The Life of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Cosmopolitan of Art and Poetry

Description

This is the first full-scale biography, in any language, of a towering figure in German and European Romanticism: August Wilhelm Schlegel whose life, 1767 to 1845, coincided with its inexorable rise. As poet, translator, critic and oriental scholar, Schlegel's extraordinarily diverse interests and writings left a vast intellectual legacy, making him a foundational figure in several branches of knowledge. He was one of the last thinkers in Europe able to practise as well as to theorise, and to attempt to comprehend the nature of culture without being forced to be a narrow specialist. With his brother Friedrich, for example, Schlegel edited the avant-garde Romantic periodical Athenaeum; and he produced with his wife Caroline a translation of Shakespeare, the first metrical version into any foreign language. Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature were a defining force for Coleridge and for the French Romantics. But his interests extended to French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literature, as well to the Greek and Latin classics, and to Sanskrit. August Wilhelm Schlegel is the first attempt to engage with this totality, to combine an account of Schlegel’s life and times with a critical evaluation of his work and its influence. Through the study of one man's rich life, incorporating the most recent scholarship, theoretical approaches, and archival resources, while remaining easily accessible to all readers, Paulin has recovered the intellectual climate of Romanticism in Germany and traced its development into a still-potent international movement. The extraordinarily wide scope and variety of Schlegel's activities have hitherto acted as a barrier to literary scholars, even in Germany. In Roger Paulin, whose career has given him the knowledge and the experience to grapple with such an ambitious project, Schlegel has at last found a worthy exponent. The Department of German and Dutch, University of Cambridge, and Trinity College, Cambridge, have generously contributed towards the publication of this volume. Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction A Note on Sources A Note on Money 1. Family, Childhood and Youth (1767-1794) Antecedents ‘From One House Four Such Marvellous Minds’ Johann Adolf Schlegel Growing Up in Hanover Siblings Childhood and Schooling Göttingen Gottfried August Bürger: ‘Young Eagle’ The First Translations Johann Dominik Fiorillo Caroline Michaelis-Böhmer Summer 1791-Summer 1795: Amsterdam, Mainz, Leipzig Caroline’s Tribulations Schlegel in Amsterdam ‘Du, Caroline und ich’: Friedrich Schlegel 2. Jena and Berlin (1795-1804) ‘Devoting Myself Exclusively to the Profession of a Writer’ 2.1 Jena Die Horen Goethe and Schiller on the Attack: The Xenien Schlegel’s Reviews: Language, Metrics Dante The Shakespeare Translation The Wilhelm Meister Essay The Jena Group The Genesis of the Athenaeum The Group Meets in Dresden Professor in Jena The Fichte Affair The Scandal of Lucinde Foregathering in Jena The First Strains The Death of Auguste Böhmer Elegies for the Dead and the Living Schlegel’s Contributions to the Athenaeum The Essays on Art Schlegel’s Lectures in Jena 2.2 Berlin (1801-1804) The End of Jena: Controversies and Polemics The Essay on Bürger Sophie Tieck-Bernhardi The Ion Fiasco Polemics, Caricatures and Lampoons Friedrich Schlegel’s Europa Calderón 2.3 The Berlin Lectures 3. The Years with Madame de Staël (1804-1817) Holding Things Together Germaine de Staël-Holstein Madame de Staël and Germany The Meeting of Staël and Schlegel Schlegel in Coppet In Italy with Madame de Staël 1804-1805 3.1 With Madame de Staël in Coppet and Acosta 1805-1807 The Writer in Diaspora Considérations sur la civilisation en général On some Tragic Roles of Madame de Staël Corinne, ou l’Italie Swiss Journeyings with Albert de Staël Comparaison entre la Phèdre de Racine et celle d’Euripide (1807) 3.2 Vienna Travelling to Vienna with Madame de Staël Friedrich Schlegel: Rome and India The Vienna Lectures Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature Further Travels Back to Coppet De l’Allemagne Holed up in Berne The Dash to Vienna De l’Allemagne: The Book Itself The Last Days in Coppet 3.3 The Flight: Caught Up in History Through Germany, Austria and Russia, to Sweden In the Service of Bernadotte: The Political Pamphleteer Political and Military Developments 1813-1814 England and France 1814 The Return to Scholarship Italy, Coppet, Paris: The Death of Madame de Staël 3.4 Scholarly Matters Learned Reviews Medieval Studies The Nibelungenlied 4. Bonn and India (1818-1845) 4.1 Bonn ‘Chevalier de plusieurs ordres’ Auguste and Albertine The European Celebrity Friedrich Schlegel in Frankfurt Marriage The University of Bonn The Bonn Professor The Carlsbad Decrees The Professor’s Day Teacher and Taught The Content of the Lectures 4.2 India The Indische Bibliothek Paris and London 1820-1823 Educating the Young Paris and London Again The Sanskrit Editions 5. The Past Returns Friedrich Schlegel Ludwig Tieck Goethe The 1827 Art Lectures in Berlin Heinrich Heine 5.1 The Last Years 1834-1845 The Works of Frederick the Great Illness and Death Epilogue Short Biographies Select Bibliography Primary Texts Texts and Editions of August Wilhelm Schlegel Secondary Literature List of Illustrations Main Text Short Biographies Index