Friedrich Hölderlin

German poet. Born on March 20th into a clergyman (Protestant) family in Swabia. He lost his father and stepfather at a young age. He received a priestly education early on, and studied at the Tübingen Theological Seminary (University Theological Seminary) from 1788 to 1793. During this time he became friends with Hegel and Schelling, who influenced each other. However, he refused the priesthood job, and at first became a private tutor under Schiller's help, and set out on the path to becoming a poet. Around this time he was also inspired by Fichte's lectures. From 1796 to 1798, he worked for a banker in Frankfurt, and his spiritual love for his student's mother, Susette (who becomes Diotima in his works), became the impetus for many poems. After leaving this home, he stayed in Homburg until May 1800, relying on a friend, but he soon moved from one private tutor to another, and when he returned home from Bordeaux in June 1792, he showed the first signs of abnormal behavior. Around the same time, Susette died of illness. After 1906, he spent the latter half of his life as a mentally ill man in a gloomy state. Even during this period, he left behind nearly 50 poems.

He was not highly regarded during his lifetime or after his death, but his reputation gradually grew after the 20th century, and he came to be ranked among the highest as an original poet who was ahead of his time. His works include the novel "Hyperion" (1797-99), the play (dramatic poem) "Death of Empedocles" (1798-99), many lyric poems, philosophical treatises on poetry, and German translations of Greek literature (Sophocles, Pindar). His early poems were heavily influenced by Klopstock and Schiller, and during his time at the seminary he wrote many hymns praising the ideals of ancient Greece, such as "Liberty" and "Harmony," as the ideals of a new, reformist age. At the time, philosophy (Kant, Fichte), Greek classics, and the French Revolution captured the hearts of students, and the initial plan for "Hyperion" was born from these. After several revisions, the novel was written more and more after he met Zuzette, and was published in its final form in 1799. "The Death of Empedocles" was written intensively between 1798 and 1799, but after repeated revisions it was left unfinished. This tragedy also expresses a sharp confrontation with the times. The protagonist's death, in which he throws himself into the crater of Mount Etna, is seen as a sacrificial death demanded by the times, and shows the author's approach to Christ. His middle to late poems are often in the form of odes and elegies using the strict rhythm of ancient Greece, and eventually free metrical hymns are added to these. This is the culmination of Hölderlin's poetry, and is known as the late hymns.

Although his poetry is lyric, it is highly philosophical, and Heidegger called him "the poet of poets." This means that he is a poet who focuses on the mission of a poet and the essence of poetry. Hölderlin's mission was to reconstruct the sacred in an "age of scarcity" (an age in which God was lost). To put it simply, it was to bring back the naturalness of humanity in a world where everything has been mechanized, and to harmonize nature and man-made things.

[Ichiro Nomura]

"The Complete Works of Holderlin, translated by Tezuka Tomio, Asai Masao, et al., in four volumes (1966-69, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)" ▽ "Hölderlin, Volumes 1 and 2 (The Collected Works of Tezuka Tomio 1 and 2, 1980-81, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Hölderlin, written by U. Häussermann, translated by Nomura Ichiro, third printing (1982, Risosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの詩人。3月20日、シュワーベン地方の聖職者（プロテスタント）の家系に生まれる。幼時父と継父を失う。早くから聖職者コースの教育を受け、1788～93年、チュービンゲン神学校（大学神学寮）で学んだ。このときヘーゲル、シェリングと親交があり、相互に影響しあった。しかし彼は牧師の職を拒み、最初はシラーの世話で家庭教師になり、詩人への道を進んだ。このころフィヒテの講義にも感激した。96～98年、フランクフルトの銀行家のもとで、教え子の母ズゼッテ（作品ではディオティーマとなる）に対する精神的な愛が、多くの詩作の契機となった。この家を去ってから1800年5月まで、友人を頼ってホンブルクにいたが、やがてまた転々と家庭教師をしながら、2年6月、ボルドーから帰郷したとき最初の異常な行動の徴候があった。それと前後してズゼッテが病死している。06年以後、精神病者として暗い後半生を送った。この期間にも50編近くの詩が残されている。

　彼に対する評価は、生前も死後もそれほどではなかったが、20世紀に入ってからしだいに高まり、時代を先取りした独自の詩人として、最高級のランクを受けるようになった。作品には小説『ヒュペーリオン』（1797～99）、戯曲（劇詩）『エンペドクレスの死』（1798～99）のほか、多数の叙情詩があり、ほかに詩作に関する哲学的な論文、ギリシア文学（ソフォクレス、ピンダロス）のドイツ語訳がある。初期の詩はクロプシュトック、シラーの影響が濃く、神学校時代には「自由」「調和」など、古代ギリシアの理想を改革的な新時代の理想としてたたえた賛歌が多い。当時学生の心をとらえたのは哲学（カント、フィヒテ）、ギリシア古典、フランス革命などで、『ヒュペーリオン』の最初の計画もそこから生まれた。この小説は数度改稿ののち、ズゼッテを知ってから筆が進み、1799年、最終の形で刊行された。『エンペドクレスの死』が集中的に執筆されたのは1798～99年であるが、改稿を重ねたすえ、結局未完に終わった。この悲劇も時代との対決が鋭く出ている。自らエトナの火口に身を投げた主人公の死は、時代が要求した犠牲の死とされており、作者のキリストへの接近がみられる。中期から後期の詩は、古代ギリシアの厳格な韻律を用いたオード（頌歌(しょうか)）、エレジー（悲歌）形式が多く、やがてそれに自由韻律の賛歌が加わる。これはヘルダーリンの詩の絶頂で、後期賛歌といわれる。

　彼の詩は、叙情詩といってもきわめて思想性の高いもので、ハイデッガーは彼のことを称して「詩人の詩人」といった。それは詩人の使命、詩作の本質をテーマにする詩人を意味する。「乏しき時代」（神を失った時代）に神聖なものを再建することがヘルダーリンの使命であった。やさしくいえば、すべて機械化した世の中に、人間性の自然を取り戻し、自然と人為を調和させることである。

［野村一郎］

『手塚富雄・浅井真男他訳『ヘルダーリン全集』全四巻（1966～69・河出書房新社）』▽『『ヘルダーリン』上下（『手塚富雄著作集1・2』1980～81・中央公論社）』▽『U・ホイサーマン著、野村一郎訳『ヘルダーリン』第三刷（1982・理想社）』

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