Lessing and the «Sturm und Drang»

Despite the benevolent intellectual climate of the 1960s in Germany which had witnessed a reappraisal of earlier attitudes towards the eighteenth century in general, and towards the Aufklärung in particular, relatively little has since been done to pursue this stimulus to its logical conclusion – or to a discussion of possible conclusions. By looking beyond artificial literary classifications at the historical data and by accumulating detailed empirical evidence this study seeks to reappraise this situation, firstly by establishing a case which overcomes the traditional antithesis of Aufklärung and Sturm und Drang, and secondly by presenting a clear picture of the degree and nature of Lessing’s influence on German dramatists from Herder to Schiller.