Lovers, parricides, and highwaymen

The eighteenth-century movement called Sturm und Drang played a critical role in the development of German literature in general and drama in particular. Lasting from the late 1760s to the early 1780s, it was part of a great national awakening that propelled German culture into European prominence. Beyond this the Sturm und Drang is a complex and misunderstood phenomenon that simulaneously draws on and rebels against the cultural and historical developments that surrounded it. This book addresses both specialists and non-German-speakers who are seeking an introduction to the Sturm und Drang. Introductory chapters treat the movement's boundaries, theoretical beginnings, precursors, and wider cultural context, and consider the methodological problems that result from the its highly politicized reception. Subsequent chapters introduce the movement's primary dramatic Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maximilian Klinger, Anton Leisewitz, Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, and Friedrich Schiller. The individual interpretations of their major dramas embrace several approaches, reading the works within their historical context and with an eye toward other critical analyses. In the end, the study intends to provide a cumulative portrait of the Sturm und Drang that does justice to its complexity.