A Ghost to Bed

Hölderlin and the Poetics of Ignorance in Modernity

Abstract

Using the example of Hölderlin’s translation of Antigone and the poem Blödigkeit (Timidity) by the same author, the paper deals with the relation between knowing and not-knowing and thus also with the productive handling of different forms of not-knowing. By avoiding a one-to-one translation of the Antique source, Hölderlin experiments with forms of not-knowing. The not-knowing turns out, which becomes distinct in the concept of timidity, to be a corrective element and a supplement to the forms of clear and bright knowing. This is demonstrated by the different semantic dimensions of the timidity concept, which in Hölderlin becomes a part of his poetology. In that sense timidity is not only the origin and the prerequisite for poetry but also something constantly co-produced by the poet. The absolute power of reason is thus pushed to its limits. From this perspective, the forms of not-knowing have the function of a corrective to knowing and are, consequently, an integral component of a Modernity that should not be misunderstood as a process of an increasing, teleological accumulation of knowing.