Titan

Titan, a novel by Jean Paul, published 1800-3 and divided into 35 chapters (‘Jobelperioden’), with 146 subdivisions (‘Zykel’). The eccentric structure of the narrative is matched by a highly complex plot. The hero Albano is heir to the principality of Hohenflies, but is brought up to believe himself the son of a lesser nobleman. When the novel begins, he is on his way to meet his presumptive father on Isola Bella in north Italy. With the librarian Schoppe he is sent to Pestiz, the princely residence of the state of Hohenflies. Here he meets the delicate and ethereal Liane, to whom he is attracted. Intrigues of state separate the lovers and Liane dies. At Ischia, where he visits his sister, he falls in love with Linda de Romeiro, who, though returning his love, is presently seduced by another (Roquairol). Linda proves to be Albano's sister. Albano marries a third beautiful young woman, Idoine, and takes over the government of his state.

The novel, which represents a climax in Jean Paul's creative writing, is a Bildungsroman whose hero represents his ideal of a harmonious personality, described by him as ‘der hohe Mensch’ in order to express his critical detachment from Weimar classicism. In his conception of Schoppe and Roquairol, who function as a foil to Albano, he satirizes Romanticism; they are two ‘titans’ or geniuses (‘Himmelsstürmer’ in Jean Paul's phrase), embodying trends which the novel consigns to oblivion. Schoppe's obsessive preoccupation with the ‘subjective idealism’ of Fichte ends in insanity, and Roquairol's insatiable hedonism and theatrical demeanour come to an appropriate end when he shoots himself. The novel's combination of serious and ironic intent also shows in the nomenclature of its numerical arrangement, expounded in chapter I, 9, ‘Antrittsprogramm des Titans’. Both terms, ‘Jobelperiode’ and ‘Zykel’, were first applied by an 18th-c. Pietist theologian to a system of cosmic measurement of his own invention (‘Jobel’, really ‘Jubel’, derives from the O.T. concept of the year of jubilee, the 50th year, the shorter cycle of 7 years denotes that of release). By adopting the terms Jean Paul displayed his own independence of design and judgement. The novel's involved style is predominantly in tune with that of Empfindsamkeit, and contemporary readers revelled in its effusive emotion. Its most lasting feature is its beautiful and evocative descriptions of landscape, especially by night.