The Young E.T.A. Hoffmann and Dilettantism

Abstract

This article studies E.T.A. Hoffmann's conception of dilettantism on the basis of his autobiographical texts, i.e. his diaries and letters. In the first place, we focus on the meaning and emergence of the critic of dilettantes in Germany in the second half of the eighteenth century. Then, we examine the specific features of Hoffmann's conception of this phenomenon and his reflections on his own dilettantism. Although Hoffmann does not attempt to elaborate neither a systematic nor a specific aesthetic theory of dilettantism like Moritz or Goethe and Schiller, the marginal considerations he has on this subject provide an insight into his view of the contemporary art institution and his self-perception as an artist.