Paradox's Ropedancers

Friedrich Schlegel was the first to demand that literature not only describe but also deliver the terms of description. Thereby it enters a paradoxical space where unity and differentiation become one. David E. Wellbery prises open this space in masterful interpretations of texts by Laurence Sterne, Goethe, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Kafka and others, examining ways in which structure conveys meaning. Literary form is seen here as a rope-dance, perfection and fragility precarious balanced, in infinite variation.