Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece

by Howard (translator) Gaskill

Friedrich Hölderlin's only novel, Hyperion (1797-99), is a fictional epistolary autobiography that juxtaposes narration with critical reflection. Returning to Greece after German exile, following his part in the abortive uprising against the occupying Turks (1770), and his failure as both a lover and a revolutionary, Hyperion assumes a hermitic existence, during which he writes his letters. Confronting and commenting on his own past, with all its joy and grief, the narrator undergoes a transformation that culminates in the realisation of his true vocation.Though Hölderlin is now established as a great lyric poet, recognition of his novel as a supreme achievement of European Romanticism has been belated in the Anglophone world. Incorporating the aesthetic evangelism that is a characteristic feature of the age, Hyperion preaches a message of redemption through beauty. The resolution of the contradictions and antinomies raised in the novel is found in the act of articulation itself. To a degree remarkable in a prose work of any length, what it means is inseparable from how it means. In this skilful translation, Gaskill conveys the beautiful music and rhythms of Hölderlin's language to an English-speaking reader. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

232 pages, Hardcover

Published October 9, 2020

Reviews

[Mr Imperfect · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an exceptional and touching poetic work, never have I seen yearning so touchingly expressed, yearning for ideals, for gods, for greatness, for beauty, for glory, for love, for a vast warm world that pierces the heart, all these desires deeply rooted in my heart I couldn't express, I felt them shine through here.

It fell into relative obscurity with it's unique formatting, one-time author and above all idealistic wonder which is seen all too rarely by a society that experiences divinity as little more than a Sunday church reading, and ideals as little more than an optimal outcome, but it was incredibly touching in a way I've never seen any other poetic work manage to do for me.

It's a difficult read, and you need a certain romanticist character to enjoy it, but if you like high-brow literature, poetic literature, Greek myth or Greek philosophy, I can not recommend it enough. Absolutely fantastic read through and through.