The Feeling of the Form

The Feeling of the Form explores the concept of Einfuehlung —the projection of human feelings and life into inanimate forms—developed by German aesthetic theorists in the late nineteenth century. The word would be translated into English as "empathy" and migrate in meaning from the aesthetic to the interpersonal sphere. Combining close analysis and cultural "para-history," The Feeling of the Form reads literary texts by Georg Buechner, Adalbert Stifter, and Rainer Maria Rilke alongside philosoph