Die Erzählstrategie und ihre Wirkung in E.T.A. Hoffmanns Erzählung „Der Sandmann“ (German Edition)

But in July his friend Hippel visited, and soon he found himself being guided back into his old career as a jurist. At the end of September , in the wake of Napoleon 's defeat, he returned to Berlin and succeeded in regaining a position at the Kammergericht, the chamber court. His opera Undine was performed by the Berlin Theater. Its successful run came to an end only after a fire on the night of the 25th performance. Magazines clamored for his contributions, and after a while his standards started to decline.

Nevertheless, many masterpieces date from this time. The period from saw Hoffmann embroiled in legal disputes, while battling ill health. Alcohol abuse and syphilis led eventually to weakening of the limbs in , and paralysis from the beginning of His last works were dictated to his wife or to a secretary. Metternich 's anti-liberal crusades began to put Hoffmann in situations that tested his conscience. Thousands of people were accused of treason for having certain political opinions, and university professors were monitored during their lectures.

The King of Prussia appointed an Immediate Commission for the investigation of political dissidence; when he found its observance of the rule of law too frustrating, he established a Ministerial Commission to interfere with its processes. The latter was greatly influenced by Commissioner Kamptz. During the trial of Father Jahn, the leader of the Turmverein, Hoffmann found himself crossing the will of Kamptz, and became a political target.

These petered out when Hoffmann's illness was seen to be life-threatening. The King asked for a reprimand only, but no action was ever taken. Eventually Meister Floh was published with the offending passages removed. Hoffmann wrote novels and short stories, and he composed music, including an opera , Undine Hoffmann's stories were written at a very sensitive time politically.

The Nutcracker story is full of charming mimed phantasies with Marie Clara in the ballet , Fritz and Pate Drosselmayr, the mean Mouse King and the ever popular Nutcracker. Many versions of have been published as children's books and Nutcracker performances have become a yearly feature in many cities around Christmas. Despite their obvious appeal to children, these stories introduce several philosophical themes and often express darker psychological themes. Hoffmann invariably explores the nature of Selfhood, Art and value-judgements.

These are typical Romantic concerns and Hoffmann is one of the best-known representatives of German Romanticism , as well as a pioneer of the fantasy genre, but with a taste for the macabre combined with realism. His wide-ranging influence upon and creative significance within the later German romantic period is frequently underestimated, but his works were one of the major influences for the modern novel, including such prominent authors as Edgar Allan Poe — , Nikolai Gogol — , Charles Dickens — , Charles Baudelaire — , and Franz Kafka — Hoffmann's work illuminates the darker side of the human spirit found behind the seeming harmony of bourgeois life.

Hoffmann also influenced nineteenth century musical taste directly through his music criticism. His reviews of Beethoven 's Symphony No. Schriften zur Musik; Nachlese and have been made available in an English translation by Andrew Crumey, ed. Hoffmann strove for artistic polymathy. He created far more in his works than mere political commentary achieved through satire. This novel deals with such issues as the aesthetic status of 'true' artistry, and the modes of self-transcendence that accompany any genuine endeavor to create. Hoffmann's portrayal of the character Kreisler a genius musician is wittily counterpointed with the character of the tomcat Murr — a virtuoso illustration of artistic pretentiousness that many of Hoffmann's contemporaries found offensive and subversive of Romantic ideals.

Hoffmann's literature points to the failings of many so-called artists to differentiate between the superficial and the authentic aspects of such Romantic ideals. The self-conscious effort to impress must, according to Hoffmann, be divorced from the self-aware effort to create. This essential duality in Kater Murr is structurally conveyed through a discursive 'splicing together' of two biographical narratives. Such a framework warrants an extensive exploration of its philosophical implications. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards.

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This overhasty, erroneous conclusion has the advantage that it is far simpler than embarking upon a systematic investigation of human motives and complex pieces of evidence. When circumstances force Scuderi to recognize the dangers inherent in a world from which truth has been excluded, her motherly sensibilities are aroused, and she proves both willing and able to confront reality, especially when, as in this case, the lives and future happiness of two innocent human beings are at stake.

This makes her an exceptional figure in her society.

Cardillac also recognizes the power of love: The Denouement The fate of the young lovers is in the hands of the king, and Scuderi, a shrewd judge of how his mind works, contrives an elaborate charade, which has to accomplish two aims: The whole thing is pure theater. From the start, he is totally captivated: But as it happens, her plan goes horribly wrong. And of course, this ultimately leads to Olivier being acquitted of murder.

It prompts the king to take an interest in the case and become personally involved in it. Her attempt to discover the truth and secure justice is driven primarily by emotion rather than by a sober, rational assessment of the facts: Nonetheless, we should not imagine that justice can be secured solely through an emotional commitment, as Scuderi initially appears to believe; justice also requires the use of reason and a detailed examination of the available facts. Like art, justice 22 requires the application of reason and emotion in equal measure. He lacks the delicate balance between reason and emotion, and it is this imbalance that eventually brings about his downfall.

He bears the dual burden of being a full-blooded Romantic artist and having an inborn obsession for jewelry, making him doubly likely to transgress conventional boundaries in his quest for the Ideal.

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Although he inevitably goes down paths the ordinary members of society dare not tread, he cannot ignore the norms of society and basic human morality altogether without running the risk of becoming a figure even more inhuman than the unscrupulous La Regnie, who maintains defiantly: But the latter, Hoffmann makes quite clear, is contrary to the true purpose of art. Neither Cardillac, the artist who does not feel himself bound by moral codes, nor Scuderi, who has moral principles but only a slender understanding of art, perceives how intimately art and morality are bound up together.

The society that Hoffmann depicts is one in which violence and terror are widespread. The novella as a whole suggests that any society that neglects either art or morality will fail its citizens and that if it runs its civic affairs on purely pragmatic lines, it is doomed to decay. The story is not, as some critics would have it, open-ended. It may be left to us to draw our own conclusions, but that does not mean that the ending can be interpreted arbitrarily.

Hoffmann subtly nudges us towards a particular interpretation by presenting us with a series of oppositions: This series of oppositions is one with which all human beings must come to terms — whether as lovers, artists, or judges. It is not sufficient to favor one term over the other, and the consequences of doing so are clearly spelled out in the novella. Nor is the solution to be found in a banal position of compromise mid-way between these two poles. What matters is that society can accommodate a variety of opposing tendencies and that a man like Cardillac has the right to exist and to pursue his artistic endeavors without feeling driven to resort to the extreme behavior depicted in the story.

Accordingly, we must not lose sight of either art or morality; if truth, which is never simple, is to emerge, a case must be considered from a variety of often diametrically opposed perspectives. Rather, it is a continually evolving state of consciousness that can never come to rest without running the risk of ossifying into a fixed position. This continual process of calling ideas into question and adopting a critical attitude is essential if human beings are to make progress in grasping reality and discovering truth. Notes 1 Rahel von Varnhagen, Rahel: Duncker und Humblot, , vol.

Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, , —36 At the same time, he sees Scuderi as an embodiment of virtue and thus as someone who offers Cardillac the possibility of redemption. A Reinterpretation of E. A Reassessment of Narrative Ambiguity in E. In a later essay, she goes on to claim that the denouement forces the reader to question the kind of black and white judgments to which the characters themselves are all too prone. The Artistic Detective in E. Von der Klassik bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Fink, , 47— The difference between the two lies in the original moral impulse behind their actions.

His eccentric behavior makes him reminiscent of Krespel in Rat Krespel; in his burning desire to defend the value of art, he is similar to Berthold in Die Jesuiterkirche in G. Of course, unlike his mother, Cardillac attaches no significance to the material value of the jewelry. Aristotle, Nicomachaean Ethics, VI, ii, 5. We must also remember that for Hoffmann this is not simply a theoretical view of legal or aesthetic matters; in his capacity as both judge and writer, he had to effect a synthesis of reason and emotion. It is hardly surprising that the volume of secondary literature on the story has now reached such proportions that it is difficult to present a concise overview of all that has been written.

Some critics have even gone so far as to claim that the story resists interpretation altogether: Despite this claim, it is possible to discern a number of distinct critical trends. First, there are those who have isolated particular motifs in the story: But for all their diversity, most of these approaches can be categorized by the way that they deal with two key questions: And b , is Clara to be seen as a positive or a negative figure in 4 the story?

If we consider that Nathanael is a creative artist of a sort, Der Sandmann can be fitted into the series of novellas in which one of the main characters is an artist. Of course, he is not a professional artist like Berthold in Die Jesuiterkirche in G. In short, art — and creative activity in gen6 eral — are at the heart of this novella. The point Hoffmann makes most emphatically in the novella is the inter-relationship of art and reality. Although he is involved in a continual struggle to discover new artistic forms, the artist is driven by the desire to communicate these artistic creations to an audience.

Furthermore, there is no reason why this audience should be confined only to professional critics and experts. She regards the dark forces, against which Nathanael feels quite powerless, as no more than a figment of his imagination: This moment marks a turning point in the story since Nathanael interprets this rejection as her refusal to get involved and show an interest in the feelings and experiences that he has worked up into an artistic form.

He experiences the crushing disappointment of the artist whose audience walks out in the middle of his performance. There he is alone, with no one to whom he can communicate the products of his artistic imagination and no one from whom he can expect any kind of response, let alone understanding. It is the fate with which the Romantic artist is all too familiar. So when Clara refuses to become involved in his artistic attempts, Nathanael is plunged into a state of crisis and, disgusted by the unfeeling and philistine world, a world that seems to be embodied in the figure of Clara, he curses her: But just as she repudiates him and his fantasy world, he turns his back on her and the reality of her world, but this is hardly a solution.

His desire to articulate his feelings and the products of his imagination is so strong that he is unable to check his creative instincts and stop himself from seeking out a new audience. Olimpia Unlike his bourgeois friends who have no interest in art and who are not seeking a soul mate, Nathanael is predisposed to fall in love with her and find in her a substitute for all that Clara and the other members of the rational bourgeois world have denied him.

At this point he even said of Olimpia: It is not until he desperately needs an audience for his poetry that she springs to mind again. To begin with he believes that in her he has found a soul mate and willing audience, someone who admires him and to whom he feels increasingly close.

Olimpia will provide him with that which, qua human being and artist, is so essential to his creativity: This is merely an illusion since she is, of course, a robot. Sie spricht wenig Worte [. Unable to recognize her for the robot she is, he attributes qualities to her to which his fellow students are oblivious. But do we not all see more in the object of our affections than the rest of the world does?

Is it not the case that the lover, and also the artist, sees more in his beloved than the rational world, which approaches such things with only instrumental reason at its disposal? Love may render the lover blind, but it also opens up to him perspectives on the world denied to others: The discovery that Olimpia is a mechanical doll is a traumatic event for Nathanael, but in pledging himself to her, Nathanael sets himself apart from the philistines who lack imagination, and whose view of art and of the world around them is wholly superficial.

The Romantic artist is in a similar situation to the lover in that both are distanced from the world of instrumental reason.

Although this might appear to be a shortcoming, it does entail a broadening of perspective and a recognition of those qualities that remain concealed from those of a non-Romantic disposition. We may laugh at Nathanael when he insists that Olimpia possesses unique qualities, but as a lover and an artist, he is privy to a world that eludes many others.

Edited By Ernest W.B. Hess-Lüttich and Yoshito Takahashi

If he had never discovered that Olimpia was an automaton, it is possible that he might have remained happy and contented with her, although to the rational mind, this would be an unthinkable situation. They cannot enjoy this temporary liberation of the imagination and with it the provocatively amusing aspect of the whole business for what it is. In their eyes, such deception is a threat, a criminal offense: It should be added, however, that while his failure to perceive that Olimpia was nothing but a marionette may be excusable, he is guilty of contributing to the artificiality of her being by projecting the categories of his imagination on to her.

As a lover and artist, Nathanael needs an Other, someone to respond to his expressions of love and art. Failing to find such a person, Nathanael creates one, rather like a present-day Pygmalion. How ironic it is that Nathanael should summarize the situation so aptly, without even realizing the significance of his words, when he says: Olimpia is doubly artificial; her physical body has been assembled by Spalanzani and Coppelius, and her identity has been constructed by 10 Nathanael. This tragic event shows how fatal it is for the artist or lover to cling to an illusion of his own making.

No lover can create the perfect bride, nor can the Romantic artist create the perfect audience. The fact remains that the perfect woman does not exist; the perfect audience — which for the Romantic artist would be made up of like-minded artists — when taken to its logical conclusion would be nothing less than a mirror image of the artist himself.

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Too late to save himself, Nathanael realizes that Olimpia is not — any more than Clara was — the Ideal for which he longs. The more Romantic Nathanael grows, the more rational Clara becomes. The descriptions of Clara are conflicting: This is a personality manifesting a number of opposing traits: The question is, which will turn out to be dominant. And finally, we must not forget that it is Clara who prevents Nathanael and Lothar from fighting a senseless duel: Ihr wilden entsetzlichen Menschen!

SW I, So much for the warm, caring side of her personality.

E. T. A. Hoffmann

Her fatal mistake is not so much her understandable reluctance to take seriously the figures Nathanael refers to in his writings and conversations, rather it is her refusal to take seriously his fears and anxieties, which are only too real to Nathanael. At the same time, it seems to him that she is ignoring him altogether: Clara may try to get Nathanael to view the world from her perspective, but he tries to do exactly the same to her in a forlorn attempt to make her more receptive to his world.

Ultimately it is her reluctance — or inability — to derive pleasure from the world of fantasy that drives him, quite literally, mad. She lacks precisely those qualities of the imagination that the narrator hopes to arouse in the reader: Vielleicht wirst du, o mein Leser! SW I, The rational Clara cannot do this, and her prosaic and bourgeois view of the world appalls Nathanael, who feels misunderstood and humiliated both in his capacity as a lover and artist.

He wants to plunge into the Romantic world of the imagination, whereas Clara clings to the rules and paradigms of her rationalistic world. Of course, both are guilty of exaggeration when they claim that happiness is only to be found in their world, the only one which is real. Clara understands that Nathanael finds her bourgeois and lacking in imagination: As a result their respective positions become increasingly polarized: Nathanael believes that Clara has now led him back into the real world: When they both climb the tower to enjoy the view, catastrophe strikes.

Seized by a fit, Nathanael attempts to hurl Clara down from the tower, before throwing himself off the top. Why does the novella end on this tragic note, and how are we to interpret it? Nathanael never actually encounters the mysterious figure face to face. Convinced that something is being concealed from him, he asks the elderly nurse, who recounts a much more terrifying version of the myth: What she tells Nathanael is, of course, typical of many a fairy-tale in which other equally terrifying figures play a prominent role.

However, unlike her account of the Sandman, these tales usually have a happy ending in which good triumphs over evil. By projecting his atavistic fears on to a particular figure and by overcoming this figure in his mind, a child can often overcome his fears and thereby experience a catharsis. Although the Sandman may have been a figure of terror for Nathanael, we should not overlook the fact that it is the Sandman who also stimulates the child to make use of his imagination and develop his enthusiasm for a world of fantasy: The mysterious atmosphere that pervades the house seems to be the very antithesis of a rationalistic attitude to the world.

Nobody seems to know — or at least nobody seems willing to explain — just what is going on there: Although the mother might have been able to throw some light on the matter on at least two separate occasions, she is not consulted, and the true state of affairs is concealed from her: It is precisely this reluctance to offer a rational explanation, this tendency to leave matters unresolved, that is one of the defining elements of transcendent Romanticism.

Both of these fantasies pose a serious threat to Nathanael since each in its own way drives him to an extreme. The latter — in his persona as barometer salesman — sets out to involve Nathanael completely while trying to sell him some optical instruments. It is significant that Nathanael does not choose to buy any of the spectacles Coppola shows him — spectacles, we should note, are designed to correct human vision and to give a clearer view of reality — but opts instead for a telescope, an instrument which distorts reality in that it enlarges objects and makes them appear closer than they are.

It is no coincidence then that it is through the distorted reality of this telescope that he repeatedly observes Olimpia: But even after he has been cured — which in the context of the novella means nothing more than having been temporarily removed from the world of his Romantic imagination — he still has the telescope in his pocket when he climbs the tower just prior to the catastrophic denouement. Just as he previously saw an unreal vision of Olimpia, now he sees an unreal image of Clara. Just as Olimpia, had seemed almost divine through the telescope, with the result that Nathanael believed he was looking at the Ideal itself, Clara appears with all her negative qualities magnified into a hellish image of all that is rational and philistine.

The former was not the angel he believed her to be, nor was Clara the grotesque figure he saw through the telescope. By the end of the novella it has become all too obvious that neither Clara nor Nathanael has succeeded in developing a balanced relationship with the Romantic imagination. Both extremes prove to be the undoing of this hyper-sensitive artist and, ultimately, he is defeated by the impossibility of reconciling his ideal with reality. Clara survives him and discovers domestic bliss: It is tempting to suggest that the real import of the story is to show that a productive synthesis of the Romantic world and the world of reality is not possible and that Clara and Nathanael, each in their own 16 way, are doomed to fail in this.

Given that he believed in the vital importance of provoking the reader and entering into a dialogue with him, it seems more likely that he intended the novella to be seen as an open-ended work, in which the reader is invited to seek out his or her own solution to the central di17 lemma. On closer analysis, the text reveals a number of subtle hints as in which a more positive solution might be found, while avoiding an uncritical identification with either Nathanael or Clara.

We should remember that Clara and Nathanael sincerely love each other, strive to make something of their love rather than going their separate ways on account of their incompatible views of the world , and each is willing to put up with difficulties for the sake of the other. Nathanael always returns to Clara, and she is willing to make a new start after his infatuation with Olimpia. The problem, however, is that there is no genuine dialogue between them because both have already made up their minds and neither will abandon an entrenched position. Indeed, it seems they deliberately avoid a frank exchange of views: Such an exchange of views, after the Olimpia episode, could have been very fruitful.

The blame for this not happening must be apportioned equally, and a unique opportunity to bring about a rapprochement between the traditionally opposed worlds of reason and the imagination is missed. The troubled relationship between the two lovers is very like the relationship between the Romantic artist and his audience. When Romantic artists like Nathanael subject their audience to the wholly irrational products of the Romantic imagination they take a big risk; the general public, on the other hand, if it takes an DER SANDMANN E 71 essentially utilitarian view of art such as Clara does, cuts itself off from a vital source of human creativity.

If there is to be a process of communication between these two groups — and this is an essential prerequisite not only for the development of art but also for the development of rational enterprises — both sides must modify their extreme attitudes. This means that the artist, whilst not allowing his art to become mundane or trivial, must recognize that if he lets his artistic visions become completely detached from the world, he risks ending up like Nathanael, condemned to 18 live in a solipsistic fantasy world of his own making.

By the same token, if the audience takes a lethargic or ignorant attitude towards art, it risks depriving itself of a vital means of broadening and deepening its understanding of the world. He who assumes that reason can survive without imagination or vice-versa is bound to be disappointed. Furthermore, if and when a synthesis occurs, it is crucial not to fall into the trap of believing that the task has been completed since the dialogue between reason and imagination is a never-ending story.

Notes 1 See Hartmut Steinecke, E. Reclam, , It is not clear why this story should resist interpretation in the way that Steinecke claims. See Sigmund Freud, Das Unheimliche In his study, the symbol of the eye comes to stand as a symbol of castration, an idiosyncratic reading that ignores many of the other elements of the story. A Psychoanalytical Journal for the Arts and Science, 32 McGlathery, Mysticism and Sexuality, E. Interpretation of the Tales. New York, Bern, Frankfurt: Lang, , 57— Siegbert Prawer adopts a Jungian perspective in his analysis of the story. In recent years, a number of critics have turned once again to psychoanalysis in an attempt to analyze the story.

Zur Automatenliebe in E. Niemeyer, ; and Detlef Kremer, Romantische Metamorphosen: Metzler, , — Part Two, 57—59; Lee B. Hoffmanns Poetisierung der Medizin Opladen: Among the interpretations of the story that focus on questions of linguistic symbolism are those by Elizabeth Wright and Ursula Orlowsky. See Elizabeth Wright, E.

Hoffmann and the Rhetoric of Terror: Gisela Dischner and Richard Faber Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, , — Lang, , 8. Silvio Vietta also takes a similar view to Ellis. Critics appear to be just as divided about how Clara should be interpreted. Vietta, Menhennet, Ernst F. Hoffmann, and Auhuber see her as a wholly rational being. Ellis regards her as a wholly negative figure, a human robot who is in fact the real Olimpia of the story, and emphasizes the elements of contemporary social criticism in the novella.

While Thomas Koebner, Charles Hayes, and Peter Gendolla link the story to the criticism of bourgeois and patriarchal society, Eberhard Hilscher and Christopher Cherry see it as an exploration of the problematic boundary between human beings and technology. Heinz Ludwig Arnold Munich: CUP, , 11— A recent article explores the presentation of the novella, and especially the mechanical doll, in contemporary film and music.

Steven Paul Scher Stuttgart: Hoffmann, Epoche — Werk — Wirkung, ed. Brigitte Feldges and Ulrich Stadler Munich: Beck, , — Rainer Pabst, on the other hand, sees the story in terms of individual determinism and arrives at the following conclusion: It is not only the philistines who are made fun of in the story, but Nathanael too, and there are moments when his ironic treatment of his protagonist borders on the satire. Both seek out what they consider to be an idealized woman, and both are frustrated in their efforts, albeit in different ways.

Suhrkamp, and concludes that: It is clear that he knows both Nathanael and Clara well, but it often appears that he takes a much more critical view of Nathanael. Although a number of critics — mostly French — have turned their attention to the novella, they have done little more than 1 compare it to other stories by Hoffmann. Nonetheless, the story offers the reader a number of insights into the problems confronting the Romantic artist, not least his relationship to the Ideal, to love, and to his public.

The narrative structure of Die Jesuiterkirche in G. Most of the time he relates what others have told him or what he has read in a manuscript that has not been written by Berthold, the central figure of the story. However, this manuscript reveals to the narrator and the reader secrets that they would 2 never otherwise have learned. Other typically Hoffmannesque elements include the presence of dark forebodings by the characters, unsolved enigmas, and a shifting of narrative tense. In addition, large sections of Die Jesuiterkirche in G.

The Narrator and Professor Walther Hoffmann uses two characters, the narrator and Professor Walther, to explore two contrasting views on art. The first of these, the narrator, plays only a small part in the development of the story, and his chief function is that of an inquisitive observer. Sensing that an unusual story lies behind the painter Berthold, he does everything he can to get to the bottom of his secret.

Both the Professor and Berthold are reluctant to satisfy his curiosity, but the narrator is not put off and remains determined to find out more. In this respect, his position reflects that of the reader, who, like the narrator, is drawn to the sensational and the spectacular. The reader may even be tempted to align himself with the voyeuristic narrator, but he does so at his own peril since the narrator reveals himself to be a mediocre judge of art and of people. Moreover, he cannot, or will not, defend his own position, preferring, when the Professor says something he disagrees with, to keep his opinion to himself: Berthold does not even take him seriously, for after he has accepted his practical help, the narrator tells us that: Like the reader of a Gothic novel, he is irresistibly drawn to the figure of Berthold by the desire to experience the delightful frisson of terror, but on learning that Berthold has — as he assumes — murdered his wife and child, he is appalled.

E 81 Unlike the narrator, Professor Aloysius Walther has no taste for murder mysteries. We see from the outset that he takes a rational, demystifying approach to art and his fellow human beings: SW I, The Professor, an enlightened skeptic, is aware of the dangers of abandoning reason for the sake of metaphysical tendencies that — in his opinion — lead nowhere. Fearful of the distortions that arise when human beings try to grasp reality solely via the emotions, he opts for pure rationality.

He also rejects any notion of a transcendent world, and when asked for his opinion on the function of the Ideal, his answer is quite straightforward: Unsere Heimat ist wohl dort droben; aber solange wir hier hausen, ist unser Reich auch von dieser Welt. SW I, Here is a man content with his lot in this world. He does not deny the existence of an Ideal, but sees no problem in distinguishing clearly between this earthly world and a higher transcendent one. In his view, the Ideal is not part of the world of Nature, and Man should not attempt to leave this world behind him and gain access to another realm.

E. T. A. Hoffmann - New World Encyclopedia

It has nothing to do with the struggle to recognize and express the Ideal. The Professor is matter-of-fact — not to say dismissive — about Berthold. He does not admire his extraordinary artistic talent, nor does he judge him to be a murderer. He is even unwilling to discuss his case: The Professor, it can be said, represents the antithesis of the Romantic artist. In a negative way, he represents the typically dry-as-dust scientist of the radical Enlightenment, who treats humans as mere raw data. SW I, Being a character who lives by reason alone, the Professor is unlikely to be sensitive to any Romantic theories of art.

The central figure, the painter Berthold, is a fascinating and extraordinary character, whose appearance makes an immediate and profound impact on the narrator, who describes him thus: The narrator and Berthold soon embark on a discussion about art since the narrator cannot understand why the painter wastes his talent concentrating on a supposedly inferior genre of painting: Geist und Fantasie, nicht in die engen Schranken geometrischer Linien gebannt, erheben sich in freiem Flug. SW I, This view, which ranks the different genres of painting in a hierarchical system, is also endorsed by other figures in the story and is based on the assumption that work produced by an artist who has the technical skill to copy Nature and reproduce form with the help of mathematical calculations is somehow inferior to that produced by an artist who is inspired by his imagination and creativity — his genius.

This theory is flatly rejected by Berthold: He compares the artist who strives for the Ideal to the mythological figure of Prometheus, whose hubris was punished by the gods: Like Prometheus, the presumptuous artist is punished for his audacity in attempting to surmount his human limitations and for his refusal to accept that he will never reach the Ideal, in short, for his trying to become a godlike creator.

The punishment inflicted upon him is one of an increased awareness of his restricted Nature: Not only is the artist to suffer knowing that he will never reach the Ideal, however hard he tries, he is also compelled to recognize that this longing for the Ideal leads to destruction.

Like Adam and Eve and the ambitious figure of Faust , the presumptuous artist who strives for the Ideal gets very close to the abyss of evil. In order to avoid this danger in the future, Berthold, who has already experienced it, as the narrator finds out later sticks to simple, mathematical rules: For Berthold this is just wishful thinking, since the proper way to produce art lies in copying Nature with a high degree of technical accuracy.

Nevertheless, when the narrator chides him for working too hard and exhausting himself — thus indicating that even in Berthold there is ambition — Berthold replies: These words betray the fact that Berthold is far from being the cynical character he pretends to be. Although the irreconcilability of reason and feeling causes him great pain, his happiest hours are those spent absorbed in art, for that is when imagination and creativity are directly involved.

He cannot help the fact that he is a human being with the urge to transcend the material world. This explains the contradictions in his character, which have become etched into his features, and which made such an impression on the narrator the moment he set eyes on him. E 85 Although sometimes overcome by doubts about his talent during his stay in Italy, Berthold manages to develop his technical skills with the 4 help of a new teacher who is devoted to landscape painting.

He adopts this genre, earning the praise of teachers and fellow students alike. One of his pictures is exhibited and, as a result, he meets a strange man a Maltese artist, as he finds out later , who criticizes his style, telling him: SW I, Suddenly Berthold realizes that he has only been copying things rather than creating anything original and becomes possessed by the desire to express the contents of his own imagination, to catch a glimpse of the 5 Ideal, and to transcend the material world.

The stranger has opened his eyes to the fact that he has been wasting his time producing empty reflections of the external world. SW I, It comes as a terrible shock to Berthold to realize that, far from being a creative artist with a personal style and ideas, he is nothing more than a reasonably competent painter who can handle a brush with a certain amount of skill.

He decides to abandon his former teacher and devote himself to what he regards as true art: However, he lands himself in a new predicament; he may now know in theory what he wants, but he is unsure how to achieve this in practice. Friedrich Schlegel describes this state of yearning for something to which one cannot give a name, as follows: Only in his dreams can he express himself and create.

His life becomes wretched and in his state of semimadness, he even begins to fear Nature — the one realm where he had always felt secure and at home. SW I, Since reality has become an insurmountable obstacle, blocking all his activities and making him ever more miserable, Berthold escapes into a world of dreams, the only place where he can visualize images of grandeur, light, and transcendence. However, whenever he tries to capture these images on canvas he fails: In this confused state of mind he finds himself in a grotto one day where he is once more lamenting his fate, when he suddenly catches sight of a woman, who, he believes, is a perfect embodiment of the Ideal he has been searching for: He finds he is able to draw marvelous pictures of her, with a quality that astonishes even the experts.

The creative energy that had been blocked is now released, and he paints the most splendid pictures. His despair is replaced by joy and enthusiasm; she the Ideal has raised his life, and her image is to be found in everything he creates. However, when people start to comment that she bears a striking resemblance to Princess Angiola T.

When his Ideal turns out to be a women of flesh and blood, his initial reaction — curiously enough — is one of delight: The ability to control fire has brought us dramatic changes. For example, in Greek mythology Prometheus is a culture hero, because he stole fire from the gods to protect mankind.

West-östliche Begegnungen in Sprache und Kultur, Literatur und Wissenschaft

The punishment of the father of fire Prometheus has often been the subject of Western modern literature. A German Romantic author, E. Hoffmann , characterizes Prometheus as the Devil. Of central importance in The Sandman is fire used for science. And the automaton Olimpia, whom Nathanael was madly in love, is the fruit of modern science, that is to say physics. Das Feuer unterscheidet sich von den anderen drei Elementen der klassischen Vier-Elemente-Lehre dadurch, dass es auch ein zivilisatorisches Produkt ist.

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