Romantic Nationalism and German ›Universality‹. Novalis’ »Europa« Speech and its context
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University of Stuttgart
Online publication date: 2021-07-23
Publication date: 2021-07-23
KMW 2021;312(2):241-247
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The poet Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) first put forward the idea that the German nation was destined to “deliver” Europe from its political and cultural crisis, an idea that formed the basis of his work “Europe” (1799). With it he ultimately transferred Christian universalism and missionarism into politics, thereby establishing a line of thinking that German nationalism would lastingly incorporate into its mindset.