Holderlin fell into a devastating madness in 1807. The genius poet Hölderlin has since disappeared, leaving only a “living ghost” in this empty world. The mad Hölderlin spent the rest of his little-known 36 years in a tower on the banks of the Neckar in Tübingen.
At dusk, when Holderlin stood alone in front of the window, looking at the Neckar River flowing gently under the window and the beautiful evening scenery around him, would he suddenly remember the good things he had experienced in his life? Will he remember? From the beautiful shadow, the happy and crazy woman who once made him fall in love – Will Diotima (Susset) smile happily when a memory flashes on the corner of her mouth?
Friedrich Hölderlin Born in 1770 in a small town on the Neckar River in the Schwag region of Germany. He was well educated at an early age, and at that time he had already shown an extraordinary comprehension of the art of music and poetry. These two accompanied him all his life, including those dark and crazy years. Also from then on, he gradually formed a noble, elegant, broad, gentle and sentimental character. It turned out that it was this character that led him so easily into the dream of poetry. In the dream, he created an independent world for himself, which gave him the joy of self, the happiness of loneliness, and also gave him bitter sentimentality and fatal despair.
Destiny is a trick, it bestows Hölderlin’s talent as a poet, and at the same time leads him to the seminary at the University of Tübingen, and throws him into a stereotype that stifles the vitality of life and inhibits the freedom of individuality life. This caused great pain and far-reaching damage to Holderlin. But at that time Hölderlin was not completely swallowed up by the lifeless life of the seminary. He studied various classical languages, especially Greek, which laid a solid foundation for his later study of ancient Greek literature, and, Since then, he has begun to conceive of his Hyperion.
After graduating from university, Hölderlin left the kingdom of Württemberg and became a tutor in a prestigious family in Frankfurt, the Principality of Hesse. There, he met his Deotima – the woman who influenced Holderlin’s future fate – Suthert, the young mistress of the family. Soon, the hostess was attracted by the handsome and gentle, youthful and slightly sentimental, slender but bohemian soul, and fell deeply in love with him. At the same time, Holderlin also fell deeply in love with this passionate, energetic and beautiful and passionate woman. They poured all their loving energy into each other, and they were completely lost in the madness of hopeless love.
This love is destined to not last long, but Holderlin, who is addicted to fantasy and intoxicated by the unreal dream world, can’t care about it at all. He tried to hide in the world he had created, leaving behind all actual and possible cruelty. However, just as it is doomed that their love will not last long, it is also doomed that a real living person must eventually face the real world. Diotima’s husband eventually finds out about their affair. Holderlin had to get out of his tower of illusions and accept the reality of the world. He had no choice but to leave, leaving Deotima, whom he was passionately in love with. The separation undoubtedly hurt both Holderlin and Diotima deeply. “Holderlin’s mental state has not been very normal since then,” says Weiblinger, Holderlin’s only and lasting companion during the period of Hölderlin’s insanity. This is conceivable, especially for Holderlin, a poet who always lives in his inner world and feels everything with his life, this kind of injury is destructive. Because this undoubtedly means that the “beauty” of life held by Holderlin has left him, and Diotima is the embodiment of the beauty that Holderlin is striving for. This is evident in Holderlin’s poetic novel Hyperion.
Like Holderlin himself, the protagonist in “Hyperion” is also in a two-way tear between ideal and reality; like the author himself, Hyperion is also addicted to fantasy, living in the boundless inner confusion, sadness and pain. middle. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to see that, in fact, Hyperion is Hölderlin, the result of Hölderlin’s poeticizing his own life (in fact, there is no need to poetize, Hölderlin’s life is originally poetic). The love between Hyperion and Diotima in the poem is also a portrayal of the love between Hölderlin and Suthert. After a hard search in reality, Hyperion got only confusion and disappointment. Finally, he saw his Diotima, and the flame of his life finally burned again. In the poem, when Hyperion first saw Diotima, the fire of love ignited in his heart: “Alas! Her presence makes everything holy and beautiful, wherever I look, wherever I look. Touch anything, her rug, her cushions, her cases, everything is mysteriously connected to her. Here she calls my name for the first time, here she herself approaches me, her pure breath blows The life I listen to!”
Hyperion saw in Diotima the divinity, tranquility, and fullness of beauty. In Diotima, Hyperion found something in harmony with his inner life; in Diotima, Hyperion found a blissful abode: “She is my forgetfulness, this soul, My sacred Fountain of Forgetfulness, from which I sip the oblivion of Dasein, I stand before her, like an immortal, mocking myself with joy, as after a nightmare laughing at all the chains that oppress me.” But in the end Diotti Ma, this most beautiful and holy symbol is dead, and everything about Hyperion, including his love in this life, is gone, leaving him only happy and painful memories. His love, his soul, was buried with the dead he loved.
It is true that Holderlin’s lover, Deotima (Sothert), died in 1802, and Holderlin went insane shortly thereafter, losing his lonely but noble soul. It got worse and worse, and finally in 1807 it descended into a dark madness.
