Magníficos rebeldes

When did we begin to demand the right to decide on our lives? At what point did we become as self-centered as we are today? When did we first ask ourselves the question "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 center stage in their thinking, writing, and lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; to the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling and Hegel; to the controversial Schlegel brothers; and, in a wonderful cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. At the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, a great instigator of her dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom. The collaboration between these figures launched romanticism onto the world stage. In their exuberant lives, epic fights, passionate love stories, heartbreaking sorrows and, above all, radical ideas about the creative power of the self are revealed to us, 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 incited a mental revolution that transformed our world forever. Today we continue to walk the same tightrope between personal self-actualization and destructive narcissism, between individual rights and responsibilities towards the community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book is the extremely modern tension between the dangers of selfishness and the exciting possibilities offered by the freedom of the individual.