Literary Conclusions: The Poetics of Ending in Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist PDF
Preview Literary Conclusions: The Poetics of Ending in Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist
Literary Conclusions Literary Conclusions The Poetics of Ending in Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist Oliver Simons northwestern university press evanston, illinois Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2022 by Northwestern University. Published 2022 by Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved. An earlier version of “Werther’s Pulse,” the first part of this book’s second chapter, appeared in the Goethe Yearbook XXVII (2020): 31– 46. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Simons, Oliver, author. Title: Literary conclusions : the poetics of ending in Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist / Oliver Simons. Description: Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021051215 | ISBN 9780810144798 (paperback) | ISBN 9780810144804 (cloth) | ISBN 9780810144811 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 1729– 1781— Criticism and interpretation. | Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749– 1832— Criticism and interpretation. | Kleist, Heinrich von, 1777– 1811— Criticism and interpretation. | German literature— 18th century— History and criticism. | German literature— 19th century— History and criticism. | Closure (Rhetoric) Classification: LCC PT289 .S56 2022 | DDC 830.9/006— dc23/eng/20211019 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021051215 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 3 Thinking through Conclusions Chapter 1 15 Lessing’s Form of Reason Chapter 2 59 Goethe and the Powers of Conclusion Chapter 3 103 Kleist’s Genres Conclusion 153 From Urteilskraft to Schlusskraft Notes 169 Bibliography 205 Index 225 Acknowledgments I am indebted to many friends and colleagues for their help with this book. I began discussing Kleist’s endings with Anders Engberg- Pedersen more than ten years ago. It was a memorable evening in Cambridge, and I hope more will follow before too long. I am grateful to the students in two tragedy courses I taught at Harvard and Columbia, who read with me most of the dramas considered here. The idea for this book came from the discussions with them. I would like to thank the German departments at UC Davis, Northwestern, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Toronto, and Columbia for giving me the oppor- tunity to present early versions of the readings that have shaped this book. I have shared chapter drafts, proposals, or ideas in various stages with Mark Anderson, Stefan Andriopoulos, Danny Bowles, Claudia Breger, Jeremy Dauber, Michael Gamper, Eva Geulen, Willi Goetschel, Andreas Huyssen, Markus Krajewski, Jens Meierhenrich, Dorothea von Mücke, Harro Mül- ler, Sophie Alexander Salvo, and Klaus Scherpe. I am very grateful for their suggestive comments, critical questions, and encouragements. I am especially indebted to Rüdiger Campe and David Wellbery for their generous feedback on my manuscript. Their thinking about the eighteenth century had already shaped this book when I received their thoughtful remarks and constructive criticism. I would like to thank Dan Geist for diligently editing and improv- ing my writing in so many ways, and Xan Holt for his continuous support over the past years. Xan has accompanied this book from its early drafts to its last words, patiently correcting my English and challenging me with criti- cal comments. At Northwestern University Press, my special thanks to Trevor Perri for his unwavering support and Anne Gendler for guiding the book through its final stages. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their confidence and faith, which made it all possible. No book will ever be long enough to thank Sylke, Mathilda, and Carl for their love and support. This book is for them. vii Literary Conclusions
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