German Classical Era: A Literary Approach

German classicism, also known as Weimar classicism, was a literary and cultural movement in Germany. This movement spanned over thirty-three years from 1772 until 1805. This era involved great intellectuals such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Schiller, and Christoph Martin Wieland. The practitioners of the German classical era established new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is considered as one of the greatest German literary figures of the modern era. He was a poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic, and amateur artist. This book is a collection of essays and works that focuses predominantly on eighteenth-century thought, featuring thinkers such as Lessing, Goethe and Herder, Locke and Voltaire. It will be of interest to scholars and students of literature.