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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781)

Author of Nathan the Wise

486+ Works 4,845 Members 19 Reviews 13 Favorited

About the Author

Lessing, one of the outstanding literary critics of all time, was "the first figure of European stature in modern German literature." The son of a Protestant pastor, he was educated in Meissen and at Leipzig University, then went to Berlin as a journalist in 1749. While employed as secretary to show more General Tauentzien (1760--65), he devoted his leisure to classical studies. This led to his critical essay Laocoon (1776), in which he attempted to clarify certain laws of aesthetic perception by comparing poetry and the visual arts. He fought always for truth and combined a penetrating intellect with shrewd common sense. He furthered the German theater through his weekly dramatic notes and theories, found mainly in the Hamburg Dramaturgy (1769), which he wrote during his connection with the Hamburg National Theater as critic and dramatist (1768--69). His plays include Miss Sara Sampson (1755), important as the first German prose tragedy of middle-class life; Minna von Barnhelm (1767), his finest comedy and the best of the era; and his noble plea for religious tolerance, Nathan the Wise (1779). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Anton Graff (1771)

Series

Works by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Nathan the Wise (1779) — Author; Writer — 1,392 copies, 8 reviews
Emilia Galotti (1772) — Author — 703 copies, 3 reviews
Minna von Barnhelm (1763) — Author — 419 copies, 1 review
Miss Sara Sampson (1975) — Author — 106 copies
Laocoon + Nathan the Wise + Minna von Barnhelm (1767) — Author — 50 copies, 1 review
Die Juden (1749) — Author — 45 copies
The Education of the Human Race (1979) — Author — 35 copies
Masonic dialogues (1985) — Author — 33 copies
Lessings Werke (1967) 31 copies, 1 review
Reclam Universal-Bibliothek, Nr.27, Fabeln (1986) — Author — 25 copies
Nathan der Weise + Minna von Barnhelm (1999) — Author — 22 copies
Kritik und Dramaturgie. (1977) 22 copies
Dramen (1983) 19 copies
Der junge Gelehrte (1979) 18 copies
Der Freigeist (1998) 17 copies
Fabeln (2007) 16 copies, 1 review
Fabeln (1976) — Author — 12 copies
Laokoon / How the Ancients Represented Death (2005) — Author — 7 copies
Wie die Alten den Tod gebildet (1983) — Author — 7 copies
Philotas (1998) 6 copies
Die Schöne von hinten (1985) 6 copies
Two Jewish Plays : The Jews and Nathan the Wise (2002) — Author — 5 copies
Epigramme (1981) 5 copies
Werke, 8 Bde. (1976) 5 copies
Doktor Faust (1992) 5 copies
Miß Sara Sampson/Philotas/Emilia Galotti (2002) — Author — 5 copies
Werke : in 5 Bänden (1988) 5 copies
Opere filosofiche (2008) 4 copies
Sinngedichte (2022) 4 copies
Sämtliche Werke (2012) 4 copies
Werke. Bd. 3. Schriften 2 (1967) 4 copies
Frühe Komödien (1749) 4 copies
Damon (2013) 3 copies
Die alte Jungfer (2013) 3 copies
Der Misogyn (2013) 3 copies
Trauerspiele 3 copies
Meisterdramen (1983) 3 copies
Natan, O Sabio (2016) 3 copies
Lustspiele 2 copies
Filosofía — Author — 2 copies
Valitud teosed (1965) 2 copies
Estética — Author — 2 copies
Ausgewählte Fabeln (2012) 2 copies
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (2003) 2 copies
Teatro (1981) 2 copies
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1974) 2 copies
Fabeln / Schriften. (1996) — Author — 2 copies
Fabeln und Erzählungen (2008) 2 copies
Teatro 2 copies
Dramen Fabeln (1755) 2 copies
Sämtliche Gedichte (1987) 2 copies
Düzyazı Fabllar (2019) 2 copies
Trattati sulla favola (2004) 2 copies
Werke, Bd. 1/2 2 copies
Briefe 2 copies
Dramas — Author — 1 copy
Lessing 1 copy
Nathan der Weise [sound recording] — Playwright — 1 copy
Teorías dramáticas — Author — 1 copy
The Laocoon 1 copy
TEATRO 1 copy
Basne (2010) 1 copy
Natan, o Sábio (2014) 1 copy
Religione storia e società 1 copy, 1 review
Nathan der Weise [sound recording] (2013) — Playwright — 1 copy
Gesammelte Werke I 1 copy, 1 review
Laocoonte 1 copy
1729 - 1979 1 copy
Lessing 1 copy
Ausgewählte Werke (1981) 1 copy
Werke 1766 - 1769. (1990) 1 copy
Mein Lessing (2009) 1 copy
Eine Duplik 1 copy
Lessing-Brevier (1998) 1 copy
Werke, Bd. 3 1 copy
Werke, Bd. 6 1 copy
Poesiealbum 136 (1979) 1 copy
Anti-Goeze — Author — 1 copy
Lessings Werke. Bind 1-6 i 3 bind — Author — 1 copy
Emilia Galotti + Nathan der Weise (1970) — Author — 1 copy
Werke I : Dichtungen (1974) 1 copy
Gesamtausgabe- 2 bände — Author — 1 copy
Werke, Bd. 4 1 copy

Associated Works

Critical Theory Since Plato (1971) — Contributor, some editions — 435 copies, 1 review
A Documentary History of Art, Volume 2 (1982) — Contributor — 168 copies, 3 reviews
The Philosophy of the Visual Arts (1992) — Contributor — 45 copies
Five German Tragedies (1969) — Author — 35 copies
Von Raben und Krähen (2021) — Contributor — 9 copies, 1 review

Tagged

18th century (115) aesthetics (47) art (41) art history (30) Belletristik (46) classic (87) classics (55) drama (299) Enlightenment (82) fiction (142) German (291) German drama (25) German literature (287) Germany (62) Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22) Lessing (69) literary criticism (23) literature (144) non-fiction (32) philosophy (94) play (62) plays (56) poetry (47) read (26) Reclam (77) religion (56) Theaterstück (25) theatre (138) Theology (20) to-read (75)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

30 reviews
The fables in this collection by Lessing were educational—as is the nature of fables. I could have done without the lengthy dissection of the genre that followed the collection however. I’ve always compared such intellectual activities to the difference between watching a beautiful butterfly and killing a beautiful butterfly, cutting it up and looking at the parts under a microscope to learn more about it. I’d much rather watch it flying from flower to flower.
It’s also the reason I show more find it difficult to write a review of a work of literature. I’d rather limit my comments to “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” and avoid trying to tell other people whether it’s “good” or not.
I enjoyed reading the 69 pages of fables. I didn’t enjoy reading the 83 pages of analysis.
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I've read enough of Tasso and Ariosto to see that ending coming. But I wasn't expecting to love the prose so much. Verbally, it was beautifully constructed. And, as a metaphor, it was lovely in this contentious culture that we live in. I highly recommend it.
Lessing's best play, and maybe the first soap opera out there, with a very diverse family having a happy humanist ending that defies intolerance, crusades, misogyny, and bad chess games.
It is difficult to summarize the plot of this play without making it sound like one of those airplane jokes where there are too few parachutes for the people on board. Nevertheless, it is a play about Jews, Muslims, and Christians in crusader times. More important, it's message about religious tolerance makes it a significant book to be read today - it shows the Jew and Muslim as demonstrating more tolerance and virtue than any of the Christian characters.

The E-book edition I read included show more both the German text and the English translation mixed together on the same page with the English somewhat greyed out. Although it would be possible to actually just read the German text, I found it difficult not to read the English text as well. This took away some of the drama of the story but added to the comprehension of what was being read. the English text also included some footnotes that were necessary to be able to understand the context of the events in the play. show less

Lists

Awards

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Associated Authors

Johannes Diekhans Herausgeber
mattkegerhard Afterword
Wolfgang Würfel Illustrator
Jost Perfahl Textrevision
Klaus Bohnen Herausgeber
Wilfried Barner Herausgeber
Otto Mann Introduction
Hans Sigl Narrator
William Taylor Translator
Patrick Maxwell Translator
Lucian Blaga Translator
Karl Minor Tradukisto
Agustín Andreu Rodrigo Traducción e introducción
Hans Bolt Translator
Antonio Palao Translator
Andrea Casalegno Translator
George O. Curme Translator
Anne Lagny Preface
Andrew Wood Translator
Robert Philip Translator
Edward Kemp Translator
Andrea Breth Director
Martin Heider Herausgeber
Helen Zimmern Translator
Karl Hans Bühner Contributor
Jürgen Hein Anmerkungen
A. Funke Contributor
Wilhelm Grosse Herausgeber
William A. Steel Translator
Eduard Stemplinger Introduction
Waldemar Oehlke Introduction
Noel Clark Translator

Statistics

Works
486
Also by
21
Members
4,845
Popularity
#5,182
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
19
ISBNs
602
Languages
19
Favorited
13

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