Persistence of Folly: On the Origins of German Dramatic Literature (Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought)

Lande, Joel B.

ISBN 10: 1501727117 / ISBN 13: 9781501727115

Published by Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library, 2018

About this Item

Seller Inventory # IM05-000087

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Persistence of Folly: On the Origins of German Dramatic Literature (Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought)
• Publisher: Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501727117
• ISBN 13: 9781501727115
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Joel B. Lande's Persistence of Folly challenges the accepted account of the origins of German theater by focusing on the misunderstood figure of the fool, whose spontaneous and impish jest captivated audiences, critics, and playwrights from the late sixteenth through the early nineteenth century. Lande radically expands the scope of literary historical inquiry, showing that the fool was not a distraction from attempts to establish a serious dramatic tradition in the German language. Instead, the fool was both a fixture on the stage and a nearly ubiquitous theme in an array of literary critical, governmental, moral-philosophical, and medical discourses, figuring centrally in broad-based efforts to assign laughter a proper time, place, and proportion in society.

Persistence of Folly reveals the fool as a cornerstone of the dynamic process that culminated in the works of Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist. By reorienting the history of German theater, Lande's work conclusively shows that the highpoint of German literature around 1800 did not eliminate irreverent jest in the name of serious drama, but instead developed highly refined techniques for integrating the comic tradition of the stage fool.

About the Author

Joel Lande is an Assistant Professor in the Department of German at Princeton University.