Antecedentem creavit consequens: Friedrich Schlegel’s ontology of time and literary forms in Rede an die Mytologie

We attempt to offer a new interpretation of Schlegel’s original solution for the problem of the new mythology. We claim that, while grasping the problem of the missing center as the structure of modern thought, Schlegel develops a theory of literature which implies an ontology of time. We advance that, by identifying myth with romantic literature, Schlegel’s argumentative economy leads him to apply the metaphysical predicates of myth to romantic literature as such. We propose then to read the status of literary forms as constituting the substance which precedes them but, paradoxically, only exists through them.