When did we start demanding the right to decide about our lives? When did we become as self-centered as we are today? When did we first ask ourselves, “How can I be free?”

It all began in a quiet university town in Germany in the 1790s, when a group of playwrights, poets, and writers put the self at the center of their thinking, writing, and lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel; the controversial Schlegel brothers; and, in a marvelous cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. At the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, the great instigator of their dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom.

The collaboration between these figures launched Romanticism onto the world stage. In their exuberant lives, we discover epic struggles, passionate love stories, heartbreaking sorrow, and, above all, radical ideas about the creative power of the self, as well as the highest aspirations of art and science, the unity of nature, and the true meaning of freedom. This is how these young Romantics sparked a mental revolution that forever transformed our world.

Today, we continue to walk the same tightrope between personal self-realization and destructive narcissism, between individual rights and responsibilities to the community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book lies the tension, extremely modern, between the dangers of selfishness and the exciting possibilities that individual freedom offers.

Format: Paperback

Dimensions: 15.14 x 3.99 x 23.95 cm

Weight: 930 g

Print Length: 660 pp

Publisher: TAURUS

ISBN: 978-8430623907

Language: Spanish