Dorothea Schlegel: emancipação feminina e escrita na primeira fase do romantismo alemão

Abstract

The central aim of this thesis is to reflect on Dorothea Schlegel's active participation as an emancipatory female figure in the Early German Romanticism, understanding, contrary to some critics, the novel Florentin as an aesthetic text with some romantic elements. The aim is to highlight the textual and creative quality of Dorothea Schlegel's novel, its innovative literary procedures, as well as various aspects that place it at the dawn of literary modernity. On the other hand, the thesis also aims to understand the importance of epistolary writing in a context of formation (and often sublimation) of romantic love and friendship. In this sense, the work is organized into four chapters. The first offers a socio-historical approach, outlining some important terms and contexts for understanding the aesthetic and philosophical thinking of the early Romantics of Jena. Concepts such as originality; imitation of art; the relationship between art and life or philosophy and art as part of the romantic unity; valuing reflection in artistic production; and balancing impetus and rationality are discussed. The chapter also addresses the role of women in the 18th century; the importance of salons for the development of the romantic movement and for opening up female participation in the intellectual milieu, as well as the concept of sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit) during this period. The second chapter analyzes the novel Florentin, comparing it with Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde, mainly because the former has been considered a response to the latter. While Friedrich Schlegel's work is widely recognized as a representative of romanticism, Florentin 's merit has been contested by many critics. The aim is to highlight the similarities and differences between the two, as well as the romantic aspects of Dorothea Schlegel's work. The third chapter keeps the novel Florentin as its main material but focuses on the relationship between authorship and reception of the work (also considering Lucinde). To this end, it analyzes the attitude of critics towards a women's novel, the representations of gender roles as examples of female emancipation and a break with patriarchy. Finally, the representation of Dorothea Schlegel as a figure of the Early German Romanticism is highlighted. In the fourth and final chapter, the central material for analysis is Dorothea Schlegel's correspondence with her friend F. D. E. Schleiermacher. The aim is to understand the function of letters as narrative art in Romanticism, to question the established idea that the epistolary genre is naturally the domain of women and to highlight the importance of these texts for the realization of intergender friendship, which gained ground during German Romanticism. What's more, the letters are also considered here to be an important part of the construction of Romantic thought, since in them some ideas were both discussed and developed.