Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Literary criticism as an institution
- II National developments in literary criticism
- 4 Literature and nationalism
- 5 Germany
- 6 France: the continuing debate over Classicism
- 7 England: Romantic legacies
- 8 England: literature and culture
- 9 Literary nationalism and US Romantic aesthetics
- 10 Russia: literature and society
- III Critical movements and patterns of influence
- IV Later nineteenth-century developments: Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism and Decadence
- V Some major critics of the period
- VI Genre criticism
- VII Literature and other disciplines
- Select bibliography and further reading
- Index
5 - Germany
From restoration to consolidation: Classical and Romantic legacies
from II - National developments in literary criticism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Literary criticism as an institution
- II National developments in literary criticism
- 4 Literature and nationalism
- 5 Germany
- 6 France: the continuing debate over Classicism
- 7 England: Romantic legacies
- 8 England: literature and culture
- 9 Literary nationalism and US Romantic aesthetics
- 10 Russia: literature and society
- III Critical movements and patterns of influence
- IV Later nineteenth-century developments: Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism and Decadence
- V Some major critics of the period
- VI Genre criticism
- VII Literature and other disciplines
- Select bibliography and further reading
- Index
Summary
During most of the nineteenth century, German political and cultural life was shaped by the absence of a unified nation state with clearly defined borders. More successfully than any other poet and critic, Heinrich Heine staged the struggle over the legacy of Classicism and Romanticism in a literary-critical approach whose paradigmatic significance resonated throughout the century. The most eminent figure of the new form of journalism that forged literary criticism into a carefully directed critique of politics and conviction was Ludwig Börne. The publication of Wolfgang Menzel's Die deutsche Literatur caused a controversy with a lasting impact on the literary criticism of the period. One of the poetic high points of Heine's literary criticism is his eloquent description of Goethe's lyrics. The emergence of Young Germany in the mid-1830s marks a key moment in the history of modern German literary criticism.
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- The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism , pp. 115 - 138Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013