Discussed Hofmannsthal's shift in aesthetic thinking in the field of visual arts, particularly the shift from "viewing experience" to "the role of color" in his work "Letter Collection of Returnees". The protagonist feels creativity and achieves aesthetic redemption by observing the colors in Van Gogh's paintings during a cultural crisis. In Hofmann Starr's view, color symbolizes unbreakable perfection and creative potential. Around 1900, the proliferation of visual media prompted literature to become self aware, and modernist writers attempted to dissolve the boundary between language and image. Hofmann Stahl explores the isomorphism between language and imagery through special narrative techniques. The "Collected Letters of Returnees" was initially conceived as a epistolary novel, consisting of five fictional letters divided into two units, with the latter two being more favored by the author. The change in titles from 'The Experience of Watching' to 'Color' reflects the evolution of Hofstadter's poetic and artistic views. This work has a complex intertextual relationship with Hofstadter's other works, and his awareness of intertextuality requires reference and comparison to other works when studying his work. This article will carefully read the text from the perspective of intertextuality, elucidating the process and significance of Hofmann Starr's aesthetic contemplation turning point.

Culture crisis

The opening of the "Collected Letters of Returnees" is similar to the "Chandos Letters", revealing personal crises and conceptual loss. The concept loss experienced by returnees through real viewing is different from the communication difficulties caused by Qian Dos' lack of concept. Returnees' longing for their hometown does not match reality, leading to a crisis of cultural identity. He pursues a consistent character image that contrasts with the divided state of the German people. Returnees use the copperplate paintings of German art master D ü rer from their childhood memories to measure reality, feeling the disappearance of certainty and the disintegration of unity. This cultural crisis requires the reconstruction of symbolic order and cultural meaning through art.

Art Redemption

Hofmannsthal's works often revolve around crises and end with 'Apocalypse Experience', inspiring a thirst for redemption and imbued with theological undertones. The Apocalypse experiences described in "The Chandos Letters" and "The Collected Letters of Returnees" originate from everyday objects and works of art, respectively, subverting the relationship between art and reality and achieving ontological reversal. Hofmannsthal is closely related to the "art religion" around 1900. The discussion of artistic redemption is based on the layout of textual plot, combined with contemporary art theory, analyzing the literary interpretation of the combination relationship between creation and reception, viewing and speech, color and words, and exploring the aesthetic thinking of artistic creativity.

Color mysticism

Explored the redemption effect and magical creativity of color in Van Gogh's paintings, as well as the interactive relationship between color and words. Hofmannsthal regards color as a mysterious force that transcends language, capable of inspiring imagination and creativity. The core theme of letters from returnees is the association between color perception and the thought of life, as well as the combination of color and words. Color is seen as the opposite of language, possessing external, sudden, and overwhelming power, while also being complete and indivisible. Hofmannsthal's interest in color stems from the cross media transformation in the language image relationship, where he compared the two symbol systems of color and language. There is an exciting struggle between colors and words, as well as between different colors. Hofmannsthal combines color mysticism with anthropology to unleash human creativity through intense sensory experiences. The ability of color to stimulate imagination leads to a poetics of imagination or illusion. The mysterious experience described by the returnee in the letter reveals the silent power of color in life and death situations, bringing all things together, subverting the order of meaning, and bringing fleeting ecstasy.