with the description of one of Heinrich's dreams. He dreams this on Midsummer Night, the night of the summer solstice , in which, according to popular superstition, a glimpse into the future is possible. The dream consists of different phases and already reflects what happened in the novel. In this dream Heinrich sees the " blue flower ", a symbol of longing and recognition. The flower transforms into the face of a girl who, as it turns out in the following chapters, is Mathilde, his future lover and wife. The dream represents a kind of initiation into poetry. When Heinrich wakes up, he is in a very melancholy mood. To dispel the melancholy, he and his mother make a trip to Augsburg to visit Heinrich's maternal grandfather. They are accompanied by some merchant friends who are friends.

The following chapters present Heinrich's different experiences with the most diverse areas of the world. This journey is intended to open up the diversity of the world for Heinrich and contribute to opening his mind to poetry. The world of trade is opened to him by the merchants in their company. It was through them that Heinrich had his first encounter with poetry. In the second chapter the merchants tell him about the saga of the singer Arion , which is at the same time a rejection of greed and the world of property. In the following chapter a fairy tale is told about the legendary realm of Atlantis . Here an old king is looking for a suitable husband for his beloved daughter and at the same time his successor. However, because of his dignified origins, he feels elevated above the ordinary population and can therefore not find a suitable man. The princess, a symbol of poetry, falls in love with a young man living in the forest who symbolizes nature. In the end, both marry and thus the connection between nature and poetry takes place.

In the further course of the trip Heinrich gets to know the world of the crusades from a soldier and is enthusiastic about their idea. In the same chapter, however, Heinrich learns from the Arab girl Zulima, who is a prisoner in the knight's castle, of the true execution of the Crusades and of the poetic world of the Orient. Furthermore, Heinrich gets to know the world of mining through the stories of a Bohemian miner. This emphasizes the ideal value of mining and subordinates the economic side to it. Heinrich also takes this miner on a trip into a tunnel system. The Count of Hohenzollern lives there as a hermit. Heinrich learns about history and historiography through him and his books. There he also finds a chronicle written in the Provencal language. Heinrich realizes that this chronicle contains his life story, including the future. However, he cannot read the text, he can only recognize the pictures, but not the pictures on the last pages. It shows here that Heinrich is only at the level of perception and not yet at the level of understanding. He can only achieve this by experiencing different experiences.

After a long journey, Heinrich and his mother finally arrive at Schwaning, Heinrich's grandfather, in Augsburg. Heinrich meets the poet Klingsohr and his daughter Mathilde at a party organized by Schwaning. Klingsohr opens the world of poetry to him and agrees to accept Heinrich as a student. The metaphysical power of love, which is fundamental for the redemption of the world and the transition into the golden age, is finally revealed to him through Mathilde. Mathilde and Heinrich fall in love and get married. Heinrich has now got to know the most important area of ​​poetry. He realizes that the girl in the dream was Mathilde, and knows from this dream that he will initially lose her, but then win her forever.

Klingsohr's fairy tale

The first part of Ofterdingen concludes with a fairy tale told by Klingsohr. It is an allegorical fairy tale, the style, characters and plot of which are partly reminiscent of Goethe's “Märchen” (1795, in conversations with German emigrants ). The meaning of the characters, however, is transformed into a paradox in the course of the narrative. Hardenberg's fairy tale, a relationship and maturation story, shows the utopia of world redemption through poetry and love. The liberation of the world for the golden age is represented. Klingsohr's fairy tale is, so to speak, an anticipation of the planned end of the novel and contains the entire novel in compressed form. It plays on three levels, the astral world, the human world and the underworld, all of which are interwoven at the end of the text. However, the fairy tale cannot be deciphered down to the last detail, as the meanings overlap and partly flow into one another.

The astral kingdom of Arcturs is frozen in ice and his daughter Freya (peace) lies in a deep sleep. This state has persisted since iron (war) threw his sword into the world and Sophie (wisdom) descended to the people. Mother (heart) and father (mind) have begotten the boy Eros (love). His half-sister Fabel (poetry) comes from a relationship between the father and the nurse Ginnistan (fantasy). Ginnistan travels with Eros to the moon, her father, and seduces him in the form of his mother. In the meantime the writer (the Enlightenment, the sober mind) seizes control. He burns his mother at the stake. Fable flees into the underworld and tricked there the Fates who spin the threads of fate and cut. Sophie dissolves her mother's ashes in her bowl of water and gives everyone a drink. This triggers an indescribable joy and the mother is always present. Ultimately, Fabel breaks the spell and melts the ice. In the end Arctur marries Sophie, the father marries Ginnistan and Eros marries the awakened Freya. Eros and Freya rule the dawning golden age.

The fulfillment and outlook for the continuation

The fairy tale has already reached its end, the golden age, but the novel has not yet. The second part opens with a prologue of the Astralis, a mysterious being that emerged from the first embrace of Heinrich and Mathilde. As the dream announced, Mathilde has died (she drowned in the river), and Heinrich leaves Augsburg in despair. Autobiographical parallels can be seen here. Heinrich hears the voice of the dead and meets the poor shepherd girl Zyane, the daughter of the Count of Hohenzollern. She leads Heinrich to an old hermit and doctor named Sylvester. He tells Heinrich about the language of nature in flowers and plants and tells about the golden age. Then the novel breaks off.

There is no final certainty about the planned continuation, as the notes and Tie's report are in part contradictory. Apparently the second part should consist of seven chapters. Heinrich was supposed to wander through all times and spaces in these. The fairytale should break through more and more and a connection between dream and reality was planned. The figures should recur and merge. Heinrich was supposed to first visit a monastery and then get involved in Handel in Switzerland and Italy. He should become a general and get to know the world of mythology. After his return to Germany he was to hold talks with the emperor about government and empire and to take part in an allegorical festival scene, which was to have the glorification of poetry as its theme. The Singers' War at the Wartburg should take place through natural and art poetry. The end is the transition from the real world to the secret world. Heinrich finally picks the blue flower and should go through numerous changes that should encompass all areas of nature (stone, flower, animal, star and back to man). The end should be a great union. People are being poetized and the new golden age should dawn. As the action progresses, the past should be gradually revealed at the same time, so that in the end time would be canceled. In this golden age, the poles of the masculine and the feminine would be united by love. However, this final state should not be static, but creation should renew itself forever.

Final consideration

The Heinrich von Ofterdingen can to contribute to the universal poetry seen the early Romantics. The novel aims to depict life and the world in all their diversity and in their spatial, temporal and spiritual dimensions. In the golden age, after all, there should be one in all and all in one. Novalis wanted to represent and create a better world through poetry. According to the triadic model, the Middle Ages are understood as a transition period. From this a new, golden age is to be brought up, a restoration of the original state on a higher level. The old, happy original state is remembered in the inserted fairy tales and conversations. In order to be able to achieve this change through poetry, the cooperation and the intellectual activity of the reader are essential. At the beginning of the novel, Heinrich embodies the ideal recipient for the “Ofterdingen”. He is completely moved by the stories of the old, strange man and can no longer think of anything but his reports; that's how the reader of “Ofterdingen” should be. However, this emotion presupposes a willingness and a longing for a higher, better world. There must be a dissatisfaction with the given in order for the pursuit of the golden age to arise in the reader.

expenditure

For an overview of the various editions see the entry Novalis and the International Novalis Bibliography (URL see web links).

stage

Friedrich Lienhard wrote the play of the same name, which premiered on October 26, 1903 in the Weimar Court Theater .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the sources on the "historical" Heinrich von Ofterdingen cf. Peter Volk: "From Ôsterrîch der herre mîn". On the status of research on the historicity of Heinrich von Ofterdingen. In: Wartburg Foundation (Ed.): Wartburg Yearbook 2000. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2002, pp. 48–133 (with 15 illustrations).
  2. ^ Burghart Wachinger : Heinrich von Ofterdingen. In: Burghart Wachinger et al. (Hrsg.): The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author Lexicon . 2nd, completely revised edition, ISBN 3-11-022248-5 , Volume 3: Gert van der Schüren - Hildegard von Bingen. Berlin / New York 1981, col. 855 f.
  3. ↑ See in particular also on Novalis about Helmut Schanze (ed.): Romantik Handbuch. Kröner, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-520-36302-X , pp. 452ff.
  4. ↑ a b Kurt Waselowsky: Introduction. In: Novalis: Hymnen an die Nacht / Heinrich von Ofterdingen (Goldmann's yellow paperbacks, vol. 507). Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich 1964, p. 9.

Secondary literature

  • Konrad Burdach:  Heinrich von Ofterdingen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 173-176.
  • Karl Zimmermann: Heinrich von Ofterdingen. A minstrel from the Eifel? In: Eifel calendar from 1939 , pp. 94–96.
  • Manfred Engel : The novel of the Goethe era . Volume 1: Beginnings in Classical and Early Romanticism: Transcendental Stories . Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1993, pp. 444-497.
  • Hans-Horst Hensche: Heinrich von Ofterdingen . In: Walter Jens [Hrsg.]: Kindlers new literature lexicon . Kindler, Munich 1988–1992.
  • Hermann Kurzke : Novalis . Beck, Munich 1988.
  • Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg : The Origin of Heinrich von Ofterdingen . In: Euphorion 55, C. Winter, Heidelberg 1961, pp. 163-195.
  • Herbert Uerlings: Friedrich von Hardenberg, called Novalis. Work and research . Metzler, Stuttgart 1991.
  • Herbert Uerlings: Novalis . Reclam, Stuttgart 1998.
  • Georg Dattenböck: Heinrich von Hag / Ofterdingen. Author of the Nibelungenlied! Bautz, Nordhausen 2011, ISBN 978-3-88309-640-7 .
  • Sophia Vietor: Astralis by Novalis. Handwriting - text - work. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-1895-8 .
  • Alexander Knopf: Enthusiasm for the language. Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis): Heinrich von Afterdingen. Critical edition and interpretation. Stroemfeld, Frankfurt / Main, Basel 2015, ISBN 978-3866002463 .

Web links