NOVALIS’S PORCUPINE (CONSIDERATIONS ON THE FRAGMENT AS FORM)

This essay aims to discuss the literary fragment, as its presents itself in the production of the first German romantic writers, in particular in Novalis’s work. We will take as the object of study the set of fragments published by the German author in 1798, Pólen. While hybrid genre, the literary fragment questions the boundaries between literature, philosophy and criticism, so that the creative act (poiesis) is valued in its reflective ability, as well as the form of exposure in its critical dimension. Conceived as a literary form, the fragmented writing presupposes not only the implicit presence of a reader, as well as its intervention in the gaps left by the text. Behind this lies the notion of a thinking and writing in a never-ending process of becoming.