Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Nineteenth-Century America: Discourse and Criticism (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)

Rowland, Emeritus Professor Herbert

ISBN 10: 1640142053 / ISBN 13: 9781640142053

Edité par Camden House, 2026

A propos de cet article

2026. hardcover. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

N° de réf. du vendeur V9781640142053

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Nineteenth-Century America: Discourse and Criticism (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)
• Éditeur: Camden House
• Date de parution: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1640142053
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781640142053
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Surveys the considerable nineteenth-century American discourse on and response to the writings of the German dramatist, critic, art theorist, and theological thinker. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was a leading figure in the humanist revival in German culture that culminated in Weimar Classicism. His plays and drama criticism mark the rise of middle-class forms and values and influenced contemporaries and successors alike. His work in art theory still stimulates discussion, while his liberal theological writing has had a perhaps even greater impact. In the US, Lessing first drew major attention during the German craze of the early nineteenth century and achieved his greatest fame during the third quarter of the century. His drama criticism and views on theology and the arts became entrenched in a robust American discourse about those subjects. Many Americans thought of him less as a historical figure than as a virtual contemporary. This book surveys critical commentary on Lessing published in prominent journals and periodicals from 1796 to the end of the nineteenth century, a period before the professionalization of literary scholarship in America, when individuals of varying professional backgrounds routinely assessed foreign writers in the context of their own national experience. Chapters focus on the unfolding of Lessing's presence in the US, on broad assessments of his life and work, and, respectively, on American responses to his fables and epigrams, his plays and drama criticism, his art-historical and -theoretical writing, and his theological work.

À propos de l?auteur

HERBERT ROWLAND is Emeritus Professor of German at Purdue University.