Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Eva Parra- Membrives (Universidad de Sevilla)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 22 Jan 1729
Died 15 Feb 1781
Activity 1749-1781

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist

Other

Art Theorist/ Historian/ Critic
Political Philosopher

Resources

Lessing's Works

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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, one of the most important dramatists and aesthetic theorists in European literature, was born on 22 January 1729 as the third of twelve sons of Johann Gottfried and Justine Salome Lessing into a humble and deeply religious family in the small town of Kamenz near Dresden (Saxony). His father, a recognized theologian, was the town's Protestant minister, a severe patriarch and a lover of culture. He soon recognized his son's extraordinary intellectual abilities, instructed him at an early age in various areas of knowledge and sent him to the

Lateinschule

(high school) in Kamenz from 1737-41. At the age of twelve, young Lessing was rather proficient in Latin and Greek, and spoke English and French fluently. He was enrolled at the

Fürstenschule

(school of princes)…

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2661 words

Citation: Parra- Membrives, Eva . "Gotthold Ephraim Lessing". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 July 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2704, accessed 23 November 2024.]