Görres, Joseph von

Görres, Joseph von (yō`zĕf fən gör`əs), 1776–1848, German historian, journalist, and writer. As lecturer on philosophy at the Univ. of Heidelberg he befriended Joachim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, whose folk song collection he followed with a collection of folk tales, Deutsche Volksbücher (1807). A typical romantic, Görres investigated Middle Eastern myths and edited the epic Lohengrin (1813). At first he supported the French Revolution, but he later became a liberal nationalist with a violent hatred for Napoleon I; his principal work, Germany and the Revolution (1819, tr. 1820), greatly influenced contemporary politics. From 1814 to 1816, Görres edited the Rheinische Merkur. This newspaper, although suppressed in the period of reaction, set the style of modern political journalism. A Roman Catholic, Görres wrote books and essays on religious subjects and many works on literature, history, and folklore.