Novalis, Heinrich von Ofterdingen

Dennis Mahoney (University of Vermont)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1799 - 1802

Places

Germany, Saxony-Anhalt (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Heinrich von Ofterdingen

[

Henry von Ofterdingen

], whose protagonist’s dream of the Blue Flower in the opening pages of the novel has become the epitome of Romantic longing for the infinite, is a prime example of the German Romantics’ reaction in theory and practice to Goethe’s

Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre

[

Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship

, 1795-96]. In 1798 Friedrich Schlegel called Goethe’s novel one of the three greatest tendencies of the age, alongside the French Revolution and the philosopher Fichte’s

Wissenschaftslehre

[

Science of Knowledge

, 1794-95], and also published a highly laudatory review of

Wilhelm Meister

in the journal

Athenaeum

, the theoretical organ of Early German Romanticism that he and his brother August Wilhelm Schlegel edited. Two years later, also in…

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2528 words

Citation: Mahoney, Dennis. "Heinrich von Ofterdingen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14310, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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