Den tyske kreds i dansk litteraturhistorieskrivning

Abstract

Abstract For two decades Copenhagen was a cultural powerhouse in European Enlightenment due to the so-called German Circle in Copenhagen (1750–1770) initiated by King Frederik V. and J. H. E. Bernstorff. The article examines the description of the German Circle in Danish literary history through three major phases: from early Enlightenment through the 19th Century and up until today’s European and global histories. The historiographic survey shows a decreasing interest in representing this cultural and intellectual group as a centre of a European transfer between English, Scandinavian and German literature. Instead, attention is paid to Klopstock and Johannes Ewald as key figures in the transition to a modern poetry. In general, Danish literary histories display a fear of German cultural colonization and anxieties about the status of Danish as a minor language. In current historiography, the German Circle seems to have disappeared and might be at the brink of fading into cultural oblivion.