Call for Papers

Studia theodisca – Hölderliniana IV (2025). Call for Paper

Premessa / Vorwort

The fourth volume of “Studia Hölderliniana”, edited by Marco Castellari and Elena Polledri with the collaboration of Stefano Apostolo, is, as usual, published as a special issue of the international journal “Studia theodisca”. It brings together articles and reviews in both German and Italian on the works and reception of the great German poet Friedrich Hölderlin. This issue, in particular, documents the international conference “Wir sind nichts; was wir suchen, ist alles.” Hölderlin zum 250. Geburtstag, which took place during the Hölderlin Year 2020 at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. In addition to papers derived from this academic event, further studies addressing key issues in international research are included. The closing section features three reviews of significant recent contributions to the philological, critical, and cultural discourse surrounding Hölderlin.In addition to the aforementioned Apostolo, Castellari, and Polledri, contributors to the issue include Bettina Faber, Marco Fiorletta, Sarah Gaber, Ulrich Gaier, Daniele Goldoni, Martin Huber, Francesco Rossi, Franco Toscani, and Giuseppe Vacca. The volume is dedicated to Luigi Reitani (1959-2021), a great scholar and translator whose scholarly legacy still leads us with a competent and sensitive hand through the ‘fragments of the future” of Hölderlin’s poetry

Ilse Aichinger e Ingeborg Bachmann protagoniste della (ri)nascita del radiodramma dopo il 1945: i casi di ‘Knöpfe’ e ‘Ein Geschäft mit Träumen’: [Ilse Aichinger and Ingeborg Bachmann as protagonists of the (re)birth of radio drama after 1945: the cases of ‘Knöpfe’ and ‘Ein Geschäft mit Träumen’]

This article aims to explore the pivotal role of radio drama within the German and Austrian cultural landscape, especially after World War II. Through a comparative and (inter)textual analysis of two central works – Knöpfe (1953) by Ilse Aichinger and Ein Geschäft mit Träumen (1952) by Ingeborg Bachmann – the study traces the origin, development, and impact of this literary genre on the cultural discourse of the post-war context. Additionally, it illustrates the relevance of their common themes in the light of the personal and artistic relationships of the two writers

Von schönen Seelen, Kugelwesen und Waffenbrüdern. Zur Imagination von Weiblichkeit und Männlichkeit in Friedrich Hölderlins «Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland»

This article examines the representation of femininity and masculinity in Friedrich Hölderlin’s Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland. The findings are related on the one hand to the contemporary gender debate around 1800 and on the other to the narrative structure of the novel itself. Via the female main character Diotima, it is possible to show the philosophical ‘enrichment’ that is characteristic of the novel. As a consequence, Diotima selectively transcends the boundaries of her gender. Applying a holistic approach that considers the underlying research results of men’s studies, the article goes on to focus on Hyperion and Alabanda. In doing so, the article examines the three main types of masculinity around 1800 (civil servant, warrior, poet) and how they contribute to the protagonist’s development

Cover and Introductory Pages

Studia theodisca – Hölderliniana III (2018). Cover and Introductory Page

«Das ABC der Teutschen Misere!». Drei Misere-Figuren im ‘Hofmeister’ von Bertolt Brecht und die Klassenfrage: [«The ABC of German Misery!». Three Misery-Characters in Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Tutor’ and the class question]

In his adaptation of J. M. R. Lenz’s Der Hofmeister oder Vorteile der Privaterziehung [The Tutor or The Benefits of a Private Education], Bertolt Brecht foregrounds the theme of what Marx and Engels, among others, defined as ‘German misery’. This study asks how he succeeds in capturing such a complex phenomenon on stage. It argues that Brecht does so by personifying its facets through key characters: Läuffer, the eternal lackey; Pätus, the philistine; and Wenzeslaus, the teacher of the ‘Untertanen’ [the subordinates]. Their interactions reveal German misery as a pervasive social condition cutting across class boundaries

From Beethoven to Schoenberg: The Micro-Myths of Viennese Classicism and Viennese Modernism in Thomas Mann’s ‘Doktor Faustus’

A misreading of Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus as a simple allegory lies at the heart of the controversy surrounding Mann’s use of Arnold Schoenberg’s music as a demonically inspired fascist aesthetic. If we look upon Schoenberg’s music as a micro-myth, intersecting and interacting with a counterpart myth, namely Viennese Classicism, then a different picture emerges. This article will take a closer look at the construction and interplay between the micro-myths of Viennese Modernism and Viennese Classicism in Mann’s novel. The article seeks to clarify the use of atonality vs. tonality in the myth-building process and to shed more light on the Mann-Schoenberg controversy

Zwischen Romantik-Kritik und «Horen»-Kontinuität. Hölderlins «Iduna»-Projekt im Spektrum zeitgenössischer Zeitschriften

In the summer of 1799 Friedrich Hölderlin worked intensively on the «Iduna»-project, a «humanistic journal» which was intended to earn him prestige and a steady income. As the difficulties increased and important authors declined his invitation to contribute, the enterprise was abandoned. Based on Hölderlin’s letters and drafts, this essay focuses on the program of «Iduna» with the aim of  embedding it within the context of contemporary journals at a time of great changes in society, the editorial world, and reading interests. A comparison with the most significant literary journals of the time («Die Horen», «Propyläen», «Athenaeum») not only shows striking similarities with «Die Horen», but also helps to explain why this project was doomed to failure

Faszination, Irritation und ästhetischer Eigensinn. Zu einer Geschichte der Interpretationen von Hölderlins «Hälfte des Lebens»

Since its first printing, Hölderlin’s probably most famous poem Hälfte des Lebens has challenged its recipients. The history of interpretation and the interpretative offers concerning the title and the blank space between the two stanzas not only offer different concepts of meaning, but also sketch a changed understanding of Hölderlin’s authorship, showing that Hölderlin’s text still forces us to think about what constitutes modern poetry

Pannwitz, Hofmannsthal und Österreich: [Pannwitz, Hofmannsthal and Austria]

This study deals with the relation of the German poet and philosopher Rudolf Pannwitz to Austria in the period 1917-1922, as he was witnessing the dissolution of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire while living in Austria himself. His reflections on Austria’s present and possible future can be traced back in his correspondence with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, an outstanding representative of the Austrian culture at that time, but also in some of the essays he published in the period. An important aspect of the context in which Pannwitz regarded the future of Austria, was his personal contact with Czech intellectuals that resulted in the publication of his book on «The spirit of the Czechs» (1919). Finally,  the study aims to place Pannwitz’s intellectual relation to Austria and Bohemia in the context of his view of a European future