Preliminary communication
Sea and Sky as Primordial Elements in Platen’s "Sonette aus Venedig"
Amir Irani-Tehrani
; United States Military Academy at West Point, New York
Abstract
Venice might be thought of as a location between land and water, but
the land-water surface of Venice is a work of art, not earth. The building
of this surface upon stilts began during the period of Barbarian
invasions of Rome in the fifth and sixth centuries, by refugees from the
mainland who in time established a Republic that lasted over a thousand
years. August von Platen visited Venice 27 years after the Republic’s
capitulation, while it was under Austrian occupation. Sonette
aus Venedig weaves an aesthetic fugue of sea and sky as primordial
elements (with minimal but noteworthy references to land), to offer
Venice up as heavenly Aphrodite, the personification of the beautiful
work of art. But art no longer mediates between humanity and divinity,
and the heavenly beauty seems to survive in echoes, shadows, and
dreams. The cycle also offers reflection on the image of the refugees,
not washing up on the shore, but fleeing from land to sea, to build a
conduit for tradition during a barbarian rupture.
Keywords
August von Platen, Venice, Primordial, Sea, Refugee
Hrčak ID:
343664
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2025.
Visits: 459 *