Weimar Classicism

New essays providing an account of the shaping beliefs, preoccupations, motifs, and values of Weimar Classicism.

This book is a study of central aspects of Weimar Classicism, written in the light of Ernst Cassirer's cultural theory. It provides a close reading of key texts, ranging across Goethe and Schiller's oeuvre as a whole, from their (philosophical) poems through their drama, prose-writing, and theoretical reflections on cultural and scientific topics. The work seeks to demonstrate the attested (but hitherto largely unanalysed) aesthetic power at the very heart of their writings, which in turn underpins their epistemological and ethical significance. The main theme of Weimar Classicism is the role of symbolism in Classicism, as distinct from the centrality of semiosis in competing cultural norms. The overall aim of the book is thus to see Weimar Classicism anew, both historically and analytically, as an enlightening context in which to reconsider many of the central tenets of contemporary (often called 'postmodern') cultural theory.

"The book provides an overview of related scholarly literature; discusses Nietzsche's aesthetic theory in The Birth of Tragedy; recounts the composition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and offers an interpretation of the "aesthetic gospel" in this centeal work. A concluding chapter explores the continuities in aesthetic theory from Leucippus to Ernst Cassirer. By demonstrating the constitutive function of the aesthetics of Weimar classicism in his philosophy, this book opens up a fresh and original perspective on reading Nietzsche."--BOOK JACKET.

These essays offer a wide range of topics treated from literary, interdisciplinary, and comparative points of view. The book falls into three sections: Weimar and Goethe; Weimar and German Literary Culture; Weimar Abroad; with a closure on Weimar and the Political Aftermath.

Explains the development of Romantic arts and culture in Germany, with both individual artists and key themes covered in detail.

WEIMAR CLASSICISM: This descriptive term, designating a unique and verybrief epoch of literary and cultural achievement in Germany, is familiar to everystudent of German literature and culture. It was not always so. Only toward theend of the nineteenth century was the term introduced retrospectively in referenceto the few years at the end of the preceding century, which marked the high pointof the career of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who resided in the otherwise smalland provincial Duchy of Weimar and whose achievement as man of lettersestablished what ultimately came to be called OCyClassicism.OCO These were also theyears of the close friendship of Goethe with the dramatist and Kantian theoristFriedrich Schiller, documented by the nearly daily exchange of letters between thetwo OCo Schiller lived at the time in nearby Jena OCo which Goethe edited andpublished more than twenty years after SchillerOCOs death. The essays assembled inthe present volume would all acknowledge the legitimacy of this designation, even though they are addressed to various peripheral aspects of WeimarClassicism, related to but distinct from the work of its two central authors (theessay by T. J. Reed is the exception)."

The Cambridge Companion to Goethe provides a stimulating and accessible survey of this many-sided figure. The volume places Goethe in the context of the Germany and Europe of his lifetime. His literary work is covered in individual chapters on poetry, drama (with a separate chapter on Faust), prose fiction and autobiography. A wide-ranging survey of reception inside and outside Germany and an extensive guide to further reading round off this volume, which will appeal to students and specialists alike.

In the 1930s and '40s, LA became a cultural sanctuary for a distinguished group of German artists and intellectuals - including Thomas Mann, Theodor W. Adorno, Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang, and Arnold Schoenberg - who were fleeing Nazi Germany. This book is the first to examine their work and lives.

Originally published in 1980, this book examines the nature and significance of Classicism as a literary phenomenon and relates the beginnings of the German variety to the search for a national identity in the circumstances of a politically fragmented eighteenth century Germany. It surveys the pre-classical scene, traces the intellectual currents and the literary forms and material which Classicism was to synthesise, and presents its theoretical basis. The major works of Goethe and Schiller in the decade of their partnership are analysed. Their response to political events is placed in the contemporary context and the divergences which challenge Classicism are discussed.