Weltschmerz

Weltschmerz (German: [ˈvɛltʃmɛɐ̯ts] ^ⓘ; literally "world-pain") is a literary concept describing the feeling experienced by an individual who believes that reality can never satisfy the expectations of the mind,^[1]^[2] resulting in "a mood of weariness or sadness about life arising from the acute awareness of evil and suffering".^[3]

The term was coined by the German Romantic author Jean Paul in his 1827 novel Selina,^[1] and in its original definition in the Deutsches Wörterbuch by the Brothers Grimm, it denotes a deep sadness about the insufficiency of the world ("tiefe Traurigkeit über die Unzulänglichkeit der Welt"). The translation can differ depending on context; in reference to the self it can mean "world-weariness", while in reference to the world it can mean "the pain of the world".^[4]

The worldview of Weltschmerz has been retroactively seen as widespread among Romantic and decadent authors such as Jean Paul, the Marquis de Sade, Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, François-René de Chateaubriand, Oscar Wilde, Alfred de Musset, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolaus Lenau,^[5] Hermann Hesse,^[6] and Heinrich Heine.^[5]

Further examples

The modern meaning of Weltschmerz in the German language is the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when realizing that someone's own weaknesses are caused by the inappropriateness and cruelty of the world and (physical and social) circumstances.^[7]

In Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller describes an acquaintance, "Moldorf", who has prescriptions for Weltschmerz on scraps of paper in his pocket. John Steinbeck wrote about this feeling in two of his novels; in East of Eden, Samuel Hamilton feels it after meeting Cathy Trask for the first time, and it is referred to as the Welshrats in The Winter of our Discontent. Ralph Ellison uses the term in Invisible Man with regard to the pathos inherent in the singing of spirituals: "Beneath the swiftness of the hot tempo there was a slower tempo and a cave and I entered it and looked around and heard an old woman singing a spiritual as full of Weltschmerz as flamenco". Kurt Vonnegut references the feeling in his novel Player Piano, in which it is felt by Doctor Paul Proteus and his father. In John D. MacDonald's novel Free Fall in Crimson, Travis McGee describes Weltschmerz as "homesickness for a place you have never seen". In Edward Abbey's novel the Fool's Progress, page 243 discusses protagonist Henry Lightcap's despair and "the Weltschmerz of Europe", amongst other depressing and gloomy states of the world.

References

^ ^a ^b "Weltschmerz | Romantic literary concept". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
^ Georg Büchmann (1898). Geflügelte Worte. Der Citatenschatz des deutschen Volkes. Haude & Spener'sche Buchhandlung (F. Weidling). pp. 223–224. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
^ Beiser, Frederick C. (2016). Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780191081347.
^ "Weltschmerz is the word that perfectly sums up how you're feeling right now". Metro. 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
^ ^a ^b Braun, Wilhelm Afred (1905). Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry. London: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231944823. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
^ Stelzig, Eugene L. (1988). Hermann Hesse's Fictions of the Self: Autobiography and the Confessional Imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-691-06750-3. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
^ Heinssen, Johannes (2003). Historismus und Kulturkritik: Studien zur deutschen Geschichtskultur im späten 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 615. ISBN 9783525351932.

External links

The dictionary definition of Weltschmerz at Wiktionary

[britannica-1] "Weltschmerz | Romantic literary concept". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-06.

[Georg_Büchmann-2] Georg Büchmann (1898). Geflügelte Worte. Der Citatenschatz des deutschen Volkes. Haude & Spener'sche Buchhandlung (F. Weidling). pp. 223–224. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2022-01-31.

[3] Beiser, Frederick C. (2016). Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780191081347.

[4] "Weltschmerz is the word that perfectly sums up how you're feeling right now". Metro. 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-07-18.

[Braun-5] Braun, Wilhelm Afred (1905). Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry. London: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231944823. Retrieved 9 April 2016.

[Stelzig-6] Stelzig, Eugene L. (1988). Hermann Hesse's Fictions of the Self: Autobiography and the Confessional Imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-691-06750-3. Retrieved 9 April 2016.

[Heinssen-7] Heinssen, Johannes (2003). Historismus und Kulturkritik: Studien zur deutschen Geschichtskultur im späten 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 615. ISBN 9783525351932.

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v t e Emotions (list)
Emotions	Acceptance Admiration Adoration Aesthetic Affection Agitation Agony Amusement Anger Angst Anguish Annoyance Anticipation Anxiety Apathy Arousal Attraction Awe Belongingness Boredom Calmness Compassion Confidence Confusion Contempt Contentment Courage Cruelty Curiosity Defeat Depression Desire Disappointment Disgust Distrust Doubt Ecstasy Embarrassment vicarious Emotion work Empathy Emptiness Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Faith Fear Flow Frustration Gratification Gratitude Greed Grief Guilt Happiness Joie de vivre Hatred Hiraeth Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hygge Hysteria Ikigai (sense of purpose) Indulgence Infatuation Insecurity Inspiration Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Joy Kindness Loneliness Love limerence at first sight Lust Mono no aware Neglect Nostalgia Outrage Panic Passion Pity self-pity Pleasure Pride grandiosity hubris insult vanity Rage Regret Rejection Relief Remorse Resentment Revenge Sadness melancholy Saudade Schadenfreude Sehnsucht Sentimentality Shame Shock Shyness Social connection Sorrow Spite Stress chronic Suffering Surprise Sympathy Trust Wonder sense of wonder Worry
Worldviews	Cynicism Defeatism Fatalism Misanthropy Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Weltschmerz
Related	Affect consciousness in education measures in psychology Affective computing forecasting neuroscience science spectrum Affectivity positive negative Appeal to emotion Amygdala hijack Emotion and art and memory and music and sex and sleep classification evolution expressed functional accounts group homeostatic in animals perception recognition in conversation regulation interpersonal work Emotional aperture bias blackmail competence conflict contagion detachment dysregulation eating exhaustion expression and gender intelligence and bullying Empathy quotient intimacy isolation lability labor lateralization literacy prosody reasoning responsivity security symbiosis thought method well-being Emotionality bounded Emotions and culture history in decision-making in the workplace in virtual communication moral self-conscious social social sharing sociology Feeling Group affective tone Interactions between the emotional and executive brain systems Jealousy in art Meta-emotion Pathognomy Pathos Social emotional development Stoic passions Theory affect appraisal constructed emotion discrete emotion somatic marker
Italics indicate emotion names in foreign languages

Further examples

See also

References

External links