Hyperion and Selected Poems (German Library) [Paperback]

Friedrich Holderlin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (August 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826403344
• ISBN-13: 978-0826403346
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the giants of ALL literature, July 5, 2005

By 

Sator (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hyperion and Selected Poems (German Library) (Paperback)

Hölderlin today deserves to enjoy a much wider readership than ever before given the veneration afforded to him by none other than Martin Heidegger for whom he was the greatest of the great. Sadly, Hölderlin was to leave us only one completed novel before his final descent into madness and obscurity but, my goodness, it is a gem of the greatest philosophic and poetic depth. This is without doubt one of the truly greatest novels to have ever been written. Certainly there is the typically German influence of music on this contemporary of Beethoven, hence the idea of applying the structural principles of sonata-allegro form to the novel. Anyone familiar with the musicological musings of Nikolaus Harnoncourt will know that the principles of sonata form structure in music were originally grounded on the classical principles of rhetoric - the art of presenting arguments - with all of its origins in Aristotle and which was a corner stone of education at this time. At the same time Hölderlin was to enjoy friendship with none other the great Hegel himself, thus lending this novel a philosophical profundity perhaps unrivalled by any in history - even by Camus or Satre.

The novel is set on the backdrop of a classical Greece of ancient ruins but occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Hyperion yearns to reawaken the glories of Classical Greece but kindles Romantic dreams of fighting for the liberation of his homeland, and leaves his idyllic Mediterranean world and the love of his life to fight in the name of freedom. The story unfolds in masterly fashion, enriched with its perfect balance of a nostalgic dreaming after a lost Classical world, matched with a Romatic passion for freedom and is told in the form of letters exchanged between Hyperion and friends in his idyllic homeland, all of which provide grippingly intense reading from start to finish.

The final lengthy epilog is some of the most profound philosophical meditations to ever appear in a novel. You can see why he won Heidegger's veneration when you read them. In this age where in central Europe at least, Hölderlin's star only gets brighter, Hyperion is absolutey essential reading. This is without doubt my favourite novel of all time, a work of rare profundity akin to Beethoven's late string quartets - so esoteric yet utterly divine in the profundity of its utterance.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the giants of German Literature, December 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hyperion and Selected Poems (German Library) (Paperback)

While Holderlin's poetry is truly brilliant and is his link to modernism, his single novel 'Hyperion' is also a major artistic achievement. Much more profound than its close epistolary relative and predecessor 'Sorrows of Young Werther', 'Hyperion' contains some of the most inticate and elegant prose in all of literature. Holderlin successfully attempts to impose the sonata structure in music upon a novel, and, even if he wrote nothing else, he would still rank among the greatest of German writers. The above is not meant to devalue Holderlin's poetry - his best poems being ineffably beautiful and timeless - but is only intended to bestow upon 'Hyperion' a higher place in Holderlin's oeuvre.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comments on the Trask Hyperion in this edition, August 13, 2008

By 

E. M. Dale (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hyperion and Selected Poems (German Library) (Paperback)

Eric L. Santner has collected a varitable who's who of Hölderlin translators in this wonderful edition. The centerpiece is Willard R. Trask's 1965 complete translation of Hyperion, though the version presented here calls for some comment.

Santner writes (Intro, xxxvi), Trask's translation "has been adapted by David Schwarz with an eye toward preserving the jarring strangeness of Hölderlin's diction so that it strikes the American reader precisely as strange rather than merely foreign or archaic." Santner makes no more mention about this so-called "adaptation," nor are there notes in the text indicating what, if anything has been changed. A comparison with the original Trask work (sadly out of print) shows that in places the translation does indeed change radically, though the overall impression is that Schwarz worked more on adapting and smoothing the English than on re-translating the German. This is a good thing, on the whole, and does almost no real damage to the strength of Trask's original translation. In fact, the general tenor of the German is preserved and even enhanced by Schwarz's adaptation of Trask. One could wish for more comment on the adaptation, but leave that lie.

The matter of translations, of course, always comes down to the ability to work through the text in its original German, and since any translation is at best an interpretation of the original text, the difference between a translation and an adaptation of a translation may matter little. The Schwarz/Trask edition which Santner presents is truly a magnificent piece of literature in its own right. Pity that the preeminent Hölderlin translator, Michael Hamburger, never got around to a full English version of Hyperion.

As it is, this translation preserves the beautiful surreality of so much of the text, particularly the letters between Hyperion and Diotima: "Schade, schade, daß es jetzt nicht besser zugeht unter den Menschen, sonst blieb' ich gern auf diesem guten Stern. Aber ich kann dies Erdenrund entbehren, das ist mehr, denn alles, was es geben kann," or "Alas, alas, that things are not now better among mankind! were it otherwise, I would gladly remain upon this goodly star. But I can forego this globe of the earth, and that is more than all that it can give." A truly magnificent work of literature, and a masterful translation (or adaption, please yourself).