Die romantische Ironie in Theorie und Gestaltung

This study edition is an unaltered reprint of the 2nd edition of the work published in 1977. Its subject is of equal interest for research on (German) Romanticism and for problems of art theory in the modern age. Romantic irony is discussed first in terms of the theories behind it (F. Schlegel, Solger, etc.) and then in terms of structural features of literary works displaying its effects (Novalis, Tieck, E.T.A. Hoffmann). Both here and in the outward appearance of the works themselves, it is possible to discern a specific kind of reflection as the outward and visible token of the intellectually productive side of Romantic art. It is this that gives romantic irony its status as a principle of general significance over and above the period in which it made its appearance.