The Polymorphous Political Theology of Novalis and Marcuse
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Joseph Trullinger
Abstract
In this paper I have two aims: 1) to demonstrate the mistakenness of Marcuse’s negative reading of Novalis in his dissertation on The German Artist Novel, and 2) to reconstruct how Marcuse’s utopianism would benefit from something like Novalis’ theory of Eros as divine. Because Novalis is tackling the theory of the drives that animates the central letters of Schiller’s Aesthetic Education of Man, and because Marcuse is dealing with a similar problematic in Freud’s theory of the struggle between Thanatos and Eros, Novalis proves to be a useful figure for illuminating overlooked possibilities for reconciling that problematic. I argue that Novalis puts forth a kind of “theology of Eros” that-as an elaboration of Schiller’s idea that “energetic beauty” follows from the play drive-allows an organism to perpetually progress in desire toward an ideal without exhaustion. This then allows us to conceive of Eros as similarly keen and self-evolving without devolving into self-denial. Such a conception would correct Marcuse’s metaphysics of mortality that undercuts his politics of life-affirming Eros.
Abstract
In this paper I have two aims: 1) to demonstrate the mistakenness of Marcuse’s negative reading of Novalis in his dissertation on The German Artist Novel, and 2) to reconstruct how Marcuse’s utopianism would benefit from something like Novalis’ theory of Eros as divine. Because Novalis is tackling the theory of the drives that animates the central letters of Schiller’s Aesthetic Education of Man, and because Marcuse is dealing with a similar problematic in Freud’s theory of the struggle between Thanatos and Eros, Novalis proves to be a useful figure for illuminating overlooked possibilities for reconciling that problematic. I argue that Novalis puts forth a kind of “theology of Eros” that-as an elaboration of Schiller’s idea that “energetic beauty” follows from the play drive-allows an organism to perpetually progress in desire toward an ideal without exhaustion. This then allows us to conceive of Eros as similarly keen and self-evolving without devolving into self-denial. Such a conception would correct Marcuse’s metaphysics of mortality that undercuts his politics of life-affirming Eros.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Goethe’s (Anti-)Classicism and Experientialism
- Embracing the Enemy: The Problem of Religion in Goethe’s “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul” 13
- “Meine Schwester Natalie ist hiervon ein lebhaftes Beispiel:” Bildung and Gender in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre 27
- Mediating Subjectivities: Anti-Classical and Anti-Ideal Impulses in Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre and Die Wahlverwandtschaften 49
- Reading Surfaces: Goethe and Benjamin 69
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Kant-Critique and the Romanticist Movement
- Jakob Friedrich Fries as an Opponent of German Idealism 87
- Apparent Purposes. How Does the Purpose of Purposelessness Operate? 103
- Antecedents to Hegel’s Conception of Judaism in Kant’s Practical Philosophy 115
- “Diese Unwissenheit ist mir der unerträglichste Mangel, der gröste Widerspruch”: The Search for Pre-rational Knowledge in Karoline von Günderrode 131
- Romantic Anti-Idealism and Re-evaluations of Gender: Schlegel, Günderrode and Literary Gender Politics 147
- The Polymorphous Political Theology of Novalis and Marcuse 161
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Hölderlin and Nietzsche: The Ecological Complication of Idealist Aesthetics
- Hölderlin’s Poetics of Zärtlichkeit: The Corporeal Turn of Transcendental Idealism 175
- Grund/Abgrund. On Kant and Hölderlin 187
- Nietzsche and Cognitive Ecology 209
- Overturning Philosophy: Classic and (Anti)-Classic Considerations on Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo 227
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Goethe’s (Anti-)Classicism and Experientialism
- Embracing the Enemy: The Problem of Religion in Goethe’s “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul” 13
- “Meine Schwester Natalie ist hiervon ein lebhaftes Beispiel:” Bildung and Gender in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre 27
- Mediating Subjectivities: Anti-Classical and Anti-Ideal Impulses in Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre and Die Wahlverwandtschaften 49
- Reading Surfaces: Goethe and Benjamin 69
-
Kant-Critique and the Romanticist Movement
- Jakob Friedrich Fries as an Opponent of German Idealism 87
- Apparent Purposes. How Does the Purpose of Purposelessness Operate? 103
- Antecedents to Hegel’s Conception of Judaism in Kant’s Practical Philosophy 115
- “Diese Unwissenheit ist mir der unerträglichste Mangel, der gröste Widerspruch”: The Search for Pre-rational Knowledge in Karoline von Günderrode 131
- Romantic Anti-Idealism and Re-evaluations of Gender: Schlegel, Günderrode and Literary Gender Politics 147
- The Polymorphous Political Theology of Novalis and Marcuse 161
-
Hölderlin and Nietzsche: The Ecological Complication of Idealist Aesthetics
- Hölderlin’s Poetics of Zärtlichkeit: The Corporeal Turn of Transcendental Idealism 175
- Grund/Abgrund. On Kant and Hölderlin 187
- Nietzsche and Cognitive Ecology 209
- Overturning Philosophy: Classic and (Anti)-Classic Considerations on Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo 227
- Index 243
