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Removed 'humorist' again, as this is much too narrow for a writer of this stature and range (see WP article). I have corrected several of the translations, and other typos. Reverting again will destroy all these corrections. --Jedermann 11:33, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
As this section was taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1911, it's pretty outdated and full of ridiculous statements (e.g. that Jean Paul's style lacks precision and grace), I'd propose to replace it by a translation of parts of the German article (i.e. the section "Literarische Bedeutung"). I already did the translation but as English isn't my native language, I think it would be best if someone looked over it to correct mistakes and make it sound 'native'. The German text isn't perfect and there are no references, but it's definitely better than the old one. Here it is:
Jean Paul holds a special position in German Literature and has always divided the audience. Some hold him in highest veneration while others treat his work with indifference. He carried the Romantic's formlessness of the novel to its extremes: August Wilhelm Schlegel called his novels soliloquies, in which he makes his readers take part (in this respect going even further than Laurence Sterne in Tristram Shandy). Jean Paul always played with a multitude of funny and bizarre ideas: his work is characterized by wild metaphors as well as by digressing and partly maze-like plots. He mixed contemplation with poetological commentary; alongside witty irony the reader finds bitter satire and mild humor, alongside sober realism there are romanticized and often ironic idylls, social commentary and political statements. His novels were especially liked by women. This was due to the empathy with which Jean Paul designed the female characters in his works: never before in German literature were female characters represented with such psychological depth. At the same time though, his work is full of misogynistic quips. Jean Paul's character must have been as diverse and as confusing as many of his novels: he supposedly was very sociable and witty, while at the same time being extremely sentimental, of an almost childish nature and quickly moved to tears. It is obvious from his works that his interests didn't just encompass literature but also Astronomy and other sciences. It is no surprise that the relationship of such a capricious author with the Weimar classicists Goethe and Schiller always remained ambivalent: Schiller once said that Jean Paul was as alien to him as someone who fell out of the moon. Herder and Wieland on the other hand appreciated his work and supported him. Although he always kept his distance to the classicists, who wanted to absolutize art and although his theoretical approach (most notably in his Introduction to Aesthetics) was considerably influenced by Romanticism, it would be wrong to call him a Romantic. Here too he kept his distance: with all his subjectivism he didn't absolutize the subject of the author like the Romantics did. Jean Paul had what had become rare amidst classical severity and romantic irony: humor. He also was one of the first who approached humor from a theoretical standpoint. He thought that Enlightenment and Metaphysics had failed, though both still were importent for his worldview. He arrived at a philosophy without illusions and a state of humorous resignation. Correspondingly he was one of the first advocates of Schopenhauers philosophy. He didn't try to indoctrinate but to portray human happiness, even (and especially) in an increasingly alienated environment - in rococo castles and barren villages in Upper Franconia. Jean Paul was not only the first to use and name the literary motive of the Doppelgänger, but he also arranged it in countless variations (e.g. Siebenkäs and Leibgeber, Liane and Idoine, Roquairol and Albano). In his novel Siebenkäs he defines Doppelgänger as "people who see themselves". --217.191.95.234 (talk) 14:32, 9 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]
