German literature () comprises those

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

texts written in the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

. This includes literature written in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the German parts of Switzerland and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the

German diaspora The German diaspora consists of German people and their descendants who live outside of Germany. The term is used in particular to refer to the aspects of migration of German speakers from central Europe to different countries around the world ...

. German literature of the modern period is mostly in

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by

dialects The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

(e.g. Alemannic). Medieval German literature is

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...

written in Germany, stretching from the

Carolingian dynasty The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pi ...

; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

(1517) being the last possible cut-off point. The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century; the most famous works are the ''

Hildebrandslied The ''Hildebrandslied'' (; ''Lay'' or ''Song of Hildebrand'') is a heroic lay written in Old High German alliterative verse. It is the earliest poetic text in German, and it tells of the tragic encounter in battle between a father (Hildebrand) ...

'' and a heroic epic known as the ''

Heliand The ''Heliand'' () is an epic poem in Old Saxon, written in the first half of the 9th century. The title means ''saviour'' in Old Saxon (cf. German and Dutch ''Heiland'' meaning "saviour"), and the poem is a Biblical paraphrase that recounts t ...

''.

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

starts in the 12th century; the key works include '' The Ring'' (ca. 1410) and the poems of

Oswald von Wolkenstein Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poet, composer and diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (as recounted in "Durch Barbarei, Arabia"). He ...

and

Johannes von Tepl Johannes von Tepl (c. 1350 – c. 1415), also known as Johannes von Saaz ( cs, Jan ze Žatce), was a Bohemian writer of the German language, one of the earliest known writers of prose in Early New High German (or late Middle German—depe ...

. The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of

the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

(such as

Herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazin ...

). The Sensibility movement of the 1750s–1770s ended with

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

's best-selling ''

The Sorrows of Young Werther ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; german: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm und Drang'' period in Germa ...

'' (1774). The

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

and

Weimar Classicism Weimar Classicism (german: Weimarer Klassik) was a German literary and cultural movement, whose practitioners established a new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. It was named after ...

movements were led by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

and

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

. German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...

refers to the literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (

Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

), the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions. Under the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, some authors went into exile (''Exilliteratur'') and others submitted to censorship ("internal emigration", ''Innere Emigration''). The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German language authors fourteen times (as of 2020), or the second most often, tying with French language authors, after English language authors (with 32 laureates) with winners including

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and '' The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual' ...

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

, and

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored ...

Periodization

Periodization In historiography, periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified, and named blocks of time for the purpose of study or analysis.Adam Rabinowitz. It's about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancie ...

is not an

exact science The exact sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the mathematical sciences. Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, optics, astron ...

but the following list contains movements or time periods typically used in discussing German literature. It seems worth noting that the periods of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

German literature span two or three centuries, those of early modern German literature span one century, and those of modern German literature each span one or two decades. The closer one nears the present, the more debated the periodizations become. * Medieval German literature **

Old High German literature Old High German literature refers to literature written in Old High German, from the earliest texts in the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century. Scope The term "literature" as it is used in connection with Old High German has a broader sc ...

(750–1050) **

Middle High German literature Middle High German literature refers to literature written in German between the middle of the 11th century and the middle of the 14th. In the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year " ...

(1050–1350) ** Late medieval / Renaissance (1350–1500) * Early Modern German literature (see

Early Modern literature The history of literature of the early modern period ( 16th, 17th and partly 18th century literature), or early modern literature, succeeds Medieval literature, and in Europe in particular Renaissance literature. In Europe, the Early Modern peri ...

) **

Humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

and

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

(1500–1650) ** Baroque (1600–1720) ** Enlightenment (1680–1789) * Modern German literature ** 18th- and 19th-century German literature *** ''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility (1750s–1770s) *** ''Sturm und Drang'' / Storm and Stress (1760s–1780s) *** German Classicism (1729–1832) ****

(1788–1805) or (1788–1832), depending on Schiller's (1805) or Goethe's (1832) death *** German Romanticism (1790s–1880s) ***

(1815–1848) ***

Young Germany Young Germany (german: Junges Deutschland) was a group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth ideology, similar to those that had swept France, Ireland, the United States and Italy. Its main proponents ...

(1830–1850) *** Poetic Realism (1848–1890) *** Naturalism (1880–1900) ** 20th-century German literature *** 1900–1933 ****

Fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...

(c. 1900) ****

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

**** Expressionism (1910–1920) ****

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

(1914–1924) ****

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

(''Neue Sachlichkeit'') *** Well Known Writers of the 20th Century *** 1933–1945 **** National Socialist literature **** Exile literature *** 1945–1989 **** By country ***** Federal Republic of Germany ***** German Democratic Republic ***** Austria ***** Switzerland ***** Other **** By thematic or group ***** Post-war literature (1945–1967) *****

Group 47 Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a d ...

*****

Holocaust literature The Holocaust has been a prominent subject of art and literature throughout the second half of the twentieth century. There are a wide range of ways–including dance, film, literature, music, and television–in which the Holocaust has been repre ...

** Contemporary German literature (1989–)

Middle Ages

Medieval German literature refers to

written in Germany, stretching from the

; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the

(1517) being the last possible cut-off point.

Old High German

The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century, though the boundary to Early Middle High German (second half of the 11th century) is not clear-cut. The most famous work in OHG is the ''

'', a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which besides the ''

Muspilli ''Muspilli'' is an Old High German poem known in incomplete form (103 lines) from a ninth-century Bavarian manuscript. Its subject is the fate of the soul immediately after death and at the Last Judgment. Many aspects of the interpretation of the ...

'' is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Another important work, in the northern dialect of Old Saxon, is a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic known as the ''

''.

Middle High German

proper runs from the beginning of the 12th century, and in the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year "golden age" of medieval German literature referred to as the ''mittelhochdeutsche Blütezeit'' (1170–1230). This was the period of the blossoming of MHG lyric poetry, particularly ''

Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who w ...

'' (the German variety of the originally French tradition of

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

). One of the most important of these poets was

Walther von der Vogelweide Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...

. The same sixty years saw the composition of the most important courtly romances. These are written in rhyming couplets, and again draw on French models such as

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including ...

, many of them relating

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...

material, for example, ''

Parzival ''Parzival'' is a medieval romance by the knight-poet Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Parzival (Percival in English) and his long qu ...

'' by

Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. There ...

. The third literary movement of these years was a new revamping of the heroic tradition, in which the ancient Germanic oral tradition can still be discerned, but tamed and Christianized and adapted for the court. These high medieval heroic epics are written in rhymed strophes, not the alliterative verse of Germanic prehistory (for example, the ''

Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of German ...

''). The Middle High German period is conventionally taken to end in 1350, while the

Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650. The term is the standard translation of the German (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduce ...

is taken to begin with the

German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...

, after the invention of movable type in the mid-15th century. Therefore, the literature of the late 14th and the early 15th century falls, as it were, in the cracks between Middle and New High German, and can be classified as either. Works of this transitional period include '' The Ring'' (c. 1410), the poems of

and

, the German versions of ''

Pontus and Sidonia ''Pontus and Sidonia'' (French: ''Ponthus et la belle Sidonie'' or just ''Ponthus et Sidoine'') is a medieval prose romance, originally composed in French in ca. 1400, possibly by Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry (d. 1391) or by another member of t ...

'', and arguably the works of

Hans Folz Hans Folz ( 1437 – January 1513) was a German author of the late medieval or early Renaissance period. Folz was born in Worms. He was made a citizen of the city of Nuremberg, Germany in 1459 and master barber of the city in 1486. Folz was a r ...

and

Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire ''Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Biography Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually ente ...

(''

Ship of Fools The ship of fools is an allegory, originating from Book VI of Plato's '' Republic'', about a ship with a dysfunctional crew. The allegory is intended to represent the problems of governance prevailing in a political system not based on expert ...

'', 1494), among others. The ''Volksbuch'' (

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookl ...

) tradition which would flourish in the 16th century also finds its origin in the second half of the 15th century.

Early Modern period

German Renaissance and Reformation

(1457–1521) *

Thomas Murner Thomas Murner, OFM (24 December 1475c. 1537) was an Alsatian satirist, poet and translator. He was born at Oberehnheim (Obernai) near Strasbourg. In 1490 he entered the Franciscan order, and in 1495 began travelling, studying and then teaching ...

(1475–1537) *

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Luther ...

(1483–1546) *

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the L ...

(1497–1560) *

Sebastian Franck Sebastian Franck (20 January 1499 Donauwörth, Swabia – c. 1543 Basel, Switzerland) was a 16th-century German freethinker, humanist, and radical reformer. Biography Franck was born in 1499 in Donauwörth, Swabia. Because of this he styled hims ...

(1500–1543)

Baroque period

The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

, in

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

. Grimmelshausen's adventures of the young and naïve Simplicissimus, in the eponymous book ''

Simplicius Simplicissimus ''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in 1668 by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen and probably published the same year (alth ...

'', became the most famous novel of the Baroque period.

Martin Opitz Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (23 December 1597 – 20 August 1639) was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime. Biography Opitz was born in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec) in Lower Silesia, in the Principality of S ...

established rules for the "purity" of language, style, verse and rhyme.

Andreas Gryphius Andreas Gryphius (german: Andreas Greif; 2 October 161616 July 1664) was a German poet and playwright. With his eloquent sonnets, which contains "The Suffering, Frailty of Life and the World", he is considered one of the most important Baroqu ...

and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein wrote German language

tragedies Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, or ''Trauerspiele'', often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious and

occasional poetry Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the wor ...

appeared in both German and Latin.

Sibylle Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg Sibylle Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, also known as Sibylle von Braunschweig-Luneburg and Sibylle of Brunswick-Luneburg, (4 February 1629 – 12 December 1671), a member of the House of Welf, was a daughter of Duke Augustus II of Brunswick-L� ...

wrote part of a novel, ''Die Durchlauchtige Syrerin Aramena'' (''Aramena, the noble Syrian lady''), which when complete would be the most famous courtly novel in German Baroque literature; it was finished by her brother Anton Ulrich and edited by

Sigmund von Birken Sigmund von Birken (25 April 1626 – 12 June 1681) was a German poet of the Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th centur ...

18th century

The Enlightenment

Sensibility

''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility (1750s–1770s)

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outside ...

(1724–1803),

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (4 July 171513 December 1769) was a German poet, one of the forerunners of the golden age of German literature that was ushered in by Lessing. Biography Gellert was born at Hainichen in Saxony, at the foot of the ...

(1715–1769), Sophie de La Roche (1730–1807). The period culminates and ends in

's best-selling '' Die Leiden des jungen Werther'' (1774).

Sturm und Drang

''Sturm und Drang'' (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be ''storm and urge'', ''storm and longing'', or ''storm and impulse'') is the name of a movement in German literature and

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual

subjectivity Subjectivity in a philosophical context has to do with a lack of objective reality. Subjectivity has been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as it is not often the focal point of philosophical discourse.Bykova, Marina ...

and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by

and associated

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

movements. The philosopher

Johann Georg Hamann Johann Georg Hamann (; ; 27 August 1730 – 21 June 1788) was a German Lutheran philosopher from Königsberg known as "the Wizard of the North" who was one of the leader figures of post-Kantian philosophy. His work was used by his student J. G. ...

is considered to be the ideologue of ''Sturm und Drang'', and

was a notable proponent of the movement, though he and

ended their period of association with it, initiating what would become

19th century

German Classicism

Weimar Classicism (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

“''Weimarer Klassik''” and “''Weimarer Klassizismus''”) is a

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor ...

and

literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, and its central ideas were originally propounded by

and

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

during the period 1786 to 1805.

Romanticism

German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

counterpart, coinciding in its early years with the movement known as

German Classicism Weimar Classicism (german: Weimarer Klassik) was a German literary and cultural movement, whose practitioners established a new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. It was named after t ...

, which it opposed. In contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety is notable for valuing humor and wit as well as beauty. The early German romantics tried to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, looking to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

as a simpler, more integrated period. As time went on, however, they became increasingly aware of the tenuousness of the unity they were seeking. Later German Romanticism emphasized the tension between the everyday world and the seemingly irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius.

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lie ...

in particular criticized the tendency of the early romantics to look to the medieval past for a model of unity in art and society. * G.W.F. Hegel * E.T.A. Hoffmann *

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Pa ...

Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', '' The Broken Jug'', ''Amph ...

Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure o ...

Friedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...

August Wilhelm Schlegel August Wilhelm (after 1812: von) Schlegel (; 8 September 176712 May 1845), usually cited as August Schlegel, was a German poet, translator and critic, and with his brother Friedrich Schlegel the leading influence within Jena Romanticism. His tra ...

Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional ...

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

Ludwig Uhland Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was a German poet, philologist and literary historian. Biography He was born in Tübingen, Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest i ...

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

Joseph von Eichendorff Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 178826 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism.Cf. J. A. Cuddon: '' ...

Biedermeier and Vormärz

refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (

), the end of the

, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions and contrasts with the

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

era which preceded it. Typical Biedermeier poets are

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Baroness Anna Elisabeth Franziska Adolphine Wilhelmine Louise Maria von Droste zu Hülshoff, known as Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (; 10 January 179724 May 1848), was a 19th-century German poet, novelist, and composer of Classical music. She was ...

Adelbert von Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of '' Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bo ...

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by c ...

, and

Wilhelm Müller Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller (7 October 1794 – 30 September 1827) was a German lyric poet, best known as the author of ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1823) and ''Winterreise'' (1828), which Franz Schubert later set to music as song cycles. Life ...

, the last three named having well-known musical settings by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late R ...

and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

respectively.

(''Junges Deutschland'') was a loose group of

Vormärz ' (; English: ''pre-March'') was a period in the history of Germany preceding the 1848 March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation. The beginning of the period is less well-defined. Some place the starting point directly after the ...

writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth movement (similar to those that had swept

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and originated in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

). Its main proponents were

Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most meni ...

Heinrich Laube Heinrich Laube (18 September 1806 – 1 August 1884), German dramatist, novelist and theatre-director, was born at Sprottau in Prussian Silesia. Life He studied theology at Halle and Breslau (1826–1829), and settled in Leipzig in 1832. Here he ...

Theodor Mundt 200px, Theodor Mundt Theodor Mundt (September 19, 1808 – November 30, 1861) was a German critic and novelist. He was a member of the Young Germany group of German writers. Biography Born at Potsdam, Mundt studied philology and philosophy at Be ...

and Ludolf Wienbarg;

Ludwig Börne Karl Ludwig Börne (born "Loeb Baruch"; 6 May 1786 – 12 February 1837) was a German-Jewish political writer and satirist, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement. Early life Karl Ludwig Börne was born Loeb Baruch on 6 May 1786 ...

and

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büch ...

were also considered part of the movement. The wider circle included Willibald Alexis, Adolf Glassbrenner and Gustav Kühne.

Realism and Naturalism

Poetic Realism (1848–1890):

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known tod ...

, Gustav Freitag,

Gottfried Keller Gottfried Keller (19 July 1819 – 15 July 1890) was a Swiss poet and writer of German literature. Best known for his novel ''Green Henry'' (German: ''Der grüne Heinrich'') and his cycle of novellas called ''The People from Seldwyla'' (''Die Leu ...

Wilhelm Raabe Wilhelm Raabe (; September 8, 1831November 15, 1910) was a German novelist. His early works were published under the pseudonym of Jakob Corvinus. Biography He was born in Eschershausen (then in the Duchy of Brunswick, now in the Holzminden Distr ...

Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while ...

Theodor Storm Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (; 14 September 18174 July 1888), commonly known as Theodor Storm, was a German writer. He is considered to be one of the most important figures of German realism. Life Storm was born in the small town of Husum, on the ...

Naturalism (1880–1900):

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...

20th century

1900 to 1933

(c. 1900) * Weimar literature (1919–1933) *

* Expressionism (1910–1920) *

(1914–1924) *

(Neue Sachlichkeit)

Well known writers of the 20th century

A well-known writer of

German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a l ...

was

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...

. A Kafka novel, ''

The Trial ''The Trial'' (german: Der Process, link=no, previously , and ) is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously on 26 April 1925. One of his best known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and p ...

'', was ranked #3 on

Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century The 100 Books of the Century (french: Les cent livres du siècle) is a list of the one hundred most memorable books of the 20th century, according to a poll performed during the spring of 1999 by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper '' ...

. Kafka's iconic writing style that captures themes of bureaucracy and existentialism resulted in the coining of the term “Kafkaesque.” Kafka's writing allowed a peek into his melancholic life, one where he felt isolated from all human beings, one of his inspirations for writing.

Nazi Germany

*National Socialist literature: see

Blut und Boden Atrocity is a German heavy metal band from Ludwigsburg that formed in 1985. History First started in 1985 as Instigators and playing grindcore, Atrocity arose as a death metal band with their debut EP, ''Blue Blood'', in 1989, followed soon by ...

Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...

Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile (''

Exilliteratur German ''Exilliteratur'' (, ''exile literature'') is the name for works of German literature written in the German diaspora by refugee authors who fled from Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria, and the occupied territories between 1933 and 1945. These diss ...

'') and others submitted to censorship (" inner emigration", ''Innere Emigration'') *''Inner Emigration'':

Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn (2 May 1886 – 7 July 1956) was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951. Biography and work Family and beginnings Go ...

Werner Bergengruen Werner Bergengruen (September 16, 1892 – September 4, 1964) was a Baltic German novelist and poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and career Bergengruen was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, which at that ...

, Hans Blüher,

Hans Heinrich Ehrler Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

Hans Fallada Hans Fallada (; born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 18935 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include '' Little Man, What Now?'' (1932) and ''Every Man Dies Alone'' ...

Werner Finck Werner Finck (2 May 1902 – 31 July 1978) was a German ''Kabarett'' comedian, actor and author. Not politically motivated by his own admission but just a "convinced individualist", he became one of Germany's leading cabaret artists under the co ...

Gertrud Fussenegger Gertrud Fussenegger (8 May 1912 – 19 March 2009) was an Austrian writer and a prolific author, especially of historical novels. Many commentators felt that her reputation never entirely escaped from the shadow cast by her enthusiasm, as a youn ...

Ricarda Huch Ricarda Huch (; 18 July 1864 – 17 November 1947) was a pioneering German intellectual. Trained as an historian, and the author of many works of European history, she also wrote novels, poems, and a play. Asteroid 879 Ricarda is named in her hon ...

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful businessman and ...

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including ''Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...

, Volker Lachmann, Oskar Loerke, Erika Mitterer,

Walter von Molo Walter Ritter/ Reichsritter von Molo (14 June 1880, Šternberk, Moravia, Austria-Hungary – 27 October 1958, Hechendorf (now Murnau am Staffelsee, Bavaria, West Germany), was an Austrian writer in the German language. Life Walter von Molo ...

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen Friedrich Percyval Reck-Malleczewen (11 August 1884 – February 1945) was a German author. His best-known work is ''Diary of a Man in Despair'', a journal in which he expressed his passionate opposition to Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He was even ...

Richard Riemerschmid Richard Riemerschmid (20 June 1868 – 13 April 1957) was a German architect, painter, designer and city planner from Munich. He was a major figure in ''Jugendstil'', the German form of Art Nouveau, and a founder of architecture in the sty ...

Reinhold Schneider Reinhold Schneider (Baden-Baden, May 13, 1903 – Freiburg im Breisgau, April 6, 1958) was a German poet who also wrote novels. Initially his works were less religious, but later his poetry had a Christian and specifically Catholic influence ...

, Frank Thiess,

Carl von Ossietzky Carl von Ossietzky (; 3 October 1889 – 4 May 1938) was a German journalist and pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in exposing the clandestine German re-armament. As editor-in-chief of the magazine '' ...

Ernst Wiechert Ernst Wiechert (18 May 1887 – 24 August 1950) was a German teacher, poet and writer. Biography Wiechert was born in the village of Kleinort, East Prussia, (now Piersławek, Poland). He was one of the most widely read novelists in Germany ...

* in exile:

Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

Hermann Broch Hermann Broch (; 1 November 1886 – 30 May 1951) was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: ''The Sleepwalkers'' (''Die Schlafwandler,'' 1930–32) and '' The Death of Virgil'' (''Der Tod des Vergil,'' 1945). ...

Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...

, Lion Feuchtwanger, Bruno Frank, A. M. Frey, Anna Gmeyner, Oskar Maria Graf,

, Heinrich Eduard Jacob, Hermann Kesten, Annette Kolb, Siegfried Kracauer, Emil Ludwig, Heinrich Mann, Klaus Mann,

, Balder Olden, Rudolf Olden, Robert Neumann (writer), Robert Neumann, Erich Maria Remarque, Ludwig Renn, Alice Rühle-Gerstel, Otto Rühle, Alice Schwarz-Gardos, Anna Seghers, B. Traven, Bodo Uhse, Franz Werfel, Arnold Zweig, Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth.

1945 to 1989

* Post-war literature of West Germany (1945–1967): Heinrich Böll,

;

(Paul Celan, Edgar Hilsenrath) * GDR Literature in East Germany: Johannes R. Becher, Wolf Biermann,

, Sarah Kirsch (poet), Sarah Kirsch, Günter Kunert, Reiner Kunze, Heiner Müller, Anna Seghers, Christa Wolf * Postwar literature of Switzerland and Austria: Ingeborg Bachmann, Thomas Bernhard, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Elfriede Jelinek,

* Postmodern literature: Christian Kracht, Hans Wollschläger, Christoph Ransmayr, Marlene Streeruwitz, Rainald Goetz, Clemens J. Setz, Oswald Wiener * W.G. Sebald

21st century

Much of contemporary poetry in the German language is published in literary magazines. DAS GEDICHT, for instance, has featured German poetry from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg for the last twenty years. *Science-Fiction, Fantasy: Andreas Eschbach, Frank Schätzing, Wolfgang Hohlbein, Bernhard Hennen, Walter Moers *Pop Literature: Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre *Migrant literature: Wladimir Kaminer, Feridun Zaimoglu, Rafik Schami *Poetry: Jürgen Becker (poet), Jürgen Becker, Marcel Beyer, Theo Breuer, Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, Marc Engelhard, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Aldona Gustas, Ernst Jandl, Thomas Kling, Uwe Kolbe, Friederike Mayröcker, Durs Grünbein, Kurt Marti, Karl Krolow, Elke Erb *Aphorists: Hans Kruppa *Thriller: Ingrid Noll *Novel: Wilhelm Genazino,

, Herta Müller, Siegfried Lenz, Charlotte Link, Rainald Goetz, Anna Kaleri, Norbert Scheuer, Dietmar Dath, Christian Kracht, Kathrin Schmidt, Burkhard Spinnen, Robert Menasse, Martin Walser, Andreas Mand,Twenty-Third Annual Bibliography
Centers and institutes of Washington University in St. Louis#Language and literature, Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature at the Washington University in St. Louis, Washington University, in St. Louis, Missouri, Retrieved 13 December 2011 Zsuzsa Bánk, Marc Degens, Jenny Erpenbeck, Klaus Modick,

, Elfriede Jelinek, Daniel Kehlmann * Literaturport (in German): audio clips of contemporary literature, many read out by the authors themselves * German-American literature: Paul-Henri Campbell, Walter Abish

Nobel Prize laureates

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German-language authors fourteen times (as of 2020), tying with French-language authors, or the second most often after English-language authors (with 32). The following writers are from Germany unless stated otherwise: *1902 Theodor Mommsen *1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken *1910 Paul Heyse *1912

*1919 Carl Spitteler (Swiss) *1929

*1946

*1966 Nelly Sachs *1972 Heinrich Böll *1981 Elias Canetti (Bulgarian, later British) *1999

*2004 Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian) *2009 Herta Müller (Romanian by birth, later naturalized in West Germany) *2019

(Austrian)

References

Literature

English

*''Cambridge History of German Literature''. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ed. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. *Konzett, Matthias Piccolruaz. ''Encyclopedia of German Literature''. Routledge, 2000. *''The Oxford Companion to German Literature'', ed. by Mary Garland and Henry Garland, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1997 * Grange, William, ed. ''Historical dictionary of German literature to 1945'' (2011
online
* *

German

*Bernd Lutz, Benedikt Jeßing (eds.): Metzler Lexikon Autoren: Deutschsprachige Dichter und Schriftsteller vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Stuttgart und Weimar: 4., aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage 2010 *Theo Breuer, Aus dem Hinterland. Lyrik nach 2000, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2005, * Theo Breuer, Kiesel & Kastanie (ed.): Von neuen Gedichten und Geschichten, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2008, *Jürgen Brocan, Jan Kuhlbrodt (eds.), Umkreisungen. 25 Auskünfte zum Gedicht, Leipzig: Poetenladen Literaturverlag, 2010 *Manfred Enzensperger (ed.), Die Hölderlin-Ameisen: Vom Finden und Erfinden der Poesie, Cologne: Dumont, 2005 *Peter von Matt, Die verdächtige Pracht. Über Dichter und Gedichte, Munich [etc.] : Hanser, 1998 *Joachim Sartorius (ed.), Mimima Poetica. Für eine Poetik des zeitgenössischen Gedichts, Cologne : Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1999

Anthologies

*German poetry from 1750 to 1900, ed. by Robert M. Browning. Foreword by Michael Hamburger, New York : Continuum, 1984, 281 pp. (German Library), *Twentieth-Century German Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Michael Hofmann, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008 (Paperback Edition), 544 pp., *Heinz Ludwig Arnold (ed.), TEXT+KRITIK: Lyrik des 20. Jahrhunderts (1999). *Verena Auffermann, Hubert Winkels (ed.), Beste Deutsche Erzähler (2000–) *Hans Bender (ed.), In diesem Lande leben wir. Deutsche Gedichte der Gegenwart (1978) *Hans Bender, Was sind das für Zeiten. Deutschsprachige Gedichte der achtziger Jahre (1988) *Christoph Buchwald, Uljana Wolf (ed.), Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2009 (2009) *Karl Otto Conrady (ed.), Der Große Conrady. Das Buch deutscher Gedichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (2008). *Hugo von Hofmannsthal (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler I (1912, 1979) *Marie Luise Kaschnitz (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler II (1971, 1979) *Boris Kerenski & Sergiu Stefanescu, Kaltland Beat. Neue deutsche Szene (1999) *Axel Kutsch (ed.), Versnetze. Deutschsprachige Lyrik der Gegenwart (2009) * Andreas Neumeister, Marcel Hartges (ed.), Poetry! Slam! Texte der Pop-Fraktion (1996)

External links

Sophie
– A digital library of works by German-speaking women * {{DEFAULTSORT:German Literature German literature, German-language literature,