The Life of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Cosmopolitan of Art and Poetry by Roger Paulin (review)

“Once one overlooked his idiosyncrasies, there emerged a man of immense learning, acuity and perspicacity, whom one would not hesitate to mention in one breath with Lessing” (541). This is Roger Paulin’s characterization of August Wilhelm Schlegel in the first comprehensive biography on the older of the Schlegel brothers. While the shadow of Friedrich looms large, August Wilhelm’s long life, a plethora of sources, and his many intellectual endeavors present a serious challenge for any biographer. Consequently, it is reasonable to question the feasibility and justification of this project. Paulin acknowledges at the beginning that “it may seem on the face of it hard to define what makes [Schlegel] biography-worthy” (2), while simultaneously affirming that Schlegel’s achievements warrant a study in such detail. Correspondingly, it is more than apt to call Schlegel a “cosmopolitan of art and poetry”; he must be regarded highly as a philosopher, critic, (Sanskrit) philologist, historian, editor, as well as one of the instigators of German Romanticism. And it is no surprise that this biography goes beyond the narrow confines of the genre, offering to some extent a study on the literary culture and the political situation in Europe between 1767–1845.

Schlegel’s reception has traditionally been somewhat mixed, due not least to Heine’s attack in Die Romantische Schule, but Paulin also details Schlegel’s character, vanities (e.g., 62, 370, 416, 509, especially 536), and the many feuds with contemporaries, of which his attack on Schiller was perhaps the most damaging. In fact, the widespread dislike toward Schlegel manifested itself well before Heine’s criticism, which addressed readers in France and targeted Madame de Staël specifically, as well as Schlegel’s role as her “right-hand man for [ . . . ] De l’Allemagne” (235). Paulin confirms that “August Wilhelm’s influence on de Staël was evident in some of the sections,” but emphasizes that “De l’Allemagne was idiosyncratically and unrepentantly hers: [Schlegel] would never have written anything containing sections so uncoordinated, garrulous, anecdotal or unsystematic” (337). Heine took offense primarily at de Staël’s view of Germany and “German Romanticism’s perceived pact with Catholicism and the Middle Ages” (545). But by 1835, as Paulin notes, both Friedrich and de Staël were dead, thus “the full force of the assassination thrust intended for both brothers was therefore directed towards August Wilhelm alone” (ibid.). Further injury was added by Heine’s insinuation of Schlegel’s sexual impotence, elevation of Goethe and other anti-Romantics, and devastating judgment about the perceived “Romantic Catholicism” that lead to “the Carlsbad Decrees” (ibid.). In the end, the nineteenth century despised August Wilhelm more than any other of the German Romantics.

Paulin is quite successful in presenting a different, corrective view, and this alone provides ample evidence for the necessity of this biography. As Paulin understands his task, it is “to strip away the accumulation of prejudices that have accompanied his reputation, and to present him not as he was [ . . . ] but as he might reasonably be seen, with all of his faults and also his virtues” (5). The wealth of sources and the abundance of additional information on Schlegel’s contemporaries, the political situation, and historical events add to this biography’s success. What Paulin has amassed in more than 650 pages is no small feat. Readers are treated to an in-depth look into the life of an intellectual who saw the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars (from afar), was a close companion of Napoleon’s most celebrated and distinguished foes, and participated in the Wars of Liberation as a secretary to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, later king of Sweden.

Besides chronologically ordered biographical information, the text is filled with anecdotes, diversions, sometimes more about others than about Schlegel. Occasionally it thus reads more like a cultural journey through Schlegel’s Europe. One...