Hyperion

by Friedrich Holderlin

Genres: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Literary Fiction; Visionary & Metaphysical

Synopsis

Hyperion is a novel of stirring lyricism, philosophical sublimity, and enduring influence. It stands among Hölderlin’s most extraordinary achievements. A Greek hermit recounts the pivotal phases of his life, from his discovery of the vanished glory of antiquity, through his encounter with his beloved Diotima, who embodies his goal of merging with "the All of nature," to his participation in a Greek uprising against Ottoman Turkish tyranny. Hölderlin’s sole novel has been celebrated for its musicality, the power of its cadences and tones to express a constant oscillation between extremes of grief and joy. Though Hölderlin’s genius was not widely recognized during his lifetime, he has come to be regarded as one of the most significant and unique poets in the German language.

Release date: April 10, 2009

Publisher: Archipelago

Print pages: 236

Sample

Hyperion to Bellarmin

The dear soil of my fatherland again brings me joy and sorrow. Every morning I am now on the heights of the Corinthian Isthmus and, like a bee among flowers, my soul often flies back and forth between the seas that, to the right and left, cool the feet of my glowing mountains. One of the two gulfs especially should have delighted me, had I stood here a millennium ago. Between the glorious wilderness of Helicon and Parnassus where daybreak plays among a hundred snow-covered peaks and the paradisiacal plain of Sicyon, the shining gulf surged like a triumphant demigod toward the city of joy, youthful Corinth, and poured out the captured riches of all regions before its darling. But what is that to me? The cry of the jackal that sings its wild dirge among the stone heaps of antiquity startles me out of my dreams. Joy to the man whose heart is delighted and strengthened by a flourishing fatherland. I feel as if I were cast into the mire, as if the coffin lid were slammed shut over me, whenever someone reminds me of my own; and whenever someone calls me a Greek, I feel as if he throttled me with a dog collar.