Heinrich von Ofterdingen [Henry von Ofterdingen], whose protagonist’s dream of the Blue Flower in the opening pages of the novel has become the epitome of Romantic longing for the infinite, is a prime example of the German Romantics’ reaction in theory and practice to Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre [Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, 1795-96]. In 1798 Friedrich Schlegel called Goethe’s novel one of the three greatest tendencies of the age, alongside the French Revolution and the philosopher Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre [Science of Knowledge, 1794-95], and also published a highly laudatory review of
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Citation: Mahoney, Dennis. "Heinrich von Ofterdingen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 September 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14310, accessed 24 November 2024.]
