A Theory of the Modern European Novel

German Romanticism marked a fundamental break in the history of human experience and perception: the transition form a metaphysically self-contained concept of reality to one that was open even in itself. This openness was cultivated in Romantic essays by a purposeful lack of system and of unambiguous terminology; and as only the novel, once it was liberated from the strict limitations of a genre, could achieve what was vital for Romanticism - to create worlds without a predetermined order to fence reality -, Romanticism defined it to be an experimental, open work of art and thus found a support in a literary and cultural tradition of its own. Although Romanticism has remained the least accessible among all phenomenons in the history of literature and ideas, it is still the most similar to our present days: due to the comparable problem of reality perception, postmodern thinking and literature have developed concepts of reality, theory and art that postmodern thinking and literature have developed concepts of reality, theory and art that are close to those of Romanticism. In the face of a fragmented reality reproduced by mass media that cannot even be systematized by a deliberately scientific philosophy, postmodern thinkers have begun, even in the formal constitution of their theories, to inveigh against the efforts of systematization in modern philosophy and especially against the dominant school after Romanticism, 19th century historic philosophy; the self-contained concept of reality represented by this school rejected the grotesque and fantastic elements of Romanticism, the topic of contingency and even Romantic theories by denouncing them as irrational. As a parallel, postmodern narrative literature readopts the Romantic openness of the novel as its genuine characteristic since it seems to be the only one to cope with present reality. A comparison of Achim von Arnims novel experiment Die Kronenwächter (The Keepers of the Crown) with Salman Rushdiess The Satanic Verses can demonstrate this: Both novels, though exemplary for their respective times, still scarcely noticed as works of literature are radical expressions of the Romantic theory of the novel and postmodern aesthetics respectively and reflect the problem of reality perception on the levels of contents and formal structure. Romanticism cannot be integrated into the interpretation patterns of historic philosophy unless it is distorted: therefore, it has been misunderstood for almost two centuries now as a pre-modern or even anti-modern temporary phenomenon and a deviation from the continuous course of history; and as a consequence, its topicality has remained largely unrecognized. In order to revise this concept that is inappropriate for examining Romanticism and modernity, and in order to comprehend Romanticism in its genuine complexity and potential for coping with reality as well as its revival in postmodernity, this research project attempts to comprehend and describe Romanticism and the Romantic redefinition of the novel out of itself, its times and concepts of reality, thus breaking up the linear logic of historic philosophy. Starting from the theme of the problem of reality perception in Heinrich von Kleists stories, the concepts of tradition and culture around 1800 and Arnims novel, which contains a tradition of its own, this research project will unfold a cultural history of narrative literature that explores the changes in reality perception as illustrated in the modern European novel without claiming a progress in terms of historic philosophy, as it is usually done in literary theory; it will explain Romantic theories of the novel against the background of this cultural history and analyze "Die Kronenwächter" as their culmination and epilogue. Via postmodern criticism of historic philosophy and 19th century aesthetics, this research project will bring out in detail the parallels between Romanticism and postmodernity in the field of philosophy; and eventually examine how the characteristics of Romantic narration are reflected in Rushdies novel. These analyses, argumentations and clarifications will form a literary theory that opens a new view of the history of the novel. The theme of the problem of reality perception in literature may be the only perspective from which to construct an unbiased history of the novel over the epochs; and Romanticism with its topicality may make perceptible the present problem of reality perception, its preconditions in the history of the human mind and how it can be coped with in the novel.

The Theory builds on the underlying thesis that, since Don Quijote and Romanticism and again in the postmodernism of Vladimir Nabokov and Salman Rushdie, the other, gone-wild side of the modern European novel - with its formal elements of the phantastic, the grotesque and an emplotment that runs counter to the model of progressing history - has shattered and denied the concepts of reality and time which had been dominant in philosophy and aesthetic theory since Plato, Aristotle and St. Augustine and has thereby confirmed the autonomous aesthetic reality of the novel against any kind of external authorization and functionalization. This Romantic complex has inevitably remained concealed up to now, just because the theories of the novel could not utilize it for Platonic ontolgy and their respetive historical self-definition. The powerful aesthetics of Romanticism, however, released the novel from all normative predeterminations and therefore proves to be a standard against which aesthetic theory must be measured. The Theory refrains from putting up just another perspective of the philosophy of history, instead focuses on the problematic relationship between reality and fiction, revises conventional interpretations and assessments borrowed from other scientific disciplines, turns away from the dominance of Platonic ontology and Realism within aesthetic theory and thereby attempts to offer a reorientation for narratology and the theory of the novel.