Abstract Herman Grimm (1828-1901) and Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), whose personal relationship is reconstructed here with new evidence, were both interested in the connection between life and work in the biographies they wrote of poets, artists, and theologians. But their writings had different emphases: While Grimm highlighted the active testing of genius in complex social contexts of Michelangelo and Goethe, Dilthey questioned the laws of creativity, especially of spiritual characters (Novalis, Schleiermacher). The theoretical claim in Dilthey’s scientific work led to a growing estrangement between the two friends. As Dilthey’s pseudonymously- published artist’s novella »Lebenskämpfe und Lebensfriede« (1867) is initially very close to Grimm, only the enigmatic conclusion breaks up the usual biographical framework.
Peter Sprengel (Sat,) studied this question.