Description
Book SynopsisThe Aesthetic Revolution in Germany refutes the stereotypical image of Germany as the country of romantic but unworldly poets and thinkers. In 1750, an aesthetic revolution takes place in Germany, at the beginning of which stands J.J. Winckelmann. The romantic movement (Schiller, Hölderlin, Kleist) paves the way for this aesthetic revolution, which Heine is one of the first to criticise. Since then, criticism has never fallen silent. Opposing the rationalisation of the world (Wagner), the aesthetic revolution climaxes in the philosophy of Nietzsche. During the 1920s and 30s, it becomes a conservative revolution (George, Spengler, Th. Mann, Benn) and fails inevitably. Beckmann and M. Walser show that particularly after 1945 the aesthetic perspective is still necessary.
Table of ContentsBirth of the aesthetic man: J.J. Winckelmann – Romantic rebellion – Critical voices – From Heine to Lukács – Aesthetic revolution versus mechanistic world view: Schiller, Hölderlin, Kleist, Wagner – Nietzsche as culmination of the aesthetic perspective – Conservative revolution (George, Spengler, Mann, Benn) – The aesthetic revolution after 1945: Beckmann, M. Walser
