Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology (Dec 2019)
THE BIBLE IN THE WORLD OF JENA ROMANTICISM
Abstract
One of the pressing issues of modern literary criticism is the identification of the links between fiction and the “axial” archetext of European culture and literature (more broadly, the culture of the Judeo-Christian area) – The Bible. By “axial” archetext we mean the ancient “text-in-the-beginning”, which has increased axiological and aesthetic significance, a high degree of reinterpretability, which is the most important source of intertextual links, fulfills the meaning and text-generating function and is the general “text-code” (Yu.M. Lotman), necessary for decoding the texts of a particular culture. For all its archetextual significance for European literature of the ancient heritage (especially the Homeric epos and classics), The Bible was and remains the “axial” archetext for it. For a number of epochs of European literature, biblical poetics was more relevant than ancient. Among these eras is the era of Romanticism, which first arose and was theoretically substantiated in Germany. The purpose of this paper is to determine the significance of The Bible for the religious and mystical philosophy of romantics and to establish the functions of biblical archetextuality in their poetry. The philosophical and theoretical basis of the study was the philosophy of dialogue of M. Buber, the concept of “dialogue of books” by M.M. Bakhtin and the theory of intertextuality (J. Kristeva, R. Bart, J. Genette). We show that the mystical philosophy and poetics of Jena Romantics is primarily oriented to the Bible – both as the Revelation of God, and as a model of poetry expressing “longing for the Infinite” (Sehnsucht nach den Unendlichen), the striving for the transcendental in combination with a specificallysensual reflection of the world. Unlike Goethe, who saw The Bible as historical reality and at the same time a model of the universe (the “second world”), Romantics emphasize the latter. The Bible is also for them an ideal model of the Book in general, an ideal Book, and they create all their works as a kind of “new Bible”. For A.W. Schlegel, and after him for all Jena Romantics, biblical poetry becomes one of the examples of romantic poetry, expressing through sensual supersensible, full of dynamics, characterized by fluidity of images, as opposed to “plastic” Hellenic poetry. The Bible is also a pillar of the mystical panentheism of the romantics (primarily F. Schelling, F. Schlegel, L. Tieck, Novalis), reinforced by the influence of Kabbalah, the panentheism of B. Spinoza and J. Böhme, who is characterized by a special spiritualization of nature and the use of the kabbalistic love erotic symbolism based on the topic of The Song of Songs and its mystical interpretations. The concepts of the World Soul, the identity of nature and the spirit of F. Schelling, the unity of religious, philosophical, scientific and artistic knowledge of F. Schlegel and Novalis, the mystic of nature and love of L. Tieck are rooted in The Bible and the systems of pantheism Spinoza and Böhme that are based on it. Pietism with its idea of sensual comprehension of God has a special influence on Jena Romantics. We show that the role of a particularly significant archetext for Jena Romantics is played by The Song of Songs in the unity of its concrete-sensual and numerous mystical meanings. It was this biblical book that became the “cult” text of Jewish and Christian mysticism, including the mysterious philosophy of J. Böhme, which was so important for the Jena Romantics. With The Song of Songs, a mystic of love and nature, extremely important for the attitude and poetics of the Jena romantics, is connected. The paper analyzes the concept of love in F. Schlegel’s novel “Lucinda” and establishes the connection of its poetics with the Song of Songs. We also affirm the special significance of The Song of Songs for the work of L. Tieck, which is manifested both at the conceptual level and at the level of similar motives (common spring landscapes, a beautiful forest as a hall of love, love languor, searches and finding each other in love) and metaphors ( bright fruits as fruits of love, love as a beautiful fruit). The Book of Psalms also plays an important archetextual role for L. Tieck`s poetry.
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