Lectures / 15/11/2009 11:00 am

Art and Science?

Adalbert Stifter and Johannes Kepler’s revolution of the astronomical world view

In Stifter’s oeuvre the Copernican Turn is in evidence in many places. This is the case most strongly in the novella “Prokopus”, which is linked to “Narrenburg”, where the “Zirkelodem der Sterne” (the circular breath of the stars) serves as a motif in an autobiographical context; “Hochwald” and “Nachsommer” are also cases in point. Stifter was shaped by the education he received at the monastery of Kremsmünster. Kremsmünster’s Mathematics Tower features a statue of Kepler and the great astronomer remained a source of consolation, if not of identification for Stifter “in diesem unseligen Linz” (in ill-omened Linz). An excursus into how astrology and astronomy are reflected in literature is designed to encourage an interdisciplinary discussion.