Abstract
Karoline von Günderrode’s reputation as a mystical writer makes her a likely candidate as a proponent of a negative philosophy. However, the historical emphasis on Günderrode’s mystical and lyrical writings reflects gender stereotypes about women’s writing and ignores Günderrode’s strengths as an epic and historical writer. It is therefore important to approach claims about Günderrode’s supposed mysticism carefully. This paper is a preliminary attempt to investigate Günderrode’s claims about knowledge, including knowledge of the absolute, asking: What does Günderrode think knowledge is? What does she think the purpose of knowledge is—i.e., what does she think knowledge gets us, or does for us? And how do her claims differ from those philosophers, such as Novalis, whose thinking on knowledge (including of the absolute) seems to resemble hers? I argue that Günderrode maintains that human beings can experience, or “know,” a reality behind the discrete objects and events that comprise the world of appearances, and that she integrates this idea into a coherent worldview in a unique way. Specifically, I argue that Günderrode reconceptualizes the nature of death and selfhood in specific ways that allow her to make sense of the possibility of experiencing the true nature of the world behind the divisions that are characteristic of human knowledge and existence.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
Creuzer (1912 [1806]). English translations of Günderrode’s writings are my own or taken from Ezekiel (2016a), Ezekiel (Forthcoming), and Nassar and Gjesdal (2021). All other translations are my own.
- 4.
Schwartz (1977 [1878], 221).
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
Hoff et al. (1995, 99, 103).
- 8.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 49).
- 9.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 303–314).
- 10.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 234).
- 11.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 109).
- 12.
McGinn (1994).
- 13.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 103).
- 14.
King James Bible Online (2020).
- 15.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 105).
- 16.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 108).
- 17.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 53).
- 18.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 49).
- 19.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 308).
- 20.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 309).
- 21.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 309).
- 22.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 309).
- 23.
See, for example, Novalis’ “Monologue,” in Novalis (1960f):2, 672m (see also Novalis (1960f:2, 427 no. 32–33, 439 no. 68, 463 no. 114, 522 no. 3, 523 no. 8, 617 no. 17; Novalis 1960f:3, 685–686 no. 671). For examples of a similar approach in the work of Friedrich Schlegel, see Schlegel (1967, 42, 152 no. 42, 363f).
- 24.
Novalis (1960f:1, 264).
- 25.
See Molnár (1987, 48–53, 90).
- 26.
Novalis (1960f:2, 416–418 no. 17/417–419 no. 16).
- 27.
Novalis (1960f:2, 416–418 no. 17/417–419 no. 16).
- 28.
For example, Novalis claims “The first step will be a look inward, segregating observation of our self. Who stops here gains only half. The second step must be an effective look outward, self-actuating, sustained observation of the external world” (1960f:2, 422 no. 26/423 no. 24).
- 29.
- 30.
For example, Henry’s interactions with Zulima and Mathilde in Heinrich von Ofterdingen (Novalis 1960f:1, 236–239, 284, 287–288).
- 31.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 70).
- 32.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 73–74).
- 33.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 72).
- 34.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 73).
- 35.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 312).
- 36.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 35).
- 37.
Novalis (1960f:1, 133s. 1).
- 38.
Novalis (1960f:1, 133–134s. 2).
- 39.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 73).
- 40.
Günderrode (1992, 75–76).
- 41.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 290–291).
- 42.
Günderrode (1990–1991:2, 292–293).
- 43.
Günderrode (1992, 75).
- 44.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 52).
- 45.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 53).
- 46.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 439).
- 47.
- 48.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 384).
- 49.
Christine Battersby (1995, 98–99; 2007, 120–121, 127) has argued that the spaces in “Once I Lived Sweet Life” relate as forms of (feminine) immanence and (masculine) transcendence, connected by a repeated back-and-forth movement between them. My interpretation builds on Battersby’s but, as I argue elsewhere (Ezekiel 2014), I claim that Günderrode does not view these spaces as fundamentally separate: earthly life and spiritual life are both parts of a single shared world, making the movement between these spaces easy and natural, consistently with how the movement between life and death is depicted in, for example, “An Apocalyptic Fragment.”
- 50.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 384–385).
- 51.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 53).
- 52.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 54).
- 53.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 53–54).
- 54.
- 55.
Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 304).
- 56.
- 57.
See, e.g., Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 311).
- 58.
See, e.g., Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 50–51, 234).
- 59.
See, e.g., Günderrode (1990–1991:1, 310, 361–362, 448–449).
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Ezekiel, A. (2023). Through Consciousness Parted from Dream: Alternative Knowledge Forms in Karoline von Günderrode. In: Moss, G.S. (eds) The Being of Negation in Post-Kantian Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13862-1_9
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