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Novalis: His Life, Thoughts and Works
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240 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 2010
About the author
Novalis
284 books426 followersNovalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.
His poetry and writings were an influence on Hermann Hesse. Novalis was also a huge influence on George MacDonald, and so indirectly on C.S. Lewis, the Inklings, and the whole modern fantasy genre.
His poetry and writings were an influence on Hermann Hesse. Novalis was also a huge influence on George MacDonald, and so indirectly on C.S. Lewis, the Inklings, and the whole modern fantasy genre.
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February 16, 2020
If you write in library books expect future readers to have a dialogue with you. My copy of Novalis: His Life, Thoughts, and Works is a facsimile reprint of an old library book. The translator is M. J. Hope. Above her name on the title page some previous reader added the words “a real fool.”
Naturally I wondered why. By the time I got to the end of the book, I understood. Yet I do not share my predecessor’s opinion. I will explain why in due course.
Novalis: His Life, Thoughts, and Works is an 1891 collection of works by my favorite philosopher-poet, Novalis. It includes a preface by Hope and a biography of Novalis by his friend and mentor Just.
Hope’s preface is a brief biography followed by lengthy passages quoted from Thomas Carlyle’s 1829 essay on Novalis. I found these quotations to be unnecessary. Hope might have simply referred her readers to Carlyle’s essay. However, I do appreciate her extracts from letters Novalis wrote to his mother, father, brother, and Sophie’s aunt. There are also a few passages from his diary that reveal his thoughts during the last days of his life.
The biography by Just includes first-person recollections. Novalis went to the Kreis-Amtmann Just to learn practical business and the two became friends. It was on a business trip with Just that Novalis met Sophie von Kühn.
Among the many letters from Novalis that Just includes in his biography are two that were written shortly after Sophie’s death. These letters show the grieving young man striving to make peace with his loss. Just’s biography is thus a valuable addition to Hope’s collection.
Now on to Novalis.
The translations in this volume include Heinrich von Ofterdingen, three collections of philosophical fragments, and Hymns to the Night.
In this review I will simply share three of my favorite fragments and my thoughts on Hope’s translation.
(1) “We are near awakening when we dream that we dream” (199).
Naturally Novalis means more than just literal dreaming. But literal dreaming interests me too. Maybe even more than the dreaming which is the veil of Maya ~ unenlightened being that I am. In the few moments of lucidity I have had in my dreams I did not want to awaken, for the dream world felt like home. The real world, not so much. But that might be because the real world is not in fact the real world. It is an illusion. It is not our real home.
(2) “It is only because we are weak and self-conscious, that we do not realize that in life is Fairyland. All fairy tales are mere dreams of the home world, which is everywhere and nowhere. Our higher powers which one day, like the genii, shall carry out all our wishes, are for the present merely Muses, which refresh us on our weary path with the charm of memory” (203-204).
This is my favorite thing that Novalis wrote. It sums up his philosophy beautifully. I will not attempt to explain what it means to be a “votary of the Blue Flower” ~ to steal a phrase from C. S. Lewis. It would be pretentious bordering on hubris to do so. Why? Because I would be merely rewriting this fragment.
Instead I will offer my thoughts on Hope’s translation. Here is the first line of the original:
“Es liegt nur an der Schwäche unsrer Organe und der Selbstberührung, daß wir uns nicht in einer Feenwelt erblicken ....”
Here is Margaret Mahony Stoljar’s 1997 translation of that line:
“It is only because of the weakness of our organs and of our contact with ourselves that we do not discover ourselves to be in a fairy world ....” (Novalis: Philosophical Writings 67).
It seems to me that Stoljar’s translation is more accurate while Hope’s is more poetic, more aesthetically pleasing, and more faithful to the spirit of the original. For example, Stoljar translates “Selbstberührung” as “contact with ourselves” while Hope translates it as “self-conscious.” Stoljar’s choice seems to be the more accurate, yet the more accurate translation leaves the reader with a more ambiguous phrase.
Based on the context, I think Novalis was speaking of self-knowledge: We do not realize we are in fairyland because we lack self-knowledge. To know oneself is to be at peace with oneself. Instead, to use Hope’s phrase, we are self-conscious. Self-consciousness is antithetical to self-knowledge because self-consciousness is the feeling of being uncomfortable with oneself.
Novalis was a poet as well as a philosopher and this lovely fragment deserves to be translated into poetic English. I believe anyone with an ear for English will admire Hope’s
“All fairy tales are mere dreams of the home world ...”
... over Stoljar’s...
“All fairy tales are only dreams of that familiar world of home ...”
And the last of my three favorites:
(3) “It is only because man remembers his origin that he can work in the realm of thought. Thought is the only spiritual influence in the world. Therefore it is a duty to think of the dead. It is the only way in which one can remain in communion with them. Is not God alone realized by faith” (226)?
What is man’s origin? Surely it is the world of the blue flower. Our true home.
Novalis began writing his philosophical fragments in late 1797 ~ the year Sophie died. In the letters he wrote shortly after her death, he expressed his longing for heavenly reunion with her. Religion became his deepest consolation and Sophie became the angel who inspired his life. As Hope says in her preface: “his enthusiastic devotion was like that of Dante to Beatrice” (x).
In the four years that Novalis lived after the death of Sophie, he wrote these beautiful and mysterious works of philosophical poetry and poetic philosophy. Most are unfinished, yet they are as grand and as sacred as the Divina Comedia and Vita Nova of Dante.
The story of Novalis and Sophie touches my heart even more than that of Dante and Beatrice. The love of Dante for Beatrice was an idealized love. But the love of Novalis for Sophie was as earthly as it was spiritual. And the anguish Novalis felt was as earthly as his love. I can imagine how helpless he must have felt as he watched his beloved die of consumption. I can imagine how lost he must have felt after his betrothed died. At twenty-four years old, a widower instead of a bridegroom. I feel his anguish.
But this review is not about thinking of the dead. That is a given, for, as Novalis says: “It is the only way in which one can remain in communion with them.” This review is about the beauty, poetry, and wisdom of these works of literature and how Hope has translated them into English. It is about why I do not think Hope was a fool.
I think I know why that other reader ~ the one who writes in library books ~ thought Hope a fool. It is because the translation of Hymns to the Night is incomplete. The six hymns combine prose and verse. Hope has omitted the verse portion of the fifth hymn and the entire sixth hymn called “Longing for Death.”
To be fair, I might feel a bit differently about these omissions if I did not own three other translations of the hymns. But I do own these other translations, so I have the luxury of reading three versions of the omitted verses. The omission does strike me as foolish, but one foolish decision does not a fool make. Otherwise the world would be populated solely by fools.
Having read Hope’s translation alongside the others, I prefer Hope’s. I think her translations are more poetic and that matters more to me than the omissions.
Naturally I wondered why. By the time I got to the end of the book, I understood. Yet I do not share my predecessor’s opinion. I will explain why in due course.
Novalis: His Life, Thoughts, and Works is an 1891 collection of works by my favorite philosopher-poet, Novalis. It includes a preface by Hope and a biography of Novalis by his friend and mentor Just.
Hope’s preface is a brief biography followed by lengthy passages quoted from Thomas Carlyle’s 1829 essay on Novalis. I found these quotations to be unnecessary. Hope might have simply referred her readers to Carlyle’s essay. However, I do appreciate her extracts from letters Novalis wrote to his mother, father, brother, and Sophie’s aunt. There are also a few passages from his diary that reveal his thoughts during the last days of his life.
The biography by Just includes first-person recollections. Novalis went to the Kreis-Amtmann Just to learn practical business and the two became friends. It was on a business trip with Just that Novalis met Sophie von Kühn.
Among the many letters from Novalis that Just includes in his biography are two that were written shortly after Sophie’s death. These letters show the grieving young man striving to make peace with his loss. Just’s biography is thus a valuable addition to Hope’s collection.
Now on to Novalis.
The translations in this volume include Heinrich von Ofterdingen, three collections of philosophical fragments, and Hymns to the Night.
In this review I will simply share three of my favorite fragments and my thoughts on Hope’s translation.
(1) “We are near awakening when we dream that we dream” (199).
Naturally Novalis means more than just literal dreaming. But literal dreaming interests me too. Maybe even more than the dreaming which is the veil of Maya ~ unenlightened being that I am. In the few moments of lucidity I have had in my dreams I did not want to awaken, for the dream world felt like home. The real world, not so much. But that might be because the real world is not in fact the real world. It is an illusion. It is not our real home.
(2) “It is only because we are weak and self-conscious, that we do not realize that in life is Fairyland. All fairy tales are mere dreams of the home world, which is everywhere and nowhere. Our higher powers which one day, like the genii, shall carry out all our wishes, are for the present merely Muses, which refresh us on our weary path with the charm of memory” (203-204).
This is my favorite thing that Novalis wrote. It sums up his philosophy beautifully. I will not attempt to explain what it means to be a “votary of the Blue Flower” ~ to steal a phrase from C. S. Lewis. It would be pretentious bordering on hubris to do so. Why? Because I would be merely rewriting this fragment.
Instead I will offer my thoughts on Hope’s translation. Here is the first line of the original:
“Es liegt nur an der Schwäche unsrer Organe und der Selbstberührung, daß wir uns nicht in einer Feenwelt erblicken ....”
Here is Margaret Mahony Stoljar’s 1997 translation of that line:
“It is only because of the weakness of our organs and of our contact with ourselves that we do not discover ourselves to be in a fairy world ....” (Novalis: Philosophical Writings 67).
It seems to me that Stoljar’s translation is more accurate while Hope’s is more poetic, more aesthetically pleasing, and more faithful to the spirit of the original. For example, Stoljar translates “Selbstberührung” as “contact with ourselves” while Hope translates it as “self-conscious.” Stoljar’s choice seems to be the more accurate, yet the more accurate translation leaves the reader with a more ambiguous phrase.
Based on the context, I think Novalis was speaking of self-knowledge: We do not realize we are in fairyland because we lack self-knowledge. To know oneself is to be at peace with oneself. Instead, to use Hope’s phrase, we are self-conscious. Self-consciousness is antithetical to self-knowledge because self-consciousness is the feeling of being uncomfortable with oneself.
Novalis was a poet as well as a philosopher and this lovely fragment deserves to be translated into poetic English. I believe anyone with an ear for English will admire Hope’s
“All fairy tales are mere dreams of the home world ...”
... over Stoljar’s...
“All fairy tales are only dreams of that familiar world of home ...”
And the last of my three favorites:
(3) “It is only because man remembers his origin that he can work in the realm of thought. Thought is the only spiritual influence in the world. Therefore it is a duty to think of the dead. It is the only way in which one can remain in communion with them. Is not God alone realized by faith” (226)?
What is man’s origin? Surely it is the world of the blue flower. Our true home.
Novalis began writing his philosophical fragments in late 1797 ~ the year Sophie died. In the letters he wrote shortly after her death, he expressed his longing for heavenly reunion with her. Religion became his deepest consolation and Sophie became the angel who inspired his life. As Hope says in her preface: “his enthusiastic devotion was like that of Dante to Beatrice” (x).
In the four years that Novalis lived after the death of Sophie, he wrote these beautiful and mysterious works of philosophical poetry and poetic philosophy. Most are unfinished, yet they are as grand and as sacred as the Divina Comedia and Vita Nova of Dante.
The story of Novalis and Sophie touches my heart even more than that of Dante and Beatrice. The love of Dante for Beatrice was an idealized love. But the love of Novalis for Sophie was as earthly as it was spiritual. And the anguish Novalis felt was as earthly as his love. I can imagine how helpless he must have felt as he watched his beloved die of consumption. I can imagine how lost he must have felt after his betrothed died. At twenty-four years old, a widower instead of a bridegroom. I feel his anguish.
But this review is not about thinking of the dead. That is a given, for, as Novalis says: “It is the only way in which one can remain in communion with them.” This review is about the beauty, poetry, and wisdom of these works of literature and how Hope has translated them into English. It is about why I do not think Hope was a fool.
I think I know why that other reader ~ the one who writes in library books ~ thought Hope a fool. It is because the translation of Hymns to the Night is incomplete. The six hymns combine prose and verse. Hope has omitted the verse portion of the fifth hymn and the entire sixth hymn called “Longing for Death.”
To be fair, I might feel a bit differently about these omissions if I did not own three other translations of the hymns. But I do own these other translations, so I have the luxury of reading three versions of the omitted verses. The omission does strike me as foolish, but one foolish decision does not a fool make. Otherwise the world would be populated solely by fools.
Having read Hope’s translation alongside the others, I prefer Hope’s. I think her translations are more poetic and that matters more to me than the omissions.
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