Chapter XLIII: Part IV: Jean Christophe

It is really astonishing to note how the epic and the philosophical
are here compressed within the same work. In respect of form we
have so beautiful a whole. Reaching outwards, the work touches the
infinite, touches both art and life. In fact we may say of this
romance, that it is in no respects limited except in point of
æsthetic form, and that where it transcends form it comes into
contact with the infinite. I might compare it to a beautiful island
lying between two seas.

SCHILLER TO GOETHE CONCERNING _Wilhelm Meister_.

October 19, 1796.