Call for Papers

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

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

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

Cover and Introductory Pages

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

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

Natura, poesia e filosofia in Hölderlin e in Hegel

The study addresses essential aspects of the works of Hölderlin and Hegel, highlighting the affinities and differences between the two with regard to their approach to pantheism, the question of beauty and the concept of ‘truth as a whole’. The essay also investigates differences and similarities in their interpretation of Heraclitus and the One-All, their conception of the tragic, their approach to the relationship between man and nature, and their aspiration for a genuine cultural, ethical, and political revolution. Finally, the essay delves into the differences between Hegel’s ‘logic’ and Hölderlin’s ‘poetic logic’, as well as the different paths the two great authors followed in their shared love for ‘free truth’

«Wir sind nichts; was wir suchen, ist alles»

The aim of this essay is to explain the motto «Wir sind nichts; was wir suchen, ist alles» (We are nothing; what we search for is everything). This sentence can be shown to be essentially neoplatonic and central to Hölderlin’s thought in the areas of ontology, theology, politics and poetics. Thus, Hölderlin joins his neoplatonic contemporaries Hamann, Lessing, Herder, Goethe, Novalis, and Schleiermacher

Hölderlin e l’immagine socchiusa. Riflessioni sul frammento «Und der Himmel wird…» dello ‘Homburger Folioheft’ tra materialità, divino e segno

The aim of this contribution is to analyse the fragment «Und der Himmel wird…» on page 40 of the Homburger Folioheft, paying particular attention to the notion of the ‘immagine socchiusa’ (slightly closed image). This expression highlights the tension between open and closed, between revealed and veiled, within Hölderlin’s work. The fragment is not written with ink but directly engraved on the paper. This technique invites us to reflect on the choice of medium and material. Furthermore, the theme of the sky, mentioned on page 40, connects the notion of the open with the dimension of the divine. This becomes represented as an invisible being seeking to manifest itself. The influence of Heinse will also be examined, as it is fundamental for understanding the connection between sign, painting, and the divine

Hölderlin: ein romantischer oder ein romantisierter Dichter? Fragment, Umnachtung, ‘obscuritas’, Revolution

This article aims to show how and why a poet who is not classified as a Romantic in literary historical terms, but as one who stands between Classicism and Romanticism and who himself spoke out against Romanticism, was romanticised or became a Romantic in the course of the 20th century. After an introduction to the state of research on Hölderlin and Romanticism and the poet’s relationships with the Romantics of his time, the essay concentrates on Hölderlin’s reception as a Romantic and identifies the main elements that led to the Romantic mythicisation of the poet as: the fragmentary nature of his work, the poet’s identification with his tragic, insane character, obscuritas and the revolution. The second part of the article emphasises Hölderlin’s constant search for ‘measure’, an ever-present feature of his work, with the aim of showing that the figure of the tragic Romantic poet, which his reception has emphasised by focusing on Romantic potential in his writing, is to be distinguished from the poet Hölderlin and his work