ABSTRACT
Although Vernon Lee's role as an expositor of German contemporary theories of empathy is widely recognized by now, her exact relations to the German discussion have not yet been analyzed in enough detail. Also, her own achievements in the field of aesthetic theory remain underappreciated. This chapter will show that this underappreciation is unjustified and analyzes the impact Lee's relation to the German aesthetics of empathy had on her later work and image of herself. Lee was not only in correspondence with the most important aestheticians of empathy, she also published in the relevant scientific journals and received both appreciation and critique from academic philosophers. The author will analyze an extensive critique of Lee's early work by Theodor Lipps and show how she reacted to his arguments against her theory of empathy as “bodily induction”. Moreover, the author will show that Lee herself made valid points against some claims by Lipps and, in response to the controversy, that she claimed a specific role as hybrid between aesthetic theory and practice for herself. To understand this self-styled image of herself is central to a proper understanding not only of Lee's later work in aesthetics, but of Lee as a whole.
