* The Epic and the Novel Tm new: and the novel, there vo isjor forms of great Jon Uerwore,difer from one another not by dei acho’ ramen intentions. but by the given bir iloupial recs with which the authors were confronted. val the epic of an age ia which she extensive oat ‘Hake i texme of taal. Te would be supeical—a mare Stoasmere arte technicality look for the only and {eckive genre defining esterion in the question of whether ‘hvork bite inverse o pros, ‘Vere isnot an linac conmitwene ether ofthe epic ot cf tnsedy, aldwough itis indeed a profeed symptom by Athi he tue nature of thee forms i most tly, and rminly reveal. Trage vers issharp and hard it iolates, {Teves distance, Ie loes the heroes the fll depth of ther soltade, which s bor of the form eli doesnot Slow of any latonships berween them exeepe tho of uggs and aniiation i Iii can contain notes of ‘Sayair or excitement abogt dhe road yet to be travelled and fending, it ean sbow glimpses ofthe abyss over which he scent spend, but othe igs crete gal wil never break dough BSE inctnes docs in prow; se despair will never kar Seago nar the seen Tao Longing fr lose eights the slat can never sect to plumb is own. depths with paycho~ Togs vanity, nor adotre itl in the minor of ts own proendie. Dramatic vee, a Shiller wrote vo Goethe, revels what- 6 ‘ver trviaty there may be in ce arise invention: i has 4 speciicsharpnes, «gravity alls own, in face of which nothing shat is merely Weike—which is 10 say nothing that is dramatically trvial—ean survive: if the ari’ erea- five mentality bas anything wxivial about ®, the contrast becweea the weight of the language and that ofthe content vl betray him, Tipe vers, coo, creates distances, but in dhe sphere of the ie (which isthe sphere of Hf) dnaice means happiness And lines, a Toosening of the bonds thar ce men and ‘hject ro the ground, a lifting of the heavines, the dul- es, which are integral to life and which are dupersed only in seatered happy moments. The creted ditances of epic ‘ere transform sich moments aco the crue level of life. Ane to the effect of vene is here the opposite just because is linnediate consequences that of abolishing tivisliry and ‘coming clover to the ewence—is the same, Heavies is trv in che apere of Iile—the epie—jume as lightness is trivial in tragedy. An objective guarantee thatthe complete removal of everything Bfelike does not mean an empty sheraction from. life but the becoming essnce, cx ‘only be given che consstency with which thee lifelike forms are erated, only if they ace Sncomparably ‘more ful, more rounded, snore fraught with substance than we could ever dieam of in ral hfe, cant be said that rage stylanion bas boon anccesfally ahiewed. Every: thing light of pallid (which of course har nothing to. do ‘wth dhe banal Concept of wnfeikenas) revels the absence ‘of 4 normative tragic intention and so. demonstrates che Uuvialey of the work, whatever he psychological subilecy aoc lyrical delicacy of is parts. In Bf, however, heaviness means the abs 1 umning,« hopeles eotanglamcar in senseless casual con- rections, a withered stele existence too close to the ead nni-too far from feaven, a plodding on, an inabiley 0 ”Ibe eel fo te baad ee al cvaying tat, tr tm Soe, bel repeal ‘eprumn« alee wich wal Sra get wig cen of fra vol jeans ea Age Se eeepc uly of lee Geeente ata Enoat nd eveen U omega inaaoray ‘nly fos opesng, ay to basera’ Vase fell aweree tax tly Comair enone Ge bglitcoreas eee Saly wie 1 peked of fron rad eteog the Sey horn ced from al ena te eer soe Const is decoding tried meng if his heroes mer Bre trek at of thar psn nd peste aru or hn. ssstsome wandetagy ain the home of thar eae? Shake ftom fram Sst green he power of se ch cn shee offers ny ion ate (© bull pacocae ead aro Tie Ugo of grat ep Uta ly ie com ‘lsc oe ft Maori faa es foe gi ‘Ecachnent"wiidh vers ts a vehicle‘confer upon whan fa exis ma Gafor, nb the ofc af he pew only, is bese, dear em so ers pice of poylal icin. The gles of wre iene apne esd a rally ctig fre Sly ifthe reang bonds have rely bree throes of Grek pic Rentare x orer te rs of en onering ho yonen a te lovy py of lberaed iagitioa ce trl eeneat ts lppy cs moet te Toe on ‘Spal tha wold of ead atachneas Inte 0 whch SS lee ler een rere sin ot Teas or cieik ieee fey Gane Tineeritely, ee ill tee Only oss oso crown, with equal power, only ts unferterd plasticity and 8 tanbrace the the co its aon-rhythmi rigor ean, with equal owe fexters and the freedom, the given heaviness and fred lighmess of « world henceforth inmanently radian {Tih found meaning. Ie i no aceident chat the dsintea Br realey-become song Ted, in Cervantes) proves 10 Sorsowfal ightoess of great epic, wheres the serene dance SF Ariowos vee remained mere Iris! plays (fne that Goedhe, the epic poet, poured is ys into Mould of vere but chose prose for the somlty of it Heber (aust) novel, In the world of ditances, all ic Me turns inw Tyne poetry (Don Juan and Onegin, a though wriuen. in vers, belong to the company of the eet amoreas novel) for, in vere everything ken Frcomes manifes, and the swift fight of verse makes the her rtichprese eavels wih is deliberate pace roaches meaning appear naked, mocked the Siri ae amples or mercy» forge dex, rie ene ois ty aap i ote ertinarn loenfe and concerts he Halal sa Ao cic one The frmanence of he mening of Ed exinent im Dantes wot, bet only We ie pr He Gian. isthe pec inmaneace of ee tas ae ided ro the Teac inthe ontnary word of Be is xt po ahr’ ama be vere, bt Beyond tit er ei er deers fe home that aw avsted Sey I can cery slay wie thse fal eae om snc sc etatea by a cores tha ar i cis Se bammony and shongh becomes barmony ial ir ord of ican x swing nd chai eth cee tame male semen Vile on Every akan of that orld och is hat world he rane eles find wadigused at every om home in the, beyond has come from this ound to it by the indisouble force of destiny, but eachrecopnites i, ves it in is frgity and heavines, oly when Ine has eraveled to the end of his path thereby made meaning fal; every figure sings of is folated dexiny, the iokted jvent in ‘which ies apporioned lot war made manife: a of the transcend fcuctare is the pre-determined sense-gving allembracing ls priori of each individual destiny, so te increasing com: jrchenson of thir eifcs, ic srucrre andl its beauty the Jecat experince of Dante the traveller envelope every thing in the unicy of it meaning, now reveled, Dante insight transforms the individual into a component of the ‘whole, and sa the bllds become epic songs. The meaning ofthis world Becomes digancelos sible and-Gumancat Sc ond Loa cts els bod tea fale or merely longer an; the vee pasnges ‘elf vom Tacbenach or Gord wen Srabury ae aly eel orem to thir sores the bla qty Of te Song of the Nibémgy ean be dsgused by compo Shion met, ba caer Be rounded tht He schies work-entradag wor The epic ss form oa aly of He dh sume fuagwtln: he novel cbs by ing ons aan od consrua de conesled_enliy af We The oven Sever of the efee(e the sch which only 2 way of expresing te subject's recognition ha neither ebecoee le nr ts ato to Ge sabjec i sponnncouly ba noi i I) sppis 3m ton of te forming incntn. All the fives and ens which ae ren the hiro sunom muse be dr fo ds forgiving (meow eal conor ue esdd to dageond by Coo Stone mess Ths the fora form ering i tet of the ave i bend sch peychology of te foals hows toy we neler Tie singe ce ooking ines that tbe the gos nor the way leafing vo the tan be dicey sven of ce th i hoy ate ie in 4 psychologically direct and solid manne, this isnot evidence of really existent relations or ethical necesices but ealy of a ‘psychological fact to which nothing inthe word of objects ‘or nonns need necessarily correspond. To put it another ay this ‘gives’ may be erie or madness, the boundaries h separate crime from acclaimed heroism and madnes from lifesmsstering wislom are eenative, purly. poycho logical ones, alkhough atthe end, when the aberration males self ternbiy manifest and clear, there i no longer any confusion, In this ems, the epic and the tragedy now nthe ere ‘nor madness. What the eostoonry concepts of everyday life call crime is, for them, ether not chee at all or itis rothing other than the ‘point, symbobcliy fied and seosualy perceptible from afar, at which the souls relation ship tos destiny, the veicle ofits metaphyseal homesiel ‘nes becomes vise. The epie word is ether a purely slide one in which dhe ernagrenion of stable, erdtons Dorms has to ensilvengeance whic ain must be avenged ad infininam, or else its the pertect theodicy in which ‘rime and punishment be ia the sales of world justice as ‘qual, mutually homogeneous weighs Tn wagedy erine i ether nothing at all or « symbol ic is ether 4 mere element of the action, demanded and determined iy technical Laws, oF it is the beeing dovn of forms on chs side of the cence, it is the entrance through which the soul comes into i own, OF maness unless ie be ie generally ine comprehensible language of a sopsrworld chat possesses no ‘other means of expresion. In non-problemate tragedy, made nesters be the symbolic expresion uf an end equivalent 0 physical death oreo the living death of a snl consumed by the esenil fire of selfiood. For crime and madness at ‘objestivatons of transcendental hamdessnete—ehe homeles- nes of an action inthe human onder of social relations, hehomelesmess of a oul in che ideal onder ofa supespersonal system of values. Every form isthe relation of a fund ‘ental disonance of ‘existence; every form restores the absurd to its proper place as the vehicle, the necessary condi tion of meaning. When the peal ofabeudity, the fit of sgeaine and profound human aspirations, ot the possblicy Of the alate nothingness of man has to be absorbed nto literary form as a baie vehicular fact, and when what isin ‘self absurd as tobe explained and analysed and, conse ‘nerdy, recognised as being irediy there then, lchough some seams within such 2 form may flow ine ant of fulfilment the absence of any manifest am, the determining Inok of direction of life as 2 whole, mas be the basic pian ‘onstitent, che fundamental structural element ofthe charac, ‘eryand evens within ‘Where no ai are direty given, the srutares which the saul inthe proces of becoming. men encounters te Nene and substation of is ztvey song men se thls obeos ‘901 in sapra-persnal deal neces, they ae ply ees at, perhaps powerful, peskape fri, but they nets cay the euoseration of the tole within than toe they te natural containers forthe overflowing inteory af the wu They form the word of convention, x wld ea whee al-enracing power enly the inerestreeses of the eal a easy a world which i present everywhere mma plisty of fms too compler for unestanding. lis ict Jaw, beh in becoming and in being, ur necro eons to the copniane sbjge, bt despite tempus, ke ‘worl that does no fer fl either m mexsing te he on. cocking subject or mare, in seaunuyimmetinyy toe av bjs Ie a cond rr and hema Ce a) i 1 the embodinen of recog. fbn but serselos nesses and therfore incor hese, unknowable in real subetance, ee for crete Yerture sebstnce alone ha exence and only sabances which are profeandly homogeneous with one another ci ‘emer into the fighting unin of reiprocal compositional re. iaionhie, Tipe poetry can ignore the phenomenaliaton of the fit ature and can create a potan mythology of subantal scythe ene sng os ort Tn lyre pocay, oly the grat moment erie, che moments which the meningfavaity of nature and sol or th Tnemingfal vor, the oectary and affed loinc of le sol becomes etal Ate Iyreal momen ce put inteirty ofthe so) spare rom dora without hoe Iited above the ebcusy-detened malepiy of ings soils int sbsee; his ale, unknowable maze {en fn gsr ino» yl Stinated ‘roaghout, Yer ths Tebtonhip berween so fd are can be prodoced only 2 yi moment. Oiber- ‘osname tie of a of ein "hoa kindof pctreqe lnberrom of seaus sys ior lnerturey teen (oe fae if ewtchel talty gad can only be redoced toa mesningflly ane elm By the magic word of lym, Sch nomen ate consitare tad fom detemining oly for Ire posty, only in Iyrc fowtry do the dite, en fhe of these come like le original manmcrps suddenly rade lie, only Insc pty the sje, the Welle of such expeiencs, Ctanomned ino the ne cae of meaning the only tae telly, Dan played ou ina sphere thats beyond uch trlty, and in te ele foons the subjective experience re ‘hans the sabe, ir becomes mood, nd naire, bert of iy sence? aatonomns Ue ar wel of is mentngfl ‘symbole, bcos 2 background, 2 piece of scenery, #8 ‘Zeompanying wie; has Tom ie dependence ad i cxly o manly perooeble profeon of the exntaaf The scond ature, the ature of manna sucrres, hasfomeesaess of «soa a the ideal onder of »supea-personal system of values. Every form i dhe revlon of 2 fonda ‘ened diponance of cxitence, every form eres the ‘Daur ots prope place a he webct he necesary end tion of meaning” When the peat of stm, the fuliy of femine and profound human spraons, oF the posiblity OF the uldmate notiogness of tan tas to be abarbed in Inerry form a4 base vehicular fay and when wha sn ‘nlf abou fae to be expined and analyos! andy cont pen eeogied as bing ied thes then, hugh ‘Se steams within sch x form may flow ino a se of faint the ssence of ay mari sim, the determining lack of diction of life ats whole, nas be the bse # prion comstzen, the fandamene stil element of the charac ten and even win "Where no sine are direct given the structures which the soul inthe paoces of Hecoming-man encounters the ae fd sub-statun of ts stv ang men Ine thie obioas ‘oot in pa-peronal desl recent, they ae spy ee ne, perhaps powerful, perhaps fray bot thoy wether carry the eomsecraton ofthe ase within them nor ze they the ‘ual container or the overflowing interior ofthe sul ‘They for the wld of convention, x world roa whore al‘-embracng power only the innermost recess of the sul ave enemy, wort! which pres everywee in wl PMicry of fore too complet for undewtaning. is act laws, boc in becoming and in being, are neesarly erent to the copra subject, bu deste regulary, it a Worl that does ot offer tel tir mmcaing tothe a seeking subject ov ss mater, in sense inet, tothe detve abjecn. Tea socond nar, and, ie nee (fit ‘aca ii determinable only a he emodinene of recog ie ut sees necesiie and threore ie incompre- iene, unlnowable ini el sabsance Yer for erentve literature sibance alone as existence and only subness which ae profoundly homogenoi with one anode exn rr io the ghing unloa of reciprocal composi Iecorshis, vie poetry ean ignore the phenomenal fit ate and ean eee 4 protean yialogy of ei pjetiy ot of the contue seogth off igure Thre poy, only che gest moment exits the momen x Than she meanmgfal unity of aature_and. sol or thee Meaningful dior the ecemry and afimed lnc of Uhe sn becomes ein Av the Icaltnoment the pars {fren of the sols pat from duration wou choice, iited store the obscurely determined nlipicty of thing, ‘Wide ino subsea; his fe, uakoowable nature “tive Trom, win, to agglomerse inv symbol that femited throughout, Yet ths tlaonsp. beeen ssl nd arre crm produced only 2 eal monens. Ose Saws b erusformel—betawe of lack of teaing Tiina kd of pctree amber room of sens symbol For ieraur, seme be fed ff bewitched ability Jeu Sinony be ednce! sa meningfally animated ea by ihe ingie ward of lyin, Such momen ae conve ‘SS foundering oly fr Ire poewys only in ye ec hese dec sue Maser of the stance bec Bie ara mars ny mide lee, Iie poy isthe subject weil of sac experi TPE med ino the sole tric of mexsng, the only tre ly Drama played ee inser that beyond such Tay, bun the pie form the sbjectve experince 1 TERE these: becomes mood. And ware, bee BPs nome atononous Ife a wel of meaning ‘Foils become 2 background, apiece of scenery, an Zermpanying. vice it has Tot it ndependence and snip sens percepuble projecon of the exesl—of “Th snd nature the navre of man-made eracars he 6 of teno lyrical substantiate form are too rigid to adapt thenselres to the symboLcreating moment; the content of the second nature, precipitated by it on las, isto definite 1 be abe ro rid itself of those elements which, in lyric poetry, are bound become eesyizie; furthermore, these Clements ares mach a the merey of laws, ae 2 abwlutly devoid of any sensuous valency of eitence independent from Jaws, char without hem they em ool disintegrate into nothingness. This second narre isnot dumb, sersuous and yet senseless ik the fit: iia complex of senses meanings "which has become rigid and szange, and which no longer awakens inferiority; itis « charae-house of long-dead in- {eric this teond nature could only be brought to le— if hs wore posible—by the metaphysical at of renwakening the souls which, in an early or ideal exirenee, erated of preserved i it an never be animated by another inteconty Iris t0 aia to the souls ampiratons to be treated by the soul as mere raw materia for moods, yer too lien to those aspirations ever to become thet appropriate and adequate ‘expression, Fstrangement from nature (he frst ature), the modern senomentalatitude to natre, is only a projeccon ‘of man’s experience of his self-made evitonment esa prison instead of asa parental home. ‘When the structures made by man for mn are realy adequate to man, they ace his nocemary and native home; nd he does not know the nostalgia that posts and expe nes nature se the objec of ts owen seeing and Gn The frst muure nature a «set of lies for pure cugetion, satu as the bringer of eomfor to pure fesing, is nothing ‘ther dn the historco-philosphieal objecivae abenaton fram his own comers ‘When che soul-content of these contracts cx no longer erly become sou, when the constrict no longer appese as che agglomerate and concentrate of interiors which ean at my moment be transformed back inco sou, then they 6 ‘must, in order ro subsist, achieve a power which dominates sven blindly, withoat exception or chee. And so men call ‘Ta’ the recognition of the power that holds them ia thrall, and they conceptual at ‘aw’ ther dexpuir at its omni Poteace and university: conceptualise i into a ub and evaling log, a necessity hati cera numutable and ‘beyond the vse of man, ‘The nature of laws andthe nature of moods stm fo same Torus in the souls they presoppare the impos ‘of an attained and meaningal sustaee, the impossibility finding a consitutive object adequate tothe contrat sub ject. In its experience of ature, the subject, which slone real disolves the whole ouside world in mood, and isell bhecores mod by virus of the inexorable identity of exence between the contemplative abject and its object The desire to know a world clemsed ofall wanting and all willing tans forms the sbjees into an a-sobjctive, constructive and com sricting embodiene of cogitive fenetons, Ths i bound to be vo, for the abject is consitative only when it act from within only che ethical subject is conntrve, Treen only avoid falling prey to laws and moods if the arent of seins, the normative object of its actions, is made of the stuff of pre ethis: if right and custom ae identical with morality IF no more of the soul bas to be pu into the man-made str tures to make them serve as man’s proper sphere of action than canbe rlesed by actin, from dose structures. Under such cordions the sol his no need to recognise any laws, forthe soul ital isthe lw of man and man wil behold the same face of the same sil upon every subaance aginst hich he may have to prove hiawelt Under such conditions, i woul sem petty and fae wo ey to overcome the strange ress of the non-homan world by the mond of the subject» the world of man where the soul, 2s man, god or demon, is at home then the soul finds everything it needs, ie does noe have to crete ofanimate anything out ofits own sli fr its existence is filled ‘9 overbrinming with te finding, gathering and moulding ofall thats given a cognate to thevot The evi individual, che hero ofthe novel, is the product of estrangement from the oatside world. When the world is ineenally bomogencous, men do not diferqualievey front fone anocers there are'of course erocs and vilainy pious ‘men and eriminal, but even the greatest hero is only a head taller chan the mass of his fellows, andthe wie man’s eign fied words are heand even by the most foolish. The auteso. ‘mous lis of intsiovty ie posible and ecesary only when the dlsinctions berween men have made an babridgeable ‘chasm; when the gods are slen and neither serfces tor the ecstae gift of tongues can solve herd; when the world ‘of deeds separats sell from men and, because of tas sde> pendence, becomes hollow and incupable of abvorbing the true meaning of deeds in iself, incapable of becomag symbol ehrough dees and dssolvng them in turn into sya, ols; when interionty and adventure are forever: divorced {rom one another. The epic hero is, rid speaking, never an individul le 's tionally thought chat one of the esential character, ‘ties of the ene is the Fact chat its theme i nsx 4 peo ‘deny bur the destiny of a community. And righty so for the compitenes, the rounines of the value sytem which decermines the epic costae creates a whale which i toe ‘organic for any patt of eto become so enclosed within tel, 0 dependent upon itself 2 0 find itll a an intron |i co become a persnality, The mniporence of ethics wich Dosis every soul as autooomoes and incomparable sll Imknowa ia such a world. When life quae life finds an immanent measing in iself, she categories of the orp determine everything: an indvideal structure and physions ‘omy is simply the product of = bale between the pare tnd the whole, munully determining one anthers it nerer 6 th pot pole comrgaion by te Tony penoelty. The aglcace’ which an event cat Kinet s worl rarely ser tap ‘gina oe hes of venus which he eet ‘sprees fl fas weight a an far ae Senet 4 faconpec lie compet a nation ors aly pi arom hee wo ling or diferet ons boe ha heroes of tragedy (chong tes reasons area formal) Inna thro a be ysl tenes of the need to sverp all the pny cana of He fom, te ono: Iola ph of detec the scaly dent Epc ithe oly one who conti, wile reign eons ion of symbole ertence grow sly oa fe tage proleny bes ly sch «Sgr Can by sumone ce Soe forme of extra sppearn, wit erie feeher of iin Saito ‘Wier synbol inset becomes arity in be ei the weit ofthe bond kings india ey toa Ward deny, whi in agedy i eey he ramber of nog tat have to be aed to (0 tame form i ino allon & what scaly gies the evens of thee th conten he ep eo eset of hs dasa, isnot lon, for tt desny comets i by inde three othe ciamniy hone fe called in hs nity i an orgnic—and eerefore ine trinsically “meaningful: oe totality; chat is why the sxbsanc of alvntre in an ec aways atcated, cree Sail close, thus en npn of nie nor hes, and ia this dental or aro the sane of ‘raven The way Home's epics begin inthe mide and do not finish at the end a Fefleion of the tly epic menait's tou inference co any form of architect construct, fd the soroduon of extraneous themer—stch 3 that of o>Disttich von Bor in the Song of the Nibelungs—eun never decermined the destiny of the community—because his her's distur this balance, for everything i the epic has fe of lived experience was the symbolic unity of han destiny in ‘own anu derives its completeness from it own inet signifc sence ‘ance, The extraneous ean ealmly hold oot its hand to the tanta; mere contact between concrete things reas con- rete relationships, and the extraneous, Deca of i per spocival distance and its not yee realised richness, does noc rndanger the unity of dhe whole and yet has obvious organic Dante is che only great cxample in which we sce the | archiccrura clearly’ conquering the organic, and therefore he represent hiorico philosophical transiion from dhe pre epic to the novel. In Dante there ie sill the perfect, nent distanelesnes and completeness ofthe true epi ‘bu hie figures ar aleeady individual, conciosly and ener etcally pacing thenseles in opposition to a realty dat is Dacoming ease to them, iadivials who, through this oppo sition, become real peronaies, ‘The conmituene prince ‘of Dante's totality i a highly systematic one abolishing the pic independence of the orgnn: part-unite end transerc to hierarchically ordered, autonomovs parts, Such ‘tis tae, is found more in the secondary Figures | han inthe hero. The tendeney of each par-unity to feain its amtonomous Iyeical fe (a category unknown and usknow- able in the old epic) increas towards the periphery asthe ‘dizance frm the ceate becomes greater. |The combination of the prenppertions of the epic andthe novel and then syne to an epopeese is basa on the ul stractre of Dante’ world: the beak been fe al mean ing surpased and canclied by the coincidence of He and meaning ta prescat, actully expesienced uanscendence To the postlatefree organic nave of the colle pi Dane opposer hierachy of fullled postulates, Dante and only: Danre—did noe have ro endow his hero with ‘ible mcial sapeririy or with » heroic destiny that co %