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The life, work and times of an author who was always surrounded by secrets: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz.
Who was the Sturm und Drang poet J. M. R. Lenz? Today's picture of the man is pieced together from Goethe's later, harsh assessment in »Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth) « and Büchner's story »Lenz« – here, the poet is threatened with insanity and finally drifts into a wretched and meaningless existence.
Herbert Kraft paints a differentiated picture using material from many sources, some of them remote, and creates panoramas of the different stages in the life and work of the poet Lenz. In this way, certain places come to life: Protestant/Lutheran-oriented Livonia in the second half of the 18th century with its unlimited serfdom; Königsberg at the time of Kant, who was Lenz' teacher; Strasbourg, dominated by art and military barracks; Goethe's Weimar; loneliness in magnificent St. Petersburg; Moscow in the last eleven years of his life, where he wrote texts that have remained practically unknown up to the present day.
The biography provides many new insights into the life and writings of this mysterious poet. Kraft explains, for example, why Lenz was obliged to leave Weimar: contrary to popular belief, it was not Goethe who was responsible for his expulsion.
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
(1751 –1792) is one of the most significant poets of the Sturm und Drang era. His comedies »Der Hofmeister (The Tutor) « and »Die Soldaten (The Soldiers) « remain some of the most outstanding works in the history of German literature. His poems have also retained their literary status after more than two centuries.
The Author
Herbert Kraft, born 1938 in Walsum on the Lower Rhine, is a professor emeritus for recent German literary history at the University of Münster. He was a visiting professor at Armidale/Australia and Cairo, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield.
Publications include: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (6th edition, 2008); Kleist. Leben und Werk (Kleist. Life and Works, 2007); Musil (2003); edition of three volumes of Schiller's work (Nationalausgabe / National Edition) (1971, 1982, 2000).
