Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (since 1815: von Schlegel) was born on March 10, 1772 as the son of a general superintendent in Hanover. He spent many years of his youth with relatives, then in 1788 his father gave him an apprenticeship at a bank in Leipzig. Although he had not completed his high school education, he nevertheless managed to begin his studies in 1790 together with his brother August Wilhelm Schlegel in Göttingen (law, philology, history, philosophy). 1791-93 he continued his studies in Leipzig alone. In 1794, lacking money, he moved to his sister Charlotte in Dresden.

In the summer of 1796 he followed his brother to Jena and published the magazine "Athenaeum" with him from 1798 to 1800. In 1799 his novel "Lucinde" was published. In 1800 he habilitated; but he could not realize his academic plans in Jena and moved via Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig to Paris, where he read about German literature and philosophy and took up Sanskrit studies.

In 1809 he was given a permanent position as court secretary in Vienna, and at the same time he was editor of an army newspaper on the staff of Archduke Karl. In 1814 he took part in the Congress of Vienna as a diplomat and publicist; 1815-18 he worked as Austrian Legation Counselor at the Frankfurt Bundestag; In 1819 he accompanied the Kaiser and Metternich on a trip to Italy as an art expert. After being recalled from the Austrian service, Schlegel worked in Vienna on the complete edition of his works. He died in Dresden on January 12, 1829.