Editing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (section)

==Life==
[[File:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Kunstsammlung Uni Leipzig.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lessing, 1771]]
Lessing was born in [[Kamenz]], a small town in [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], to pastor and theologian {{ill|Johann Gottfried Lessing|de}} (1693–1770) and his wife Justine Salome Feller (1703–1777), daughter of pastor of [[Kamenz]], Gottfried Feller (1674–1733). His father was a Lutheran minister and wrote on theology. Young Lessing studied at the Latin School in Kamenz from 1737 to 1741. With a father who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, Lessing next attended the [[Sächsisches Landesgymnasium Sankt Afra zu Meißen|Fürstenschule St. Afra]] in [[Meissen]]. After completing his education at St. Afra's, he enrolled at [[Leipzig University]] where he pursued a degree in theology, medicine, philosophy, and philology (1746–1748).<ref>Lamport, F. J. ''Lessing and the Drama''. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. Print.</ref>

It was here that his relationship with [[Friederike Caroline Neuber|Karoline Neuber]], a famous German actress, began. He translated several French plays for her, and his interest in theatre grew. During this time, he wrote his first play, ''The Young Scholar.'' Neuber eventually produced the play in 1748.

From 1748 to 1760, Lessing lived in Leipzig and [[Berlin]]. He began to work as a reviewer and editor for the ''[[Vossische Zeitung]]'' and other periodicals. Lessing formed a close connection with his cousin, Christlob Mylius, and decided to follow him to Berlin. In 1750, Lessing and Mylius teamed together to begin a periodical publication named ''Beiträge zur Historie und Aufnahme des Theaters''. The publication ran only four issues, but it caught the public's eye and revealed Lessing to be a serious critic and theorist of drama.

In 1752, he took his master's degree in [[University of Wittenberg|Wittenberg]]. From 1760 to 1765, he worked in [[Breslau]] (now [[Wrocław]]) as secretary to [[Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien|General Tauentzien]] during the [[Seven Years' War]] between Britain and France, which had effects in Europe. It was during this time that he wrote his famous {{Interlanguage link multi|Laocoön (Lessing)|de|3=Laokoon (Lessing)|lt=''Laocoön, or the Limitations of Poetry''}}.

In 1765, Lessing returned to Berlin, leaving in 1767 to work for three years at the [[Hamburg National Theatre]]. Actor-manager Konrad Ackermann began construction of Germany's first permanent national theatre in Hamburg, established by {{Interlanguage link|Johann Friedrich Löwen|de}}. The owners of the new [[Hamburg National Theatre]] hired Lessing as the theatre's critic of plays and acting, an activity later known as [[dramaturgy]] (based on his own words), making Lessing the very first [[dramaturge]]. The theatre's main backer was [[Abel Seyler]], a former currency speculator who since became known as "the leading patron of German theatre."<ref>[[Wilhelm Kosch]], "Seyler, Abel", in ''[[Dictionary of German Biography]]'', eds. [[Walther Killy]] and [[Rudolf Vierhaus]], Vol. 9, Walter de Gruyter, 2005, {{ISBN|978-3-11-096629-9}}, {{p.|308}}</ref> There he met [[Eva König]], his future wife. His work in Hamburg formed the basis of his pioneering work on drama, titled ''[[Hamburgische Dramaturgie]]''. Unfortunately, because of financial losses due to pirated editions of the ''[[Hamburgische Dramaturgie]]'', the Hamburg Theatre closed just three years later.<ref>Lamport, F. J. ''Lessing and the Drama''. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. Print.</ref>

In 1770, Lessing became librarian at the ducal library, now the [[Herzog August Library]] (''Herzog-August-Bibliothek'', ''Bibliotheca Augusta''), in [[Wolfenbüttel]] under the commission of the Duke of Brunswick. His tenure there was energetic, if interrupted by many journeys. In 1775, for example, he accompanied Prince Leopold to Italy. Follower of [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]]'s philosophy,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKEuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169|page=169|title=Rough Mason, Mason, Freemason, Accepted Mason|author=Oscar Patterson III|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2017|isbn=9780761869610}}</ref> on 14 October 1771, Lessing was initiated into Freemasonry in the lodge "Zu den drei Goldenen Rosen" in Hamburg.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gotthold Ephraim Lessing |url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/lessing_g/lessing_g.html |work=2013 |publisher=Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon |access-date=12 September 2013}}</ref>

In 1773, he discovered [[Archimedes]]' [[Archimedes's cattle problem|cattle problem]] in a Greek manuscript containing a poem of 44 lines, in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. This problem would remain unsolved until 1880. In 1776, he married [[Eva König]], who was then a widow, in Jork (near Hamburg). She died in 1778 after giving birth to a short-lived son. On 15 February 1781, Lessing, aged 52, died during a visit to the wine dealer Angott in [[Braunschweig|Brunswick]].

Lessing was also famous for his friendship with Jewish-German philosopher [[Moses Mendelssohn]]. A 2003 biography of Mendelssohn's grandson, [[Felix Mendelssohn|Felix]], describes their friendship as one of the most "illuminating [[metaphor]]s [for] the clarion call of the Enlightenment for [[religious tolerance]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Todd |first=R. Larry |year=2003 |title=Mendelssohn: A Life in Music |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/academic/biography/9780195179880.do |location=New York |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j2Pf2yQipyUC&dq=mendelssohn&pg=PA1 1] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314165516/http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/academic/biography/9780195179880.do |archive-date=14 March 2012 }}</ref> It was this relationship that sparked his interest in popular religious debates of the time. He began publishing heated pamphlets on his beliefs which were eventually banned. It was this banishment that inspired him to return to theatre to portray his views and to write ''[[Nathan the Wise]]''.