Originally published in 1952, as part of the Cambridge Plain Texts series, this volume contains essays by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803). A key Enlightenment figure, and the early mentor of Goethe, he was a prominent instigator of the 'Storm and Stress' movement in eighteenth-century Germany. One of the key factors in the creation of this movement was the introduction of Shakespeare as a guiding force in German literature, and Herder's epoch-defining essay on Shakespeare is the central text in this volume. The core content of the volume is presented in the original German, with introductory notes written in English. It will be of value to anyone with an interest in German language and literature.
The texts collected in this volume, which was originally published in 1969, contain Herder's most original and stimulating ideas on politics, history and language. They had for the most part not been previously available in English. In his introduction, Professor Barnard analyses the basic premises of Herder's political thought against the background of the Enlightenment. He examines Herder's concepts of language, community and culture, his theory of historical interaction, and his approach to the problem of change and progress. Finally, he provides a brief comparative analysis of traditionalist thought following the French Revolution, showing how substantive writers like Burke differed from Herder despite the close similarity of political vocabulary.
