“Germ Cells of Writing”: The Collection of Excerpts by Jean Paul and the Shift of Knowledge Paradigms at the Turn of the 19th Century

Abstract

The excerpts of Jean Paul (1763-1825) present a unique collection of extracts from all written and accessible sources used by this writer. It is incomparable to any other collections existing in Germany around 1800. The aim of the article is to describe Jean Paul's art of excerpting and, based on compelling examples, to show its fundamental significance for his literary work, taking into consideration the historical shift of knowledge paradigms and the crisis of cognitive posibilities of man taking place at the end of the 18^th century. The key concept is collection which, according to Manfred Sommer, means more than just a procedure driven by practical aims. In substance, it aims at preserving knowledge and putting it into an esthetical order. The German writer’s excerpts document the collision of tradition and innovation, universality and specialization. They anticipate several techniques of knowledge management and complexity reduction which will be characteristic as late as in the age of electronic media.