Schlegel, August Wilhelm von (1767–1845)

Schlegel, August Wilhelm [from 1815:] von, writer, literary critic, translator, philologist, and student of the Sanskrit language and its literature, elder brother of Friedrich Schlegel, was born in Hanover (Germany) on September 5, 1767. He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Gottingen, where he was mainly influenced by the philologist C. G. Heyne and the poet G. A. Burger. Between 1791 and 1795 he was a tutor in Amsterdam. From 1798 he was associate professor at the University of Jena. He moved to Berlin, where he delivered courses of private lectures on literary history (1801–1804). From 1804 till her death in 1817 he was secretary, traveling companion, and literary adviser to Madame de Stael (Anne Louise Germaine de Stael-Holstein, 1766–1817). In 1818 he was appointed professor of the history of art and literature at the University of Bonn, where he established Indic studies, thus becoming the founder of Indic philology in Germany. He died in Bonn on May 12, 1845.