Steven D. Martinson Boeken

Friedrich Schiller is not merely one of Germany's foremost poets. He is also one of the major German contributors to world literature. The undying words he gave to characters such as Marquis Posa in Don Carlos and Wilhelm Tell in the eponymous drama continue to underscore the need for human freedom. Schiller cultivated hope in the actualization of moral knowledge through aesthetic education and critical reflection, leading to his ideal of a more humane humanity. At the same time, he was fully cognizant of the problems that attend various forms of idealism. Yet for Schiller, ultimately, love remains the gravitational center of the universe and of human existence, and beyond life and death joy prevails. This collection of cutting-edge essays by some of the world's leading Schiller experts constitutes a milestone in scholarship. It includes in-depth discussions of the writer's major dramatic and poetic works, his essays on aesthetics, and his activities as historian, anthropologist, and physiologist, as well as of his relation to the ancients and of Schiller reception in 20th-century Germany. Contributors: Steven D. Martinson, Walter Hinderer, David Pugh, Otto Dann, Werner von Stransky-Stranka-Greifenfels, J. M. van der Laan, Rolf-Peter Janz, Lesley Sharpe, Norbert Oellers, Dieter Borchmeyer, Karl S. Guthke, Wulf Koepke. Steven D. Martinson is Professor of German at the University of Arizona.

Cultural, intercultural and transcultural academic perspectives on the work of Enlightenment thinker Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, an eighteenth century German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic.

To initiate its new Ph.D. Program in Transcultural German Studies, jointly offered by the University of Arizona and the University of Leipzig, the Department of German Studies at the University of Arizona organized an international conference in Tucson from March 29-31, 2007. Participants aimed to define the nature of Transcultural German Studies, an interdisciplinary field that investigates the cultural landscapes of the German-speaking world in light of globalization and inter- and transcultural contact. The volume includes contributions from scholars in various related fields, exploring transcultural phenomena—both past and present—evident in selected literary, filmic, musical, and historical texts. Die Konferenz diente der Definition und näheren Beleuchtung der Transcultural German Studies. Unter dem Einfluss von Globalisierung sowie inter- und transkulturellen Kontakten werden die Kulturlandschaften des deutschsprachigen Raumes untersucht. Wissenschaftler aus unterschiedlichen Forschungsgebieten analysieren literarische, filmische, musikalische und historische Texte, um transkulturelle Phänomene der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart aufzuzeigen.

This book is the first to investigate the thematics, form, and function of the writings of Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) in light of his multidisciplinary activities.The term "harmonious tension" stems from the Jewish-German intellectual Moses Mendelssohn, to whom Schiller was indebted. The central symbol for the tension-killed integration of literature, physiology, philosophy, history, and music in Schiller's oeuvre is the stringed instrument. Schiller's knowledge of the problems of rupture, dissociation, and disintegration marking modern history both before and after the French Revolution inform the vast majority of his works. The writer's conscious awareness of the limits of his own theorizing works against the popular image of Schiller as an idealist.Responsive to the debate on canon formation as well as to the impact of New Historicism, this study examines not only most of Schiller's major writings, but also some of the lesser-known works from the beginning to the end of the author's career. The study reflects these writings back to the larger cultural contexts in which they were written while remaining responsive to the developments and changes in Schiller's perspective as a writer.