Weltschmerz - Wikipedia Weltschmerz From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search German word for deep sadness about the state of the world For the Canadian comic strip, see Weltschmerz (comic strip). Melancholic figure of a poet. Engraving by J. de Ribera. Weltschmerz (from the German, literally world-pain, also world weariness, pronounced [ˈvɛltʃmɛɐ̯ts]) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul in his 1827 novel Selina.[1] In its original meaning in the Deutsches Wörterbuch by Brothers Grimm, it denotes a deep sadness about the inadequacy or imperfection of the world (tiefe Traurigkeit über die Unzulänglichkeit der Welt). The translation can differ depending on context, in reference to the self it can mean "world weariness", in reference to the world it can mean "the pain of the world". [2] This kind of world view was widespread among several romantic and decadent authors such as Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, William Blake, the Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Giacomo Leopardi, Paul Verlaine, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolaus Lenau,[3] Hermann Hesse,[4] and Heinrich Heine.[3] Frederick C. Beiser defines Weltschmerz more broadly as "a mood of weariness or sadness about life arising from the acute awareness of evil and suffering",[5] and notes that by the 1860s the word was used ironically in Germany to refer to oversensitivity to those same concerns. Contents 1 Further examples 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Further examples[edit] In Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller describes an acquaintance, "Moldorf", who has prescriptions for Weltschmerz on scraps of paper in his pocket. John Steinbeck wrote about this feeling in two of his novels; in East of Eden, Samuel Hamilton feels it after meeting Cathy Trask for the first time, and it is referred to as the Welshrats in The Winter of Our Discontent. 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". Kurt Vonnegut references the feeling in his novel Player Piano, in which it is felt by Doctor Paul Proteus and his father. In John D MacDonald's novel "Freefall in Crimson", Travis McGee describes weltschmerz as "homesickness for a place you have never seen." See also[edit] Acedia Angst Dukkha Koyaanisqatsi Lacrimae rerum Mal du siècle Mean world syndrome Melancholia Mono no aware Philosophical pessimism Nihilism Pathos Saudade Sehnsucht Social alienation Sturm und Drang Suffering Theory of mind Ubi sunt World view References[edit] ^ "Weltschmerz | Romantic literary concept". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-06. ^ "Weltschmerz is the word that perfectly sums up how you're feeling right now". Metro. 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-07-18. ^ a b Braun, Wilhelm Afred (1905). Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry. London: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 9 April 2016. ^ Stelzig, Eugene L. (1988). Hermann Hesse's Fictions of the Self: Autobiography and the Confessional Imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-691-06750-3. Retrieved 9 April 2016. ^ Beiser, Frederick C. (2016). Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860-1900. Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780191081347. External links[edit] The dictionary definition of Weltschmerz at Wiktionary v t e Emotions (list) Emotions Acceptance Adoration Aesthetic emotions Affection Agitation Agony Amusement Anger Angst Anguish Annoyance Anticipation Anxiety Apathy Arousal Attraction Awe Boredom Calmness Compassion Confidence Contempt Contentment Courage Cruelty Curiosity Defeat Depression Desire Despair Disappointment Disgust Distrust Ecstasy Embarrassment Vicarious Empathy Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Fear Flow (psychology) Frustration Gratification Gratitude Greed Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Hiraeth Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hygge Hysteria Indulgence Infatuation Insecurity Inspiration Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Joy Kindness Loneliness Longing Love Limerence Lust Mono no aware Neglect Nostalgia Outrage Panic Passion Pity Self-pity Pleasure Pride Grandiosity Hubris Insult Vanity Rage Regret Social connection Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Melancholy Saudade Schadenfreude Sehnsucht Self-confidence Sentimentality Shame Shock Shyness Sorrow Spite Stress Suffering Surprise Sympathy Tenseness Trust Wonder Worry World views Cynicism Defeatism Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Weltschmerz Related Affect consciousness in education measures in psychology Affective computing forecasting neuroscience science spectrum Affectivity positive negative Appeal to emotion Emotion and art and memory and music and sex classification evolution expressed functional accounts group homeostatic perception recognition in conversation in animals regulation interpersonal work Emotional aperture bias blackmail competence conflict contagion detachment dysregulation eating exhaustion expression intelligence and bullying intimacy isolation lability labor lateralization literacy prosody reasoning responsivity security selection symbiosis well-being Emotionality bounded Emotions and culture in decision-making in the workplace in virtual communication history moral self-conscious social social sharing sociology Feeling Gender and emotional expression Group affective tone Interactions between the emotional and executive brain systems Meta-emotion Pathognomy Pathos Social emotional development Stoic passions Theory affect appraisal discrete emotion somatic marker constructed emotion Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Weltschmerz&oldid=990679238" Categories: Romanticism German words and phrases Suffering Melancholia Words and phrases with no direct English translation Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles containing German-language text Articles containing Latin-language text Articles containing French-language text Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Беларуская Български Bosanski Català Dansk Deutsch Español فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano עברית Македонски Nederlands Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 25 November 2020, at 22:11 (UTC). 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