The religious element in the works of Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Abstract

Religion in the widest sense is acknowledged to be a fundamental element in Hofmannsthal's writings, but an account of the nature of the beliefs underlying his works as a whole is still needed. Chapter I concentrates on his essays, letters and notes and examines his usage of certain religious words and concepts: faith; Christianity, the Bible and the Church; revelation; the concept of an "other reality"; myth; religion; God; and spirit. The central concept discovered is that of a spiritual dimension both underlying and transcending the phenomenal reality of everyday experience. The nature of this dimension and the ways in which it can be apprehended are explored.Chapter II seeks to establish a definition of mysticism and to show that Hofmannsthal's emphasis on the unity of all things has its roots in personal experience of a mystical nature, expressed in his early poetic works and in the essays of the succeeding decade. His later, more socially oriented works express the desire for a realisation in the external world of the truths intuited. His eclecticism in seeking illumination of his experience in a wide variety of religious, mystical and psychological writings is examined, together with the absence of any specific framework of interpretation, and the implications of this are explored through an analysis of Der Turm. Chapter III deals with Hofmannsthal's search for lasting values and for an understanding of the problem of evil, and explores the ideas of the highest good as a full involvement in life, with its constant process ofinterrelation and renewal; and evil as the obstruction of this process, through blindness to the true nature of reality, or as a flaw in the overall harmony. The co-existence of Hofmannsthal's concern for moral issues and his mystical belief in the unity of all things is discussed.