›Kanonische Menschen‹? Zum Verhältnis von literarischer Form und Lebensform
›Canonical People‹? On the Relationship between Literary Form and the Form of Life

Summary/Abstract: Novalis formulated the imperative that the life of a canonical human being must be symbolic. A novel made by us should be life. Friedrich Schlegel added that every educated person contains a novel inside him, but does not need to write it. Those who do, however, publish themselves. But can life be shaped into a novel? Georg Lukács’ volume of essays entitled "Soul and Form" revolves around this question. The first part of this article is also devoted to this question. The second part attempts to provide an answer to this question by pointing to the ›artist’s novel‹ as the decisive link between art and life. The concluding, third part of the article illustrates the significance of the artist’s novel with the example of Michel Houellebecq’s "Map and Territory".

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