Blanchot and Hölderlin: impulse towards abyss and divine infidelity

Abstract

The aim of this article is to connect Blanchot and Hölderlin with two moments of Hölderlins poetical itinerary: on the one hand, the texts from his youth, in which the poet seeks a feeling of unity or conciliation between nature and art that must occur within the tragic character, a conciliatory achievement that takes place in a tragic way in a kind of impulse to abyss impulse to death ; on the other hand, the texts from his maturity, in which the notion of divine infidelity comes up in relation to the presentation of the tragic, that is, a kind of impulse that remains only as fidelity to the earth after man experiences the night of parting from the gods. The organization of this article follows some of Blanchots ideas exposed in two texts in which he deals with the tragic in a systematic way: Hölderlins holy word, published in The Work of Fire and Hölderlins itinerary, included in The Space of Literature; these two texts deal with both of Hölderlins moments, respectively. In this way, Hölderlins tragic hero makes himself known also in Blanchots analyses of the poet and of his tragic existence. Both the poet and the tragic hero are seduced either by the Totality of holy pathos or by an unconditional fidelity to the earth; they are seduced by an impulse to abyss or by Circes divine infidelity.