Political Change and Human Emancipation in the Works of Heinrich von Kleist by Elystan Griffiths

266 Reviews to solve a philosophical problem inpassing beyond theKantian border; Bassermann Jordan argues also thatHyperion's projection of ideas onto Diotima, combined with the suggestion thatDiotima herself isbeing exploited for thehero's subjective needs, is a suitable subject for a feminist critique, and here she draws on an important article byMarlies Janz, 'Holderlins Flamme: Zur Bildwerdung der Frau imHype rion',Hdlderlin-Jahrbuch, 22 (i98o-81),Iz2-42. One wonders here whether amore determined approach might have gone a littlefurther in relativizing theheavily philo sophical character of the interpretation,which isof course thenorm in the scholarship on this author. In choosing to express his ideas in narrative form,one might argue, Holderlin was invitinghis readers to refrain from treating thephilosophical meaning as absolute, but rather todraw inferences about the relation ofphilosophical discourse to the interactions of human beings inday-to-day life. The finalchapter of thebook iswhere the author hopes tobreak new ground, and here she seeks evidence in a group of selected poems as towhether they succeed in going beyond the subjective Einheit toachieve the lastingEinigkeit. In a poem such as 'Der Abschied' or 'Menons Klagen um Diotima', Holderlin suggests that the lovers can overcome theirduality and can themselves constitute a 'Konkretion des einigen Seyns in der Endlichkeit'. The antithesis offers an interesting perspective on the poems, which are undoubtedly interpretedwith much sensitivity and insight.Again, however, one wonders whether the antithesis of Einheit and Einigkeit can itself be more than subjective. It is surely in thenature ofpoetry itselfthat such an appearance of achieved 'Konkretion', nomatter how skilfullyevoked, can have only amomentary duration and must hence fall short of the desired goal. As the titlesof the two cited poems indicate, the experience that iscelebrated in a poem is always going tobe tran sient and threatened. Despite thedaunting philosophical complexities ofH6lderlin's work, towhich Bassermann-Jordan proves herself an excellent guide, one feels that H6lderlin's essential theme is a simple one, namely, the conflict between a timeless ideal and what Stephen Dedalus might have called the 'ineluctable modality of the temporal'. However, as here, this material continues toprovide talented studentswith admirable material on which tohone their analytical skills. QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, CANADA DAVID PUGH Political Change and Human Emancipation in theWorks ofHeinrich von Kleist. By ELYSTAN GRIFFITHS. (Studies inGerman Literature, Linguistics, and Culture) Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2005. Xii+ I90 PP. $70; ?50. ISBN 978-I 57II3-292-5. Elystan Griffiths aims to show thatKleist's writings engage with topics of political importance in theGermany and Prussia of his time.Kleist scholars, he declares, often wrongly suggest thathis literarycreations were an escape fromhistorical reality. With impressive brevity and lucidity he describes the political background, demonstrates how the author's lifewas decisively affected by politics, and summarizes the debates on issues of nationality, social change, and military, educational, and legal reform, which became particularly urgent after the dissolution of theGerman Empire and thehumiliation ofPrussia. Most ofKleist's works, he argues, even iftheircentral con cernwas not political, contain responses (usually indirect) to thesematters. Surveying attempts to classify the author as a reactionary or a progressive, he reasonably judges themmisguided. He acknowledges that expediency could underlie some ofKleist's utterances and that his dramas and stories allow very few certainties. Indeed, he maintains thatambiguity as an aesthetic principle, rather than personal indifference or indecisiveness, underlies Kleist's treatment of political questions. Yet he finds in MLR, I02.I, 2007 267 Kleist's ceuvre an 'anti-political politics' moulded by a sceptical view of programmes foraction which underestimate thecontingency and complexity ofhuman affairs,and by a powerful commitment to individual autonomy which nevertheless recognizes the claims of community or state. Plentiful footnotes indicate Griffiths's familiaritywith the literature on Kleist. That some seem randomly placed isperhaps one sign thathis study has been short ened forpublication. It iswell written and well organized, reveals an eye for textual nuance, but isnot without mistakes. Griffiths thinks the village of Thuiskon inDie Hermannsschlacht is a forest and misses the echo of theApocalypse in 'Was gilt es in diesem Kriege?' when he takes the sun darkened by blood there to represent the Enlightenment. His interpretation ofDie Familie Schroffensteindepends on a shaky equation of a feudal vassal with a...

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