Gotthold Ephraim Lessing : his life, works, and thought / H.B. Nisbet.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nisbet, H. B.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 1729-1781.

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (749 pages) : illustrations, facsimiles, portraits

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) is the most eminent literary figure of the German Enlightenment and a writer of European significance. His range of interest as dramatist, poet, critic, philosopher, theologian, philologist and much else besides was comparable to that of Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, with all of whose ideas he engaged. He contributed decisively to the emergence of German as a literary language and was the founder of modern German literature, urging his compatriots to look to England rather than France for literary inspiration. His major plays (including the classic drama on religious tolerance, Nathan the Wise) are still regularly performed. He was a brilliant controversialist, and his philosophical and religious writings profoundly shook traditional assumptions. This book sets his life and work in the context of the intellectual, social, and cultural background of eighteenth-century Europe.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed September 30, 2013).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-166884-2

OCLC:

861535456