4 - Novalis and the mystical dimension of early Romantic theory

Summary

Novalis certainly cannot be considered a mystic in the usual sense of the word, that is, as someone who, beyond the exercise of reason, is preoccupied with direct experience of the extraterrestrial, supranatural, or divine in a highly personal manner. Yet this is precisely the meaning of the term ‘mysticism’ as it was half-ironically used by Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel when they indulged their own inclinations towards ‘mysticism’ and ridiculed the common-sense or rational outlook on life as lacking any trait of their ‘mysticism’. In a certain respect, this mysticism can be seen as the transcending, transparent quality of the Romantic style in its attraction to the infinite. But for the two friends, genuine mysticism leaves behind the predominantly literary character of the Romantic style and in its broader scope, it can better be described in philosophical terms or even as ‘religion’. In this sense, Novalis told Friedrich Schlegel in the summer of 1798 that he had discovered the ‘religion of the visible universe’, and he assured his friend: ‘You will not believe how far that reaches. I think here I will leave Schelling far behind’ (KFSA 24, 152). Schlegel was deeply impressed by this project of an ‘unhabitual view of habitual life’, and he readily admitted to Novalis that the latter had the greater capacity for attaining this attitude (KFSA 24, 155). Earlier, in March of the same year, he had established a certain order of rank in religious or mystical ability among the early Romantics by according his brother the smallest and Novalis the largest share of it, whereas he himself took a middle position.