Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations

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Critical Climates: Sturm und Drang and the Radical Poetics of Nature
(University of Oregon, 2020-09-24) Baumeister, Anna-Lisa; Klebes, Martin
The dissertation develops a new reading of the status of nature in the Sturm und Drang period of the 1770s, in texts by authors ranging from the early Goethe, Schiller, and Herder, to J.M.R. Lenz, Friedrich Müller, and Karoline Flachsland. Against prevailing interpretations that dismiss Sturm und Drang’s nature-affinity as outdated, irrationalist, and apolitical, I reframe the period through attention to European colonial geopolitics, emergent natural sciences such as hydrology and meteorology, and innovative material writing practices. I propose a reading of Sturm und Drang as an unparalleled attempt to ground modern culture in nature, one noteworthy for its epistemic sensitivities and anti-essentialist commitments. In this way, I not only argue that the poetics of Sturm und Drang offers a radical environmental critique of the project of Enlightenment from within—one that speaks directly to pressing contemporary concerns. I also make a new case for the distinctiveness of the period from the episteme “around 1800,” highlighting its socio-critical focus and its international outlook.