The Crises of Language and Dead Signs in Ludwig Tieck’s Prose Fiction

Although twentieth-century literary criticism has focused on language as a topic of discussion, critical evalutions of Romanticism and Romantic writers rarely deal with it in terms derived from the philosophy of language. This book evaluates the most prolific German Romanticist, Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853), from such a linguistic viewpoint, arguing that concerns in his work can be seen as forerunners of later language analysis, from speech-act theory to theories of reference. It covers Tieck’s whole career, from his youth to his final novel, Vittoria Accorombona, providing a comprehensive analysis of this major author’s work; it will also be of interest to those interested in the linguistic aspects of Romanticism.