Hamburgische Dramaturgie

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 'Hamburgische Dramaturgie', a collection of dramaturgical-theatrical critical contributions, was published in the years 1767-1769 on the occasion of the foundation of the 'Hamburgisches Nationaltheater', as whose dramaturge Lessing was appointed. In addition to explanations of current plays, the 'Hamburgische Dramaturgie' is of central importance, above all because of its fundamental reflections on the theory of drama. In a discussion of French classicism, Lessing developed a model of tragedy and comedy that is oriented towards the aesthetics of effects (catharsis theory, "mixed characters", naturalness and probability postulate). With a chapter on the history of origins, annotations, various contemporary documents, references to literature and an epilogue by Klaus L. Berghahn.