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Nineteenth Century French Studies 30.3 & 4 (2002) 389-391



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Book Review

The Poetry of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and French Symbolism


Vilain, Robert. The Poetry of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and French Symbolism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000. Pp. 376. ISBN 0-19-816003-8

Hugo von Hofmannsthal began his literary career in 1891 in Vienna at the age of 17. That same year he was first exposed to French Symbolism from a variety of sources: Symbolist literature itself, critical writings on Symbolism and fellow writers in Vienna - especially Stefan George and Hermann Barr - who shared their understandings of the movement with the young poet. That Hofmannsthal embraced Symbolism and even wrote Symbolist poems is widely accepted. Robert Vilain explores the impact of Symbolism on Hofmannsthal's poetic writing and questions the notion that the Symbolist influence was "beneficial" (1). Vilain argues that Hofmannsthal's aware-ness of his debt to Symbolism produced an anxiety of influence that was stifling to his poetic identity, and despite Hofmannsthal's use of the Symbolist esthetic, he nevertheless remained separated from it. Vilain concludes that for Hofmannsthal, Symbolism was "ultimately a substitute, a dummy aesthetic" that "overlaid and stifled [his] more genuine Romantic leanings" (345). Hofmannsthal's use of the Symbolist esthetic was "perhaps at the cost of a longer career as a lyric poet" (345).

To reach his conclusions, Vilain analyses a number of Hofmannthal's poems and has carefully studied the poet's notes and correspondence as well as the perspectives of fellow writers who knew Hofmannstahl in the 1890s. The main pillar supporting the book's thesis comes from the close readings of Hofmannsthal's Symbolist poems in which these poems are read as critiques of Symbolism. However, the interpretations are often constructed with scant textual support and are frequently not convincing. [End Page 389]

One slightly abridged example of the type of link holding together the book's argument can be seen in the interpretation of Hofmannsthal's "Lehre." In this poem, a faun appears which "[m]ost obviously [...], almost inevitably suggests Mallarmé's "L'Après-midi d'un faune" (177). Vilain argues that the connection to Mallarmé's poem is further strengthened by the fact that the first draft of "Lehre" presented "whispering nymphs." In the final version, however, Hofmannsthal replaced the nymphs with giggling witches. This substitution and Hofmannsthal's use of "dark feathers" (which contrast with the animal whiteness in Mallarmé's poem) "is an index of how Hofmannsthal felt threatened by the Symbolist's work" (177).

While Vilain is careful to show that Hofmannsthal was aware of Mallarmé's poem, it is nevertheless true that fauns appeared widely in the literature and iconography of the time. Can one argue that the faun was a reference strictly to Mallarmé, as opposed to the many images of fauns in circulation at the time? Without being able to make a strong case that a particular image came from a particular work or author, the argument of the anxiety of specific influence is severely undermined.

Even if one accepts the source of the faun as being solely from Mallarmé, is the change from nymphs to witches Hofmannsthal's response to his anxiety of influence from Mallarmé? No other interpretations are explored. Simple phonic consider-ations may have played a role, or the poet may have wanted to draw on non-classical traditions for other reasons.

The relationships between the images in Hofmannsthal's texts and those of other writers are suggested or asserted, but not proven. Except in those cases where there is some form of documentable evidence, it is most likely impossible to determine with a reasonable degree of certainty why Hofmannsthal made a particular change and what, if any, specific source he was drawing upon.

Unfortunately, no attempt is made to situate the analyses relative to current theoretical practices. This would have been useful in understanding more clearly the mechanism of influence underlying the book's thesis. Moreover, since this work tries to explain Hofmannsthal's poetry through the psychological impact Symbolism had on him...

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