Verwandlungen

Kant, the embodiment of the Enlightenment, of reason, of rationality, attracts writers just as much as the dryness, the systematic nature, the rigorousness of his thinking and writing generate resistance - whether deserved or not. Schiller and Goethe, Holderlin as well as Kleist, even Grillparzer, have engaged with his thinking. Directly or indirectly, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky have creatively grappled with Kant's works. Ironic writers such as Johann David Falk, Bonaventura/Klingemann, Heine or Bernhard were attracted to Kant's writings and character in order to distance themselves, at times playfully, at times spitefully. From the wide spectrum of literary appropriations, this volume addresses some of the facets and transformations that art uses to approach Kant the thinker.