storm and stress

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Sturm und Drang means a flow of German literature in the era of the Enlightenment , which was born about 1765 to 1785 mainly by young, about 20- to 30-year-old authors. Because of the “glorification of the ' original genius ' as the archetype of the higher man and artist” ( Gero von Wilpert ), this trend is also referred to as the genius period or genius period .

The name Sturm und Drang came up in the 1820s. It goes back to the comedy Sturm und Drang by the German poet Friedrich Maximilian Klinger , written in 1776 and published in 1777 - and thus ultimately to the “apostle of genius” Christoph Kaufmann (1753–1795) from Winterthur . He had urged Klinger to name his acting that instead of the original title Tangle . The first performance took place in Leipzig on April 1, 1777 by the Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft .

Enlightenment literature as a prerequisite

In the second half of the 18th century, philosophical and literary life in the German-speaking area was largely determined by the Enlightenment . The understanding was the determining factor of the time, through the free use of which, as Kant formulated in 1784, the " exit of man from his self-inflicted immaturity " is to be achieved. Literature should educate the reader morally, enlighten him and awaken his reason.

The freedom sought by the Enlightenment favored literary forms that were committed to reasonably arguing and controlled language. Theoreticians like Gottsched also emphatically put forward the demand for “regular” poetry during the Enlightenment. The unity of place, time and action, a sophisticated language and the separation of the occupation of tragedy and comedy with nobility and bourgeoisie were postulates that were taught to budding literary figures in numerous poetry academies.

Beginnings

But already in Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's ode of 1750 it became apparent that these regulations were too narrow. With this demonstration against the purely intellectual attitude of the Enlightenment, the cornerstone was laid for overcoming the rule of reason and unleashing the exuberance of emotions, the imagination and the forces of the mind as a new poetic basic attitude.

This renewing movement, which went through German-language literature like a jolt, was characterized in its bourgeois-youthful character by a high idealism: fullness of the heart and freedom of feeling, premonition and urge , emotio instead of ratio . The rebellion of the young had now found its literary equivalent, a new generation of German-speaking writers found the echo of their experiences and emotions in the theses of Johann Gottfried Herder .

Herder, who paved the way for Sturm und Drang, criticized the Enlightenment's arrogance towards the common people and called for the "ugliness" and depth of folk song and poetry to be recognized as an art; He recognized that enlightenment can turn into its opposite and demanded that it should only be a means, not an end. Even Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg's Ugolino (1768) can be classified into the early phase of the Sturm und Drang, the Swiss Henry Fuseli and Johann Kaspar Lavater view than their predecessors.

particularities

The personality ideal of the young generation in German literature at the end of the 18th century turned against authority and tradition. In place of a learnable rule poetics that could be learned in poetry academies, the "young savages" set the independence of the original genius , who brought his experience and his experiences into an individual artistic form that dealt very freely with the rules of traditional poetics. The relevance of the ratio was doubted and the emotio began to take center stage.

The traditional rules were discarded with reference to their own skills and the power of ingenious originality as crutches that the healthy genius of the young authors does not need. The work should not fit into one form, but into the world as the Sturm und Drang generation experienced it, reflecting their attitude towards life.

A new, deeply encompassing and empathetic relationship to nature was combined with a tragic basic conception of genius. The feeling moved to the center of the literary statement. “The voice of the heart is crucial for making a sensible decision.” This quote from Johann Gottfried Herder shows the protest against the prevailing moral concepts that made decisions dependent on morality and not on the heart. Added to this was the intensification of criticism of repressive excesses of the feudal system, albeit with acceptance of enlightened absolutism, as well as advancing secularization and the demand for the liberation of passions from a conventional morality. However, this act of liberation was also associated with suffering, as it had to lead to a violation of the continuing civic conventions.

The main form of poetry in the epoch of Sturm und Drang was the drama , albeit with a substantial abolition of the three units of action, time and place. The original version of Götz von Berlichingen consisted of 59 scenes; it was hardly playable and therefore a reading piece. The recurring theme was the conflict between the natural genius, the unruly youth striving for freedom, with the barriers of the existing world order, which made the people appear as rebels and criminals. The formal model was Shakespeare instead of the poets of the ancient world, who, however, continued to appreciate Pindar and Homer .

The representatives of Sturm und Drang refrained from developing their own aesthetic; they refused any integrative literary, poetological or political concept. "There is no theory of Sturm und Drang [...]."

The exalted, unrestrained and yet emotional and expressive language of Sturm und Drang was full of exclamations, half sentences and forced expressions and tended to be derbrealistically popular. People no longer minced their words and brought the language of the people and youth onto the stage. The front position of the young writers against an aristocratic court culture based on the French model as well as their sympathy for terms such as nature, heart and people caught the eye of their contemporaries. An independent “ youth culture ” in literature had emerged. Critics complained that the neglect of the dramatic technique and units in the works of Sturm und Drang went up to the point of changing the scene as often as desired, often beyond the degree of stage effectiveness (and representability).

Authors and works

First print of the “Robbers” by Friedrich Schiller (1781), without naming the author
First print of "Werther" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1774)

The authors of the Sturm und Drang came mainly from the middle and petty bourgeoisie. They tried to secure their literary activity financially, among other things, by tutoring or pastoral positions, since they could not live from literature. They lacked broad social resonance, which is why their movement was limited to acquaintances and friends with whom one formed male associations such as the Göttingen Hainbund . The centers of Sturm und Drang were Strasbourg, Göttingen and Frankfurt am Main. For many, including Goethe and Schiller, the Sturm und Drang only affected a limited period of their lives and work. Most of the authors and works were only known to a small interested group and are largely forgotten today.

The most important thought leaders, theorists, writers and works include:

Quotes

"Ha, it must be in something better, the charm of life: because to be someone else's ball is a sad, depressing thought, an eternal slavery, an only artistic one, a sensible one, but for its sake the miserable animal society."

- Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz : data of the German literature

"I'm disgusted with this ink-splattering sac!"

- Schiller : robbers

literature

  • Georg Bertram: Philosophy of the storm and stress. A Constitution of Modernism , Munich 2000.
  • Dramas of Sturm und Drang. Reclam 1997.
  • Simon Frank: Art Concepts of Sturm und Drang , Munich 2002.
  • Andreas Huyssen: Drama of Sturm und Drang. Commentary on an Era , Munich 1980.
  • Ulrich Karthaus: Storm and Stress. Epoch - Works - Effect , Munich 2000.
  • Matthias Luserke-Jaqui : Sturm und Drang. Authors, texts, topics , Stuttgart 1997.
  • Roy Pascal : The German "Sturm und Drang" . Manchester 1953 (German by Dieter Zeitz / Kurt Mayer: Der Sturm und Drang (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 335). Kröner, Stuttgart 1963, DNB 453708072 ).
  • Paul Van Tieghem: Le préromantisme: étude d'histoire littéraire européenne , Paris 1930.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gero von Wilpert : Specialized Dictionary of Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 231). 5th, improved and enlarged edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1969, DNB 458658170 , p. 747.
  2. ↑ Matthias Luserke-Jaqui : Sturm und Drang. Extended edition 2010, pp. 43–57.
  3. ↑ M. Luserke 2010, p. 108.
  4. ↑ M. Luserke 2010, p. 65.