XXVII
Now settled in Pfeiffering, L. composes a number of new works, including art songs on poems by William Blake (1757–1827) and John Keats (1795–1821) and the German sentimentalist poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803). L.’s adaptation of Klopstock’s “The Festival of Spring,” as well as his orchestral fantasy Marvels of the Universe, are both inspired by his study of works of deep sea exploration and of astronomy—or possibly, as L. insists, by actual travels to the bottoms of the ocean and into outer space in the company of a mysterious figure named Mr. Capercailzie. Z. reacts to these tales of exploratory travel with great unease, even if he does not yet realize that they bear a striking resemblance to an episode in the Faust Chapbook.
Time of composition: May 21–August 6, 1945, with a long interruption in June and July. Time of narration: After April 1944. Narrated time: 1913–1914.
| intended more to be read than heard | See Kretzschmar’s third lecture in VIII. |
| | Epithet that Dürer applied to Martin Luther. |
| “Ode to a Nightingale” […] “Ode on Melancholy” | Both are famous poetic expressions of the theme of melancholy. |
| Klopstock’s ode “The Festival of Spring” | Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803) was one of the most important poets of the eighteenth century and an exponent of literary sentimentalism (Empfindsamkeit). The “drop in the bucket” mentioned in his poem is earth itself, which is described as but a tiny part of God’s creation. |
| | See 140/192 and 262/359–60. |
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| Needless to say, he had only read | In chapters 24 and 25 of the Chapbook, Faustus and Mephistopheles descend into hell and ascend to the stars during the eighth year of their pact. L.’s ostensible trip similarly takes place eight years after his first meeting with Hetaera Esmeralda, if one accepts TM’s dating of 1905 rather than 1906 (see 148/204). |
| | A “capercaillie” is a large bird (a member of the grouse family) and one of the names given to the devil in chapter 61 of the Chapbook. |
| | TM’s source for this description was the book Half Mile Down (1934) by the American ornithologist and marine biologist William Beebee (1877–1962), who explored the Atlantic Ocean in a bathysphere. Of possible relevance is the fact that Beebee was also an expert on pheasants, which are closely related to the capercaillie. |
| light-year […] some six trillion miles | The original has 9,5 Trillionen Kilometer. TM, who consulted American astronomical sources, failed to realize that the English “trillion” corresponds not to German Trillionen, but rather to Billionen. |
| | French: “a flower of evil.” Les Fleurs du mal is the title of an 1857 poetry collection by Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), which is often considered as an important forerunner of modernist poetry. The reference here serves as a reminder that the discussion between L. and Z. concerns not only humanism vs. anti-humanism, but also the nature and possibilities of modern art—or, as L. might put it, the question whether art can both produce new worlds and still be “moral.” |
| | Latin: “man [as a creation] of God.” |
| Your humanism is pure Middle Ages | This statement of L.’s inverts the more obvious way in which we might oppose L. and Z. and reminds us that L., despite his flirtations with polyphony and other aspects of early modernity, needs to be understood as a radically modern figure. |
| We once spoke about astrological conjuncture | |
| clockwork of the universe […] cosmos of tones | Recalls the discussion of Pythagoras on 103/139. |