"'At least let's spin dreams ...'"
March 3, 2022 9:06 PM Subscribe
Anna Ezekiel on "The Woman at the Heart of German Romantic Philosophy" (cw: suicide): "Philosophy and literature became an escape from these tragedies ... 'A little while ago I was able to soar in a beautiful sublime fantasy world, in Ossian's half-dark magical world.'" Ezekiel has translated much of Karoline von Günderrode's fiction and poetry [German texts]. Günderrode has inspired art, fiction (inspiring art), and several philosophical studies too. Ezekiel also has intro articles on Dorothea Veit-Schlegel (whose 1804 German translation of "The Story of the Magician Merlin ... foregrounds relationships between men and women") and Bettina Brentano-von Arnim (a fantasy writer too, her semi-fictional Günderode, "and the account of female friendship it illustrates, was an influence on American Transcendentalism"). And Günderode includes work by Günderrode, e.g. the brief, eschatological, 'oceanic feeling' of "Apocalyptic Fragment" (1804).
This is really great, thanks.
Also having personally only noted the existence of Franz Brentano, it's very cool to find out that he came from a brilliant family.
posted by Alex404 at 2:18 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also having personally only noted the existence of Franz Brentano, it's very cool to find out that he came from a brilliant family.
posted by Alex404 at 2:18 AM on March 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Now I feel the need to make a quick follow up, because I realize I just used a post about female intellectuals as an opportunity to comment about a male philosopher. *sigh*
I really appreciate these efforts to rectify the historical record on the contribution of women to philosophy. I think philosophy has a particularly poor record in this regard, as it's always operated (even at its best) at a self-satisfied juncture of intellectual objectivity and (very subjective) myth making.
I think I was twenty when I noticed that all the philosophers I had studied were men, and so I made a (very limited and under-informed) effort to find work by respected female philosophers. Unfortunately the first thing I came upon was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Later attempts to find female philosophers led me to subjects such as feminist philosophy of science and the ethics of care, both of which I value, but still what I missed was something like this. What role did women play in the conventional capital-p Philosophy that I had studied? Because undoubtedly the story I learned was incomplete.
posted by Alex404 at 2:29 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
I really appreciate these efforts to rectify the historical record on the contribution of women to philosophy. I think philosophy has a particularly poor record in this regard, as it's always operated (even at its best) at a self-satisfied juncture of intellectual objectivity and (very subjective) myth making.
I think I was twenty when I noticed that all the philosophers I had studied were men, and so I made a (very limited and under-informed) effort to find work by respected female philosophers. Unfortunately the first thing I came upon was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Later attempts to find female philosophers led me to subjects such as feminist philosophy of science and the ethics of care, both of which I value, but still what I missed was something like this. What role did women play in the conventional capital-p Philosophy that I had studied? Because undoubtedly the story I learned was incomplete.
posted by Alex404 at 2:29 AM on March 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
This is great, thank you.
posted by jokeefe at 2:46 PM on March 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jokeefe at 2:46 PM on March 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
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Faint, pursuing, and grateful -
posted by clew at 9:11 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]