Dilettantism and Its Values

This book provides the first book-length comparative analysis of the concept of dilettantism. It shows how French nineteenth-century uses of the concept dissolved the Weimar Classicist distinction between dilettantism and art. Introduction 1. The Etymology of the Term and its Initial Usage in German 2. The Dilettantism Project and the Question of Goethe's Dilettantism 3. Dilettantism between Weimar Classicism and the fin de siècle 4. The Dilettante as Sceptic: Paul Bourget's Initial Conception of Dilettantism 5. The Concept of Dilettantism in the 1880s 6. The Concept of Dilettantism in the 1890s 7. Conclusion