Where Are the Mountains?: Johann Jacob Bodmer and the “Pre-Kantian Sublime”

Abstract

O Natur! Die Grose, womit du die Seele erfullst ist heilig und erhaben uber allen Ausdruck.1By late eighteenth Century, had moved beyond its original association with rhetoric and, increasingly, came to signify awe and disquiet in face of grand natural phenomena. Evidence for this association was Goethe's essay Von Deutscher Baukunst (1772). In it, cathedral in Strassburg is analogized to a monstrous-at first glance, anyway-irregular work of nature.2 Besides portraying compelling effect on imagination of such grandeur, Goethe's essay also exemplifies way in which two separate discourses-that of and that of mountain appreciation- intersected and changed direction of literature and art, from neoclassical, objective standards in emulation of ancients, to individual, subjective taste-to aesthetics.While acknowledged as precursors of Sturm und Drang and for their roles in paradigm change in German letters at midcentury, Swiss writer Johann Jacob Bodmer and his literary partner, Johann Jacob Breitinger, are now being more closely examined in connection with this transformation of sublime.3 Two articles by Marilyn Torbruegge, published in 1971 and 1972, inaugurated this scholarship.4 Concerning the many ponderings on sublime in course of eighteenth century, she pointed out that the most marked developments involve an intensification of interest in psychological and philosophical considerations, a gradual distinction between and beautiful, and a growing concern with ideas of turbulence or terror, aside from prevalent reflections on greatness or grandeur, leading ultimately to twofold division of into categories of dynamic force and spatial magnitude. Ever a sensitive recorder and promoter of important theoretical ideas, Bodmer began with [Joseph] Addison and captured these thoughts at a central point in their transition.5 Of interest was Torbruegge's attempt to distinguish relative contributions of Bodmer and Breitinger in development of concepts with which Swiss have been associated: great, wondrous, marvelous, new, and so on, all of which exercise an attraction on imagination and contribute to poetic intoxication recommended by Longinus. She especially noted importance of Longinian thought in Bodmer's 1741 treatise Critische Betrachtungen uber die poetischen Gemahlde der Dichter, which, as she then correctly asserted, has suffered relative neglect in commentaries on wondrous or in Swiss School.6An analysis of their specific Longinian indebtedness remains to be carried out, but in some ways Swiss, in major treatises of 174041,7 seem to be writing a Longinus for Germans. Following Longinus's advocacy of grandeur with some attendant faults to success which is moderate but altogether sound and free of error,8 they sought to present best examples of kind of writing that would endow poetry with heart-affecting power. Their entire method reflects that of ancient treatise. They employ a broad range of literary references, moving freely from ancient to modern writers, and drawing on different genres. In this, they were following Longinus, who recommended that a poet school himself by imitating most celebrated authors who preceded him.9 They find in ancient treatise justification for their ideas on marvelous, new, and creative power of imagination. Their focus on creation of mental images and on imagination is perhaps their most important debt to Longinus, in particular suggestion that poet makes us see what he sees,10 especially through use of bold imagery. Breitinger's 1740 treatise on metaphors (Critische Abhandlung von der Natur den Absichten und dem Gebrauche der Gleichnisse: Mit Beyspielen aus den Schriften der beruhmtesten alten und neuen Scribenten erlautert) certainly drew inspiration from Longinus'treatment (chapters 18-29) of figurative language. …