ABSTRACT
Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich Schiller began collaboration on their study of dilettantism in March 1799. Their original intention was to publish the completed article in Die Propylaen, but the project was abandoned several months later and remained in uncompleted draft form until 1823, when Goethe asked Johann Peter Eckermann to assemble the various notes. The project consists of two parts: the 'Schemata', which are tabular expositions of the advantages and disadvantages of dilettantism in various artistic fields, and the 'Paralipomena', which are prose fragments on the nature of dilettantism. The question of Goethe's and Schiller's individual contributions is contentious, resting largely on the fact that the handwriting in the manuscript is predominantly Schiller's. It is interesting to compare the interpretations with Nicholas Boyle's biographical perspective, which places the project in a broader context. It is interesting that the term 'Dilettantismus' is no longer used, suggesting that the failure to complete the project suspended use of the term.
