The Birth of Novalis: Friedrich von Hardenberg's Journal of 1797, with Selected Letters and Documents

Selected Letters and Documents 1792–1797

35 Selected Letters and Documents 1792–1797  The following narrative of selected letters and letter excerpts is extracted from the years 1792 to 1797. This covers a period that begins with Friedrich von Hardenberg’s years as a university student in Jena and Leipzig through his graduation from Wittenberg with a degree in law and into the period of legal apprenticeship with August Cölestin Just in Tennstedt where Hardenberg met Sophie von Kühn in November 1794. These letters and letter excerpts help provide context for the journal, whose entries are extremely terse. They assist in providing a portrait of Hardenberg’s developing personality and interests prior to the crisis of Sophie’s death, after which he assumed the pen name Novalis. Obviously, an abbreviated biographical overview such as this cannot do justice to the complexity of the subject. But as the journal forms the center of this collection, these supporting documents have been selected to assist in framing it for readers not so familiar with Hardenberg’s life. Absent are letters that document Hardenberg as Novalis per se; that is, letters, fragments, or other notebook jottings from 1798 to 1801 that would show the range of activities to which Hardenberg devoted his energies after the name Novalis had been assumed and which constitute the majority of his legacy. This period, as mentioned, spans the years in literary history known as early German romanticism (die deutsche Frühromantik), whose center was at Jena and whose circumference touched on the boundaries of Friedrich von Hardenberg’s rather circumscribed world: Dresden, Grüningen, Halle, Leipzig. Absent, too, from this overview are documents relating to the poet’s early character-forming years at the family homes in Oberwiederstedt and Weissenfels or the months spent under the care of his paternal uncle Friedrich Wilhelm von Hardenberg (1728–1800) whose cosmopolitan interests, well-stocked library, and lively, wideranging table conversations with a variety of guests ignited the young Hardenberg’s intellect and expanded his ambitions. This lacuna is addressed in part in the section of this collection devoted to biographical texts. (See the letter written by Hardenberg to Finance Minister von Oppel dated January 1800, in which he reviews and comments on his formative years.)  In October 1791 Friedrich von Hardenberg left the small university town of Jena to continue his studies in the far more glamorous and worldly city of Leipzig whose university was, for its time, one of the largest in Germany. In Jena, Hardenberg had made the acquaintance of Friedrich Schiller and had attended Schiller’s history lectures. The older Schiller and he were on friendly terms. Schiller’s personality and moral authority impressed Hardenberg greatly. Inspired by Schiller’s example, Hardenberg began to write poetry in imitation of his mentor and had his first poetic success with the publication of Complaint of a Youth (Klagen eines Jünglings) in Neuen Teutschen Merkur in 1791. Although Hardenberg’s father had sent him to school to study law, Hardenberg by inclination and temperament felt more attracted to philosophy and literature (die schönen Wissenschaften). In Leipzig, Hardenberg met Friedrich Schlegel, whose example and force of personality made a deep impression on the as yet far less sophisticated poet-to-be. The close friendship between the two young men stimulated their individual careers and development. Each found recognition in the other; each sparked the other’s imagination. Although Schlegel moved in and out of Hardenberg’s life over the next ten years, he had a tendency to reappear at significant moments in Hardenberg’s destiny, and he was with the poet in March 1801 when Hardenberg died. Friedrich Schlegel’s report to his brother August Wilhelm of his first meeting with Hardenberg reflects the excitement Friedrich Schlegel felt after his first encounter with Hardenberg. Schlegel was quick to recognize Hardenberg’s potential. Characteristically , Schlegel assumes the tone of an elder and more worldly wise guide, though in fact Hardenberg was his senior. 36 The Birth of Novalis Leipzig, January 1792 Friedrich Schlegel to August Wilhelm Schlegel in Amsterdam Fate has placed in my hands a young man from whom anything’s possible.—I liked him very much, and shortly after I met him he opened wide the inner sanctum of his heart. Therein I’ve staked my territory and have begun research .—Still a very young man—slim and of slender figure, very fine in feature, with black eyes of brilliantly...