“ I Drink Love to Get Strong”: Bettina Brentano von Arnim’s Romantic Philosophy and Dialogue in Die Günderode

This article analyzes interpersonal communication in the form of the dialogue as it manifests itself in the modern letter as developed by Bettina Brentano von Arnim in her epistolary novel Die Günderode. For Brentano von Arnim, the salon and letters form the site of aesthetic experience where real life is manifest. The author creates diverse strategies that imitate the presence of the dialogue partner and in so doing, borrows creatively from Romantic concepts of sociability and symphilosophy. Even though the dialogues in Die Günderode encompass a myriad of topics, they each address different forms of love. The author links love specifically to the creative process of writing embedded in the act of speaking, because love is rooted in spirituality. Hence love, as the elemental force that informs all aspects of life, is tied to spoken and written dialogue.