Lesson 16

GERMAN LITERATURE
Objectives

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

1. to recognize the German Literature
2. to familiarize the different periods in German Literature
3. to familiarize the different German literary pieces; and
4. determine the German writers and their contributions in literature.

Content
INTRODUCTION:
German literature comprises the written works of the German-speaking peoples of
central Europe. It has shared the fate of German politics and history: fragmentation and
discontinuity. Germany did not become a modern nation-state until 1871, and the prior history of
the various German states is marked by warfare, religious turmoil, and periods of economic
decline. This fragmented development sets German literature apart from the national literatures
of France and England, for instance, which enjoyed uninterrupted brilliance from the Middle
Ages to the modern era. Nevertheless, German literature has experienced three periods of
established greatness: the high Middle Ages (c. 1160–c. 1230), the turn of the 18th to the 19th
century (the “age of Goethe”), and the turn of the 19th to the 20th.

Pre-Christian and early Christian periods

The Germanic tribes immigrating to mainland Europe from Scandinavia from the 1st
century BC onward brought with them a rich culture. Since its language-related heritage was
orally transmitted and its recipients saw no need to replace the physical presence of the singer of
tales with written texts, most of it is lost. The rich mythology and epic-heroic poetry are partly
recoverable from later written sources, all from the 13th century and beyond—the Old Norse
Eddic poems, the German Nibelungenlied, and various poems about the hero Dietrich von
Bern/Theodoric. Only broken bits of this culture remain: runic inscriptions, mythological motifs
on gold amulets, a few magic incantations (the “Merseburger Zaubersprüche” [“Merseburg
charms”], preserved in the Merseburg library, which reveal pre-Christian origins), and a 67-line
fragment of a heroic song depicting a tragic clash between the warrior Hildebrand and his own
son (Hildebrandslied [c. 800; “Hildebrand’s Song,” Eng. trans. The Hildebrandslied]). The
imagination of this nomadic warrior culture envisioned human destiny as being inescapably
tragic. In Norse mythology, even the gods themselves fall prey to malice and revenge and are
swallowed up in the cataclysm known as Ragnarǫk, the “Doom of the Gods.”

MEDIEVAL GERMAN LITERATURE

 German literature begins in the Carolingan period first in Latin and then in Old High
German
 Hildebrandslied – (The most famous work in Old High German) a short piece of
Germanic alliterative heroic verse which is the sole survivor of what must have been a
vast oral tradition
 OTHER IMPORTANT WORKS
 The Evangelienbuch (Gospel Harmony) of Ottfried von Weissenburg, the short but
splendid Ludwigslied
 The Evangelienbuch is a selective paraphrase of the Gospels, interposed by
short passages of commentary. In a Latin dedication, Otfrid describes his
concern over treating the life of Christ in the German tongue and explains that
he did so to combat the native love for vernacular secular poetry. 
 In the northern dialect of Old Saxon, a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic, known
as the Heliand

SOME AUTHORS AND WORKS OF THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

 Herzog Ernst
 Heinrich von Freiberg
 Ulrich von Türheim
 Rudolf von Ems
 Konrad von Würzburg
 Heinrich Frauenlo
 Reinmar del Alte

The Old High German Period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11 th century, though the
boundary to Early Middle High German (second half of the 11 th century) is not clear-cut. The
most impressive example of EMHG literature is the Annolied.

THE BAROQUE PERIOD

 Was one of the most fertile times in German Literature
 Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the Thirty Year’s war, in poetry and
prose
 Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen’s adventures of the young and naive
Simplicissimus, in the eponymous book Simplicius Simplicissimus, became the most
famous novel of the Baroque Period (1621-1676)
 It is a picaresque novel, meaning that it tells the story of a series of adventures
and exploits that Simplicius gets himself into , including fighting in the Thirty
Year’s war, travelling around the world, and visiting a land populated by
mermen. In the end, Simplicius rejects the world and becomes a hermit. This
may be Grimmelsausen’s bitter response to the destructiveness of the Thirty
Years’ War, which he himself lived through.
 Invention of printing press in the late 15th century led to rise in the circulation of
literature and reading states
Some of the writers who wrote about tragedies
 Andreas Gryphius
 Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
 The age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often
thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason
 This movement’s leaders viewed themselves as a courageous, elite body of intellectuals
who were leading the world toward progress, out of a long period of irrationality,
superstitions, and tyranny which began during a historical period they call the dark ages
  Early Enlightenment (Frühaufklärung)
The Enlightenment actually begins in the early 17th century with Descartes in France and
in mid-17th century with Pufendorf in Germany.

 The most important German philosopher of the early Enlightenment is Leibniz (1646-
1716). Leibniz's ideas were popularised by Christian Wolff (1679-1754).

 The most important public intellectual of this period was Christian Thomasius (1655-
1728). Also worthy of note are the poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747),

 the art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768); 

 the prose satirist Gottlieb Wilhelm Rabener (1714-1771) who was known as ‘the
German Swift’; and Anton Wilhelm Amo (circa 1703-circa 1759), a black African who
in 1736 became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Halle.

 In the first half of the 18th century, enlightened tragedies and comedies were written by
Johann Christoph Gottsched and his wife Luise Adelgunde Gottsched.  

Rococo (mid 18th century)


This refers to the charming poetry produced by Gleim, Hagedorn and Uz. Their poems
were modelled on the ancient Greek poet Anacreon who wrote love poems and drinking
songs.

Literature of Sensibility (Literatur der Empfindsamkeit) 


This mid-18th century genre, developed by English and French writers such as
Richardson and Prévost, soon became highly popular in German,
 e.g. Gellert's Leben der schwedischen Gräfin von G...; Life of the
Swedish  Countess of G... (1748). 
 Wieland and La Roche produced fine sentimental novels, but the most famous
novel of this genre in German is Goethe’s epistolary novel Die Leiden des
jungen Werthers; The Sorrows of Young Werther  (1774).
  Later examples of this genre are Johann Martin Miller’s Siegwart (1776), the
novels of Jean Paul (Johann Paul Friedrich Richter), and 
 Caroline Auguste Fischer’s epistolary novel Die Honigmonathe; The
Honeymoon (1802). 

Sturm und Drang (‘Storm and Stress’)


This movement lasted less than a decade (1770-78). Under the aegis of Johann Gottfried
Herder and Shakespeare, young German writers such as Goethe, Jakob Michael Reinhold
Lenz, Johann Heinrich Merck, Friedrich Maximilian Klinger and Friedrich (Maler)
Müller cut loose from French classical models in order to produce some intense, realistic
dramas. Schiller was not a member of the movement, although his early plays (1781
onwards) show affinities with it. In the wake of Sturm und Drang a number of popular
gothic novels appeared by writers such as Benedikte Naubert and C. A. Vulpius.
 Goethe - wrote German’s first major drama, Götz von Berlichingen (1773 and
 German’s most sensational and representative novel, Die Leiden des
jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774)
 Schiller- wrote the play Die Räuber and other early plays which were preludes to
Romanticism

Classicism

This name is given to the period of Goethe and Schiller’s mature works, and particularly
to the period of their collaboration, 1794-1805. Arguably though, Goethe’s classical
period begins earlier, with his departure for Italy in 1786. This period ends in 1805
with Schiller’s death.
 It refers to a high regard for classical antiquity as setting standards for taste which the
classicist seeks to emulate
 It is usually contrasted with romanticism; the art of classicism typically seeks to be
formal and restrained.

Domestic Fiction

 From the 1770s onwards, and well into the 19th century, a number of German women
novelists wrote fiction focusing on romance, marriage and the family. For a long time this
genre was ignored by scholars, who labelled it dismissively as
the Frauenroman (women’s novel). In recent decades, however, this genre has benefited
from serious critical attention.
  Examples of this genre include: 
 Sophie von La Roche, Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim; The Story of
Young Lady von Sternheim (1771); 
 Caroline von Wolzogen, Agnes von Lilien (1798);
 Friederike Helene Unger, Julchen Grünthal: Eine Pensiongeschichte; A
Boarding School Story (1784/1798);
 Therese Huber, Die Familie Seldorf; The Seldorf Family (1795-96);
 Sophie Mereau, Das Blüthenalter der Empfindung; The Springtime of
Sensation (1794); 
 Amanda und Eduard (1803). 

Early Romanticism (Frühromantik)

 Around 1800 writers such as Wackenroder, Tieck, Novalis, Karoline von
Günderrode, Friedrich Schlegel, Dorothea Schlegel and August Wilhelm
Schlegel imbued art with a new religious significance, combining medieval nostalgia
with modern insights into the nature of the self. The early Romantics were influenced by
the work of the philosophers Kant and Fichte. The novelist Jean Paul (Johann Paul
Friedrich Richter) was not a member of this group but his work can be seen as loosely
associated with early Romanticism.
Universitätsmamsellen (Academic Young Ladies)
  The Universitätsmamsellen were a group of five female intellectuals, daughters of
academics at Göttingen University, who were active around 1800: Meta Forkel-
Liebeskind, Therese Huber, Philippine Engelhard, Karoline Schelling (née
Michaelis) and Dorothea Schlözer.

19th CENTURY

 in the 19th century was written against a background of political aspirations for

nationhood, democracy and freedom of speech. Censorship and authoritarianism
prevailed for much of the century. The medieval Holy Roman Empire (which had lasted
in Europe for six centuries) came to an end after Napoleon’s defeat of Austria (at
Austerlitz in 1805) and Prussia (at Jena in 1806). After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in
1815, the Congress of Vienna established a system of restoration called the German
Confederation (Deutscher Bund) which lasted until German unification in 1871

Writers

In the second half of the 19th century the preferred mode of literature was realist fiction
(sometimes called ‘poetischer Realismus’; ‘poetic realism’ or ‘bürgerlicher Realismus’;
‘bourgeois realism’). The genre of the novella (Novelle) was richly developed.

German-language writers of realist fiction in this period:

 Berthold Auerbach, Helene Böhlau, Felix Dahn, Marie Eugenie Delle Grazie, Hedwig
Dohm, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Gustav Frenssen, Gustav Freytag, Theodor Fontane,
Gerhart Hauptmann, Paul Heyse, Gottfried Keller, Max Kretzer, Ferdinand
Kürnberger, Fanny Lewald, Otto Ludwig, Eugénie Marlitt, Karl May, Conrad Ferdinand
Meyer, Wilhelm Raabe, Gabriele Reuter, Friedrich Spielhagen, Adalbert Stifter, Theodor
Storm, Bertha von Suttner.

The most famous cultural figure in late 19th-century Germany was the composer Richard

Wagner. 

20TH CENTURY

 In the 20th century the following events occurred: the First World War (1914-18); the

Second World War (1939-45) and the Holocaust (Shoah); and the Cold War between
the USA and the USSR which led to the division of Germany. Germany began the 20th
century as an Empire under the rule of Kaiser Wilhelm II
 The most respected German dramatist of this period is Brecht (also a great poet and
novelist).
 Other German-language dramatists of this half-century :
Ernst Barlach, Wolfgang Borchert, Marieluise Fleißer, Anna Gmeyner, Hugo von
Hofmannsthal, Ödön von Horváth, Georg Kaiser, Klabund (=Alfred Henschke), Oskar
 Kokoschka, Arthur Schnitzler, Reinhard Sorge, Jura Soyfer, Carl Sternheim, Ernst
Toller, Frank Wedekind and Carl Zuckmayer.
 The three most respected German-language novelists of this half-century are:
 Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann and Robert Musil. 
 The most respected German-language poet of this period is Rainer Maria Rilke.

LITERARY WORKS

1. THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

When Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam during the Holocaust, receives a
diary for her thirteenth birthday on June 12, 1942, she knows it is a special gift. She calls the
diary 'maybe one of my nicest presents.' She has no way of knowing, of course, of the important
role the diary will play in recording the years she must spend in hiding.
SUMMARY:
Anne hopes that her diary will become her confidante, a 'great source of comfort and support.' At
first she confides events involving her school friends. Her typical teenage life is interrupted,
however, when the Nazis occupy Amsterdam.
Anne and her family are Jewish, and once the Nazis take control of the city, the family is
endangered. The Franks go into hiding in a secret annex attached to a food factory. Anne and her
family will spend two years in the annex; during this time, they're unable to leave the building
because of the risk of being captured by the Nazis.
Anne continues to write in the diary during these years, recording her thoughts and feelings about
coming of age under such unusual circumstances. The diary presents the daily routine of the
occupants of the annex, which comes to include other inhabitants in addition to the Frank family.
Anne writes about ongoing conflicts with her mother, her relationship with her sister, and her
love for her father. In addition to depicting her relationship with her family. Anne also
experiences love for the first time while she is hiding. When she develops a crush on Peter, one
of the other annex residents, her father discourages the relationship. Anne goes along with her
father’s wishes and begins to spend less time with Peter out of respect for her father.
The annex residents are forced to contend with many vexing issues in their daily life: boredom,
conflict and even food rationing. The fear they experience however permeates Anne’s account of
life in hiding. Anne’s diary contains many passages describing the fear she experiences when
bombing occurs nearby.
2. SIMPLICIUS SIMPLICISSIMUS
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus the Vagabond is the story of a
young man who travels with the army during the Thirty Years' War. The protagonist,
Simplicissimus, finds himself in many different locations and situations throughout the five
sections of the book.
In part one, Simplicissimus is separated from his real family and offered a home by a man who
lives in the woods. He thinks about his birth family and remembers that his father trusted him to
take care of his sheep. Simplicissimus sees the position as one of honor and trust. When he sees
soldiers come to his farm, he thinks at first that the horse and man is one creature and that they
are there to eat the sheep. The soldiers destroy his father's house and torture the people there,
which he says is what motivated him to learn lessons in the world. While hiding, he is found by a
hermit, who gives him a home. The man is a nobleman who has fled from his estate; he teaches
Simplicissimus lessons about how to function in the world. He stays for two years until the hermit
dies. When he leaves, he is brought before the Governor of Hanau; his identity is vouched for by
the pastor, who knew the hermit, and he becomes the Governor's page.
In the second part, he rises in rank until he looks not unlike a nobleman. Part of the reason for his
favor is that the Governor is the hermit's brother-in-law. However, Simplicissimus loses this life
when he is captured by the Croats. He dislikes life with them and his duties. He plots to escape.
He lives as a minstrel and a fool with the Croats. He pays for a friend of his to escape his
servitude. In Soest, he works to gain favor and riches. Simplicissimus finds himself better off
than ever before.

In part three, Simplicissimus describes how he began to pillage and steal from people during the
war. He says that he was the best at certain aspects of it because of his upbringing with the herm
it. He does say, though, that he chose not to steal from the poor and only from people with means.
During this, he hears that a man from Wesel has been impersonating him and committing worse
crimes in his name. He shames the man, who then leaves. He describes his triumphs and
conquests, which continue until he is captured by the Swedes.
Simplicissimus lives with the Swedes. Because of the reputation he has built fighting in Soest, he
is given honor by them. Though he cannot return home, he has the run of the city where he lives
and eventually marries the daughter of a Swede. She refuses to let him have sex with her; he says
he has never met such resistance, but the lady is intent on marriage. She will only let him in to lie
next to her at night. Her father finds them and insists on marriage.

In part four, Simplicissimus goes to France. He leaves to try to return to Germany under the guise
of a doctor, but he is unsuccessful. Once again, he has to fight for a foreign military. He says he is
the cousin of his friend Herzbruder because that helps him gain a better...

Evaluative
Practices

I. A. Identify the literary pieces being mentioned in each number.

Diary of Anne Frank Simplicius Simplicissimus Hildebrandslied

Götz von Berlichingen Evangelienbuch

_______________1. a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which is the sole survivor
of what must have been a vast oral tradition
_______________2. is a selective paraphrase of the Gospels, interposed by short passages of
commentary
_______________3. The most famous novel of the Baroque Period
_______________4. German’s first major drama Götz von Berlichingen
_______________5. A book or a diary of a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam during
holocaust.

B. Identify the period being mentioned in each number.

Baroque Period Universitätsmamsellen classicism

Domestic Fiction Age of Enlightenment

_____________6. The most fertile in German Literature

_____________7. Age of reason
_____________8. It refers to a high regard for classical antiquity as setting standards for taste
which the classicist seeks to emulate
_____________9. a number of German women novelists wrote fiction focusing on romance,
marriage and the family
_____________10. were a group of five female intellectuals, daughters of academics at
Göttingen
University, who were active around 1800
II. Match the literary pieces with their author in column B.

A B
______11. Wrote the play Die Rauber a. Hans Jakob
Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
_____12. The Sorrows of Young Werther b. Goethe
_____13. Simplicius Simplicissimus c. Sophie von La Roche
_____14. The Story of Young Lady von Sternheim d. Ottfried von
Weissenburg
_____15. The Evangelienbuch (Gospel Harmony) e. Schiller

REFERENCES:

https://www.britannica.com/art/German-literature
https://sites.google.com/site/germanliterature/18th-century
https://sites.google.com/site/germanliterature/
https://www.britannica.com/art/German-literature