Abstract

This article explores the methodological, aesthetic, and ecological implications of Novalis’s dynamic conception of matter, called “original elastic fluid.” By elucidating a set of this fluid’s generative and performative capacities, Novalis explains the non-teleological and contingent emergence of natural objects and organic forms as well as mental figures and poetic genres. This article argues that Novalis’s model of a “dynamic materialism” resonates with recent new materialist discourses that emphasize the agency of inorganic matter. More specifically, Karen Barad’s “material-discursive” approach, derived from quantum phenomena that suggest the inseparability of meaning and matter, is comparable to the ways in which Novalis draws on dynamic laws of fluidity to develop an “elastic mode of thinking” and a Romantic conception of prose with a characteristically loose rhythmic structure. A reading of Die Lehrlinge zu Sais as an example of this prose form sheds new light on the entangled relationship between mind and nature and “ecopoetic” approaches to nature.

摘要

本文探讨了诺瓦利斯的动态物质概念（称为“原始弹性流体”）的方法论、美学和生态含义。通过阐明这种流体的一系列生成和表演能力，诺瓦利斯解释了自然物体和有机形式以及心理人物和诗歌流派的非目的论和偶然出现。本文认为，诺瓦利斯的“动态唯物主义”模型与最近强调无机物质作用的新唯物主义话语产生了共鸣。更具体地说，凯伦·巴拉德（Karen Barad）的“物质话语”方法源自表明意义和物质不可分割的量子现象，这与诺瓦利斯利用流动性的动态规律来发展“弹性思维模式”和具有松散节奏结构的浪漫主义散文概念的方式相当。阅读《Die Lehrlinge zu Sais》作为这种散文形式的一个例子，为心灵与自然之间纠缠的关系以及对待自然的“生态诗学”方法提供了新的线索。