'The primary task of this book is to build a bridge to a deeper understanding of Schiller himself who, along with Goethe and Novalis, was one of the great spiritual forerunners and trailblazers of anthroposophy.' - Sergei O. Prokofieff --- Planned as the second volume in a trilogy on Novalis, Schiller and Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom is much more than a conventional biography. Prokofieff shines new light on Schiller's character and destiny, helping to establish his position as a crucial antecedent to Rudolf Steiner in the spiritual history of humanity. He also defines Schiller's task in the context of the achievements of Goethe and Novalis at the end of the eighteenth century, an extraordinary period that saw a seminal transformation in the philosophical and artistic landscape. --- Following the recent publication of The Riddle of Dmitri - which explores Schiller's unfinished drama Demetrius - Prokofieff returns here to the theme in the framework of Schiller's life and extensive body of work. In timely fashion, he conveys Schiller's mediating role between Central and Eastern Europe, indicating how he came 'near to the soul of the Russian people through an idealism imbued with his entirely self-created moral power and his fiery enthusiasm for everything in the world that is true, beautiful and good'.
SERGEI O. PROKOFIEFF (1954-2014) studied Fine Arts and Painting at the Moscow School of Art. He encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner in his youth, and soon decided to devote his life to it. He became active as an author and lecturer in 1982, and helped found the Anthroposophical Society in his native Russia in 1991. In Easter 2001 he was appointed a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society in Dornach, Switzerland, a position he held until his death. A popular speaker, he wrote numerous books and articles that are published in many languages.
Preface - I. Schiller's Spiritual Task between Goethe and Novalis - II. Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom - 1. The Ideal of Freedom and Its Spiritual Origin - 2. The Battle for Human Freedom - 3. Schiller's Premature Death and its Spiritual-Historical Consequences - III. Friedrich Schiller's Demetrius Fragment as a Drama of the Human I - Addendum to Part III: On the Figure of Mikhail Romanov - In Place of an Epilogue: 'Goethe's Science according to Schiller's Method' - Appendix - 1. Examples for the Relationship between the Aesthetic Letters and The Philosophy of Freedom - 2. Schiller on the 'Fall of Man' and Freedom - 3. Evidence of Schiller's Spiritual Character in his Own Work - Novalis on Friedrich Schiller - Rudolf Steiner: Excerpt from the Lecture of 18 December 1920 - Rudolf Steiner: 'Friedrich Schiller' - References and Notes - Bibliography of Works by Rudolf Steiner
