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E-book On the Literature and Thought of the German Classical Era : Collected Essays

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Penilaian

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John Ruskin, who had read Lucretius’s De rerum natura in his student days as a set book at Oxford, commented in later years: ‘I have ever since held it the most hopeless sign of a man’s mind being made of flint-shingle if he liked Lucretius’.2 Such antipathy to the Roman poet was nothing new, of course, particularly towards his philosophy. Though his poetry was admired from when it first appeared around the middle of the first century BC, his Epicureanism was unacceptable to the Stoics who so often dominated Roman philosophy. And his materialism was obnoxious to the Christians—so much so that his work was fortunate to survive the Middle Ages. But it is not just that many people have admired his poetry and rejected his philosophy. His reception is more complex than that—more complex, in fact, than that of any other poet I am familiar with. For De rerum natura contains so many and disparate strands that it has of necessity appealed in part to many, but as a whole to few. It incorporates a metaphysics of nature and a system of physical science; a moral philosophy with practical guidance on living; numerous observations on natural history; a conjectural history of human society; and a powerful statement on religion, culminating in a denial of human immortality and, to all intents and purposes, of the gods. As poetry, it is almost as varied: it contains superb lyrical passages in a descriptive, idyllic, or hymnic vein, along with tracts of abstract—and at times arid—philosophical verse, and there are fiercely satirical and polemical passages as well. Consequently, this unique composition has tended to be used over the centuries as a quarry by poets, philosophers, and scientists, rather than endorsed as a whole or imitated directly in the way that more homogeneous forms such as the elegy, epigram, satire, or ode have been.Nevertheless, Lucretius had a particular appeal to the eighteenth century,3 and the reasons are not hard to identify. His uncompromising intellectualism, his belief that knowledge alone—especially knowledge obtained through causal, scientific explanation—is the path to human salvation, was congenial to the post-Newtonian age. The Enlightenment’s increasing preoccupation with nature to the detriment of theology, and the immense popularity of didactic poetry as a means of disseminating the new knowledge, made his work more accessible than ever before. In Germany, however, which was generally more conservative than France or England in the century of the Enlightenment, there were greater obstacles than elsewhere to his reception—above all in religious quarters. This no doubt explains why the first complete translation of De rerum natura to appear in German was not published until 1784,4over a century after that of Thomas Creech had appeared in England5and that of Michel de Marolles in France.6 In fact, interest in the poem in Germany did not reach its height until the last two decades of the century, when the heyday of didactic poetry was already over.3See, for example, Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, I, The Rise of Modern Paganism (New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday, 1967), pp. 98–105.4Titus Lukretius Carus, Von der Natur der Dinge, translated, with notes, by Franz Xaver Mayr, 2 vols (Leipzig and Vienna: Johann Georg Mössle, 1784); Mayr’s translation is in prose. For comprehensive details of German translations of Lucretius, see Cosmo Alexander Gordon, A Bibliography of Lucretius (London: Hart-Davis, 1962), pp. 212–14, 260–69.5Titus Lucretius Carus. The Epicurean Philosopher: His Six Books, De Natura Rerum, done into English Verse with Notes by Thomas Creech (Oxford: Anthony Stephens, 1682); see also Gordon, p. 170 (who gives the date as 1683). 6 Michel de Marolles, Le Poète Lucrèce, latin et français (Paris: T. Quinet, 1650); see also Gordon, p. 154. The first Italian translation was published in 1717 (Gordon, p. 147).

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

830 NIS o

Penerbit

: Open Book Publishers., 2021

Deskripsi Fisik

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Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781783747719

Klasifikasi

830

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Germanic Literatures

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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