- Blue Flower
The Blue Flower ( _de. Blaue Blume) is a central symbol of
Romanticism . It stands for desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable.Local blue-blooming flowers such as the
Chicory orCornflower are often seen as parallels to the "blue flower."Fact|date=June 2007Origins
German author
Novalis first used the symbol in his unfinished novel of formation, entitled "Heinrich von Ofterdingen ". After contemplating a meeting with a stranger, the young Heinrich von Ofterdingen dreams about blue flowers which call to him and absorb his attention. (TheJapan ese translation of the novel was entitled "Aoi Hana" (青い花), literally "blue flower," emphasizing the motif.)Use of the symbol
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff wrote a poem called "Die blaue Blume" (The blue flower).Adelbert von Chamisso saw the core of Romanticism in the motif, and Goethe searched for the "Urpflanze" or "original plant" inItaly , which in some interpretations could refer to the blue flower.English writer
Penelope Fitzgerald 's historical novel "The Blue Flower" is based on Novalis's early life. InJohn Le Carré ’s 1968 novel "A Small Town in Germany ", the character Bradfield says, "I used to think I was a Romantic, always looking for the blue flower." (Pan edition, p. 286 – chap. 17) Substance D, a fictitious drug inPhilip K. Dick 's 1977 novel "A Scanner Darkly ", is derived from a plant with blue flowers.Manga artist and authorTakako Shimura 's manga series "Aoi Hana" (English title "Sweet Blue Flowers") is about idealistic, Romantic-style affection between female high school students. In the anime "Blood+ " the otherworldly blue flower is the symbol of evil Diva."Blue Flower" is the name of a song by the British avant-garde pop band of the early 1970s,
Slapp Happy , later covered by the 1990s bandMazzy Star . "Blue Flowers" is a song by the alternativeMC ,Kool Keith (AKA Dr. Octagon), on his 1996 album, "Dr. Octagonecologyst ".Wandervogel movement
In
1960 Werner Helwig published the book "The Blue Flower of theWandervogel " ("Die blaue Blume des Wandervogels") a history of theyouth movement . Within the movement, a number of folk songs used the motif.The German student movement of the 60's
In
Berlin in 1968, one slogan of theGerman student movement stated "Schlagt die Germanistik tot, färbt die blaue Blume rot!" ("StrikeGermanistics dead, color the blue flower red!") The discipline of Germanistics was targeted as a sclerotic field, not suited to the needs of the people of the present.Television, Film, and Theatre
In the movie follow-up to
David Lynch 's television series "Twin Peaks ", entitled "", two FBI agents are informed about their upcoming task through a woman named Lil. On her lapel is a tiny, artificial blue rose, clearly symbolic of something; but when Sam asks, Chet simply replies, "But I can't tell you about that."Blue flowers are featured in the 2005 film "
Batman Begins ". In it, blue flowers are used as the source of a fear-intensifying hallucinogenic drug. The drug is used byRa's al Ghul and Dr. Jonathan Crane (the Scarecrow), who plan to terrorizeGotham City by weaponizing the drug into a concentrated powder form and release it into the city's water supply.Blue flowers are again used as the source of the fictitious drug Substance D in the 2006 adaptation of
Philip K. Dick 's novel "A Scanner Darkly ".James and Ruth Bauer, husband and wife collaborative team, wrote an unconventional music theatre piece entitled "The Blue Flower" at the turn of the 21st century. Speaking through liberally fictionalized versions of artists
Max Beckmann ,Franz Marc , andHannah Hoch as well as pivotal female scientific figureMarie Curie , the piece works with the romantic significance of the blue flower as it meditates on the brutal political and cultural turmoil ofWorld War I , the short livedWeimar Republic , andAdolf Hitler 's rise to power in theNazi Party .References
*Werner Helwig: "Die Blaue Blume des Wandervogels". Deutscher Spurbuchverlag, 1998. ISBN 3-88778-208-9
External links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.