Heinrich Wilhelm Von Gerstenberg

Gerstenberg, Heinrich Wilhelm Von 

Born Jan. 3, 1737, in Tondern, Schleswig; died Nov. 1, 1823, in Altona. German writer.

Gerstenberg was one of the forerunners of Strum und Drang poetry. His tragedy Ugolino (1768), about the opposition to tyranny, influenced the dramatic work of the “stormy geniuses” and his Letters on What Is Noteworthy in Literature (1766-70), which included “An Essay on the Works of Shakespeare and his Genius,” helped to overcome the aesthetic canons of classicism. Gerstenberg introduced German readers to the mythology and literature of ancient Scandinavia. Gerstenberg’s Poem ’of a Skald was the beginning of so-called bardic poetry in Germany.

WORKS

[Werke.] In Deutsche National-Literatur, vol. 48. Edited by J. Kurschner. Berlin-Stuttgart [188?].

REFERENCES

Istoria nemetskoi literatury, vol. 2. Moscow, 1963.
Wagner, A. M. H. W. von Gerstenberg und der Strum und Drang, vols. 1-2. Heidelberg, 1920-24.

L. E. GENIN