Medien- und Emotionspolitik der Rührung: Rührung im Brief und auf der Bühne bei Christian Fürchtegott Gellert

Abstract:In 1751, Christian Fürchtegott Gellert writes both the letter writing manual Briefe, nebst einer praktischen Abhandlung von dem guten Geschmacke in Briefen as well as the treatise Pro comoedia commovente in defense of the genre comédie larmoyante. While the first earns him ardent admirers, the latter receives heavy criticism from Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. This article investigates the interplay between movement (Rührung), medium, and genre, as well as the role of Rührung in the game of discursive politics. Focusing on Gellert's notions of Rührung and of a "natural" style, the article argues that Gellert institutes a normative aesthetic paradigm that belongs to a written culture and builds on "symptoms" of movement, which, for instance, can already be found in Johann Jacob Breitinger's work.