Lecture 5: Sturm und Drang / Storm and Stress

1. Lecture 5: Sturm und Drang / Storm and Stress • Sturm und Drang within 18th century culture • Two of Goethe‘s famous Sturm-und-Drang- poems • Lenz, ‚Lied zum teutschen Tanz‘ • Towards the aethetics of the Sturm und Drang • Recurrent topics of the Sturm-und-Drang-authors • Sources and central concepts of the Sturm und Drang • Centres of the Sturm und Drang • Goethe‘s life and works (till 1775)

2. The Sturm und Drang within 18th century culture • 1766-1780/1785 • quite a short, but influential period - often called Geniezeit • traditionally interpreted as a countermovement to Enlightenment and an early stage of German Romanticism • in the last 30 years seen as part of the Enlightenment: its foremost criticism • brought along by a new generation of authors: Herder, Goethe, Klinger, Wagner, Lenz, Schiller

3. Towards the aethetics of the Sturm und Drang: • Gottsched (Frühaufklärung): teaching morals, rationalistic understanding of the arts • Lessing (empfindsame Hochaufklärung): literature as an instrument to bridge the gap between ‘Erkenntnis’ and ‘Verhalten’ - ‘Rührung’ and ‘Mitleiden’ conceptualised as naturelike forces in human behaviour; literature then has to re-create (re-establish) the natural drive of ‘Mitleidsfähigkeit’: ‘die Natur nachahmen’ (to mimic nature), ‘Genie haben’ - all this can be described as a ‘Wirkungsästhetik’ • Sturm und Drang: ‘der Natur nachahmen’ (to be like nature), ‘Genie sein’. Concept of the ‘Originalgenie’. - This leads to a ‘Produktionsästhetik’.

4. Two of Goethe‘s famous Storm and Stress poems • ‘Prometheus’ • written in 1773 • dealing with mythological theme of the demigod Prometheus - especially with his revolt against Zeus, the Göttervater and Götterherrscher • the lyrical I defines itself as the creative center • ultimate power for the subject claimed • ‘Mailied’ • written in 1771: Erlebnislyrik - but nevertheless a construct, simulating real experiences • nature as aesthetic space for creating the idea of an individually based (centred) totality • the new ‘language’ of literature: simplicity, exclamations, emotions, unity of sound and meaning - ‘natural’ diction (instead of poetic diction) TEXT TEXT

5. Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz Lied zum teutschen Tanz (written in the 1770s) O Angst! o tausendfach LebenO Muth den Busen geschwelltZu taumeln zu wirbeln zu schwebenAls giengs so fort aus der WeltKürzer die BrustAthmet die LustAlles verschwundenWas uns gebundenFrey wie der WindGötter wir sindFreyer als WindAch wir nun sindAch wir Götter thun was uns gefällt

6. Recurrent topics of the Sturm-und-Drang-authors: • ‘nature’as a creative source (Herder) • history as a projection of local and collective experiences • man and his total perception • the poet as the supreme example of the ‘genius’ (Genie) • powerful energy and defiant autheticity - to be found in the characters (heroes) • radical dissolution of any form - instead searching for the inner form of works of art • poetry as outbursts of genius (an excited sensibility, free of preconceived religious or social restraints; natural settings evoke and respond to the poet’s abundant sense of life) • ... Continue the list for next seminar.

7. Sources and central concepts of the Sturm und Drang

8. Centres of the Sturm und Drang

9. Johann Wolfgang Goethe: his life and works till 1775

10. Homework for the next Seminar: • 1. What do you think is the function of the pretext (p.6)? Whose voice is this? • 2. Describe the contents and the style (stylistic devices) of the first letter, dating ‘am 4. May. 1771’? What is different if you compare the language with that used in Miß Sara Sampson? • 3. Read the letter dating ‘am 26. May.’ carefully (p. 24,26,28). What does ‘Wahlheim’ stand for? In which way do ‘Natur’ and ‘Genie’ contribute to the total effect? • 4. The famous letters from ‘am 16. Juny.’ and ‘am 19. Juny’ (pp.34-54) describe Werther’s first evening with Lotte. Read this letter carefully, mark and describe the different stages of the development the letters refer to.