Friedrich Schlegel's critique of the naturalistic conceptions of artistic representation

Abstract

In the present work we try to reconstruct the critique of Friedrich Schlegel to the aesthetic conception of the young Herder. From the analysis of these critique we try to show that the schlegelian distinction between an "objective poetry" and another one of "interesting" character was not oriented to guarantee the radical condemnation of the modern art but rather to question Herder's commitment with a Naturalistic conception of artistic beauty. Schlegel discovered here a continuity between the two opposing positions in the Querelle and derived from this common element the inability of both positions to recreate an objective art. As we shall see at the end of these pages, Schlegel considered that the reestablishment of poetic objectivity in the modern world could only be achieved by means of a radicalization of the very subjectivist tendencies; That is, by means of an aesthetic theory that would consistently assume the need for a reflexive mediation of the totality of the poetic elements.