Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients by Angus Nicholls
2008; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 103; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2008.0241
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Resumo888 Reviews Alexander Kosenina offers seven essays (four already published elsewhere) on, re spectively,Beitrdge zur Philosophie des Lebens; Sechs deutsche Gedichte, dem Kdnige von PreuJ3engewidmet;Blunt oder der Gast; Reisen einesDeutschen inEngland imJahr I782; Uber den Tod von Johann Georg Zierlein; Aus K.. .sPapieren; and on the late eighteenth century's literaryobsession with 'theatremania'. These works represent thevarious ingredients, the expressive techniques, thatcollectively went intomaking Moritz's psychological novel, i.e., respectively, 'Spielmit kleinen Formen'; 'Malende Poesie'; a dramatic study indeviance and criminality; theparallels between travelling (particularly on foot),perception, and thinking; the interest inErfahrungsseelenkunde; and the theatre as the opportunity for a socially 'alternative' lifestyle.Kosenina de fines these techniques as points where threeknowledge systems intersect: synchroni cally speaking, literaryformsand practices contemporary with Moritz; diachronically speaking, theGerman literary tradition as well as the academic-critical reception of Moritz's ceuvre. Certainly, this strategy is very informative, since it draws on the wide range of reading thatone associates with the author as an acknowledged expert in this field. It reinforces Moritz's stature as a literary figure inhis own right, with his diverse interests signifying not aimless eclecticism, but a uniquely observant writer, reflectivelysensitive towards his social and natural surroundings. Regrettably, there isno concluding chapterwhich might have brought these various strands together.This would have been advisable: pinning Moritz's earlywork down with the synchronic and diachronic tendencies it evinces has a counter-productive, historicist implication. It dissolves its specific characteristics, aswhat J.G. Droysen called 'Durchgangspunkte furdas unablissigeWerden', into theircontextualizingtra ditions, as though in linewith Droysen's view on historical agents: 'sie sind wichtig an ihrer Stelle und bedeuten da, was sie sollen, aber der Gedanke des Ganzen ist nicht in ihnen, geht nur durch sie hin' (Historik, ed. by Peter Leyh (Stuttgart and Bad Canstatt: frommann-holzboog, I977), pp. 193, I96). In this systemMoritz's ceuvre cannot but follow precedents or anticipate develop ments (see pp. 36, 57, 64, 75, 77, 9 I). This strategyassumes that the more elaborate the contextualizing superstructure, themore significant the ceuvre becomes. But might itnot just be compacted by the contextualizing bulk? Is Beitrage zur Philosophie des Lebens really enhanced by being seen as in the tradition of late nineteenth-century Lebensphilosophie, itself a tradition 'die von Sokrates [. . .] bis zu [. . .]Nietzsche reicht', such an indiscriminate tradition, 'so alt wie die Philosophie selbst' (p. 15)? What makes Moritz interesting is surely,more simply, this: his view of theworld-a view not otherwise obtainable anymore. UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER MARTIN L. DAVIES Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients. By ANGUS NICHOLLS. (Studies inGerman Literature, Linguistics, and Culture) Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2006. xii + 3I2 pp. $75; C45. ISBN 978-1-57113-307-6. The originality of this study consists in taking a theme that, despite the attentions of Benno von Wiese, Hans Joachim Schrimpf, and H. B. Nisbet among others, has remained a byway ofGoethe studies, and showing, over the course of eight densely argued but never plodding chapters, that it is central and philosophically serious. This is a considerable achievement, which would not have been possible without An gus Nicholls's sound knowledge ofGoethe's writings, wide reading in the secondary literature, and remarkable range of reference toEuropean intellectual history. The firststage of the argument involves a lucid discussion of the idea of the daemonic in antiquity, focusing primarily on Plato and Aristotle: Nicholls's study is the first MLR, I03.3, 2oo8 889 attempt to take seriously Goethe's assertion that his concept of the daemonic was modelled 'after the ancients'. This proves helpful both in shedding thebiographical approach toGoethe and inestablishing thephilosophical content of thedaemonic and its role indebates concerning subjectivity, reason, and nature. On thisbasis Nicholls can show how Goethe's concept of the daemonic was informed by his debates with major thinkersof his time:Hamann, Herder, Kant, and Schelling. The study thus presents a broad ifnecessarily fragmentary picture of Goethe's poetic and intellectual development. For theGoethe of theSturm undDrang, follow ing earlymodern readings of Stoicism and Neoplatonism, the daemonic represents thenotion that inexceptional cases human capacities (and specifically thecreative and imaginative powers) mediate between the realms of thehuman and thedivine. During Goethe's classical period, however...
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