Developments of the romantic Sehnsucht in the poetic experiences of Rilke, Trakl, and Celan

• Grant number: 14/15904-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Márcio Suzuki
• Grantee: Laura de Borba Moosburger de Moraes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Defined in German Romanticism as an "infinite desire for the infinite", Sehnsucht condenses the way by which the romantic man relates to finitude, aiming to transcend it. With the end of romantic expectations, traumatically affected by the horrors of the two world wars, and by the confrontation of human spirit with the end of metaphysics and the death of the Christian God, it becomes necessary for modern man, who can no longer be romantic, to review the way he comprehends and relates to his finitude. Such a revise would be, in the first place, an affective reaction: the very feeling of Sehnsucht has to be reconsidered. The issue that I propose to explore here is, hence, to what extent and in which way is this feeling transformed, overcome or dissipated in the twentieth century. To accomplish this task, following a line of thought which takes poetry as a self-sufficient speech and starting point for philosophical reflection, I shall analyze developments of Sehnsucht in the poetries of Rilke, Trakl, and Celan, emphasizing the uniqueness of their experiences, but considering the need to root Sehnsucht in finitude as a common motive that turns Sehnsucht perhaps into an "infinite desire for the finite". (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MORAES, Laura de Borba Moosburger de. Uneasiness and Sehnsucht in the work of Georg Trakl. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.