In the literature and philosophy, the ivory tower is an allegory which means the isolation, also isolation, of an artist, which is separated from the actual reality of life, to dedicate itself only to meditation and the creation of art. Furthermore, the ivory tower is a metaphor that stands for a secluded, untouched place. In the Christian tradition, the ivory tower is a symbol of purity. According to today’s understanding, the art production in the ivory tower means an artist who is withdrawn and devoted exclusively to art.
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Today’s understanding of the term is based on the writer and critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, who shaped it and was referred to Alfred de Vigny, one of the most important French romantics. In a letter, which he wrote Abel-François Villemain, he characterizes Victor Hugo as a pioneer, and Alfred de Vigny as one who always stands aside and, as it were, withdraws into his ivory tower. Sainte-Beuve published the letter poem 1837.
This estimation of de Vignys means that this takes out of life and is also a criticism. For this statement implies that de Vigny does not know the reality correctly, and that his work is realistic. Nine years later, in 1846, Sainte-Beuve rebukes this criticism when he finds that he has left [the ivory tower] […] his drama … and his prose […] show that he has never stopped [ of] society.
Nevertheless, the term was, on the one hand, closely linked to the romanticist Alfred de Vigny and, on the other hand, established as a fixed title, and was subsequently used by many poets, writers and literary critics. In the course of time the one-time neologism also found its place in the general usage of language and meant a secluded, untouched retreat.
The picture above shows a section of the painting The Philosopher (1633) by the painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is the depiction of the stereotype of the philosopher who lives in retirement, devoted himself entirely to his studies, and has taken himself out of society. The artist thus lives for his work, deepening himself into theories, creating writings that are ingenious, but have little to do with real life. The term was generally understood to be positive – not so polemical as today.
The term is nowadays often used as an attack, if it characterizes aliens, it was regarded as an ideal in the beginning of the 20th century. As a kind of artistic retreat, which made art possible at all, it was customary to retreat into the (immaterial) ivory tower, to reflect on this, and ultimately to bring about a great retreat from the world, in the reflection on the imagination, Art (see masterpiece). The term is also occupied by Oscar Wilde and Henry James.
Ivory tower at Michael Ende
Ebendie’s motif and the positive idea is also taken up by Michael Ende in his novel The Infinite History. The story tells of Bastian Balthasar Bux, a bookworm teased at school and whose desire for a distant fantasy world, which invites to dream, determines his thoughts and his book taste. Thus the first chapter of the book states:
He did not like books in which, in a miserable and miserable manner, the everyday events were told of the life of some ordinary people. Of this he already had enough in reality, why should he read about it? Besides, he hated it when he realized that he wanted to get him something. And in this kind of books one should always, more or less clearly, be given what. Bastian’s preference was for books that were exciting or funny, or a dream. Books in which fictitious characters experienced fabulous adventures and where one could imagine everything. (M. End: The Infinite History, Thienemann Verlag, Stuttgart 1979.)
Shortly afterwards, Bastian finds a book that seems to give him all this: the infinite story. He immerses himself in the told world and learns that the country, called Phantazia, is doomed because the childish empress, the ruler, falls into oblivion in reality. The childish empress resides in an ivory tower which represents the center of Phantazia and struggles there with death.
This post is not to follow the story, but to the central idea: Bastian finds a book that tells the land of fantasy (phantazia). This threatens to perish, since the exterior, ie the real people, no longer remember phantoms. The center of this land is the ivory tower. The ivory tower can therefore be interpreted as the center of creativity and imagination, which must be visited by real people in order to keep the creativity alive.
In his endless story, Michael Ende describes an ivory tower, which he could also be understood in the 19th and 20th centuries, ie an (immaterial) instance of the retreat that allows an artist to create new creativity and thereby create great things. It would be a mistake to interpret the end of the work as an advocacy of escapism by the Bastian, for he is strengthened after reading. The excursion to the (inner) ivory tower has thus given him strength. See:
There are people who can never come to fantasies […] and there are people who can do it, but they stay there forever. And then there are still some who go to Phantásien and return again. […] And they make both worlds healthy. (supra, Chapter 26)
The ivory tower in the Hohelied
The motif of the ivory tower was used for the first time in the Hohelied, that is, in the Bible. Still, Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, as already mentioned above, used the term in the way it is understood today. Nevertheless, the first literary mention of the ivory tower can not be left unmentioned and should be presented.
The High, more rarely Solomon’s, is a book of the Old Testament. In this case, the “Hohelied” is a collection of tender, sometimes clearly erotic, lyrics or love songs. The search, finding and also the longing of two lovers are themed. Among other things, there is the following:
Your lap is a round basin, spice wine does not mangle. Your body is a wheat hill surrounded by lilies. Your breasts are like two ticks, like the twins of a gazelle. Your neck is a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the ponds to Heshbon […] (High Song 7.5 EU).
However, this is probably due to the purity of the material and its neat, almost soft, surface, which is why there is probably no link between the ivory tower in today’s linguistic usage and the lordship. The fact that the virgin Mary (Virgin Mary), a liturgical prayer (litany), the Virgin Mary is called ivory, is said to be pure in Litania de Beata (Maria Virgine), the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary and noble.
The connection, which consists, is given by the material itself, ie the ivory itself. If the neck of the beloved is designated as ivory, and probably as noble, smooth, and light, there is a parallel. After all, the artist or scholar has retired from his studies and devoted himself to his noble task. For this he is admired, but also mocked as a world-mocking fellow.
Short overview: The most important part of the term at a glance
In the Old Testament of the Bible, the ivory tower can be found in the literature for the first time. A great deal later, in 1837, the literary critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve used the word and gave him the allegorical meaning, which today also shapes the image of the ivory tower in art.
The ivory tower is today considered an untouched, secluded place that does not actually exist and is therefore immaterial. Those who live in the ivory tower are alien to the world and thus deal with their own (spiritual) content. The artist is thus concerned with his science or a work of art, whereby he loses sight of the actual world.
This concept is evaluated quite differently by the outside world. Thus the artist is admired and embodies the ideal of the art-maker when he devotes himself above all to his work (use of the concept in the 19th / 20th century), on the other hand, he is also perceived as the world-destroying, own thing turns.
Accordingly, the term experienced a change in meaning. For the first time he was positively used, when he described an artist who had retired from his work, but nowadays it is increasingly used polemically, that is, attacking and negatively.
Note: The term is often applied to science today. Here, he means the fact that the language of science (cf. technical jargon) is often incomprehensible for the outsider and the academician does not try to change this. This leads to a communication disorder between science and society. Thus, the scientist deliberately resides in the “linguistic” ivory tower and thus sows himself off.