Roy’s Reviews > The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism > Status Update

I feel initiated, inaugurated.

And I haven’t even read a proper romantic work yet.

I truly believe the early German romantics were onto the secret of life. Particularly Friedrich Schlegel, if I am to agree with Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe.

I felt a strong urge to do some studying for my thesis tonight.

That motivation was short lived.

I want to continue reading, and I can continue reading, but I feel like some kind of health is asking me not to.

My goodness... How do these authors detach themselves from the meaning, the implications of what they've just learnt, when writing it down for us to read?

It remains baffling to me to see how, at least in my reading projects, whether they be academic, or personal, I consistently manage to read or discover exactly the text I require, need at that moment in time - personally, not pragmatically.

On the other hand, I should not forget that these works are, generally speaking, works of 'mere' discernment. Although one could say that a high degree of creativity is necessary in order to achieve this level of discernment, and I would fully agree that a high degree of intellect is necessary to achieve this level of discernment, I think that is a colloquial misnomer.

Academia is primarily a matter of discernment.

It is incredibly humbling to read works like these. The command these thinkers have of the major movements/schools/concatenations of Western philosophy is hardly imaginable. Combine that with the bibliography of a book by a Dutch academic who's written on the topic, and her academic curriculum vitae (her dissertation has been co-reviewed by one of two authors of this book), and I do feel put in my place - reluctantly

Allright, never mind, within the first three pages I've already decided to purchase this - and another work on early German romanticism - myself. This is great, even better than I had expected, more than what I believed I could get, exactly the approach I have towards romanticism. Already explicated in the first few pages.

I love it when this happens.

I need to read this in the freedom of my personal possession.

Thesis reading — looking forward to this! It’s time again!