Weltschmerz

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For the Canadian comic strip, see Weltschmerz (comic strip).

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Weltschmerz (from the German, meaning world-pain or world-weariness, pronounced [ˈvɛltʃmɛɐ̯ts]) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind. This kind of world view was widespread among several romantic authors such as Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, Nikolaus Lenau, Hermann Hesse, and Heinrich Heine. It is also used to denote the feeling of sadness when thinking about the evils of the world—compare empathy, theodicy.

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. Weltschmerz in this meaning can cause depression, resignation and escapism, and can become a mental problem (compare to Hikikomori). The modern meaning should also be compared with the concept of anomie, or a kind of alienation, that Émile Durkheim wrote about in his sociological treatise Suicide.

Applications

John Steinbeck wrote about this feeling in The Winter of Our Discontent and referred to it as the Welshrats; and in East of Eden, Samuel Hamilton feels it after meeting Cathy Trask for the first time. 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." In music, pseudo-Weltschmerz, and especially dark "romanticism," play an important part in Gothic rock. Kurt Vonnegut references this feeling in his novel Player Piano; it is felt by Doctor Paul Proteus and his father.

In popular culture

• Song title from the band The Cutler on their Black Flag album.
• Defined and used to provide psychological counsel in Season 3 Episode 11 of The Big Bang Theory episode entitled "The Maternal Congruence"
• In Marian Keyes' novel Sushi for Beginners.
• In the novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
• Album title of the Michigan based band, Men As Trees^[1]
• In the song "Ratni profiteri" (War profiteers) by Croatian singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić
• In a song titled "Radostan dan" (Joyful Day) by Serbian band Ekatarina Velika (EKV), "Ti si volela moj Weltschmerz" (You loved my Weltschmerz).
• In the novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
• In 1973, the New York City art music collective People's Victory Orchestra and Chorus released an album entitled Weltschmerzen.
• Song title from Napalm Death's Smear Campaign album.
• Confuse-a-Cat-Ltd, in: Monty Python's Flying Circus, Season 1 - Episode 05 - Man's Crisis Of Identity; Recorded 03-10-69, Aired 16-11-69

See also

• Acedia
• Angst
• Dukkha
• Nihilism
• Lacrimae rerum
• Mal du siècle
• Mean World Syndrome
• Melancholia
• Mono no aware
• Pathos
• Saudade
• Sehnsucht
• Social alienation
• Sturm und Drang
• Suffering
• Weltanschauung
• Worldview

References

v t e Emotions (list) Emotions Adoration Affection Agony Awe Amusement Anger Anguish Annoyance Anxiety Arousal Attraction Caring Compassion Contempt Contentment Defeat Dejection Depression Desire Despair Disappointment Disgust Ecstasy Embarrassment Empathy Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Fear Frustration Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hysteria Infatuation Insecurity Insult Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Loneliness Longing Love Lust Melancholy Neglect Optimism Panic Passion Pity Pleasure Pride Rage Regret Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Sentimentality Shame Shock Sorrow Spite Suffering Surprise Sympathy Tenseness Thrill Revenge Wonder Worry Diligence Zest Worldviews Compatibilism Existentialism Fatalism Incompatibilism Metaphysics Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Social justice Weltschmerz Source: Parrott, W. (2001), Emotions in Social Psychology, Psychology Press, Philadelphia.