McInnes, E: «Ein ungeheures Theater»

This study explores the drama of the Sturm und Drang in its historical and literary context. It aims to show how the young writers under the influence of Shakespeare developed a new theoretical understanding of the drama, and to assess the ways in which dramatists like Goethe, Lenz, Mercier, Wagner and Klinger tried to realise innovative kinds of structure and presentation, to address new modes of tragic and comic perception, which were of vital importance for the development of German drama throughout the next century and beyond.