Hölderlins Kinderspiel Hyperion : Ideologiekritik oder Wahnvorstellung?

This study explores Hölderlin's epistolary novel Hyperion in light of late eighteenth-century concepts of childhood utopia, of which J.J. Rousseau's Emile provides a vivid illustration. After tying Hölderlin's ontological concept of beauty to Rousseau's reflections on nature and equality, the article proceeds to unveil Hyperion's repeated regressions into the timelessness of his heroic childhood by analyzing the three mythical characters surrounding the main protagonist. Key to an understanding of Hyperion's childhood phantasmagoria is his androgyny, an expression of the pre-reflective unity that was once the trademark of ancient Greece. The androgynous motif not only serves as a symbol for absolute love but also articulates an identity crisis that manifests itself through political action. The epilogue with its ironic and playful resolution is then understood as a bridge arching over the abyss of nihilism. (SG; in German)