Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays (Works of Frederick Schiller) - Softcover

Schiller, Frederick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0898751748 ISBN 13: 9780898751741

Publisher: University Press of the Pacific, 2001

Synopsis

Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays by Frederick Schiller The special subject of the greater part of the letters and essays of Schiller contained in this volume is Aesthetics; and before passing to any remarks on his treatment of the subject it will be useful to offer a few observations on the nature of this topic, and on its treatment by the philosophical spirit of different ages. First, then, aesthetics has for its object the vast realm of the beautiful, and it may be most adequately defined as the philosophy of art or of the fine arts. To some the definition may seem arbitrary, as excluding the beautiful in nature; but it will cease to appear so if it is remarked that the beauty which is the work of art is higher than natural beauty, because it is the offspring of the mind. Moreover, if, in conformity with a certain school of modern philosophy, the mind be viewed as the true being, including all in itself, it must be admitted that beauty is only truly beautiful when it shares in the nature of mind, and is mind's offspring.

About this title

About the Author:

Friedrich Schiller was a famous German playwright, born in 1759 in the little duchy of Wurttemberg, Germany.

Friedrich von Schiller was the son of an army officer. Although the young boy disliked the strict regimentation of his father's chosen profession, he was forced by the Duke of Wurttemberg to enter a military academy. Trapped and overcome with depression, Schiller began to compose morbid poetry. He found some comfort in these literary diversions, but after composing his first play - The Robbers (1782) -Schiller's writing was discovered by his superiors, and he was forbidden to write. The young dramatist quickly determined to desert the army and flee to Mannheim where he lived under an assumed name and made his living as a court playwright and stage manager. During this period, he penned such plays as Fiesko (1783), Intrigue and Love (1784) and Don Carlos (1787).

Between 1787 and 1798, Schiller wrote no plays, instead devoting himself to historical studies - The Revolt of the Netherlands and A History of the Thirty Years War - that won him fame as a historian. In 1794, however, Schiller established a close friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Under Goethe's influence, Schiller soon returned his attentions to the craft of playwriting and, during the period that followed, composed his most mature dramas including Wallenstein's Camp (1798), The Piccolomini (1799), Wallenstein's Death (1799), Mary Stuart (1800), The Maid of Orleans (1801), and William Tell (1804.) In 1799, he took up residence in Weimar where he and Goethe collaborated to make the Weimar Theatre one of the most prestigious theatrical houses in Germany.

On May 9, 1805, Friedrich Schiller died of tuberculosis. He was only forty-six years old. His plays, however, along with those of Goethe, had established a theatrical renaissance in Germany, which would become known as "Weimar Classicism." For more than a century after his death, Schiller remained the favorite playwright of the German people..

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of the Pacific
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0898751748
• ISBN 13: 9780898751741
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 444