Jean Paul called
Titan his "cardinal and capital" novel. In language and style the novel differs strikingly from other texts by the writer. The narrative, despite its sentimental and effusive manner, and rich descriptions, is tightly organized and contains fewer digressions and side notes. This is often seen as a temporary approach to the
classicism of Weimar, which Jean Paul at this time was subjecting to an intensive and critical examination. The rich imagery and comic misdirections are still present, and the novel remains challenging for today's readers. Jean Paul considered using the title
Anti-Titan in order to express more clearly the idea of
hubris, of the inevitable doom of the
Himmelsstürmer ("Heaven-stormers") of Romanticism. His aim was also to condemn "the indiscipline of the
Saeculum" and the separation of the self from contemplation. In the characters of the novel (Roquairol, Schoppe, Gaspard, Liane, Linda) Jean Paul crystallizes various European controversies of the year 1800. In the end, all characters but the hero come to grief as a result of their one-sidedness. With Schoppe, the idealistic philosophy of
Fichte is criticised; in Roquairol the aesthete and ''l'art pour l'art'' (Jean Paul's conception of the Weimar ideal); Gaspard encapsulates cold political calculation; Liane, a fanatical religiosity (
pietism, the
Moravian Church); in Linda the purportedly unseemly hubris of emancipated women. The contemplation of these examples teaches the hero to be harmonious, a mature concord of strengths rather than an individual of one concentrated power. It has been frequently commented, however, that the doomed characters are perhaps more interesting than the sometimes too smooth and perfect-seeming main character Albano. ==Legacy==