Abstract

This dissertation examines the notion of Darstellung in the philosophy, literature, linguistic, and aesthetic theory of German Idealism and Romanticism. I argue that Romantic theories of representation originating around 1800 develop as a direct response to aporiae in Kant's definition of Darstellung, and my study traces the genesis of the term in four case studies dating from 1781-1811. Chapter One examines the inception of Darstellung as a philosophical concept in Kant's Critiques. Chapter Two analyzes Novalis' poetization of the Kantian notion of Darstellung. An excursus addresses August Ferdinand Bernhardi's linguistic theory of Darstellung. Chapter Three interprets Kleist's writings as a critique of transcendental theories of representation. ;Kant tries to equate his definition of Darstellung--"the making sensible of a concept"--with the rhetorical representation of philosophy. Three obstacles prevent him from realizing this goal in the First Critique: linguistic ambiguity, a failure to establish a transcendental ground for the schematism, and an inability to represent the subject. In the Third Critique the negative Darstellung of the sublime functions as a panacea for these representational shortcomings. Poetic language and visual metaphors indicate the tenuousness of this solution. ;Fichte's Idealism provides the link between Kant and the Jena Romantic poetization of Darstellung. Novalis' Fichte-Studies outline a theory of visual-verbal Darstellung designed to represent the Fichtean pure Ego. "Klingsohr's Fairly Tale" depicts the genesis of this theory in literary form. Hymns to the Night, a theory of the Romantic lyric, is akin to Kantian negative Darstellung. ;Bernhardi addresses the need for an analysis of language in critical discourse, but provides no solutions to pitfalls in Idealist and Romantic theories of Darstellung. ;Kleist's "Kant crisis" stems from a recognition of insurmountable inadequacies in transcendental theories of representation. His writings illustrate this representational crisis by undermining the visually-coded notion of knowledge evident in Goethezeit discourse. The Marionettentheater essay couples a critique of reflection with a redaction and revision of the Kantian sublime. The Foundling questions transcendental models of self-consciousness. The Broken Jug presents an opposing paradigm to Novalis' visual-verbal poiesis. I conclude that Kleist's oeuvre demonstrates the destruction of Darstellung as a theoretical construct