Johann Christoph Gottsched

Johann Christoph Gottsched (2 February 1700 – 12 December 1766) was a German philosopher, author and critic of the Enlightenment.

Biography

Early life

He was born at Juditten (Mendeleyevo) near Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Brandenburg-Prussia, the son of a Lutheran clergyman, and was baptised in St. Mary's Church. He studied philosophy and history at the University of Königsberg, but immediately on taking the degree of ''Magister'' in 1723, he fled to Leipzig in order to avoid being drafted into the Prussian army. In Leipzig, he enjoyed the protection of J. B. Mencke, who, under the name of "Philander von der Linde", was a well-known poet and president of the ''Deutschübende poetische Gesellschaft'' in Leipzig. Of this society, Gottsched was elected "Senior" in 1726, and in the next year reorganised it under the title of the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft''.

Career

As editor of the weeklies ''Die vernünftigen Tadlerinnen'' (1725–26) and ''Der Biedermann'' (1727), Gottsched started on his career of untiring critical activity, continued later in other literary journals. Directing his criticism at first chiefly against the bombast and absurd affectations of the Second Silesian School, he proceeded to lay down strict laws for the composition of poetry. He insisted on German literature being subordinated to the laws of French classicism. He enunciated rules by which the playwright must be bound (such as the '' Ständeklausel''), and abolished bombast and buffoonery from the serious stage. He insisted on the observance of the dramatic unities.

In his efforts toward the reformation of the German drama, Gottsched was aided by his wife, Luise, a prolific writer and translator, and had the cooperation of the theatrical manager Johann Neuber and his wife, Caroline. They succeeded in bringing about a considerable change in the condition of the German stage by substituting for the prevailing operatic performances translations of French dramas and original plays, and by banishing from it the coarse buffooneries of Hanswurst (Jack Pudding).

In 1730, Gottsched was appointed an extraordinary professor of poetry, and, in 1734, ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Leipzig. He was also a corresponding member of the first learned society of the Habsburg monarchy, the '' Societas eruditorum incognitorum'' in Olmütz (Olomouc), and was published in the Society's journal, which was the first scientific journal in the Habsburg monarchy.

Eventually, Gottsched went too far in his criticism. He refused to recognise the work of Klopstock and Lessing. In 1740, he came into conflict with the Swiss writers Johann Jakob Bodmer and Johann Jakob Breitinger. Under the influence of Addison and contemporary Italian critics, they demanded that the poetic imagination should not be hampered by artificial rules. As examples, they pointed to English poets, especially Milton. Gottsched, although not blind to the beauties of the English writers, clung tenaciously to his principle that poetry must be the product of rules and, in the fierce controversy which for a time raged between Leipzig and Zürich, he was ultimately defeated.

In 1741, he fell out with Caroline Neuber regarding practical stage matters, and even placed himself in opposition to his wife. His influence speedily declined, and before his death his name became proverbial for pedantic folly. He died in Leipzig on 12 December 1766.

Works

Gottsched's chief work was his ''Versuch einer kritischen Dichtkunst für die Deutschen'' (1730), the first systematic treatise in German on the art of poetry from the standpoint of Boileau. His ''Ausführliche Redekunst'' (1728) and his ''Grundlegung einer deutschen Sprachkunst'' (1748) were of importance for the development of German style and the purification of the language. He wrote several plays, of which ''Der sterbende Cato'' (1732), an adaptation of Joseph Addison's tragedy and a French play on the same theme, was long popular on the stage. His ''Deutsche Schaubühne'' (6 volumes, 1740–1745) contained mainly translations from the French, but also some works written by himself, his wife, and others. With this, he provided the German stage with a classical repertory. His bibliography of the German drama, ''Nötiger Vorrat zur Geschichte der deutschen dramatischen Dichtkunst'' (1757–1765), intended to contain an account of all previous German plays, though not complete is still valuable. He was also the editor of several journals devoted to literary criticism.

Gottsched wrote the texts of two secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach: '' Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl'' (BWV 198) and '' Willkommen! Ihr herrschenden Götter der Erden'' (BWV Anh. 13, music lost).

Family

His first wife, Luise Kulmus, was also a prominent author. She died in 1762. After a three-year mourning period, in 1765 in Camburg, Saale, Gottsched married his 19-year-old second wife, Ernestine Susanne Katharina Neunes (1746–1811).

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottsched, Johann Christoph
1700 births
1766 deaths
18th-century German writers
18th-century Lutherans
18th-century Prussian people
Linguists of German
German philosophers
Writers from Königsberg
University of Königsberg alumni
Leipzig University faculty
18th-century German male writers