Facing Mental Landscapes

Self-Reflections in the Mirror of Nature. Edited by Manfred Milz.

15 essays shed light on the paradigm shifts in literature, fine arts and music around both 1800 and 1900 and address the iconographic or iconoclastic formations of discourse between and within the two eras of Idealism or Romanticism and Modernism. This collection of critical texts and essays is concerned with the structural elements in the 18th and 19th centuries, predetermining the 20th century cultural history. The title “Facing Mental Landscapes” and subtitle “Self-Reflections in the Mirror of Nature” programmatically refer to an individual reflecting the surrounding physical universe as a mere projection of the mind: around both 1800 and 1900, major paradigm shifts emerged from an intellectual crisis within just over two decades. In literature, fine arts and music, these radical innovations - primarily philosophically motivated - went through transformative stages in the course of the 20th century. One of the main goals of this volume therefore is to contribute to a reconstruction of these iconographic or iconoclastic formations of discourse between and within the two eras of Idealism or Romanticism and Modernism. With contributions by Karl Hepfer, Jale N. Erzen, Klaus Lankheit et al. 383 Seiten, broschiert (Olms Verlag 2011)