Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>

Insofar as the caesura of tragic temporality and the movement of “tragic <i>transport</i>’” are said to be shaped by a tendency toward the “eccentric sphere of the dead” in Friedrich Hölderlin’s “Remarks on Oedipus”, the privileged position of this sphere within Hölderlin’s “Remarks” sol...

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Main Author: Kristina Mendicino
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Humanities
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/13/6/175
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author Kristina Mendicino
author_facet Kristina Mendicino
author_sort Kristina Mendicino
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description Insofar as the caesura of tragic temporality and the movement of “tragic <i>transport</i>’” are said to be shaped by a tendency toward the “eccentric sphere of the dead” in Friedrich Hölderlin’s “Remarks on Oedipus”, the privileged position of this sphere within Hölderlin’s “Remarks” solicits further analysis of what this topos signifies within both Hölderlin’s poetological writings and his translation of <i>Oedipus the King</i>. How does the “eccentric sphere of the dead” relate to Hölderlin’s formal descriptions of the caesura that lends tragic succession a certain equilibrium, and what is implied in the qualification of this region as an “eccentric sphere”? How does the “eccentric sphere of the dead” register in the language of Sophocles’ tragedy? And conversely, what does the language of <i>Oedipus the King</i> indicate concerning the constitution and parameters of the “spheres” of the living and the dead? These are the questions that will be pursued in this essay, beginning with the broader resonance of the terms to which Hölderlin takes recourse in his “Remarks”, and proceeding to the ways in which the limits of life and death are articulated in Sophocles’ drama and Hölderlin’s translation. Those elaborations of the “eccentric sphere of the dead” will, in turn, allow for a reinterpretation of the more formal determinations of “tragic <i>transport</i>” that Hölderlin offers.
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spelling doaj-art-da1359b2f20e4f8192d4139dd742cad32024-12-27T14:29:37ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872024-12-0113617510.3390/h13060175Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>Kristina Mendicino0Department of German Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USAInsofar as the caesura of tragic temporality and the movement of “tragic <i>transport</i>’” are said to be shaped by a tendency toward the “eccentric sphere of the dead” in Friedrich Hölderlin’s “Remarks on Oedipus”, the privileged position of this sphere within Hölderlin’s “Remarks” solicits further analysis of what this topos signifies within both Hölderlin’s poetological writings and his translation of <i>Oedipus the King</i>. How does the “eccentric sphere of the dead” relate to Hölderlin’s formal descriptions of the caesura that lends tragic succession a certain equilibrium, and what is implied in the qualification of this region as an “eccentric sphere”? How does the “eccentric sphere of the dead” register in the language of Sophocles’ tragedy? And conversely, what does the language of <i>Oedipus the King</i> indicate concerning the constitution and parameters of the “spheres” of the living and the dead? These are the questions that will be pursued in this essay, beginning with the broader resonance of the terms to which Hölderlin takes recourse in his “Remarks”, and proceeding to the ways in which the limits of life and death are articulated in Sophocles’ drama and Hölderlin’s translation. Those elaborations of the “eccentric sphere of the dead” will, in turn, allow for a reinterpretation of the more formal determinations of “tragic <i>transport</i>” that Hölderlin offers.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/13/6/175Friedrich HölderlinSophoclesImmanuel Kanttragedytranslation
spellingShingle Kristina Mendicino
Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
Humanities
Friedrich Hölderlin
Sophocles
Immanuel Kant
tragedy
translation
title Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
title_full Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
title_fullStr Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
title_full_unstemmed Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
title_short Symbolic Death and the Eccentric Sphere: “Remarks” on Hölderlin’s <i>Oedipus</i>
title_sort symbolic death and the eccentric sphere remarks on holderlin s i oedipus i
topic Friedrich Hölderlin
Sophocles
Immanuel Kant
tragedy
translation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/13/6/175
work_keys_str_mv AT kristinamendicino symbolicdeathandtheeccentricsphereremarksonholderlinsioedipusi