Sturm und Drang

This volume assembles the papers delivered at a literary studies colloquium held at Osnabrück University in 1994 to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of statesman, jurist and writer Justus Möser (1720-1794). The articles cast light from a variety of perspectives on the intellectual and literary upheaval that took place in Germany between 1770 and 1790. With a view to situating the "Sturm und Drang" phenomenon in the context of the European Enlightenment as a whole, literary developments in Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands are also focussed upon. From a broader or more individual vantage, the articles discuss questions of periodicity, reception and impact, illuminate the talking-points of the day (e.g. the debate on the 'gender gap') or investigate such things as programmatic lifestyles and the status and influence of journalistic comment in contemporary discourse.