Wednesday, November 13, 2024

With Inner Devotion

Novalis, «Christianity or Europe: 1799», in Philosophical, Literary, and Poetic Writings, tr. James D. Reid (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 242:

. . . [L]oving souls preserve locks of hair or notes from their deceased sweethearts,1 and feed upon their sweet ardor until death reunites them. With inner devotion one collected everything that once belonged to these beloved souls, and those who received or only touched one of these consoling relics considered themselves fortunate.

1. According to the editors of HKA, Novalis did just this after the death of Sophie. 

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