Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Nineteenth-Century America

Discourse and Criticism
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-64014-205-3
Verlag: Camden House

Buch, Englisch, Band 262, 234 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 496 g

Reihe: Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rowland, Herbert

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Deutsche Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Kunsttheorie, Kunstphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Ökumenik, Konfessionskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft Theatergeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: Neuzeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Geschichte der Kunstwissenschaft und Kunstkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Trajectory of Lessing's Presence in America
Chapter 2: General Assessments of Lessing's Life and Work
Chapter 3: Lessing's Fables, Epigrams, and Lyric Poetry in American Periodicals
Chapter 4: American Writers on Lessing's Plays and Drama Criticism
Chapter 5: The American Response to Laokoon and Lessing's Theory of Art
Chapter 6: Lessing in the Crucible of American Theological Controversy
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Rowland, Herbert
HERBERT ROWLAND is Emeritus Professor of German at Purdue University.