Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a steady stream of young German poets and thinkers coursed to the town of Jena to make history. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had dealt a one-two punch to the dynastic system. Confidence in traditional social, political, and religious norms had been replaced by a profound uncertainty that was as terrifying for some as it was exhilarating for others. Nowhere was the excitement more palpable than among the extraordinary group of poets, philosophers, translators, and socialites who gathered in this Thuringian village of just four thousand residents. Jena became the place for the young and intellectually curious, the site of a new departure, of philosophical disruption. Influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, then an elder statesman and artistic eminence, the leading figures among the disruptors-the translator August Wilhelm Schlegel; the philosophers Fritz Schlegel and Friedrich Schelling; the dazzling, controversial intellectual Caroline Schlegel, married to August; Dorothea Schlegel, a poet and translator, married to Fritz; and the poets Ludwig Tieck and Novalis-resolved to rethink the world, to establish a "Republic of Free Spirits." They didn't just question inherited societal traditions; with their provocative views of the individual and of nature, they revolutionized our understanding of freedom and reality. With wit and elegance, Peter Neumann brings this remarkable circle of friends and rivals to life in Jena 1800, a work of intellectual history that is colorful and passionate, informative and intimate-as fresh and full of surprises as its subjects. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations

An award-winning poet and philosophy professor reveals the history of the German idealist oasis where discussions of revolution, literature, beliefs, romance, and concepts gave birth to the modern world

About the Author
Peter Neumann, born in Neubrandenburg in 1987, studied philosophy, political science, and economics in Jena and Copenhagen. He holds a PhD in philosophy and teaches at the University of Jena, specializing in German Idealism. He is the author of two collections of poetry, which have been awarded several prizes and scholarships. Shelley Frisch's translations from the German, which include biographies of Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Marlene Dietrich/Leni Riefenstahl (dual biography), and Franz Kafka, have been awarded numerous translation prizes. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.


Book Information
ISBN 9780374178697
Author Peter Neumann
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Weight(grams) 370g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 145mm * 25mm