German Romanticism

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Gerhart Hoffmeister (University of California, Santa Barbara)

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Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Domains

Movements, styles and periods (literature)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1790-1850

Places

Germany (Location)

Resources

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German Romanticism (1790s-1850) was at the center of a worldwide renewal movement that affected national literatures from central Europe to North and Latin America and profoundly altered the worldview and even the lifestyle of the people. Among leading intellectuals in various disciplines who received lasting impulses from Romanticism are Karl Marx (

Das kommunistische Manifest

, 1848, with Friedrich Engels); Richard Wagner (1813-83); the lawyer Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861); and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). It is hardly feasible to present an all-encompassing definition of Romanticism in all its different manifestations at diverse times and places, be they regional, national, or international. Many definitions and explanations have been proposed, but none has been universally…

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3918 words

Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "German Romanticism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 December 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1353, accessed 28 March 2025.]

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