Carlyle and Jean Paul: Their Spiritual Optics

301 Pages·1982·35.59 MB·English

by  J.P. Vijn

CARLYLE AND JEAN PAUL
UTRECHT PUBLICATIONS IN
GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Utrechtse Publikaties voor Algemene Literatuurwetenschap
(UPAL)
Series Editors:
Keith Busby
C. de Deugd
J.J. Oversteegen
Institute of General and Comparative Literature
Utrecht, The Netherlands
The volumes to be included in the series will fall into three main groups:
a) studies which contribute to the understanding of the problems of literary
theory, past and present;
b) works which can be said to fill existing lacunae in the fields of general and
comparative literature, including text editions;
c) works which reflect the research interests of the department itself. This
includes comparative literature from the Middle Ages to the present, as well
as particular aspects of and approaches to the theory of literature.
Volume 18
J. P. Vijn
Carlyle and Jean Paul: Their Spiritual Optics
CARLYLE AND JEAN PAUL
THEIR SPIRITUAL OPTICS
by
DR. J. P. VIJN
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1982
©Copyright 1982 by J. P. Vijn
ISBN 90 272 2193 6 (Paperbound) / ISBN 90 272 2203 7 (Hardbound)
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint,
microfilm or any other means without written permission from the author.
CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
PART ONE
JEAN PAUL'S "REDE DES TODTEN CHRISTUS"
Chapter I: The Genesis of the "Rede" 3
Entry in the notebook "Erfindung", 3-4
Entry in Bemerkungen, 4
"Schilderung des Atheismus", 4
"Todtenpredigt Shakespear", 4
"Des todten Shakespear's Klage" in Kreuzerkomödie, 5-8
The title "Rede des Engels beim Weltgebäude" in list of intended compo
sitions, 8-9
The "Rede" in the reconstructed part of "Pauli Bekehrung" and of Biogra
phische Belustigungen, 9-12
The "Rede" in the first and second edition of Blumen-, Frucht- und Domen
stücke, 12-18
Text of the "Rede" collated with the original editions, 18-20
Kunz's remarks on the "Rede", 20-22
The insertions in the Siebenkäs story, 22-24
Chapter II: The "Rede" Interpreted 25
"Rede" criticism, 25-28
Journal entries of 15 and 16 November 1790, 28-29
Entry of 31 December 1790 in "Dichtungen", 29-30
The Introduction to the "Rede" and the Legend about the Midnight Mass
of the Dead in Widmann's Hofer Chronik, 30-35
The Note and Preface to the "Rede", 35-37
The method of demonstration used in the "Rede", 37-38
Interpretation of the "Rede", 3849
Atheism and the "Rede", 49-50
VI CONTENTS
PART TWO
CARLYLE AND THE "REDE"
Chapter III: Carlyle's Early Reaction to the "Rede" 53
The "Rede" as encountered by Carlyle in Mme de Stael's De l'Allemagne,
53-56
Carlyle's acquaintance with the original text of the "Rede", 56-61
His account of Jean Paul's religious belief in German Romance and in "Jean
Paul Friedrich Richter", 61-63
Carlyle advising De Quincey to translate Wahrheit aus Jean Paul's Leben, 63
Hare's translation of the "Rede" in The Athenaeum and London Literary
Chronicle, 63-64
Carlyle's translation of the "Rede" in "Jean Paul Friedrich Richter Again",
64-67
Account of English and French translations of the "Rede" published during
Carlyle's lifetime, 67-73
Chapter IV: Carlyle Echoing the "Rede" 75
Echoes of the "Rede" in Wotton Reinfred and in Sartor Resartus, 75-79
The central chapters of Sartor as compared to the "Rede", 79-81
Their so-called linguistic resemblance to the "Rede", 81-87
Echoes of the "Rede" in the subsequent writings of Carlyle, 87-90
PART THREE
CARLYLE'S SARTOR RESARTUS
Chapter V: Sartor Interpreted 93
Sartor criticism, 93-97
Carlyle's view on the question of immortality, 97-99
Analogy between the basic ideas of Carlyle's philosophy and the fundamental
concepts of Analytical Psychology, 99-104
Importance of Book Two of Sartor, 104-106
Teufelsdröckh's philosophy based on the inner experience of a process of
'conversion', which set in with an incident that occurred to him in the
'Rue de l'Enfer'. Analogy between this process and the Jungian process
of individuation, 106-18
The spiritual character of the external phenomena of the natural and histor
ical world, 118-23
Carlyle and Jung speaking of a Copernican revolution in man's spiritual
optics, 123-29
CONTENTS VII
Modernity of Carlyle's philosophy, 129-30
The name "Teufelsdröckh", first spelled "Teufelsdreck", originally also a
title, 130-33
"Teufelsdreck", like English "devil's dung", a popular and emphatic name
for asafoetida, 134
Asafoetida a substance with a long history and well-known in Carlyle's time,
135-40
Significance of the name "Teufelsdröckh" by reference to asafoetida, 140-41
Significance of the name "Teufelsdröckh" by reference to Carlyle's etymology
of the German term "Dreck", 141-44
Significance of the Philosopher of Clothes being called "Diogenes", 144-47
Chapter VI: The Process of Carlyle's 'Conversion'
Carlyle's Notes in interleaved copy of F. Althaus's "Thomas Carlyle" impor
tant autobiographical document with respect to the process of his 'con
version', 149
Outline of events in Carlyle's life to facilitate the reading of these Notes,
149-56
Carlyle's Notes on the period from end of November 1818 to end of January
1822 and his statement that the incident in the 'Rue de l'Enfer' occurred
quite literally to himself in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, 156-58
Date of the Leith Walk incident, 159-65
Remainder of Carlyle's Notes on the period, 165-68
Further specification of date and circumstances of the Leith Walk incident,
168-74
Nature of the incident, 174-76
"Schiller's Life and Writings" (1823-24) and Wilhelm Meister's Apprentice
ship (1824), 176
Carlyle tormented by dyspepsia, 176-78
The project of 1824 to translate Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, 178-79
Account of Carlyle's work for German Romance during his stay at Hoddam
Hill from 26 May 1825 till 26 May 1826, 179-81
The end of the process of his 'conversion' approaching by 21 September
1825, 181-84
Carlyle's account of his victory at Hoddam Hill, 184-86
Carlyle on his indebtedness to Goethe, 187-88
His characterization of Goethe, 188-90
His reference to the conversion experience of the Methodist people, 190-91
Teufelsdröckh's comment on the term "conversion", 191-92
Carlyle calling for an "Exodus from Houndsditch", 192-93
Completing his own exodus at Hoddam Hill, 193-94
The translations from the German of Jean Paul made by him between 13
May and 31 July 1826, 195-96
VIII CONTENTS
Carlyle looking back, in 1866, on his admiration for Jean Paul, and evaluating
the latter's influence on his style, 196-98
GENERAL CONCLUSION 199
APPENDICES RELATIVE TO THE "REDE"
Appendix I: Legend about the Midnight Mass of the Dead 209
Appendix II: Jean Paul's Texts
1. "Schilderung des Atheismus" 211
2. "Todtenpredigt Shakespear" 212
3. "Des todten Shakespear's Klage" 214
4. "Rede des todten Christus" 219
Appendix III: English Translations
1. Nevinson: "Lament of the Dead Shakespeare" 229
2. Carlyle: "Speech of the Dead Christ" 232
Appendix IV: The "Rede" in Mme de Stael's De l'Allemagne
1. Extract from De l'Allemagne'. "Un Songe" 237
2. The "Rede" in De l'Allemagne 242
Reception of the "Rede" in France, 24243
Importance of the "Rede" fragment in De l'Allemagne, 243-44
Villers' cooperation with Mme de Staël and his admiration for Jean Paul,
244-46
Manuscripts and publication of De l'Allemagne, 246-48
The specimens from Jean Paul preceding the "Rede" fragment, 248-50
Mme de Stael's prefatory remarks to "Un Songe", 250-53
Description of the translation, 253-54
Its authorship, 254-57
Jean Paul's comment on the translation, 257-60
The "Rede" fragment erroneously held to distort the meaning of the dream,
260-61
Renan's reaction to the "Rede", 261-64
BIBLIOGRAPHY 265
INDEX 279
PREFACE
Referring to Carlyle's criticism of Jean Paul, Wellek, in A History of Modem
Criticism, in the volume The Age of Transition (1965), notes: "The influence
of Jean Paul on Carlyle's prose style (though later and less important than that
of the Bible and Sterne) and novelistic technique (in Sartor) is undeniable and
merely confirms the evidence of the criticism". In connection with this in
fluence, Wellek says in "Carlyle and German Romanticism" (1929; rpt. 1965):
"This influence of the style can only be a sympton, a necessary accompaniment
of something which is much more powerful and much more important. It is
partly the influence of Jean Paul's thought and partly the charm of his personal
ity and character, which in Carlyle's eyes was always more than a purely literary
relation". In the same article, Wellek maintains that Carlyle and Jean Paul oc
cupy the same position in the history of thought, sharing "a new faith" — in
A History of Modern Criticism, Wellek speaks of "Carlyle's new religion" —
based on the philosophy of F. H. Jacobi, and that their spiritual optics are largely
determined by a common belief in God and in the immortality of the soul.
Speaking, in Victorian Prose: A Guide to Research (1973), of what has been
done and remains to be done in the comparative study of Carlyle and Jean Paul,
Tennyson says: "Quite a substantial literature exists on Carlyle and Jean Paul
Friedrich Richter . . . There are also many critical studies of Sartor that treat
Jean Paul. As the wealth of scholarly material shows, there is enough here for
a book-length study. Jean Paul's extraordinary style is the central focus, but
the relation of style to idea is also important and much light could be cast on
both authors by a thorough examination". In Sartor Called Resartus (1965),
this "relation of style to idea" has already been examined by Tennyson with
regard to the chapters "Sorrows of Teufelsdröckh" to "The Everlasting Yea"
in Sartor and the "Rede des todten Christus" in Siebenkäs, in which texts,
according to Tennyson, fear of annihilation in a universe without God makes
way for belief in God and immortality. According to Tennyson, the "similarities
in language" between the "Rede" and the chapters entitled "Sorrows of Teufels
dröckh" and "The Everlasting No" are "pointers to what is essentially the same
experience undergone by the two men": "This experience became central to the
X PREFACE
nineteenth-century response to the world, and to our own, even though Carlyle's
treatment is unique in English at this time. It is the modern version of the ex
perience of despair. In Jean Paul it is overcome by the force of a securely held
Christianity. In Carlyle it is conquered by a fundamental but no longer dogmatic
Christian orientation".
It cannot be doubted that the spiritual optics of Jean Paul are largely deter
mined by his belief in God and the immortality of the soul, but it is still an open
question to what degree this belief was subject to doubt and even whether it
was subject to it at all.
In his "Probleme und Problematik der Jean Paul-Forschung" (1968), Krogoll
is careful to point out that, according to Walther Meier and Max Kommerell,
fear of annihilation is to be seen as the most fundamental characteristic of
Jean Paul. Thus, in his summary of Meier's Jean Paul (1926), which he quotes,
Krogoll writes:
Aus der metaphysischen Angst vor der Stummheit von Zeit, Tod und Ewigkeit erwachse
Jean Paul zugleich die Hoffnung auf ein Jenseits. "In dem ungeheuren Rhythmus
von Vernichtungsschau und Ewigkeitshoffnung, von irdischem Schattendasein und licht
mächtigem Jenseitsleben, von dunkler Traumfabel und Erwachen zu ewigem Morgen,
offenbart sich das ganze Seelentum Jean Pauls. Aus der inneren Spannung, aus der le
bendigen Dynamis dieser Pole seiner inneren Welt ist die neue Welt seiner Dichtungen
gewachsen". Nach der bekannten Todesvision im Jahre 1790 habe ihn das 'Gefühl des
Unheimischseins auf dieser Erde' nie mehr verlassen . . .
And with particular reference to Kommerell's Jean Paul (1933), Krogoll goes on
to observe: "Der Leser wird diesen Gedanken in der Jean Paul-Literatur häufig
begegnen. Auch in dem Werk, das wie kein anderes die ihm nachfolgenden
beeinflusst hat, in Kommerells — hier darf es vielleicht gesagt werden — genialer
Jean Paul-Monographie . . ." To substantiate the claim that fear of annihilation
is the most fundamental characteristic of Jean Paul, reference is made to his
dreams of annihilation, which are famous for their dichotomy, i.e., the division
into two Parts that are opposite in nature and cannot both be true. The turnabout
of these dreams is mostly interpreted as a volte-face on the part of Jean Paul
from fear of annihilation to certainty of immortality. Having been interpreted,
in the last fifty years at least, as a dream of annihilation and, by the great
majority of critics, as a document of a spiritual crisis, the "Rede" — the Conclu
sion of which is also marked by a complete change, resulting in the opposite
of what has gone before - has come to be seen as the example par excellence
in the work of Jean Paul of such a volte-face.
Looking back on thirty-two years of Jean Paul research, however, Krogoll