Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–1766): Philosophie, Poetik und Wissenschaft ed. by Eric Achermann (review)

This volume proceeds from the conference “Gottsched: Aufklärer,” which was held at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (Munich) in 2009. It is thematically divided into three sections devoted to Gottsched’s philosophical positions, his poetics and efforts regarding the establishment of the trivium in Leipzig, and his role as mediator of enlightened attitudes through publishing and various university positions. The seemingly ceaseless attempts to reclaim Johann Christoph Gottsched’s reputation begin on the very first page. Weary of Gottsched’s reputation as the unfashionable Literaturpapst, Achermann communicates an acute awareness of the often narrow and even contradictory positions held by Gottsched; nevertheless, he ascribes a central importance to the Critische Dichtkunstwith respect to the development of German language, rhetoric, poetry, and dramaturgy, even amid the ashes of vitriolic critiques by Gottsched’s contemporaries and later scholars.

Oliver Scholz’s opening article accordingly offers a simple introduction to the Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophy that informed Gottsched’s engagement against religious fanaticism, prejudice, and superstition; he hints at the progressive campaigns of the Societas Alethophilorum, the effectiveness and scope of which have been more thoroughly examined by Johannes Bronisch in Der Mäzen der Aufklärung: Ernst Christoph von Manteuffel und das Netzwerk des Wolffianismus(2010). Echoing thoughts already developed in his Johann Christoph Gottsched und die “philosophische” Predigt(2010), Andres Strassberger reiterates the theological perspectives that informed Gottsched’s approaches to both philosophy and religion, as he attempts to revise previous beliefs regarding Gottsched’s purported deistic radicalism. Dagmar Mirbach draws several insightful connections between Gottsched’s Versuch einer critischen Dichtkunstand Baumgarten’s Aesthetica. She highlights their shared Alethophilian tendencies—that is, a predilection for the philosophies of Wolff and Leibniz—and compares the latter’s monadology with the former’s psychologia empirica.

In the second section, Klaus Weimar explores four of Gottsched’s histories of German literature and his role in establishing the trivium at German universities. Although Gottsched’s support for women’s education, remains an aside, Weimar does refer directly to a project completed by Luise Adelgunde Victorie Gottsched, Die Geschichte der lyrischen Poesie der Deutschen, which has unfortunately been lost (139), and touches upon the partnership of the Gottscheds on Die deutsche Schaubühne. Eric Achermann describes Gottsched’s modal theory of fiction, which Achermann understands as reflecting a rationalistic mimesis (and a correspondingly ordered worldview), which presents an exemplary, believable move against poetic forces whose logical contradictions threaten to bring about chaotic nihilism. Tomas Sommadossi examines the rational philosophy or theology that underlies Gottsched’s poetics and his anthropological conception of natural representations. Thomas Althaus assesses the contradictions inherent in Gottsched’s proscriptive poetics, particularly with respect to the intended reformation of comedy into a genre suitable for moral education. Luise Gottsched’s Die ungleiche Heirathand Die Pietisterey im Fischbein-Rockealso receive passing mention, and Althaus does take a moment to note that her plays largely coalesce with her husband’s poetics (230–31).

In the third section, Hanspeter Marti recounts Gottsched’s work as a professor at the University of Leipzig and incorporates references to the ongoing publication of the Gottscheds’ Briefwechsel: Unter Einfluß des Briefwechsels von Luise Adelgunde Victorie Gottschedinto his essay. Unfortunately, much of the knowledge to be gained from the Gottscheds’ correspondence is conspicuously absent in this volume; their extensive networking through letters is left untouched by most of the contributing scholars. The inclusion of material from the letters would doubtlessly underscore Luise Gottsched’s huge influence as her husband’s partner in transmitting Alethophilian ideals. The role played by Johann Gottsched as a proponent of female education regrettably also lacks significant mention in this volume, though it is (very) briefly mentioned in Rüdiger Otto’s lengthy essay on Johann Gottsched’s Die Vernünftigen Tadlerinnen. Here he notes that Johann Gottsched masqueraded as a female editor and that the journal’s explicit orientation toward a female audience...