Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

This essay was written in response to a prompt question posed by the editors of an anniversary edition of the Sixteenth Century Journal: "How have present political issues affected the way you do research?" In arguing that what once afforded study of the "Northern Renaissance" its pride of place in art historical scholarship was the central role played by acts of iconoclasm surrounding the Protestant Reformation and the ensuing responses in the formulations of new kinds of works of art, this essay then claims that the urgency of the present moment is to call attention to other instances of trauma, where violences may not have produced as much speech. A drawing by Christoph Jamnitzer and prints by Albrecht Dürer are here used to locate representations of the scream--and representations of the suppression of the scream--to advocate for a history of art that gives voice to those victims of brutality whom scholars have preferred, in the past, to suppress below the register of audibility.

Das Werk und die Person Lessings gehört zu den Schwerpunkten der ger-manistischen Forschung, so daß die Publikationen nicht abreißen, die sich allgemeineren und spezielleren Aspekten befassen, 1 doch erstaunt es im-mer wieder, wie viel in diesem Werk auch nach Jahrzehnten intensivster Forschung doch noch unausgeleuchtet bleibt. Das gilt auch für manche Kontexte, die aufgrund des lückenhaften Quellenmaterials oft nur andeu-tungsweise erschlossen werden können, auch wenn sich gerade durch die Konzentration auf Persönlichkeiten seines unmittelbaren Umfeldes noch mancher Zugewinn an Tiefenschärfe erzielen läßt. 2 Lessing kommt jeden-1 Nur exemplarisch sei verwiesen auf Von Herkules bis Hollywood : Beiträge zur jüngeren Lessing-Forschung ; Vortragsreihe der Lessing-Akademie (28. Septem-ber-9. November 2017) / im Auftrag der Lessing-Akademie e.

Resumo da obra O nascimento do trágico: de Schiller a Nietzsche (2006, p. 23-49), de Roberto Machado.
A poética da tragédia. A questão da poética da tragédia, menciona Peter Szondi, inicia com um embate conceitual entre dois autores de épocas e interesses distintos: Aristóteles e Schelling. Aristóteles lida com uma poética da tragédia, esta, de caráter mais empírico, observa os efeitos da tragédia (como a catarse), a arte trágica, mas não a ideia de tragédia. Sua influência transcendeu sua época e região, sendo piamente importante para o classicismo francês e para a Alemanha do século XVIII, com destaque para Schelling, sua filosofia do trágico e, ao período idealista, tanto quanto ao pós-idealista. Assim, para essa questão da poética da tragédia, destacam-se, para épocas e perspectivas diferentes: Aristóteles, Corneille e Lessing.

The Immanent Word establishes that the philosophical study of language inaugurated in the 1759 works of Hamann and Lessing marks a paradigm shift in modern philosophy; it analyzes the transformation of that shift in works of Herder, Kant, Fichte, Novalis and Schlegel. It contends that recent studies of early linguistic philosophy obscure the most relevant commission of its thinkers, arguing against the theological appropriation of Hamann by John Milbank; against the "expressive" appropriation of Hamann and Herder by Christina Lafont and Charles Taylor; and against Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy’s uncritical championing of Schlegel’s ideological position.

In dieser Arbeit untersuche ich Gotthold Ephraim Lessings (1729-1781) Werk Laokoon oder über die Grenzen der Malerei und der Poesie (1766) . Die Arbeit gliedert sich in drei Teile: Zunächst betrachte ich kurz das Werk und analysiere seine Hauptpunkte und zwar Lessings Grenzziehung zwischen der Malerei und der Poesie. Als Beispiel dafür wird ein Vergleich zwischen Winckelmann und Lessing hinsichtlich der Laokoon-Gruppe gemacht. Als nächstes wird die Rezeption von Lessings Laokoon in Betracht gezogen und zwar in den Fällen J.W. Goethes, Aby Warburgs und Rudolf Arnheims. Mit Hilfe dieser Untersuchungen möchte ich einen Beitrag für ein umfassenderes Verhältnis von Lessings Werk leisten. Anschließend füge ich einen kurzen Überblick ein und widme mich der Frage nach der Gültigkeit Lessings Darlegungen heutzutage, nämlich im Laufe der modernen Kunstentwicklungen am Beispiel der Medien und des Films.

Tradicionalmente se ha pensado la confrontación entre estos dos pensadores en torno a la crítica que el segundo, Lessing, le hizo a Winckelmann en el Laocoonte, en un marco general sin embargo de definición teórica de lo que deba ser el Neoclasicismo. Centrándonos en esta reflexión sobre el llamado gusto de la Ilustración se verá que más bien el encuentro intelectual entre ambos pensadores tiene lugar en otro orden de ideas, orden que nos remite tanto a la filosofía de la historia de ambos como a una implícita concepción de la religión cristiana. En efecto, partiendo de los análisis del profesor Rosario Assunto sobre el llamado programa del clasicismo que encuentra su expresión primera en la obra de Winckelmann de 1755 , se delimita una concepción totalmente análoga a la de la escatología cristiana, de modo que toda crítica a este modelo de la escatología presupone implícitamente una crítica al modelo de Winckelmann sobre el Neoclasicismo. Es precisamente en este nuevo territorio donde Lessing mantendrá unas tesis  (verdades históricas, contingentes, no pueden ser prueba de de verdades de razón, necesarias) que son incompatibles con lo que en el plano de la filosofía de la historia Winckelmann necesita para que su programa tenga coherencia teórica. Como corolario se sigue que las posteriores críticas que se le harán al modelo winckelmanniano encuentran su expresión más clara a nivel lógico-formal en las ideas que Lessing defendía en su concepción de la religión cristiana, iniciando de esta manera una línea que tendrá continuidad en posteriores pensadores y que ponen en evidencia las tensiones del programa sobre el Neoclasicismo. Por último, en la medida en que se acepte que las ideas de Winckelmann son las que mejor definen al Neoclasicismo, al tiempo que Lessing, en la línea de la filosofía de la religión, abandere el pensamiento de la Aufklärung, se siguen ciertos matices a la hora de relacionar intelectualmente Ilustración y Neoclasicismo, que en su estructura teórica profunda serían incompatibles en aspectos importantes.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing published Laokoon, oder: Über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (Laocoon, or: On the Limits of Painting and Poetry) in 1766. Over the last 250 years, Lessing’s treatise has exerted an incalculable influence on western critical thinking. Not only has the essay directed the history of post-Enlightenment aesthetics, it has also shaped practices of `poetry’ and `painting’ in myriad ways.

This anthology—the first-ever edited book on the Laocoon in English —brings together a range of leading critical voices to reassess Lessing’s essay on its 250th anniversary. The volume combines perspectives from multiple disciplines, including classics, intellectual history, aesthetics, comparative literature, and art history. Chapters discuss Lessing’s inter- pretation of ancient art and poetry, the cultural backdrops of the eigh- teenth century, and the validity of his observations in the fields of aesthetics, semiotics, and philosophy. The Laocoon’s attempt to delineate the spatial and temporal `limits’ of `poetry’ and `painting’, the volume demonstrates, is rooted in the critique of Graeco-Roman materials, while also drawing on Enlightenment theories of art, perception, and historical interpretation: by looking back to classical antiquity, Lessing forged a whole new tradition of modern aesthetics.

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Durante las últimas dos décadas del siglo XVIII, los intelectuales alemanes se enfrentaron a la tarea de reflexionar acerca del concepto de ilustración (Aufklärung), que, si bien era utilizado con frecuencia desde hacía años, conservaba una vaguedad que generaba inquietud y sospechas. El libro reúne los principales documentos donde los protagonistas del movimiento ilustrado reflexionan acerca de su sentido, alcance, causas y consecuencias, configurando un debate complejo en el que la pregunta “¿qué es ilustración?” se entrelaza con una multitud de otras cuestiones, incluyendo problemas estéticos, morales y, fundamentalmente, políticos. Las respuestas, sin embargo, son muy distintas entre sí. No existe una caracterización de ilustración a la que todos, o siquiera la mayoría, adhiera. Al contrario, los documentos reunidos en el libro –varios de los cuales aparecen por primera vez en español– muestran que la ilustración, como proyecto colectivo, abarca voces dispares, incluyendo puntos de vista que la cuestionan.

Ist das Eigene immer das Vertraute und das Fremde das Unvertraute? Spontan ist man geneigt, diese Frage mit einem deutlichen Ja zu beantworten. Die Erscheinungen der eigenen Kultur, ihre mündlichen und schriftlichen Äußerungen, muten intuitiv verständlich an, die Begegnungen mit anderen Kulturen dagegen erzeugen oftmals ein nicht unerhebliches Maß an Unverständnis. Auch der interkulturelle Literaturunterricht scheint dieser Grundauffassung zu folgen, wenn er vornehmlich Texte fremdkulturellen Ursprungs, Migrationsliteratur oder deutsche Literatur, die den clash of culture thematisiert, in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Ist diese Textauswahl zwingend, oder kann nicht auch der eigenkulturelle Text fremd sein und der fremdkulturelle vertraut? Schließlich beschäftigt doch diese Erfahrung der Unvertrautheit der Leser mit der eigenen Kultur nicht nur die Hermeneutik seit mehr als zwei Jahrhunderten-auch die Deutschdidaktik muss sich im Rahmen der Klassikerdiskussion immer wieder damit auseinandersetzen. Die historische Distanz der Rezipienten zu den Texten scheint kaum überwindbar. So werden die Klassiker in der Schule häufig nur als Pflichtlektüre wahrgenommen, deren Zusammenhang mit der eigenen (Schüler-)Welt weitgehend im Verborgenen bleibt. Auch Lessings bürgerliches Trauerspiel "Emilia Galotti" von 1772 ist ein solcher Schulklassiker – von dem sich mit Hilde Spiel sagen lässt: "Zweihundert Jahre später erscheint es uns so fremd, als käme e[s] von einem anderen Stern." (Spiel 1970, S. 11) Denn bei Lessing begegnet den Schülern eine Welt, die für sie in mehrfacher Hinsicht versunken ist: Die Welt der Antike, der italienischen Renaissance, des Feudalismus und des aufgeklärten Bürgertums.

Understanding visually presented stories requires intense effort from our visual imagination. Artists and theoreticians from the Renaissance onwards suggested various ways to depict stories, either to enhance their understanding and enjoyment, or to help adjust the depictions to the aesthetic ideas of the era. Alberti's concept of istoria, Leonardo's practice of visual stimulation, Lessing's advice on how to choose the most fruitful moment of a story relied both on personal experience and the scientific knowledge of the era. Visual imagination is specially needed in non-figurative and sequential narratives in modern and contemporary art, which are supported by Arnheim's notion of stroboscopic motion. Recent developments in image-making technologies enable some clarification of the processes involved in human perception with regard to the understanding of painted scenes and visually presented stories. The objective of this paper is to find the counterparts of these art theoretical concepts in psychology and neuroscience. Through the phenomena of mirror neurons, scene perception, gist of scene, and face and object recognition, these findings establish parallelisms between art history and neuroscience.

This article highlights Lessing's reliance on Spinoza's TTP during the 'Fragmentenstreit', a public debate over Biblical Criticism he incited in 1774.

Scholars agree that Lessing deliberately incited this infamous debate, but they limit his role to moderator of the conflict. However, I argue Lessing takes up a positive Spinozist position in the debate, discernable in three ways: first, by his claim, 'the Bible obviously contains more than what pertains to religion', second, by his distinction between the 'spirit' and 'letter', and third, by his practical mode of theologizing. After an overview of the debate and discussion of the relevant themes in Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, I turn to Lessing to show how these three ways emanate from and resonate with Spinoza's Treatise.

The Music Libel Against the Jews is a wide-ranging study of the historical Christian exclusion of the Jews, accused as producers of noise in a musical universe dominated by harmonious sounds.  Associating harmonies with divine grace, Christians interpreted "Jewish noise" they heard in medieval synagogues as a sign of divine abandonment. Ruth HaCohen traces the manifestations and roots of the noise accusation to a variation on the famous blood libel that spread in Europe during the Crusades, alleging that Jews kill singing Christian boys in order to silence their “intolerable” hymns and canticles. Stemming from two diametrically opposed performing practices of handling sound in ritual space, the book argues that the noise accusation records the two adversarial communities’ reciprocal rejection of each other’s sonic world.

Surprisingly, a focused study of the subject from historical, musical, aesthetic or theological perspectives has never been undertaken. Nor was it even diagnosed as a pervasive cultural phenomenon that may account for a host of texts, contexts, and subtexts addressing the mutual perceptions of Jews and Christians, in various domains and periods. Thus the book examines the dissemination and impact of this music libel from  medieval through modern times, in a variety of artistic and political contexts. Transcending the confines of church and synagogue, this study investigates the opening up of the musical sphere towards the Jews' inclusion in the wake of the Enlightenment. Acculturated Jews indeed made great efforts to integrate in that sphere, but as it turned out, they were not actually so welcomed, as old libels began to resurface. Pivotal to the Jews' struggle for aural accession are certain art works—musical, literary and pictorial—created by both "invaders" into that common audial space and by those considered its privileged "inhabitants. “ From Bach through Lessing, Handel,  Mendelssohn, and Heinrich Heine, to Richard Wagner, George Eliot, and many others, expressions and rebuttals of the noise accusation are traced and compared.  No less crucial to the story of the “noisy Jews” are modern ethnographic records of synagogues’ vocalities, by both Jews and Christians.  These records are analyzed against the massive reshaping of synagogal practices in both reform and traditional communities, all through the 19th century, in Germany and beyond. Simultaneously, the often intuitive Jewish project to emancipate noise and dissonance in the sphere of art, is viewed in this study as an integral part of European literature and music, consummated by Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Kafka and other creators of Jewish origin. The noise accusation reached a peak in Nazi propaganda films which also marks its final historical stage. The book exposes the often neglected, however crucial, role of the sonic in shaping modes of religious, communal and ethnic experience, self-perception and perception of the Other, which reinforce, if not determine, major political trends in human culture.

Intervención ampliada y corregida en el simposio "Estéticas del siglo XVIII"
(Buenos Aires, 11 y 12 de agosto de 2016), organizado por el Centro de Investigaciones Filosófica, la Asociación Argentina de Estudios sobre el Siglo XVIII y la Escuela de Humanidades de la UNSAM (Doctorado en Filosofía). La exposición  gira en torno al "Shakespeare" (1773) de Johann G. Herder, uno de los ensayos liminares del Sturm und Drang,  que propone reexaminar desde la doble perspectiva de una reinterpretación de la tragedia antigua y una crítica de la tragedia francesa, señalando las divergencias del filósofo alemán con Lessing y Voltaire.  El texto de persenta acompañado de debate entre los asistentes: Nicolás Kwiatkowski, OScar Esquisabel, Ricardo Ibarlucía, Adrián Ratto, Silvia Manzo y Esteban Ponce.

Attraverso la ricostruzione delle principali tappe della storia del ducato di Guastalla tra Cinque e Settecento l’articolo intende riflettere sulle motivazioni che hanno indotto Lessing ad ambientare l’Emilia Galotti in Italia e riconsiderare la tragedia sullo sfondo del dibattito settecentesco circa le prerogative del Sacro Romano Impero e il problema del particolarismo, sia italiano che tedesco. Dipingendo gli effetti negativi del particolarismo presso la corte gonzaghesca di Guastalla nella tragedia, questa la nostra tesi, Lessing sembra prendere indirettamente posizione in una polemica che infiammava la pubblicistica e le élite intellettuali tra Berlino e Vienna. Questo avveniva significativamente (forse anche per ragioni opportunistiche) proprio nel momento in cui il drammaturgo, ormai deluso dalla realtà politica e culturale prussiana, progettava di lasciare Berlino per trasferirsi nella capitale austriaca. Con questa prospettiva interpretativa il saggio vuole contribuire a una migliore comprensione del contesto in cui nacque e fu recepita dal pubblico del tempo l’Emilia Galotti, e verificare fino a che punto la posizione di Lessing nel suddetto dibattito si rifletta altresì nelle scelte estetiche e contenutistiche adottate nella tragedia. 

In reconstructing the most important landmarks of the history of the Duchy of Guastalla between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth centuries this article explores the reasons behind Lessing’s decision to choose an Italian setting – Guastalla – for Emilia Galotti, and reconsiders the tragedy in the context of the eighteenth-century debate regarding the prerogatives of the Holy Roman Empire and the question of Italian and German particularism. It argues that in depicting in his tragedy the negative effects of particularism at the Gonzaga court in Guastalla, Lessing appears to be implicitly positioning himself in a controversy that from Berlin to Vienna agitated both the press and the intellectual elite. Significantly, this occurred (perhaps also for opportunistic personal reasons) at the same time that Lessing, disillusioned with the political and cultural situation in Prussia, was planning to leave Berlin for the Austrian capital. Through this hermeneutical perspective the article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the context in which Emilia Galotti was created and received by the public, and to verify to what point Lessing's position in the above-mentioned debate had an impact on the choices regarding form and contents which were adopted by the author in the tragedy.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), bedeutender Dichter der Aufklärung ist Autor des ersten Ideendramas der deutschen Literatur, „Nathan der Weise“. Die vorliegende Arbeit unternimmt den Versuch, die Humanitätsbotschaft des Stückes herauszuarbeiten und als strukturbestimmendes Element darzustellen.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), important poet of the Enlightenment is the author of the first drama of ideas of German literature called "Nathan the Wise". The present work attempts to bring out of the play Lessing’s concept of humanitas and to present it as a structure-directing element.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), importante poeta de la Ilustración es el autor del primer drama de ideas de la literatura alemana que lleva como título "Nathan el Sabio". El presente trabajo trata de poner de manifiesto el concepto de humanitas en la obra de Lessing y presentarlo como un elemento director de su estructura.

In dieser Arbeit wird mit einer Darstellung von Lambert Wiesings Auffassung der " Unzeitlichkeit des Bildes" angefangen. In einer zweiten eher kritischen Phase, werden verschiedene Probleme und Einwände erwähnt, die Wiesings Idee einer radikalen Unzeitlichkeit des Bildes in Frage stellen. Drittens wird versucht, den Ansatz von Wiesing zu nuancieren. Meine Hypothese ist, dass diese Idee, das Bild sei unzeitlich, eigentlich einer reichen Tradition begegnet: einer theoretischen und ästhetischen Tradition, die man unter anderem bei Lessing, Kant oder noch Michael Fried beobachtet. Aus diesem Standpunkt ist es lohnenswert zu beschreiben, wie bestimmte Bilder die Zeit " unterbrechen", " lösen" oder " aufheben" können.

Nel 1997, per Sellerio Editore, Luciano Canfora e Angelo Semeraro hanno curato la riedizione de di Fabrizio Canfora. Nel volume, accanto Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts e de Il testamento di Giovanni già apparse per la casa editrice Laterza nel 1951, vengono ora pubblicati anche una selezione di scritti tratti dal Nachlass e un , rivista e ampliata, de lessinghiana dal titolo. In questo saggio, Fabrizio Canfora fornisce al lettore una rappresentazione complessiva della figura di Lessing come pensatore già sulla soglia del venturo idealismo. 43 «latente» istanza religiosa, di una «disposizione alla ricerca rigorosa nel campo della fede» finalizzata alla conferma del proprio credo. Vi sarebbe in Lessing «anima religiosa», che riemerge di tanto in tanto negli scritti giovanili e nelle Rettungen; si manifesta in particolare negli anni di Wolfenbüttel; e assume un ruolo centrale nel Educazione del genere umano e nel Nathan il saggio, opere «testamento» lessinghiano. Ciò sarebbe tanto evidente da indurre Canfora ad affermare che «nel raccoglimento di Wolfenbüttel il mancato pastore di Kamenz matura nella sua coscienza il problema religioso, irradia genere umano» (EM, 43). La polemica religiosa propria del Lessing si innesta sulla controversia teologica, ricostruita con grande accuratezza da Canfora, che nel XVIII secolo vede lo scontro tra ortodossia e razionalismo. Vi si fronteggiano apologisti, difensori della religione cristiana come unica religione razionale, e deisti, sostenitori del primato della religione naturale come nucleo razionale insito in ogni religione positiva. In seno al deismo europeo, si dipanano differenti, e persino inconciliabili, componenti (come quella tollerante e liberale inglese, o materialistica e anticlericale francese, o profonda e religiosa tedesca). Lessing tuttavia non prende le difese di alcuna delle posizioni coeve, non parteggia per alcuna delle tesi fideiste, apologetiche o razionaliste che siano. 44 Il filosofo armonizza invece gli opposti motivi in una visione più comprensiva della 43 Canfora F. , in G. E. Lessing, umano, Sellerio, Palermo 1997; si veda anche Id., Lessing, Laterza, Bari 1973. 44 Oltre al saggio introduttivo di Canfora, per la ricostruzione chiara e approfondita del panorama teologico e dottrinario nel quale si muove la riflessione religiosa di Lessing si rimanda al volume K. Aner, Die Theologie der Lessingzeit, Niemeyer, Halle 1929.

A comprehensive exploration of Dr. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the Devil, and those who dared to tell his tale.

Volume 1 includes:
New insights into the life and times of the historical Dr. Faustus, the notorious occultist and charlatan who reputedly declared the devil was his ´brother-in-law´. A detailed study of the first Faust books and the popular Faustian folk tales.    Original discussions on Christopher Marlowe´s famous drama and his ´atheistic´ rendition of the Faustian myth, including new a unique and controversial  analysis of the A and B texts.  The days of the Faust puppet plays.  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing´s unfinished Faust drama.

Heinrich von Kleist was an author deeply tied to the authors of the Enlightenment of the previous generation. His works demonstrate this relationship through the use of themes and motifs of the Aufklärung. This is for instance the case of the adoption motif, that recurs also in some of Lessing’s works. Ruth Klüger identified similarities between Lessing’s Nathan and Kleist’s “Der Findling”. It remains unexplored how this motif recurs in other two texts of Lessing and Kleist: Miss Sara Sampson and “Das Erdbeben in Chili”. In both texts the end is marked by the death of the own biological children, replaced by adopted children. Enlightenment thinkers assert the superiority of adoption. So when in Lessing’s Miss Sara Sampson at the end the harmony is restored thanks to an adoption, in Kleist’s “Erdbeben“ it remains doubtful if this adoption will be successful. The typical als-ob structure and the conjunctive determines this ambiguity. Kleist’s text can be seen as an opposition to the optimistic ideals of the Enlightenment, even if this opposition is not explicit and the interpretation is left to the reader.

Reflektiert Lessings Trauerspiel Miss Sara Sampson (1755) die so genannte 'anthropologische Wende' des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts? Eine hermeneutisch-kritische Lesart von Saras Traum als Schlüsselerlebnis menschlicher Erfahrung legt eine Kritik Lessings an der Anthropologie als Wissenschaft im frühen 18. Jahrhundert nahe--so meine These im Folgenden.

The last text Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ever wrote – a short fragment entitled "Notes on An Assessment of the Current Movements of Religion" (Anmerkungen zu einem Gutachten über die itzigen Religionsbewegungen) – has long puzzled readers. While the first generation of Lessing scholars recognized the fragment’s importance, all attempts to decipher its allusions have failed because the historical context of the piece remained obscure. In my essay, I identify the text to which Lessing’s "Notes" are referring for the first time: a legal petition with the bulky title "Most Subservient Assessment Concerning the Current Movements of Religion, Especially Within the Protestant Church, As Well As Regarding the Imperial Commissional Decree in the Case Against Bahrdt" (archived in the Bavarian State Library, Munich). This discovery not only illuminates the historical background of Lessing’s final work and makes visible his previously unknown dialogue with Johann Jacob Moser, the petition’s anonymous author. It also shows that Lessing intended to forcefully intervene in what was arguably the most notorious religio-political legal battle of the 18th century – the Imperial Aulic Council’s case against the radical enlightenment thinker Carl Friedrich Bahrdt. Thus, Lessing’s last fragment sheds light on the rhetorical strategy that allowed Lessing, as opposed to Bahrdt, to avoid the most serious persecution during the famous “Fragments Controversy.”

Михаэль Тальхаймер - один из самых успешных современных немецких режиссеров. Он работает с классическими произведениями в минималистском стиле. Его спектакль "Эмилия Галотти" - показательный пример творческих принципов режиссера. Уникальная сценографическая конструкция сочетается с особой формой существования актеров на сцене; речь уступает первенство пластике. Трагедия девушки, которая участи фаворитки принца предпочитает смерть от руки отца, в спектакле Тальхаймера превращается в трагедию общества, где люди настолько разучились воспринимать и выражать чувства, что любое из них неминуемо ведет к драматичному финалу. [Mikhael Talhaimer - one of the most succesful modern german stage directors. He prefers working with classics in minimalistic style. His performance "Emilia Galotti" is spectacular example of creative approach of this stage director. Unique scenografic construction combines here with some sort of special form of actor's existence on stage, where discourse lets plastique have first place. The tragedy of the girl who prefers death from her father's arms rather than being a royal minion turns into the tragedy of the society where people loose the skill of apprehending and expressing feelings, and as a result every feeling inevitably leads to dramatic denouement.]

La massoneria ha caratterizzato la vita politica, sociale e culturale dell’Europa del Settecento, influenzando anche l’opera di intellettuali, artisti e scrittori.
Questo studio analizza le modalità con le quali la letteratura europea, e in special modo la tedesca, tra Sette e Ottocento, ha rielaborato narrativamente ed esteticamente motivi e tematiche provenienti dall’ambito massonico.
Con lo sguardo rivolto alle dottrine e alle pratiche rituali libero-muratorie e alla nascente cultura dei media nel Settecento, nel libro si dimostra come le opere prese in considerazione possano essere interpretate quali vere e proprie performances culturali e rituali che intendevano coinvolgere anche i lettori o gli spettatori nella stessa «esperienza» che avveniva nello spazio segreto ed «eterotopico» delle logge.
In tal senso, si individuano significativi nessi tra le pratiche iniziatiche massoniche e quelle letterarie proprie della Goethezeit.

The famous ancient statuary group now in Vatican  Museum was the object of countless descriptions in the XVIII century. By taking into account those by six eminent German authors (Winckelmann, Lessing, Herder, Heinse, Goethe, Schiller) the paper outlines their different approaches, with particular regard to the concept of sublime, so relevant in the aesthetics of that
epoch.

Hausarbeit im Fach Religionswissenschaft zum Seminarthema: "Islam und Islambilder in Europa" an der Universität Göttingen, geleitet von Dr. Anja Hänsch, WS 2009/10.

Es gilt die Frage zu beantworten, ob durch einen literarischen Orientalismus eine Position der Überlegenheit zum Ausdruck kommt und inwiefern dies Auswirkungen auf die Beziehungen von Orient und Okzident hat. Kann man die Literatur bzw. die Dichterinnen und Dichter vom Vorwurf der autoritären Vereinnahmung des Orients freisprechen, da sie keine politischen oder kolonialen Interessen verfolgten oder findet sich hier eine ergänzende Variante des von Said geprägten Begriffs? Reicht es zu sagen, wenn keine „böse Absicht“ hinter der literarischen Produktion und Rezeption des Orients steckt, greift der Vorwurf des Orientalismus im Sinne Saids nicht? Oder gilt es vielmehr zu sagen, dass es sich beim Orientalismus, gleich welcher Ausdrucksform er sich bedient oder welches Urteil er über den Orient fällt, um einen diskursiven Prozess handelt, bei dem der Literatur und Kultur eine konstitutive Rolle zukommt, da sie ein europäisches Bild des Orients konstruiert und reproduziert, das seine Vereinnahmung begünstigt?
Im Einzelnen untersucht wird Lessings "Nathan der Weise", Goethes West-Östlicher Divan und Herders Ursprungstheorie.

Beinahe verbirgt der bescheidene Titel die keineswegs bescheidene Zielsetzung der anzuzeigenden Studie. Mit Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Epoche und Werk erhebt Friedrich Vollhardt, Ordinarius an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, nämlich den Anspruch, „das Exemplarische an der individuellen Entwicklung des Schriftstellers zu erfassen und damit zugleich ein Bild der Epoche zu entwerfen“ (S. 10).  Ausdrücklich abweichend von den großen Meistererzählungen über das Zeitalter der Aufklärung versucht sich Vollhardt also an einem vielschichtigen Porträt jenes „Jahrhunderts der Sattelzeit(en)“ (S. 119), dem Lessings Schriften gleichermaßen als Muster und Beispiel dienen.

Hannes Kerbers Studie erneuert den epochalen Streit zwischen Aufklärung und Christentum. Im Zentrum steht dabei die spektakuläre Doppelrolle Gotthold Ephraim Lessings. Mit den »Fragmenten eines Ungenannten« veröffentlicht Lessing nicht nur die schärfste in deutscher Sprache vorgebrachte Kritik am Christentum, sondern er widerspricht dieser Kritik zugleich im Namen einer strengen Orthodoxie.

Lessings doppelte Provokation entfesselt den »Fragmentenstreit«, die philosophisch vielleicht anspruchsvollsten, theologisch jedenfalls folgenschwersten Kontroverse im Deutschland des 18. Jahrhunderts. In Kerbers sorgfältigen Interpretationen von Lessings Schriften - von "Über den Beweis des Geistes und der Kraft" bis zu "Nathan der Weise" - und einer genauen Rekonstruktion des ideengeschichtlichen Kontexts zeigt sich der Fragmentenstreit als eine Aufklärung der Aufklärung, die die Herausforderung des Christentums in ihrer ganzen Radikalität offenlegt.

The aricle is devoted to one of the most enigmatic details of Pushkin’s Grobovshchik namely, «a plump Amour with an inverted torch». The author investigates its variable semantic structures and a range of its narrative potentials determined by such contexts as a) classical allegorical tradition, b) patterns of the anecdote genre, c) elegiac language, and d) some elements of funeral practice.

"Exoteric Teaching” is arguably one of the most important finds among the Leo Strauss papers. As his first attempt at an explanation of the controversial concept of “exotericism” in general terms, the fragment enables the reader to cast a unique glance at the genesis of Strauss’s hermeneutics. Its peculiar approach distinguishes the essay, which was written in December 1939, not only from its next of kin, “Persecution and the Art of Writing,” but from most other studies, written and published mainly during the 1940s, in which Strauss applied his thesis of exoteric writing: While the main subjects of these articles are writers from the Jewish and Islamic Middle Ages, “Exoteric Teaching” takes a different route by presenting the issue exclusively from what may loosely be called a Western perspective - focusing especially on Lessing and Schleiermacher.

The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni offers an original reading of Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s opera Don Giovanni, using as a lens the portrayal of the title role by its creator, the baritone Luigi Bassi (1766–1825). Although Bassi was coached in the role by the composer himself, his portrayal has never been studied in depth before, and this book presents a large number of new sources (first- and second-hand accounts), which allows us to reconstruct his performance scene by scene. The book confronts Bassi’s portrayal with a study of the opera’s early German reception and performance history, demonstrating how Don Giovanni as we know it today was not only created by Mozart, Da Ponte and Luigi Bassi but also by the early German adapters, translators, critics and performers who turned the title character into the arrogant and violent villain we still encounter in most of today’s stage productions. 
Incorporating a discussion of the dramaturgical thinking of the late Enlightenment and the difficult moral problems that the opera raises, this is an important study for scholars and researchers from opera studies, theatre and performance studies, music history as well as conductors, directors and singers.

Draft text. Final version of this chapter published in:
"The Human Vocation in German Philosophy: Critical Essays and 18th Century Sources." Edited by Anne Pollok & Courtney D. Fugate (London / New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), pp. 281-294.

Volume 1 of the series: Bloomsbury Studies in Modern German Philosophy.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/vocation-of-the-human-being-in-german-philosophy-16001800-9781350166080/

This chapter is a study of palingenesis or rebirth in Fichte's Berlin publications.