August Friedrich Cranz

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Portrait of Andreas Stöttrupp (1780)

August Friedrich Cranz , also Crantz , pseudonym : Pater Gaßner the Younger (born September 26, 1737 in Marwitz near Landsberg an der Warthe , † October 19, 1801 in Berlin ) was a German writer .

Life

The son of a Lutheran preacher studied theology and law at the University of Halle . After his de-registration at the age of 35, he became court master of a Count Solms in Berlin in 1772 . On his recommendation, he was later dismissed as a War and Tax Council in Kleve , but soon because of irregularities.

In Kleve, Cranz began to write as editor of the weekly magazine "The friend of truth and pleasure on the Lower Rhine" , which was published since 1773 by Johann Gottlieb Bärstecher . In 1782 he published the pamphlet The research for light and law in a letter to Mr. Moses Mendelssohn at the instigation of his strange preface to Manasseh Ben Israel with author's statements wrongly pointing to the Viennese enlightener Joseph von Sonnenfels, which gave Mendelssohn the impetus to write his work Jerusalem . From 1779 to 1784 he lived in Berlin and then in Hamburg, probably to avoid his creditors. The marriage concluded there was soon divorced. He died abandoned and impoverished.

Cranz brought family secrets and scandals, disguised with ironic and satirical remarks, to the public. He is considered to be Goethe's and Schiller's opponents in the Xenien dispute .

Works

  • About the abuse of spiritual power or worldly rule in matters of faith. Berlin 1781 ( digitized version )
  • The search for light and justice in a letter to Mr. Moses Mendelssohn at the instigation of his strange preface to Manasseh Ben Israel. Berlin 1782. Digitized

literature

  • German Literature Lexicon . Founded by Wilhelm Kosch. Vol. 2. Bern; Munich: Francke, 1969.
  • Dieter Reichelt: August Friedrich Cranz - a king. Prussian war council as a freelance writer . News of some of his strange censorship battles. In: “Leipziger Jahrbuch zur Buchgeschichte”, Volume V, 1995, pages 39–85
  • Dieter Reichelt: August Friedrich Cranz, a king. Prussian council of war as a writer by profession . Testimonies from his strange life and work in Berlin. In: “Berlinische Denkworthlichkeit”, Volume 1, Luttertaler handshake, Bargfeld 1996, ISBN 3-928779-15-X
  • Carl Christian Redlich:  Cranz, August Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 564-566.
  • Michael Albrecht: Introduction. In: Moses Mendelssohn: Jerusalem or about religious power and Judaism. With the preface to Manasseh ben Israel's salvation of the Jews and the draft for Jerusalem ed. by Michael Albrecht. Hamburg 2005. Digitized version (PDF; 144 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Moses Mendelssohn: Collected writings. Anniversary edition: Writings on Judaism II . Vol. 8, Frommann-Holzboog, 1983, p. XXIX, ISBN 978-3-7728-1015-2
personal data
SURNAME Cranz, August Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Father Gaßner the Younger (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Marwitz
DATE OF DEATH October 19, 1801
Place of death Berlin