Friedrich Schlegel’s novel Lucinde puts into practice the Romantic call to mix the literary genres – letter, idyll, allegory, “Charakteristik” (an in-depth study of an author’s oeuvre), etc. Schlegel combines genres in different ways. He also redefines the relationship between the sexes. Julius, the male protagonist, perceives his love affair with the young, unmarried mother Lucinde as an educational experience. He realizes that physical/erotic and intellectual/ spiritual communion go hand in hand. The text was considered shocking, not least because the two protagonists are so clearly modelled on the author himself and his partner Dorothea Veit.