Poetiken: Poetologische Lyrik, Poetik und Ästhetik von Novalis bis Rilke by Sandra Pott

Abstract

MLR, 103.4, 2008 II53 Poetiken: Poetologische Lyrik, Poetik undAsthetik vonNovalis bisRilke. By SANDRA POTT. Berlin: de Gruyter. 2004. xiii+469pp. EI28. ISBN 978-31I-0I7760-2. This important study sets out to sharpen our awareness of the productive interplay between poetics, aesthetics, and thepractical art of poetry, and itexplores the inter action between poetics and other discourses such as epistemology, ethics, psychology, medicine, and anthropology. By tracing theGerman debate about the art of poetry through fromRomanticism to Modernism, Pott isable toprovide a fascinating insight into theways inwhich writers configured theirart in response to changing academic and social constellations. She thereby counters the view -specially pronounced in theGerman-speaking academic world-that it is the prerogative ofWissenschaft to reflecton theart ofwriting. The focus on poetry iswell conceived, for this is the genre that came to embody the essence of Romantic literature, and more than any other itwas divested of the right to engage in cerebral reflectionby Idealist aesthetics. Poetry proves tobe a rich source for tracing the discussion concerning poetics in the nineteenth century, and inpractical terms the concentration on poems means that the reader is able to follow Pott's nuanced close readingswith direct reference tomany of the textsdiscussed. As Pott shows, therewas no schism between literatureandWissenschaft in thenine teenth century, but rather a multi-faceted process ofmutual enrichment. She uses Friedrich Schlegel's canonical Gesprdch iiberdie Poesie as her starting-point, teasing out the tensions between a programme that asserts the self-sufficiencyof poetry as a discourse requiring no external theory,and the simultaneous dependence on non poetic modes of discourse. Instead of takingSchlegel's programme at face value, she explores ways in which he himself undermines itand stimulates a debate that was taken up by others throughout the century and beyond. Well-known poets and theorists such as Novalis, H6lderlin, and Hegel are discussed alongside lesser-known voices such asDavid Friedrich Strauss, Friedrich Theodor Vischer and Ludolf Wienbarg. A chapter on 'Poetik derWeltpoesie' deals with differentconcepts of thecanon and gives an insight into the contribution of British and French poetry toGerman poetics e.g. Freiligrath's anthology The Rose, Thistle and Shamrock, Tennyson's 'The Poet's Song', Halevy's 'La Poesie'. An excursus on Annette von Droste-Hiulshoff provides a well-balanced examination of the potential claims for a 'feminine poetics', and a theme that ispursued throughout is the changing configurations of subjectivity. In thisway Pott offersa rich tapestryof ideas about writing and thepurpose of literature thatare transmuted inand throughpoetry.The monograph culminates in a discussion ofRilke's Sonette an Orpheus and sets them in thecontext ofworks by diverse authors found in his library (e.g.Walther Rathenau, Hermann Keyserling, Alfred Schuler). Surprising continuities are evident with earlier debates, with Rilke's concept of trans formation emerging as ametaphor facilitating eclectic reception. Rilke's cycle- a pinnacle ofWeltliteratur and unsurpassed statement on the art of poetry-forms a fittingconclusion to the discussion, although the closure Pott constructs forher argument is a little too neat. The picture we are left with is that academic poetics became irrevocably separated frompoetry around I920. However, itdoes not follow that 'Poetik' lost the diverse purposes it fulfilledup to thatpoint. While it is true thatGerman Literaturwissenschaft has been increasingly keen to dis tance itself from the stuffof poetry in order to prove its academic credentials with reference to thenatural and social sciences, German poets have remained responsive toother discourses and have continued to shape 'Poetik'-understood in a broad and open sense in awide diversity of textual genres and intellectualmodes. While thereare rathermore typographical slips than one would expect in a volume of thisquality, this is a handsomely produced, reader-friendlybook written in a lively style. It offers a name index and helpful reproductions of the paintings discussed in 1154 Reviews thecontext ofAchim vonArnim's poetics, and itprovides a fullbibliography that is a veritable treasure trove forthedebate about ars poetica in the long nineteenth century. JESUSCOLLEGE, OXFORD KATRIN KOHL Gypsies and Orientalism inGerman Literature andAnthropology of the Long Nineteenth Century. By NICHOLAS SAUL. London: Legenda. 2007. ix+ i88 pp. ISBN 978 I-900755-88-7. Together with Jews, political dissidents, the physically and mentally disabled, and homosexuals, theRoma and Sinti peoples were...