Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (1729-1781), German dramatist and critic, who was one of the leaders of the Enlightenment.

Lessing was born on January 22, 1729, in Kamenz, the son of a Protestant minister, and was educated at the universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg, where he studied theology, philosophy, and medicine. While in Leipzig, he became interested in drama and wrote his first play, Der junge Gelehrte (The Young Scholar, 1748). From 1748 to 1755 he lived in Berlin, where he was a drama and literary critic and wrote several plays, including Der Freigeist (The Freethinker, 1749) and Die Juden (The Jews, 1749). From 1755 to 1758 Lessing lived in Leipzig, where he formed a strong friendship with the poet Ewald Christian von Kleist. In 1758 he returned to Berlin and in 1759, with the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and the critic Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, he founded the critical journal Briefe, die neueste Literatur Betreffend (Letters on the Latest in Literature, 1759-1765). Lessing contributed a notable series of essays to this periodical, contending that Shakespeare would be a better model for German dramatists than the classical French dramatists. The essays were instrumental in ridding German literature of French influence. From 1760 to 1765 Lessing was secretary to the governor of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). In 1767, after two years in Berlin, he helped establish a national theatre in Hamburg that proved to be unsuccessful; from 1770 until his death on February 15, 1781, he was librarian of the Brunswick ducal library at Wolfenbüttel.

Lessing's dramatic and critical work established new standards in German literature and profoundly influenced the work of later German writers. His play Miss Sara Sampson (1755; trans. 1789) is notable as the first tragedy of middle-class life (bürgerliches Trauerspiel) in German drama. The comedy The Disbanded Officer (1767; trans. 1786) and the blank-verse drama Nathan der Weise (1779; trans. 1781) are major classics of the German stage. The latter, based on the concept that nobility of character is not confined to any particular religious creed, is a moving plea for religious tolerance. One of his most popular plays, Emilia Galotti (1772; trans. 1868), is another bürgerliches Trauerspiel based on a Roman legend.

As a critic Lessing is noted for his writings on drama, literature, art, archaeology, and theology. His Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767-1768; trans. 1879) is one of the earliest modern treatises on the craft of the playwright. His literary criticism is best represented by the essays in Briefe; by the essay on the fable that forms the preface to Fabeln (3 vols., 1759); and by Zur Geschichte und Literatur (Contributions to History and Literature, 1773-1781). In the essay Laokoon (1766; trans. 1930), he analysed poetry, sculpture, and painting and defined the limits of each. As an archaeologist Lessing is known for Briefe Antiquarischen Inhalts (Letters on Archaeology, 1768-1769), and Wie die Alten den Tod gebildet (How the Ancients Depicted Death, 1769). As a theologian he is known for Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts (The Education of the Human Race, 1780). His work bears witness to his formidable intellect and incredible versatility.