Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern

Although he lacked the literary lucidity of his brother (August Wilhelm), Friedrich von Schlegel was the one with the creativity and ingenuity, becoming the first to define the concept of romantic irony. Along with his close friend, Friedrich Shleiermacher, he was a staunch advocate of the equality of the sexes, a position partly expressed in his semi-autobiographical novel Lucinde (1799). An accomplished scholar in his own right, he also wrote the History of Ancient and Modern Literature (1815).