One of the great tragedies of German idealism was Hölderlin’s poverty
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He was on his way to see his sweetheart in Frankfurt. When he arrived in Stuttgart in July 1802 he hadn’t seen her in two years
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Hölderlin’s mental health began to decline at that point. It’s often said he had schizophrenia
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However, schizophrenia isn’t mood-dependent. It doesn’t come and go when you realize you never saw her again because you couldn’t make money
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Or when the friend who gets you a pity-job as a librarian get arrested for treason, and you’re a suspect too
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Or when you’re put in a hospital where “patients” wear masks to gag them
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In the end Hölderlin was taken in by a carpenter who loved his poem “Hyperion”. He lived in a tower in the carpenters’ house until he was 73 His family abandoned him, his friends abandoned him
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I have not read the original German sources documenting this, it seems too strange to be true
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Hölderlin’s father, who died when he was 2 years old, had left him an inheritance
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It was sitting in a trust in Stuttgart, accumulating interest. 71 years of interest, in the end.
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All of the tragedies of his life were totally meaningless, totally unnecessary.
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End of conversation
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