Lessing and the 'Sturm und Drang'

Despite the benevolent intellectual climate of the 1960s in Germany which had witnessed a reappraisal of earlier attitudes towards the eighteenth century in general, and towards the Aufklärung in particular, relatively little has since been done to pursue this stimulus to its logical conclusion or to a discussion of possible conclusions. By looking beyond artificial literary classifications at the historical data and by accumulating detailed empirical evidence this study seeks to reappraise this situation, firstly by establishing a case which overcomes the traditional antithesis of Aufklärung and Sturm und Drang, and secondly by presenting a clear picture of the degree and nature of Lessing's influence on German dramatists from Herder to Schiller.

Autorentext

The Author: Karen Ottewell was born in Nottingham in 1972. From 1990 to 1994 she read German at St. Andrews University, spending her third year as an ERASMUS student at the University of Bonn. After obtaining her M.A. she went to Cambridge (Emmanuel College) to do an M.Phil. in European Literature and subsequently her Ph.D. She is currently a lecturer in the Englisches Seminar at the University of Bonn.

Inhalt
Contents: Aufklärung and Sturm und Drang: (Re-)Definitions Lessing as precursor of the Sturm und Drang before 1769 Lessing's Attitude towards Writers of the Sturm und Drang Emilia Galotti The Reception of Lessing by the Sturm und Drang Writers