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Overview of German-language literature
The Frankfurt Book Fair
German literature (German: Deutschsprachige Literatur) comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects (e.g. Alemannic).
Medieval German literature is literature written in Germany, stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the Reformation (1517) being the last possible cut-off point. The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century; the most famous works are the Hildebrandslied and a heroic epic known as the Heliand. Middle High German starts in the 12th century; the key works include The Ring (c. 1410) and the poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein and Johannes von Tepl. The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of the Enlightenment (such as Herder). The Sensibility movement of the 1750s–1770s ended with Goethe's best-selling The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). The Sturm und Drang and Weimar Classicism movements were led by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Biedermeier refers to the literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions. Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile (Exilliteratur) and others submitted to censorship ("internal emigration", Innere Emigration). The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German language authors fourteen times (as of 2023), or the third most often, behind only French language authors (with 16 laureates) and English language authors (with 32 laureates) with winners including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Günter Grass, and Peter Handke.
Germanliterature (German: Deutschsprachige Literatur) comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written...
Medieval Germanliterature refers to the literature of Medieval Germany. It can be subdivided into two main periods: Old High Germanliterature (750–1050)...
Old High Germanliterature refers to literature written in Old High German, from the earliest texts in the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century...
East Germanliterature is the literature produced in East Germany from the time of the Soviet occupation in 1945 until the end of the communist government...
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms...
Middle High Germanliterature refers to literature written in German between the middle of the 11th century and the middle of the 14th. In the second half...
German science fiction literature encompasses all German-language literary productions, whether of German, Swiss or Austrian origin, in the science fiction...
Dutch literature English literature Estonian literature Faroese literature Finnish literature French literature Gaelic literatureGermanliterature Greek...
German (Standard High German: Deutsch, pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western...
and Golden Age literature French Renaissance literatureGermanliterature#German Renaissance and Reformation Italian Renaissance literature Polish Renaissance...
theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of Germanliterature. He is widely considered by theatre historians to be the first dramaturg...
The German Spitz (German: Deutscher Spitz) is a breed of spitz-type dogs from Germany. It is considered a single breed, with five distinct varieties based...
Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The...
German Romanticism (German: Deutsche Romantik) was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries...
Jewish literature Medieval French literature Sicilian School Old High Germanliterature Middle High Germanliterature Medieval Georgian literature Medieval...
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose...
Old High German (OHG; German: Althochdeutsch (Ahdt., Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from...
English-speaking laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by French with 16 laureates and German with 14 laureates. France has the highest number...
Robert Ludwig Kahn (April 22, 1923 – March 22, 1970) was a German-American scholar of German studies and poet. He grew up in Nuremberg and Leipzig as the...
were made in Weimar Germany or by German scientists during the Weimar period. While temporarily at the University of Copenhagen, German physicist Werner...
symbols. Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over...
Bachmann Prize Aspekte-Literaturpreis (Aspekte Literature Prize) – for the best debut novel written in German Kleist Prize – (first awarded in 1912) Kumar...
speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II, defines a German as a German citizen. During...
translated as "Storm and Stress") is a proto-Romantic movement in Germanliterature and music that took place from the late 1760s to the early 1780s,...
mode. At that time, the Germans were the most active writers of the novelle (German: "Novelle"; plural: "Novellen"). For the German writer, a novella is...
"Exhibition of German Illustrated Books from the Sixteenth Century". Harvard Library Bulletin. 29. "Collections: GermanLiterature". US: Yale University...
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