J. M. R. LENZ AND THE PROBLEM OF SOLDIERS: BETWEEN MODERATE AND RADICAL STURM UND DRANG IN LENZ'S MILITARY REFORMS

Abstract

In his essay ‘Über die Soldatenehen’ and his fragmentary writings on military reforms Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz uses the distinctly moderate discourse of physiocratic economics to the radical ends of a complete restructuring of social relations. Lenz turns the logic of the physiocrats against more moderate reform efforts and presents a model of economic circulation that emphasises the role of labour in stark opposition to the physiocratic emphasis on land-ownership. The correction of economic streams extends to a less literal economy: that of ‘Konkupiszenz’. Central to Lenz's theological writings, ‘Konkupiszenz’, the divine gift of an inherently queer sexual desire, takes on an economic structure similar to that espoused in ‘Über die Soldatenehen’ that in turn proves central to his project of redefining the family in the military reform texts. Looking at both structures together, we can trace the way that Lenz's military writings call for liberating the flow of ‘Konkupiszenz’ across classes, which amounts to a radical reorganisation of the social and economic structure.