Kunstmärchen - Wackenroder's A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint

Wackenroder's A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint, unlike many traditional fairy tales, is not perfectly clear on the moral message of the story. One gets the idea that the message is to enjoy life and not dwell upon the aging process, but this is debatable at best. And although the character is described as a Saint, the theme is not overtly Christian, if it even is at all. It emphasizes the significance and power of love. Although the ending is not particularly unhappy, as many Kunstmärchen endings are, it is not particularly happy either. The Naked Saint just moves on with his life, for the first time ever.

In my opinion, the music written on the the page is extremely weak. It evoked little emotion and thus the Naked Saint's strong reaction to it seemed out of sync with the story to me. Poetic language is never as powerful as music, however, when the music must be read rather than heard, poetic language is superior.

The Naked Saint and Music

Wackenroder frames his tale at the beginning much like a fairy tale in that the setting involves an indeterminate time and place. He also introduces a sort of magic into the story by describing the naked saints as “the wondrous recipients of a higher genius, who have taken on human form after having drifted from the realm of the firmament and consequently do not know how to act like human beings” (296). However, much like other fairy tales, Wackenroder does not try to explain this phenomenon any further to the reader. The naked saint is also subject to some sort of a curse because “the constant roar of the wheel of time did not allow him to rest and do anything on earth – to act, to effect, to be productive” (298). Much like curses in other fairy tales, the naked saint’s spell was broken through the fulfillment of a longing, which in his case was to hear music. Then after the spell is broken, in the tradition of fairy tales, the naked saint undergoes a transformation through which he becomes a spirit “woven from a soft vapor” (299).

I think that both music and poetic language can be very powerful but in different ways because they appeal to different senses. Music appeals to our sense of hearing in a way that I do not think poetic language can, even if it is read aloud. The fact that music can affect us even without words makes it very powerful in a way different from poetic language. Poetic language can also be very powerful and can display musical qualities in the meter, diction, and so on, yet it can never take the place of music. I think Wackenroder’s attempt to show the transformative power of music in this tale falls short of his intentions. I am not sure that poetic language could ever be successful in demonstrating the power Wackenroder believes music holds. The difference between hearing beautiful music and reading beautiful poetic language is best demonstrated by Wackenroder’s description of the music in the story. He writes, “Sweet horns and countless magical instruments enticed a whirling world of tones to ring forth, and a song arose from the undulating music” (298). This sentence provides an excellent example of beautiful prose and sets the scene nicely, however it cannot create the actual music for the reader and thus remains less powerful than to the music itself. The transformative power of the music for the monk is quite obvious from Wackenroder’s description but with only words to describe it the music cannot have the same effect on the reader as it does for the monk.

Kunstmärchen and other umlaut-like things.

Certainly "A Wonderous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint" is much different than the tales we are used to. Structurally, it breaks many of the rules of the fairytale genre. There are no sets of three, no magical gifts, no distinct "hero" role. However, there is magic. The protagonist does become enlightened by the end of the tale, and certainly the way this comes about is fantastical, as is the premise of the story to begin with. So in the sense that a character set in a fantastical setting (without questioning its whimsy) is changed by magical happenings and does presumably live happily ever after, this is a fairytale.

In regards to music, while the italicized lyrics do a good job of verbalizing music, of representing music as words, it doesn't take the place of music. As a musician and a writer, I can imagine that Wackenroder intends us to imagine a song, and does his best to recreate that in written word as best he can, but the lyrics don't replace the music. They are separate, and it is still music that we are intended to experience, however imaginitively.

Naked Saint Response

Translated by Jack Zipes, A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint contains many elements characteristic of the fairytale genre. The story has the unreal element of the naked saint who is turning "the powerful rushing wheel" of time (298). The naked saint is also a rather mythical/uncommon character - he did "not know how to act like [a] human being" and is described as being "trapped in the whirlpool of his wild confusion" (296, 297). He has a magic and symbolic task or quest of having to always turn the wheel of time. And although he tries to resist the pull, he cannot until he hears the enlightening element of music. The most strikingly obvious shared characteristic with the fairytale genre is the transformation that overcomes the saint after hearing music for the first time. The tale also addresses cultural and historical aspects of the Orient and their legend of the "naked saint." The Kunstmarchen subset is defined as a more literary and artistic form of the fairytale genre - this is certainly found in A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint where the tale seems like it started from an oral tradition but was embellished upon extensively.

In terms of this tale, the relationship between poetic language and music is intertwined in my opinion. Music does set the naked saint free of his insane turning of the wheel of time, but we don't witness a loss of poetic language in the tale itself. After hearing the lovers music, the naked saint transforms into an ethereal being who dances "up and down in heavenly delight, back and forth upon the white clouds that swam in the airy space" (299). Although the saint does not talk anymore after the music enters the tale, the language of the tale itself is still quite beautiful and poetic. For the saint specifically, I do not think the power of music is also accessible in language, with "his wild garbled speeches" and "wild, loud laughter" (297). But perhaps for the other characters there is that possibility. Especially after them having "watched the nocturnal wonder with astonishment" (299). His transformation might clue them into the power of music in personal enlightenment - moving them away from the rudimentary troubles of worrying about time, to being able to enjoy the heavens of the world they exist in.

Assignment 9 - 31. March 2009

Hi Lydia, Brian, Caitlin, Amy-Lee and Briana,

Here is this week's assignment. Please take note of the deadlines.

Read Wackenroder's A Wondrous Oriental Tale of a Naked Saint and do the following:

1. Using elements from this tale, explain how it fits into the Fairy Tale/Kunstmärchen genre.

2. Trace the relationship of music and poetic language. Is the power evoked by music also accessible to language or does language merely point out to music and/or what music does.

Deadline for posts: 10.00 a.m. on Wednesday

Deadline for comments on a minimum of two posts: Midnight on Wednesday


Looking forward to your posts!

Ann