LIVING TO TELL: THE CONCEPT OF GRATITUDE IN HÖLDERLIN’S HYPERION

Abstract

This paper presents the work Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece as a literary attempt to think about ways to unify the fundamental split of consciousness raised in the text Judgment and Being. Starting from a differentiation of the various narrative levels of the novel, we show the insufficiency of the experiences of unity that Hyperion lives as a result of a lack of understanding of the eccentric character of Nature. We also justify the need for an unfinished ending to the novel and the role that gratitude plays as an adequate spiritual disposition for a poetic transposition of reality.