Goethe's Concept of the Daemonic: After the Ancients

326 Pages·2006·2.03 MB·English

by  Angus Nicholls

Goethe’s Concept of the Daemonic

“The idea of the daemonic,” wrote Walter Benjamin,
“accompanies Goethe’s vision all his life.” For Plato, the
daemonic is a sensibility that brings individuals into con-
tact with divine knowledge. Socrates also relied upon a
“divine voice” known as his “daimonion,” which inspired
him in situations where his rational methods had reached
an impasse, thereby showing the limitations of reason it-
self. Goethe was introduced to this ancient concept of the
daemon by Hamann and Herder, who associated non-
rational, daemonic inspiration with an aesthetic category
of central importance to early German Romanticism: that
of “Genius.” Angus Nicholls’s book shows how the young
Goethe initially depicted the idea of daemonic genius in
works of the Storm and Stress period, before exploring the
daemonic in a series of later poetic and autobiographical
works. Reading Goethe’s works on the daemonic through
theorists such as Lukács, Benjamin, Gadamer, Adorno,
and Blumenberg, Nicholls contends that they contain
philosophical arguments concerning reason, nature, and
subjectivity that are central to both European Romanti-
cism and the Enlightenment. This is the first book to ex-
amine Goethe’s writings on the daemonic in relation to
both Classical philosophy and German idealism.

Angus Nicholls is Claussen-Simon Foundation Research Lec-
turer in German and Comparative Literature at the Centre
for Anglo-German Cultural Relations in the Department of
German, Queen Mary, University of London.
Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture
Goethe’s Concept of
the Daemonic
After the Ancients

Angus Nicholls

CAMDEN HOUSE
Copyright © 2006 Angus Nicholls
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation,
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
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without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2006
by Camden House
Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.camden-house.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN: 1–57113–307–0
Front cover image: Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810). Genius auf
Amaryllisblüte. Entwurf zum Rahmenbild des Großen Morgens, 1809.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholls, Angus (Angus James), 1972–
Goethe’s concept of the daemonic: after the ancients / Angus
Nicholls.
p. cm. — (Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–57113–307–0 (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749–1832 — Philosophy.
2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749–1832 — Classical influences.
3. Genius in literature. 4. Subjectivity in literature. I. Title. II. Series:
Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture (Unnumbered)
PT2193.N39 2006
831'.6—dc22
2005033571
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
for Soe Tjen
DÄMON, m. genius. der griechische δαíµων bezeichnet einen
bösen sowol als einen guten geist, einen schutzgeist; dem
christenthum gegenüber trat er in die dunkelheit und treibt
die menschen, über die er macht hat, zum bösen. doch nehmen
ihn einzelne wieder im sinne der alten, besonders GÖTHE.

— Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch
Contents
Editions and Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1: The Ancients and Their Daemons 32
2: The Daemonic in the Philosophy of the
Sturm und Drang: Hamann and Herder 77
3: Romanticism and Unlimited Subjectivity:
“Mahomets Gesang” 106
4: Werther: The Pathology of an Aesthetic Idea 142
5: Kantian Science and the Limits of Subjectivity 167
6: Schelling, Naturphilosophie, and “Mächtiges
Überraschen” 202
7: After the Ancients: Dichtung und Wahrheit
and “Urworte. Orphisch” 226
8: Eckermann, or the Daemonic and the Political 248
Epilogue: Socrates and the Cicadas 263
Works Cited 271
Index 291

Editions and Abbreviations of Frequently
Cited Primary and Secondary Works
Goethe Editions and
Goethe-Related Publications
FA Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Sämtliche Werke: Briefe, Tagebücher
und Gespräche. 2 parts. 40 vols. Edited by Hendrik Birus, Dieter
Borchmeyer, Karl Eibl, Wilhlem Voßkamp, et al. Frankfurt am Main:
Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1985–2003 (= Frankfurter Ausgabe).
Numbers indicate part, volume, and page.
GG Goethes Gespräche. Auf Grund der Ausgabe und des Nachlasses von
Flodoard Freiherrn von Biedermann. Edited by Wolfgang Herwig.
5 vols. in 6. Zürich and Stuttgart: Artemis, 1965–87.
GH Goethe Handbuch. Edited by Bernd Witte et al. 4 vols. in 6.
Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1996–99.
HA Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Werke. Edited by Erich Trunz. 14
vols. Hamburg: Christian Wegner, 1948–60. 11th ed. Munich:
C. H. Beck, 1978 (= Hamburger Ausgabe).
LA Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Die Schriften zur Naturwissenschaft.
Edited by Dorothea Kuhn, Rupprecht Matthei, Wilhelm Troll, and
Lothar Wolf. 21 vols. Weimar: Hermann Böhlhaus Nachfolger,
1947– (= Leopoldina Ausgabe).
MA Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Sämtliche Werke nach Epochen seines
Schaffens. Edited by Karl Richter with Herbert G. Göpfert, Norbert
Miller, and Gerhard Sauder. 21 vols. in 31. Munich: Carl Hanser,
1985–98 (= Münchner Ausgabe).
WA Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Werke: Weimarer Ausgabe. Edited
by Gustav von Loeper, Erich Schmidt, et al., im Auftrage der
Großherzogin Sophie von Sachsen. Four parts, 133 vols. in 143.
Weimar: Hermann Böhlau, 1887–1919 (= Weimarer Ausgabe).