A terrible dream: The Tragedy and the Tragic in Hölderlin

Abstract

This paper analyzes, though not exhaustibly, Hölderlin’s reflections on Tragedy and the Tragic. First, it is made a general exposition about art’s place in the totality of human’s This paper analyzes, though not exhaustibly, Hölderlin’s reflections on Tragedy and the Tragic. First, it is made a general exposition about art’s place in the totality of human’s spiritual life, especially in art’s relation with Philosophy. It is seen that Hölderlin conceived a fundamental function of art for the formation of an enlightened culture, as well as the possibility for a political configuration compatible with a new national project. In such context, a new idea of religio is proposed, according to which art and Philosophy acquire new place and function. Then, it is questioned which is the specific place of Tragedy in this novel spiritual “system”. In this case, it will be seen how Hölderlin’s conceptions change from The death of Empedocles until Observations on Oedipus and Antigona. Throughout those changes, Philosophy also takes different status in Hölderlin’s thought: a critique, or a caesura on the systems of absolute idealism.