Novalis

Novalis was born into a minor aristocratic family in Electoral Saxony. He was the second of eleven children; his early household observed a strict Pietist faith. He studied law at the University of Jena, the University of Leipzig, and the University of Wittenberg. While at Jena, he published his first poem and befriended the playwright and fellow poet Friedrich Schiller. In Leipzig, he then met Friedrich Schlegel, becoming lifelong friends. Novalis completed his law degree in 1794 at the age of 22. He then worked as a legal assistant in Tennstedt immediately after graduating. There, he met Sophie von Kühn. The following year Novalis and Sophie became secretly engaged. Sophie became severely ill soon after the engagement and died just after her 15th birthday. Sophie's early death had a life-long impact on Novalis and his writing.


Novalis enrolled at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology in 1797, where he studied a wide number of disciplines including electricity, medicine, chemistry, physics, mathematics, mineralogy and natural philosophy. He conversed with many of the formative figures of the Early Germanic Romantic period, including Goethe, Friedrich Schelling, Jean Paul and August Schlegel. After finishing his studies, Novalis served as a director of salt mines in Saxony and later in Thuringia. During this time, Novalis wrote major poetic and literary works, including Hymns to the Night. In 1800, he began showing signs of illness, which is thought to have been either tuberculosis or cystic fibrosis, and died on 25 March 1801 at the age of 28.


Novalis's early reputation as a romantic poet was primarily based on his literary works, which were published by his friends Friedrich Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck shortly after his death, in 1802. These works include the collection of poems, Hymns to the Night and Spiritual Hymns, and his unfinished novels, Heinrich von Ofterdingen and The Novices at Sais. Schlegel and Tieck published only a small sample of his philosophical and scientific writings.


The depth of Novalis's knowledge in fields like philosophy and natural science came to be more broadly appreciated with the more extensive publication of his notebooks in the twentieth century. Novalis was not only well read in his chosen disciplines; he also sought to integrate his knowledge with his art. This goal can be seen in his use of the fragment, a form that he wrote in alongside Friedrich Schlegel, and published in Schlegel's journal Athenaeum. The fragment allowed him to synthesize poetry, philosophy, and science into a single art form that could be used to address a wide variety of topics. Just as Novalis's literary works have established his reputation as a poet, the notebooks and fragments have subsequently established his intellectual role in the formation of Early German Romanticism.

Influence[edit]

The political philosopher Karl Marx's metaphorical argument that religion was the opium of the people was prefigured by Novalis's statement in Pollen where he describes "philistines" with the following analogy, "Their so-called religion works just like an opiate: stimulating, sedating, stilling pain through innervation".^{[24] : 145}


Hungarian philosopher György Lukács derived his concept of philosophy as transcendental homelessness from Novalis. In his 1914–15 essay Theory of the Novel quotes Novalis at the top of the essay, "Philosophy is really homesickness—the desire to be everywhere at home."^[84] The essay unfolds closely related to this notion of Novalis—that modern philosophy "mourns the absence of a pre-subjective, pre-reflexive anchoring of reason"^[85] and is searching to be grounded but cannot achieve this aim due to philosophy's modern discursive nature. Later, however, Lukács repudiated Romanticism, writing that Novalis's "cult of the immediate and the unconscious necessarily leads to a cult of night and death, of sickness and decay."^[86]


The musical composer Richard Wagner's libretto for the opera Tristan und Isolde contains strong allusions to Novalis's symbolic language,^[87] especially the dichotomy between the Night and the Day that animates his Hymns to the Night.^[88]


The literary critic Walter Pater includes Novalis's quote, "Philosophiren ist dephlegmatisiren, vivificiren" ("to philosophize is to throw off apathy, to become revived")^[18] in his conclusion to Studies in the History of the Renaissance.


The esotericist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner spoke in various lectures (now published) about Novalis and his influence on anthroposophy.^[89]


The literary critic, philosopher and photographer's Franz Roh term magischer Realismus that he coined in his 1925 book Nach-Expressionismus, Magischer Realismus: Probleme der neuesten europäischen Malerei (Post-expressionism, Magic Realism: Problems in Recent European Painting) may have been inspired by Novalis's term magischer Realist.^[56]


André Breton and the Surrealists were greatly influenced by Novalis.^[90] Breton cited Novalis extensively in his study of art history, L'Art Magique, as well.


The 20th-century philosopher Martin Heidegger uses a Novalis fragment, "Philosophy is really homesickness, an urge to be at home everywhere" in the opening pages of The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics.^[91]


The UK Charity "Novalis Trust" which provides care and education for individuals with additional needs [1].


The author Hermann Hesse's writing was influenced by Novalis's poetry,^[92] and Hesse's last full-length novel Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game) contains a passage that appears to restate one of the fragments in Novalis's Pollen.^[93]


The artist and activist Joseph Beuys's aphorism "Everyone is an artist" was inspired by Novalis,^[94] who wrote "Every person should be an artist" in Faith and Love or the King and the Queen.


The author Jorge Luis Borges refers often to Novalis in his work.^[52]


The krautrock band Novalis took their name from Novalis and used his poems for lyrics on their albums.


Novalis records, which are produced by AVC Audio Visual Communications AG, Switzerland, was named in tribute to Novalis's writings.


The avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage made the short film First Hymn to the Night – Novalis in 1994. The film, which visually incorporates the text of Novalis's poem, was issued on Blu-ray and DVD in an anthology of Brakhage's films by Criterion Collection.


The artist and animator Chris Powell created the award-winning animated film Novalis. The title character is a robot named after Novalis.


The composer, guitarist, and electronic music artist Erik Wøllo titled one of his songs "Novalis".