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Comments on Hauptmann's: Der große Traum

1953; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Alemão

10.1080/19306962.1953.11786650

1930-6962

F. B. Wahr,

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size NotesGerhart Hauptmann, Das gesammelte Werk (hereafter W), 1942; Der große Traum in Vol. XVI; parts of “Gesänge” XI, XII, XIV, XV, XVI had appeared in Neue Rundschau (January, 1927), with an important foreword by the author, and of “Gesang” II in Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (January 7, 1921). The “Gesänge” are referred to here by roman numerals. Through the kindness of Dr . W. Studt of Hamburg, Germany, I have been able to read his briefing of the as yet unpublished doctoral dissertation on the poem by Christiana Reishofer (University of Vienna, 1948). This work should be made available to Hauptmann students in printed form. The sixth line from the close of the “Widmung” has been misprinted in W, XVI, and in the separate reprint of 1943; it should read: “und näher noch als alles nächster Nähe.” Also in XXI the reference is undoubtedly to Louis “quinze” instead of “seize.”See J. J. Weisert, The Dream in Gerhart Hauptmann (New York, 1949), and Hauptmann’s words in Buch der Leidenschaft, February 22, 1900, and Till Eulenspiegel, W, X, 429; “Rollt im Reiche des innren Gesichts dir, Freund, nicht das Weltall, ist es nirgend für dich überhaupt und wo immer vorhanden.” Hauptmann distinguishes between three kinds of dreams in W, IX, 491f . H. Cysarz’ words, Sieben Wesensbildnisse (Brünn, 1943), p. 203: “Hauptmann denkt in Gesichten und redet in Gestalten” is an excellent characterization.Cf. F. A. Voigt, Gerhart Hauptmann, Das Hirtenlied (Breslau, 1935), p. 47; Gerhart Hauptmann in Neue Rundschau (January, 1927), p. 13: “Sein zweites Selbst wird nun sein Führer.”See Hauptmann, Im Wirbel der Berufung, W, XIII, 538f.; F. A. Voigt, Chemnitz bibliophile edition of Der Dom (1942), pp. 73f.; Robert Mühler, Dichtung der Krise (Wien, 1951), pp . 257f.; H. Schreiber, Gerhart Hauptmann und das Irrationale, Aichkirchen, 1946. Hauptmann’s source for Satanael was Ignaz Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters (München, 1890), I, 34f. Goethe’s words at the close of Book VIII of Dichtung und Wahrheit are in point here.W, XVI, 248f.: “So, wisse, gab ich hin mein höchstes Lebenund bin nun selber darin mir zu Gaste,dem Bettler gleich Almosen aufzuheben…Ich will den Irrtum, und ich will das Leidenund Not und Mühsal unter Mensch und Tieren…” Der Dom (1942), p. 50.Hauptmann’s predilection for the mystic philosophies of Jakob Böhme and Paracelsus is quite evident in his own summation of things; also his affinities to Schopenhauer and the Ancients, especially Plato.The O. Gildemeister translation appeared in 1888 in terza rima. Words like “Bolge” and “Maleprank” (W, XVI, 295, 298, 303), are taken from Dante via Gildemeister.F. A. Voigt, Gerhart Hauptmann Studien (Breslau, 1936), p. 16, pointed out Hauptmann’s use of the word “Almagrurim,” borrowed from Alexander von Humboldt; Hauptmann uses the word in the Wann-Pippa material; cf. Behl’s edition of Galahad (1949), pp. 37, 85.In its way this corresponds to the “eternal felicity of the City of God,” which Augustine so earnestly sought. Cf. his words near the close of Bk. XXII, chap. xxx. His “earthly city” rests upon “self-love in contempt of God,” the “heavenly” upon “love of God in contempt of one’s self” (Bk. XIV, chap. xxviii). The verses in II Corinthians 12: 3 and 4, which Hauptmann had read and underlined shortly before his death, are in keeping with the sentiments of “Gesänge” XX and XXII.The figure of the miner already occurs in the Wann-Pippa material. See Behl’s printing of the Galahad fragment (1949), p. 87; also, Behl, Zwiesprache mit Hauptmann (München, 1949), pp. 102f., and Hauptmann’s words: “das Grauen der winzigen menschlichen Existenz im ungeheuren Weltall.”“Gesänge” I-X: I, personal, Mary; II, III, Satanael’s identity; III, IV, V, political, the State, Germany, European discord, Versailles, etc.; VI, personal, Mary and Hohenhaus; VII, VIII, IX, religious, the Church, Catholicism; X, Luther, Protestantism. “Gesänge” XI-XXII: XI, introduction to “Toteninsel"; XII, discords on earth; XIII, XIV, “Gottesnarren"; XV, XVI, XVII, chthonic forces; XVIII, XIX, the miner; XX, “Gotteskünder"; XXI, discords on earth; XXII, “frühe Quelle,” conclusion.Cf. Augustine, Confessions, Bk. III; The mother and death themes predominate in the poem; dedicatory verses present the poet’s mother in death, followed (I) by the dead wife, and in contrast the attitude of the young child in III; here again, Monica and her son, the golden statue, Große Mutter and Heilige Mutter, followed by the symbolism of birth and death in XV, and at the close (XXII) again the mother and death theme. As at the close of Indipohdi, so here it is love alone that gives strength and comfort to the human being and lights the way to redemption. Hauptmann’s poem begins and ends with an intimately personal tribute to woman and motherhood and recalls the closing lines of Faust as it does the “Vergine madre” of Dante’s Commedia.See “Gerhart Hauptmann’s Mary Poems,” Monatshefte, XXXIX (1947), 145–56. The discus, said to have been invented by Perseus, according to Pausanias, II, 16/2; 29/9; V, 3/7, becomes an instrument of death.The Baphomet symbol comes from stories, now refuted, of the secret rites of the Knights Templar and revives impurities attributed to the Gnostic Ophites. Hauptmann uses it here with bitter reference to the “hypocrisy” of Versailles, as he does the Mantis Religiosa with reference to the institutionalized Church.See Hauptmann’s Inquisition drama Magnus Garbe (1942), written 1914-15; “Es ist kein Gott, es ist nur ein Teufel” (W, VIII, 192f.); also Im Wirbel der Berufung (W, XIII, 538), “und so ist die Welt, ist das Leben im ganzen, scheint mir, insonderheit aber das Menschliche, die Schöpfung Lucifers.” The cruelties of the Inquisition play a role too in the background of Die Tochter der Kathedrale (1939), as does also an offspring of the Bogomile heresy, that of the Kathari of southern France in the twelfth century.A similar symbol is used in Till Eulenspiegel, W, X, 503f., and at the close of Mary, W, X, 32. See also Till’s prayer at close of “Abenteuer” 10.Cf. Till Eulenspiegel, W, X, 468f.; Insel der großen Mutter, W, IX, 498f., where Phaon sees his dead mother in such a “metacosmion” “im allerseligsten Frieden, wie es schien, stiller Betrachtung hingegeben … ” and W, IX, 505, “jeder Mensch lebe in einer doppelten Realität. Es gebe eine doppelte Realität oder gar keine …” Hauptmann’s introductory remarks to the excerpts from the poem printed in the Neue Rundschau (January, 1927) offer a clear statement of his poetic intent.See “Hauptmann and Bachofen,” Monatshefte, XLII (1950), 153-59; also Behl, Zwiesprache mit Hauptmann, p. 204.See excerpt in Gedanken an Walther Rathenau (Dresden, 1928), pp. 19, 20, in which thirty-two additional lines follow the last ten of “XX” in tribute to Rathenau.See “Du weißt nicht … ” W, XVI, 8; also W, XIII, 453; and Buch der Leidenschaft, May 16, 1896, W, XII, 196f.: “[Die Liebe] ist wesentlich nächtig, irdisch, ja, mehr noch unterirdisch … Ja, so verbinden wir uns mit den Müttern. Wir sind den furchtbaren, allgebärenden Müttern nah, verbunden mit den glühenden Magmen des Erdinnern. Wer solcher Dinge gewürdigt wurde, ist in den Kern der Schöpfung eingedrungen … ” The names Hadumoth (Wilm) and Angelika (von Mendelssohn), XI, XV, are taken from deceased friends of the poet.Cf. Ingigerd’s dance in Atlantis, “Mara oder das Opfer der Spinne,” W, VII, ‘355f.; also the nature of Pippa’s dance with Huhn, W, IV, 400 and 451f.One recalls Rilke’s eighth Duineser Elegie: “Hier ist alles Abstand,/und dort war’s Atem. Nach der ersten Heimat/ist ihm die zweite zwitterig und windig./O Seligkeit der kleinen Kreatur,/die immer bleibt im Schooße, der sie austrug;/ … denn Schooß ist alles … .”Cf. Behl, Zwiesprache mit. Hauptmann, p. 104. Hauptmann’s verses, “Laßt uns etwas Stilles lieben” (1932), W, XVI, 91, might well be read to supplement the last “Gesang.”