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The Soldiers (play)
''The Soldiers'' (German: Die Soldaten) is a 1776 Tragicomedy play by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. The play was influenced by the works of William Shakespeare and can be attributed to the Sturm und Drang literary movement. The events of the play take place in "French Flanders" and centre around a girl who courts an officer. After he breaks off their relationship, she is branded as a whore by society. Plot Marie Wesener, the daughter of a merchant, begins a romantic relationship with the young Officer Desportes, despite being engaged to a cloth dealer called Stolzius. Marie's father initially objects to this relationship, until he realises that Marie's affair with the officer opens up opportunities for social advancement. Thus, he helps Marie to break her engagement with Stolzius by means of a letter, However, Marie's relationship with the young officer is only a short affair. Another soldier named Mary, a friend of Desportes, starts courting Marie soon after. Marie meets the y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (23 January 1751, or 12 January in the Julian calendar – 4 June 1792, or 24 May in the Julian calendar) was a Baltic German writer of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. Life Lenz was born in Sesswegen (Cesvaine), Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire, now Latvia, the son of the pietistic minister Christian David Lenz (1720–1798), later General Superintendent of Livonia. When Lenz was nine, in 1760, the family moved to Dorpat, now Tartu, where his father had been offered a minister's post. His first published poem appeared when he was 15. From 1768 to 1770 he studied theology on a scholarship, first at Dorpat and then at Königsberg. While there, he attended lectures by Immanuel Kant, who encouraged him to read Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He began increasingly to follow his literary interests and to neglect theology. His first independent publication, the long poem ''Die Landplagen'' (''"Torments of the Land"'') appeared in 1769. He also studied music, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |