GermanAestheticandLiteraryCriticism:WinckelmannLessingHamannHerderSchillerandGoethe

Thisanthology,partofathree-volumeseriesdevotedtoGermanaestheticandliterarycriticismfromtheeighteenthandnineteenthcenturies,chartsthedevelopmentofaestheticandliterarytheoryinGermanyinthelatterhalfoftheeighteenthcenturyanditsemancipationfromthehithertodominantinfluenceofFrance.ThisdevelopmenthelpedtoproduceanunprecedentedfloweringofGermancultureandartwhichculminatedintheclassicismofGoetheandSchillerandintheriseoftheRomanticmovement,withmomentousconsequencesforEuropeasawhole.Thetextsgatheredtogetherhererepresentthemaintheoreticalphasesinthisprocess.TheirunifyingthemeisclassicismandtheauthorexaminesthetheoriesofWinckelman,Lessing,Herder,SchillerandHamann.ThevolumeconcludeswithGoethe'sessayonWinckelmann,whichisbothareaffirmationofneo-classicalprinciplesandadefinitivestatementofthematureGoethe'sownaesthetictheory.