Renaissance and Romanticism

In his last novel, Ludwig Tieck presents an ideal woman, based on historical sources, gives her a poetic genius, a creative imagination, comparable to that of Torquato Tasso, and thus lets her become a culturally elevating force in a degenerated era. This book is the first detailed study of the sources and structure of that historical novel, with particular emphasis on Tieck's portrayal of the immense historical and cultural fresco through the mind of Vittoria, as she struggles to maintain her free spirit.