Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde and the Fragments (English and German Edition)

Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde and the Fragments was first published in 1971. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.For the last century and a half, Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) has enjoyed a reputation for being the critical grey eminence behind the coming to power of the Romantic Movement. It was Schlegel, in his three series of aphoristic fragments (Lyceum, Athenaeum, and Ideas), who actually first defined and employed the word "romantic" in the present sense; and it was he who in a chaotic, fragmentary, and often mysterious but forceful manner first proclaimed the doctrine that was to usher in the modern age in literature. He too was among the first to put his new program into practice in the shape of his unfinished Lucinde,a work variously denounced as pornography and heralded as a forerunner of modern novelistic experimentation, and probably the most famous novel to come out of German Romanticism.Both the Fragments and Lucinde,along with a brilliant tour de force, the "Essay on Incomprehensibility," are available now for the first time in a complete English translation in this volume, together with a brief scholarly introduction. This translation will enable non-German readers to examine at first hand the work of a man whom Rene Wellck has called "one of the greatest critics of history." At a time when the function of criticism is coming once again under close skeptical scrutiny, Friedrich Schlegel's unorthodox, unsystematic but seminal critical mind—all of literature, philosophy, art, and history were grist to his mill—should find many sympathetic readers. The book will be of particular interest to theorists of literature and fiction, comparative literature scholars, and historians of the intellectual history of Germany, and it is appropriate for course use in German and comparative literature classes. For the last century and a half, Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) has enjoyed a reputation for being the critical grey eminence behind the coming to power of the Romantic Movement. It was Schlegel, in his three series of aphoristic fragments (Lyceum, Athenaeum, and Ideas), who actually first defined and employed the word romantic in the present sense; and it was he who in a chaotic, fragmentary, and often mysterious but forceful manner first proclaimed the doctrine that was to usher in the modern age in literature. He too was among the first to put his new program into practice in the shape of his unfinished Lucinde, a work variously denounced as pornography and heralded as a forerunner of modern novelistic experimentation, and probably the most famous novel to come out of German Romanticism. Both the Fragments and Lucinde, along with a brilliant tour de force, the Essay on Incomprehensibility, are available now for the first time in a complete English translation in this volume, together with a brief scholarly introduction. This translation will enable non-German readers to examine at first hand the work of a man whom Rene Wellck has called one of the greatest critics of history. At a time when the function of criticism is coming once again under close skeptical scrutiny, Friedrich Schlegels unorthodox, unsystematic but seminal critical mind -- all of literature, philosophy, art, and history were grist to his mill -- should find many sympathetic readers. The book will be of particular interest to theorists of literature and fiction, comparative literature scholars, and historians of the intellectual history of Germany, and it is appropriate for course use in German and comparative literature classes. The photos of Friedrich Schlegel and his wife Dorthea Veit are used by permission of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Staatsbibliothek der Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany, respectively. Contents......Page 12 Introduction......Page 16 Lucinde, A Novel......Page 54 Fragments......Page 154 Critical Fragments......Page 156 From Blütenstaub......Page 173 Athenaeum Fragments......Page 174 Ideas......Page 254 On Incomprehensibility......Page 270 Index......Page 286 F......Page 288 N......Page 289 X......Page 290 Contents 12 Introduction 16 Lucinde, A Novel 54 Fragments 154 Critical Fragments 156 From Blütenstaub 173 Athenaeum Fragments 174 Ideas 254 On Incomprehensibility 270 Index 286 A 288 B 288 C 288 D 288 E 288 F 288 G 289 H 289 I 289 J 289 K 289 L 289 M 289 N 289 O 290 P 290 R 290 S 290 T 290 V 290 W 290 X 290 Lucinde.--fragments: Critical Fragments. From Blütenstaub. Athenaeum Fragments. Ideas.--on Incomprehensibility. Translated With An Introduction By Peter Firchow. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.