Novalis is one of the towering figures of German Romanticism. The Novices of Sais , translated from the German into French in 1925, received enthusiastic recognition by artists and poets alike and is often quoted by the surrealists. The text is a lyrical combination of Romantic emotion combined with a profound fascination with nature. In 1949, the novel was translated into English by Ralph Manheim and accompanied by 60 original drawings by Paul Klee. With an introduction by Stephen Spender. Friedrich von Hardenberg, who wrote under the pen name Novalis , died at the age of 29 in 1801. His Hymns to the Night is considered one of the great pillars of German Romanticism.

This volume presents the first complete translation of Fichte Studies, a powerful, creative and sustained critique of Fichtean philosophy by the young philosopher-poet Friedrich von Hardenberg, who under the pen-name Novalis went on to become the most well-known and beloved of the early German Romantic writers. Anyone interested in the fate of German philosophy and literature immediately after Kant will find this collection of notes and aphorisms a treasure-trove of original contributions on the nature of self-consciousness, the relation of art to philosophy, and the nature of philosophical inquiry. There are also the beginnings of a strikingly contemporary-sounding semiotic theory. The text is translated by Jane Kneller, who also provides an introduction situating the Fichte Studies in the context of Novalis' life and work.