Routledge Library Editions: German Literature

Originally published in 1970, this book surveys the central philosophical and aesthetic doctrines which characterize German Romanticism. A selection of literary, philosophical and political essays by some of the most important German Romantic thinkers illustrates the principal themes: these range from philosophical idealism and aesthetic subjectivism to folklore and emergent German nationalism, from exotica and medievalism to irrationality and the metaphysics of music. Introductory essays explain the significance of the particular aspects of the Romantic tradition which are revealed in each passage, and commentaries not only elucidate allusions and references which are not immediately identifiable, but draw attention to wider issues, either in the work of that author or in the context of 19th Century German culture as a whole.