Die praxis der Übersetzung

Abstract

Around 1800, to be more precise, in Early German Romanticism, a decisive leap to an aesthetic imperative of form is being articulated. This new concept of form borrows its template from (empirical) life, where again in the concept of “vital force” (Lebenskraft) the origin for the drive of life is thought? to be found. This paper aims to investigate how this concept, emerging? in the life sciences, not only is being implemented into, but is also declared to be the motor of the life of literature. The initial observation of this investigation is the statement that (the) life (of literature) comes into being because force gives it form. Literature, in turn, can bring this process to view – this is its epistemological merit. Because literature in Early German Romanticism not only elevates itself to a form of life, but also sees the shaping of life as the result of an engagement with literature, the propaedeutic of which is in turn itself, literature – according to the hypothesis – becomes the vital force of life and thus praxis.