The Letter of Lord Chandos, one of the most famous works written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, plays an important role in the literature of fin de siècle and it soon becomes a symbol of the crisis of language and, at the same time, of the crisis of the inner self. The fictional character of Lord Chandos is concerned about the failure of the language. Words become arbitrary signs and they are not allowing him to express life in its wholeness anymore. For this reason, Lord Chandos decides to quit his work as a writer. Nevertheless, Hofmannsthal experiences a deep crisis concerning both his language and his vocation for poetry. Like Chandos, Hofmannsthal abandons poetry, and looks for new ways to deal with the crisis using alternative means of expression. In this process, colours play a fundamental role. Indeed, thanks to the strength of the colours, the post-Chandos prose production reveals a renewed language. Through its immediate expressive power, colour helps words to overcome their ‘silence’ and re-gain effectiveness. Now the language finds a new solidity in the literary text, which is enriched by niceties and synesthetic structures.
