A Companion to the Works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

One of the most independent thinkers in German intellectual history the Enlightenment author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) contributed in decisive and lasting fashion to literature philosophy theology criticism and drama theory. Lessing invented the bürgerliches Trauerspiel (bourgeois tragedy) and wrote one of the first successful German tragedies as well as one of the finest German comedies. In his final dramatic masterpiece Nathan der Weise he writes of Christianity Judaism and Islam of religious tolerance and intolerance and the clash of civilizations. Lessing's dramas are the oldest German theater pieces still regularly performed (both in Germany and internationally) and both his plays and his drama theory have influenced such writers as Goethe Schiller Hebbel Hauptmann Ibsen Strindberg Schnitzler and Brecht. Addressing an audience ranging from graduate students to seasoned scholars this volume introduces Lessing's life and times and places him within the broader context of the European Enlightenment. It discusses his pathbreaking dramas his equally revolutionary theoretical critical and aesthetic writings his original fables his innovative work in philosophy and theology and his significant contributions to Jewish emancipation. The volume concludes by examining 20th-century reception of Lessing and his oeuvre. Contributors: Barbara Fischer Thomas C. Fox Steven D. Martinson Klaus L. Berghahn John Pizer Beate Allert H. B. Nisbet Arno Schilson Willi Goetschel Peter Höyng Karin A. Wurst Ann Schmiesing Reinhart Meyer Hans-Joachim Kertscher Hinrich C. Seeba Dieter Fratzke Helmut Berthold Herbert Rowland.Barbara Fischer is associate professor of German and Thomas C. Fox is professor of German both at the University of Alabama.