Description
Book SynopsisThe Late Eighteenth-century Confluence of British-German Sentimental Literature: The Lessing Brothers, Henry Mackenzie, Goethe, and Jane Austen analyzes the literary exchange and influence between British and German literature. Xiaohu Jiang focuses particularly on the process of this mutual influence—that is, translation—by observing how the political and cultural imbalance between the British and German literary fields impacted the conceptions, attitudes, and (in)visibility of translators in Britain and Germany in the late eighteenth century. To this end, Jiang carefully reads the paratexts of these translations, analyzing the resemblances between Henry Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling and Goethe’s Die Lieden des jungen Werther and arguing that The Man of Feeling is a vital source of influence for Die Lieden des jungen Werther. Furthermore, this book also presents an in-depth analysis of Jane Austen’s absorption, or translation, of Die Lieden des jungen Werther and her oscillating attitudes toward sensibility, which is evidenced not only in her own texts, but also from her brother’s articles in The Loiterer. Scholars of literature, history, and international relations will find this book particularly useful.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Part One
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Translators’ Prefaces as Battlefields for British-German Discontent with France during the Late Eighteenth Century
Chapter 3: The First English Translation of Geschichte des Agathon by John Richardson in 1773
Chapter 4: The First German Translation of The Man of Feeling by Karl Gotthelf Lessing in 1774
Chapter 5: Mackenzie’s Harley and Goethe’s Werther
Part Two
Chapter 6: Jane Austen and Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
Chapter 7: Jane Austen’s Parody: Witness of Her Literary Growth
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Works Cited
