Hölderlin’s interest in Geography is not widely known and may came as a surprise to some readers of his works. Hölderlin’s writing is more commonly associated with idealism and spiritual themes rather than with scientific positivism. However, many of Hölderlin’s Poems and his Novel Hyperion describe geographic features such as rivers, mountains, landscapes and cityscapes.
Hölderlin, like many of his generation, was inspired by the recent discovery of new Worlds and Lands, and fascinated by the descriptions of new Civilizations and Cultures, which opened up new horizons for the old Europe.
This paper analyses some of Hölderlin’s own landscape descriptions and reveals the importance of places in his works and the impact of new geographic discoveries on his writing generally.
