Friedrich Schlegel

Novalis had been a fellow law-student. The Schlegel brothers’ circle of lively-minded friends included (as well as their notable wives) such individuals as Novalis, Tieck, Schelling and Schleiermacher. The Schlegels, Novalis and Schleiermacher published an influential Romanticist journal. Schlegel met Runge in Dresden, and travelled with Brentano in Italy. Goethe invited him on his afternoon walks; Schiller (whose influence the brothers craved) had been alienated by the their criticisms. Fichte was a friend and admired correspondent, Hegel a bitter rival. Even Schlegel’s friends often found him incomprehensible.