Friedrich von Schlegel

The critic and author Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829) was one of the chief founders of the German romantic movement. He is best known for his writings in literary theory and cultural history.

Friedrich von Schlegel was born in Hanover on March 10, 1772. He studied philosophy and literature at Göttingen University and later at Leipzig. Between 1794 and 1796 he lived in Dresden, later moving to Jena, making acquaintances in the literary circles of both cities. In Jena, Schlegel was especially influenced by the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, whose teachings he later applied to literary theory.

In 1797 Schlegel moved to Berlin, where he associated with such romantic writers as Ludwig Tieck. In 1798 Schlegel published two essays, Vom Studium der griechischen Poesie (On the Study of Greek Poetry) and Geschichte der Poesie der Griechen und Römer (History of the Poetry of the Greeks and Romans), in which he expounded the thesis that the Greeks had achieved perfect harmony in their civilization and art. With other members of the romantic movement he edited the literary quarterly Athenaeum (1798-1800). In its pages he developed his literary theories—he considered romantic poetry to be a "progressively universal poetry," expanding its subject matter to include all aspects of life. An example of such "poetry" was Schlegel's experimental novel, Lucinde (1799), in which he analyzed the psychological details of his relationship with Dorothea Veit, the daughter of the Jewish intellectual Moses Mendelssohn. Friedrich and Dorothea were married in 1804.

After teaching briefly at the University of Jena, Schlegel moved to Paris in 1802, where he studied Oriental literature and culture. In 1808 he went to Cologne, converted to Roman Catholicism, and published a study of Indian culture, Ü ber die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians).

Although Schlegel had previously taught absolute freedom in thought and action and preached free love in his novel, in later years he tended toward increasing intellectual and political conservatism. He became affiliated with the Austrian government, at that time a reactionary force in European politics. In 1809 he became court secretary in Vienna, although he continued his literary activities. Between 1810 and 1812 he gave lectures in Vienna on medieval poets as forerunners of romanticism, and he perfected his philosophy of history, which viewed national cultures as organic developments. Among his translated lectures are The Philosophy of History, The Philosophy of Life and the Philosophy of Language, and The History of Literature.

In 1815 Schlegel assisted the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna. In his later years he served as editor of the conservative journal Concordia. He died in Dresden on Jan. 12, 1829.

Further Reading

The best extensive treatment of Schlegel, especially his theoretical writings, is in Oskar Walzel, German Romanticism (1932). Walzel demonstrates Schlegel's central importance as a romantic theorist. More general discussions of Schlegel's life and work are in Walter Silz, Early German Romanticism (1929), and Ralph Tymms, German Romantic Literature (1955).

Additional Sources

Eichner, Hans, Friedrich Schlegel, New York, Twayne Publishers 1970.

Peter, Klaus, Friedrich Schlegel, Stuttgart: Metzler, 1978. □

Friedrich von Schlegel , 1772–1829, German philosopher, critic, and writer, most prominent of the founders of German romanticism . Educated in law at Göttingen and Leipzig, he turned to literature, writing Die Griechen und Römer (1797). It was followed by experimental literary works, notably Lucinde (1799) and Alarcos (1802). With his brother, August Wilhelm von Schlegel, he founded and edited the Athenaeum, the principal organ of the romantic school. His lectures at Jena (1800) and in Paris (1802) had a widespread influence. His study in Paris of Sanskrit and of Indian civilization later contributed to his outstanding work, Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier [on the language and wisdom of India] (1808). From 1808 to 1819 he engaged in political and diplomatic activities and also wrote works in history and literature. At Vienna, after 1818, he edited Concordia, issued his collected works (1822–25), and lectured on philosophy. Schlegel, during his early period, held that comprehension of life depends on the richness and variety of experience. He called it "romantic irony" that truth changes from experience to experience and that wisdom depends on the recognition of the fickleness of truth. Later, after he and his wife, Dorothea von Schlegel, had joined (1808) the Roman Catholic Church, he became more conservative. Among his translated lectures are The Philosophy of History (tr. 1835), The Philosophy of Life and the Philosophy of Language (tr. 1847), and The History of Literature (tr. 1859).

Schlegel, Friedrich von (1772–1829), younger brother of A. W. von Schlegel, notable for his studies of the history of literature, and for his theory of ‘romantic irony’, or the consciousness on the part of the artist of the gap between the ideal artistic goal and the limited possibilities of achievement.