O romance de artista alemão – Introdução

Abstract

This is a translation of the “Introduction” to Herbert Marcuse's Der deutsche Künstlerroman (The German Artist's Novel), which analyses a large volume of German literary works — from the poets of the Sturm und Drang in the 18th century to Thomas Mann in the 20th century. For Marcuse, these novels share a common emphasis on the artist's process of coming to consciousness, his understanding of his incompatibility with the world around him and his maturation as an artist. In the introduction, the author discusses his reasons for choosing this literary genre – the artist’s novel –, its differences from epic poetry, and the historical background that made the emergence of this type of novel possible. The translation is preceded by an introductory text (authored by the translator), which presents and contextualizes the translated text.