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eustachio's review against another edition
3.0
A metà tra l'ideale della Grecia classica e la realtà storica vicina all'autore (la guerra russo-turca della seconda metà del Settecento), Iperione è composto per lo più dalle lettere di Iperione all'amico Bellarmino in cui descrive i propri pensieri e le proprie vicende: l'addio ad Adamas, il maestro, l'incontro con Alabanda, l'amico-amante, e la storia d'amore con Diotima, interrotta poi a causa della guerra.
Qua e là riflessioni sulla [ri]educazione dell'uomo, il contrasto tra la Grecia classica, ormai depredata dagli europei e composta da «barbari», e la Germania, un popolo «dilacerato» di «operai», uomini ammaestrati a servire il loro scopo, incapaci di sognare. La guerra russo-turca quindi diventa un'occasione per riscattare i greci, una guerra giusta e necessaria agli ideali di Iperione, per far sì che «natura e umanità si fondino in una sola divinità, nella quale tutto sarà contenuto».
Iperione è un romanzo influenzato molto dalla vita dell'autore e dai movimenti culturali a lui vicini: oltre la già citata riscoperta della Grecia classica, ci sono le idee di Schiller (il libero gioco e l'educazione al bello), il buon selvaggio di Rousseau e la relazione di Hölderlin con una donna sposata, Susette, nel libro nelle vesti di Diotima. Quando Schiller critica il primo volume perché troppo astratto, Iperione deve agire, deve essere attivo, e va in guerra; quando Susette deve interrompere la relazione con Hölderlin, la separazione tra Diotima e Iperione è inevitabile.
Iperione è uno di quei libri che non può essere letto e basta, va studiato con attenzione. A una lettura superficiale salta agli occhi uno stile pesante e pomposo, farcito di esempi pseudo lirici. Alla lettura più attenta lo stile si rivela per quello che è: poetico, caratterizzato da esempi più che adatti.
È obiettivamente apprezzabile, ma non lo consiglierei a cuor leggero, a meno che uno non sia interessato al periodo storico o alla letteratura tedesca o al libro in sé, ingiustamente interpretato da Hitler come anticipazione degli ideali del nazismo.
Qua e là riflessioni sulla [ri]educazione dell'uomo, il contrasto tra la Grecia classica, ormai depredata dagli europei e composta da «barbari», e la Germania, un popolo «dilacerato» di «operai», uomini ammaestrati a servire il loro scopo, incapaci di sognare. La guerra russo-turca quindi diventa un'occasione per riscattare i greci, una guerra giusta e necessaria agli ideali di Iperione, per far sì che «natura e umanità si fondino in una sola divinità, nella quale tutto sarà contenuto».
Iperione è un romanzo influenzato molto dalla vita dell'autore e dai movimenti culturali a lui vicini: oltre la già citata riscoperta della Grecia classica, ci sono le idee di Schiller (il libero gioco e l'educazione al bello), il buon selvaggio di Rousseau e la relazione di Hölderlin con una donna sposata, Susette, nel libro nelle vesti di Diotima. Quando Schiller critica il primo volume perché troppo astratto, Iperione deve agire, deve essere attivo, e va in guerra; quando Susette deve interrompere la relazione con Hölderlin, la separazione tra Diotima e Iperione è inevitabile.
Iperione è uno di quei libri che non può essere letto e basta, va studiato con attenzione. A una lettura superficiale salta agli occhi uno stile pesante e pomposo, farcito di esempi pseudo lirici. Alla lettura più attenta lo stile si rivela per quello che è: poetico, caratterizzato da esempi più che adatti.
È obiettivamente apprezzabile, ma non lo consiglierei a cuor leggero, a meno che uno non sia interessato al periodo storico o alla letteratura tedesca o al libro in sé, ingiustamente interpretato da Hitler come anticipazione degli ideali del nazismo.
kyra_fred's review against another edition
5.0
“Nature buried me in her peace like one who dies a blessed death.”
I loved this book first and foremost for its beautiful, lyrical, and passionate writing. It requires a little more time and concentration to understand, but, as Rilke said, trust in what is difficult. Hyperion is Hölderlin’s attempt to work through his abstract philosophical ideas in a fictional form using allegorical representations.
Without fully understanding either, Hyperion’s thesis reminds me of Schiller’s Aesthetic Education (1795): “To arrive at a solution even to the political problem, the road of aesthetics must be pursued, because it is through beauty that we arrive at freedom.” Hyperion writes that “Without poetry, there would never have been a philosophical people!” and “From the Athenians’ beauty of spirit also ensued the necessary sense of freedom”. This is because poetry enables you to aesthetically reposition yourself. Hölderlin’s retrospective and nonlinear letters that weave together dream, fact, and imagination support the same effect.
Within Hyperion’s journey, Hölderlin also explores the barriers to entering a poetic reality, using Germany (“pure reason”) and Egypt (“despotism of arbitrary action”) as allegories. The symbol of poetic beauty and freedom is reflected in the art of Ancient Athens, and Hyperion’s love for Diotima and Diotima’s unity with nature.
I struggled to understand Hölderlin’s choice to write in letters. One long retrospective letter would have been less weird than several disordered retrospective ones, but then we wouldn’t have the beautiful endings to each letter throughout. The value of adding Diotima’s letters and Ballarmin’s lack of response seems unclear. I was wondering whether a diary would make more sense but I realize Bellarmin may function as a reminder to return to society after solitude — Diotima tells Hyperion: “Will you […] let the world that needs you wither and grow cold below you? Like the ray of light, you must descend; […] or else you are not worthy of your heaven.” I originally picked up this book after hearing it described as the Greek Werther, but I wouldn’t call it that—Goethe’s use of letters are a more central and valuable literary feature than in Hyperion.
A much closer comparison for me would be Novalis’s Heinrich von Ofterdingen, which shares the use of mixed mediums, allegories, non-chronological structure, a thematic focus on aesthetics versus reason, and the idea that ideal beauty resides in romantic love, nature, and childhood. For fun, here’s a comparison of how the two describe their lovers in unity with nature: “Her face was like a lily inclined towards the rising sun” (Henry). “As a bud unfolds, her lovely little face opened before the airs of the heavens” (Hyperion). Between the two books, Novalis writes more beautifully, but Hyperion feels more grounded in the world and realistic human experience. Of all three, Goethe is the best novelist.
I write this review for my own learning even if I shouldn’t since I don’t know enough about the philosophical context in which this work is situated. Nevertheless, I really liked it and could even recommend it for the beauty of its language alone. Here’s a example of Hölderlin’s characteristic paragraph-long poetic sentences: “And often, as I lay there among the flowers, basking in the delicate spring light, and looked up into the serene blue that embraced the warm earth, when I sat under the elms and willows on the side of the mountain, after a refreshing rain, when the branches were yet astir from the touch of the sky and golden clouds moved over the dripping woods; or when the evening star, breathing the spirit of peace, rose with the age-old youths and the other heroes of the sky, and I saw how the life in them moved on through the ether in eternal, effortless order, and the peace of the world surrounded and rejoiced me, so that l was suddenly alert and listening, yet did not know what was befalling me -"Dost thou love me, dear Father in Heaven," I whispered, and felt his answer so certainly and so blissfully in my heart.”
I loved this book first and foremost for its beautiful, lyrical, and passionate writing. It requires a little more time and concentration to understand, but, as Rilke said, trust in what is difficult. Hyperion is Hölderlin’s attempt to work through his abstract philosophical ideas in a fictional form using allegorical representations.
Without fully understanding either, Hyperion’s thesis reminds me of Schiller’s Aesthetic Education (1795): “To arrive at a solution even to the political problem, the road of aesthetics must be pursued, because it is through beauty that we arrive at freedom.” Hyperion writes that “Without poetry, there would never have been a philosophical people!” and “From the Athenians’ beauty of spirit also ensued the necessary sense of freedom”. This is because poetry enables you to aesthetically reposition yourself. Hölderlin’s retrospective and nonlinear letters that weave together dream, fact, and imagination support the same effect.
Within Hyperion’s journey, Hölderlin also explores the barriers to entering a poetic reality, using Germany (“pure reason”) and Egypt (“despotism of arbitrary action”) as allegories. The symbol of poetic beauty and freedom is reflected in the art of Ancient Athens, and Hyperion’s love for Diotima and Diotima’s unity with nature.
I struggled to understand Hölderlin’s choice to write in letters. One long retrospective letter would have been less weird than several disordered retrospective ones, but then we wouldn’t have the beautiful endings to each letter throughout. The value of adding Diotima’s letters and Ballarmin’s lack of response seems unclear. I was wondering whether a diary would make more sense but I realize Bellarmin may function as a reminder to return to society after solitude — Diotima tells Hyperion: “Will you […] let the world that needs you wither and grow cold below you? Like the ray of light, you must descend; […] or else you are not worthy of your heaven.” I originally picked up this book after hearing it described as the Greek Werther, but I wouldn’t call it that—Goethe’s use of letters are a more central and valuable literary feature than in Hyperion.
A much closer comparison for me would be Novalis’s Heinrich von Ofterdingen, which shares the use of mixed mediums, allegories, non-chronological structure, a thematic focus on aesthetics versus reason, and the idea that ideal beauty resides in romantic love, nature, and childhood. For fun, here’s a comparison of how the two describe their lovers in unity with nature: “Her face was like a lily inclined towards the rising sun” (Henry). “As a bud unfolds, her lovely little face opened before the airs of the heavens” (Hyperion). Between the two books, Novalis writes more beautifully, but Hyperion feels more grounded in the world and realistic human experience. Of all three, Goethe is the best novelist.
I write this review for my own learning even if I shouldn’t since I don’t know enough about the philosophical context in which this work is situated. Nevertheless, I really liked it and could even recommend it for the beauty of its language alone. Here’s a example of Hölderlin’s characteristic paragraph-long poetic sentences: “And often, as I lay there among the flowers, basking in the delicate spring light, and looked up into the serene blue that embraced the warm earth, when I sat under the elms and willows on the side of the mountain, after a refreshing rain, when the branches were yet astir from the touch of the sky and golden clouds moved over the dripping woods; or when the evening star, breathing the spirit of peace, rose with the age-old youths and the other heroes of the sky, and I saw how the life in them moved on through the ether in eternal, effortless order, and the peace of the world surrounded and rejoiced me, so that l was suddenly alert and listening, yet did not know what was befalling me -"Dost thou love me, dear Father in Heaven," I whispered, and felt his answer so certainly and so blissfully in my heart.”
godelewa's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and War
pestfest's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
nijntjemeisje's review against another edition
2.0
soort van grappig, maar iets te patriotisch en bloemig voor mijn smaak. en hyperion zelf is geen leuk karakter, een beetje een mieterig mannetje. diotima is wel een koningin, hoor. maar ja. jammer dan.
cocosmoo's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ficteon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0