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Document Details : Title: Esthetica en maatschappelijke relevantie Subtitle: Rheinvis Feith, De Patriotten (1785) Author(s): NOAK, Bettina Journal: Spiegel der Letteren Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Date: 2006 Pages: 379-402 DOI: 10.2143/SDL.48.4.2020217 Abstract : This article discusses the influence of the aesthetical conceptions of ‘grace’ and ‘taste’ in Rheinvis Feith’s bourgeois drama De Patriotten (1785). Using the sentimental ideas of Cornelius van Engelen and Rheinvis Feith as a starting point, it is argued that the felix aestheticus would be a character who connects aesthetical and intellectual capabilities with a dedication to human values and to the welfare of his fatherland. In this way, Feith demonstrates the social importance of his aesthetics, in contrast to the critics of sentimental literature, who would attribute an ivory-towered attitude towards social life to the sentimental authors. For Feith, this opens up an opportunity to propagate a new form of aesthetical relationship between marriage partners. Thus, Feith’s bourgeois drama is connected with an important process of self-reflecting and changing of identities at the end of the eighteenth century. |
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