Editing German literature

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[[File:FrankfurterBuchmesse2008.JPG|thumb|250px|The [[Frankfurt Book Fair]]]]

'''German literature''' ({{Langx|de|Deutschsprachige Literatur}}) comprises those [[literature|literary]] texts written in the [[German language]]. This includes literature written in [[Germany]], [[Austria]], the German parts of [[Switzerland]] and [[Belgium]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Luxembourg]], [[South Tyrol]] in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the [[German diaspora]]. German literature of the modern period is mostly in [[Standard German]], but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by [[German dialects|dialects]] (e.g. [[Alemannic literature|Alemannic]]).

Medieval German literature is [[literature]] written in Germany, stretching from the [[Carolingian dynasty]]; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] (1517) being the last possible cut-off point. The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century; the most famous works are the ''[[Hildebrandslied]]'' and a heroic epic known as the ''[[Heliand]]''. [[Middle High German]] starts in the 12th century; the key works include ''[[The Ring (poem)|The Ring]]'' ({{Circa|1410}}) and the poems of [[Oswald von Wolkenstein]] and [[Johannes von Tepl]]. The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of [[the Enlightenment]] (such as [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]]). The Sensibility movement of the 1750s–1770s ended with [[Goethe]]'s best-selling ''[[The Sorrows of Young Werther]]'' (1774). The [[Sturm und Drang]]  and [[Weimar Classicism]] movements were led by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Friedrich Schiller]]. [[German Romanticism]] was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[[Biedermeier]] refers to the literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 ([[Vienna Congress]]), the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], and 1848, the year of the [[Revolutions of 1848|European revolutions]]. Under the [[Nazi|Nazi regime]], some authors went into exile (''Exilliteratur'') and others submitted to censorship ("internal emigration", ''Innere Emigration''). The [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] has been awarded to German language authors fourteen times (as of 2023), or the third most often, behind only French language authors (with 16 laureates) and English language authors (with 32 laureates) with winners including [[Thomas Mann]], [[Hermann Hesse]], [[Günter Grass]], and [[Peter Handke]].

==Periodization==

[[Periodization]] is not an [[exact science]] but the following list contains movements or time periods typically used in discussing German literature. It seems worth noting that the periods of [[medieval]] German literature span two or three centuries, those of early modern German literature span one century, and those of modern German literature each span one or two decades. The closer one nears the present, the more debated the periodizations become.

[[Image:Frenzel.gif|thumb|400px|Graph of works listed in Frenzel, ''Daten deutscher Dichtung'' (1953). Visible is medieval literature overlapping with Renaissance up to the 1540s, modern literature beginning 1720, and baroque-era works (1570 to 1730) in between; there is a 20-year gap, 1545–1565, separating the Renaissance from the Baroque era.<br/>The Diagram was first published in Olaf Simons, ''Marteaus Europa, oder Der Roman, bevor er Literatur wurde'' (Amsterdam/ Atlanta: Rodopi, 2001), p.&nbsp;12. 
It does not give a picture of the actual production of German literature, but the selection and classification of literary works by Herbert Alfred and Elizabeth Frenzel.<ref>Frenzels' book is a standard work in so far as defining a modern [[Literary canon|canon]] of German literature; however, the selection of authors especially for the [[Nazi era]] has been criticized as "grotesque"  or as exhibiting "bizarre gaps" (viz. omitting Jewish authors); see Volker Weidermann, [https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/2.1719/standardwerk-mit-luecken-ein-grotesker-kanon-1799167.html Ein grotesker Kanon], [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]], 11 May 2009. ''Daten deutscher Dichtung'' was reprinted in 35 editions, but was discontinued in 2009.</ref>]]

* Medieval German literature
** [[Old High German literature]] (750–1050)
** [[Middle High German literature]] (1050–1350)
** Late medieval / Renaissance (1350–1500)
* Early Modern German literature (see [[Early Modern literature]])
** [[Humanism in Germany|Humanism]] and [[Protestant Reformation]] (1500–1650)
** [[German literature of the Baroque period|Baroque]] (1600–1720)
** [[The Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] (1680–1789)
* Modern German literature
** 18th- and 19th-century German literature
*** [[Sensibility|''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility]] (1750s–1770s)
*** [[Sturm und Drang|''Sturm und Drang'' / Storm and Stress]] (1760s–1780s)
*** German Classicism (1729–1832)
**** [[Weimar Classicism]] (1788–1805) or (1788–1832), depending on Schiller's (1805) or Goethe's (1832) death
*** [[German Romanticism]] (1790s–1880s)
*** [[Biedermeier]] (1815–1848)
*** [[Young Germany]] (1830–1850)
*** Poetic [[Realism (arts)|Realism]] (1848–1890)
*** [[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalism]] (1880–1900)
** 20th-century German literature
*** 1900–1933
**** [[Fin de siècle]] (c. 1900)
**** [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]
**** [[Expressionism]] (1910–1920)
**** [[Dada]] (1914–1924)
**** [[New Objectivity]] (''Neue Sachlichkeit'')
*** Well Known Writers of the 20th Century
*** 1933–1945
**** National Socialist literature
**** Exile literature
*** 1945–1989
**** By country
***** Federal Republic of Germany
***** German Democratic Republic
***** Austria
***** Switzerland
***** Other
**** By thematic or group
***** Post-war literature (1945–1967)
***** [[Group 47]]
***** [[Holocaust literature]]
** Contemporary German literature (1989–)

==Middle Ages==
Medieval German literature refers to [[literature]] written in Germany, stretching from the [[Carolingian dynasty]]; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] (1517) being the last possible cut-off point.

===Old High German===
{{main|Old High German literature}}
The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century, though the boundary to Early Middle High German (second half of the 11th century) is not clear-cut.

The most famous work in OHG is the ''[[Hildebrandslied]]'', a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which besides the ''[[Muspilli]]'' is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Another important work, in the northern dialect of Old Saxon, is a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic known as the ''[[Heliand]]''.

===Middle High German===
{{main|Middle High German literature}}
[[Image:Codex Manesse Walther von der Vogelweide.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of [[Walther von der Vogelweide]] from the [[Codex Manesse]] (Folio 124r)]]
[[Middle High German]] proper runs from the beginning of the 12th century, and in the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year "golden age" of medieval German literature referred to as the ''mittelhochdeutsche Blütezeit'' (1170–1230). This was the period of the blossoming of MHG lyric poetry, particularly ''[[Minnesang]]'' (the German variety of the originally French tradition of [[courtly love]]). One of the most important of these poets was [[Walther von der Vogelweide]]. The same sixty years saw the composition of the most important courtly romances. These are written in rhyming couplets, and again draw on French models such as [[Chrétien de Troyes]], many of them relating [[Arthurian]] material, for example, ''[[Parzival]]'' by [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]. The third literary movement of these years was a new revamping of the heroic tradition, in which the ancient Germanic oral tradition can still be discerned, but tamed and Christianized and adapted for the court. These high medieval [[heroic epic]]s are written in rhymed strophes, not the alliterative verse of Germanic prehistory (for example, the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'').

The Middle High German period is conventionally taken to end in 1350, while the [[Early New High German]] is taken to begin with the [[German Renaissance]], after the invention of movable type in the mid-15th century. Therefore, the literature of the late 14th and the early 15th century falls, as it were, in the cracks between Middle and New High German, and can be classified as either. Works of this transitional period include ''[[The Ring (poem)|The Ring]]'' (c. 1410), the poems of [[Oswald von Wolkenstein]] and [[Johannes von Tepl]], the German versions of ''[[Pontus and Sidonia]]'', and arguably the works of [[Hans Folz]] and [[Sebastian Brant]] (''[[Ship of Fools (satire)|Ship of Fools]]'', 1494), among others. The ''Volksbuch'' ([[chapbook]]) tradition which would flourish in the 16th century also finds its origin in the second half of the 15th century.

==Early Modern period==
{{further|Early Modern literature|Early Modern history of Germany|Early New High German}}

===German Renaissance and Reformation===
{{main|Early New High German literature}}
{{Reformationliterature |expanded=continental}}

{{further|German Renaissance|Humanism in Germany|Protestant Reformation}}
{{further|Early New High German}}

* [[Sebastian Brant]] (1457–1521)
* [[Thomas Murner]] (1475–1537)
* [[Martin Luther]] (1483–1546)
* [[Philipp Melanchthon]] (1497–1560)
* [[Sebastian Franck]] (1500–1543)
* [[Johann Fischart]] (1545–1591)

===Baroque period===

The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the [[Thirty Years' War]], in [[poetry]] and [[prose]]. [[Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen|Grimmelshausen]]'s adventures of the young and naïve Simplicissimus, in the eponymous book ''[[Simplicius Simplicissimus]]'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Grimmelshausen|first=H. J. Chr.|title=Der abentheurliche Simplicissimus|trans-title=The adventurous Simplicissimus|language=de|url=http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/grimmelshausen_simplicissimus_1669|author-link=Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen|location=Nuremberg|publisher=J. Fillion|year=1669|oclc=22567416}}</ref> became the most famous novel of the Baroque period. [[Martin Opitz]] established rules for the "purity" of language, style, verse and rhyme. [[Andreas Gryphius]] and [[Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein]] wrote German language [[tragedy|tragedies]], or ''Trauerspiele'', often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious and [[occasional poetry]] appeared in both German and Latin. [[Sibylle Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg]] wrote part of a novel, ''Die Durchlauchtige Syrerin Aramena'' (''Aramena, the noble Syrian lady''), which when complete would be the most famous courtly novel in German Baroque literature; it was finished by her brother [[Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Anton Ulrich]] and edited by [[Sigmund von Birken]].<ref name="Brown2012">{{cite book|author=Hilary Brown|title=Luise Gottsched the Translator|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVAMccAgim8C&q=%22most+famous+courtly%22&pg=PA23|year=2012|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-510-0|pages=27–}}</ref><ref name="Catling2000">{{cite book|author=Jo Catling|title=A History of Women's Writing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaWlLtAwn3cC&pg=PA42|date=23 March 2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65628-3|pages=42–}}</ref>

==18th century==

===The Enlightenment===
{{further|The Enlightenment}}

{| width=100%
| width=50% valign=top |
* [[August Friedrich Wilhelm Crome]]
* [[Johann Gottfried Herder]]
* [[Paul Heinrich Dietrich von Holbach]]
* [[Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi]]
* [[Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder|Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel]]
* [[Immanuel Kant]]
* [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]
* [[Moses Mendelssohn]]
| width=50% valign=top |
* [[Carl Leonhard Reinhold]]
* [[Christian Thomasius]]
* [[Christian Jacob Wagenseil]]
* [[Christian Felix Weiße]]
* [[Christoph Martin Wieland]]
* [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]]
* [[Friedrich Nicolai]]
* [[Christian Garve]]
|}

===Sensibility===
''Empfindsamkeit'' / Sensibility  (1750s–1770s)
[[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock]] (1724–1803), [[Christian Fürchtegott Gellert]] (1715–1769), [[Sophie de La Roche]] (1730–1807). The period culminates and ends in [[Goethe]]'s best-selling ''[[Die Leiden des jungen Werthers]]'' (1774).

===Sturm und Drang===
{{main|Sturm und Drang}}
[[File:goethe.png|thumb|upright|[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] {{Circa|1775}}]]

''Sturm und Drang''  (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be ''storm and urge'', ''storm and longing'', or ''storm and impulse'') is the name of a movement in German literature and [[music]] taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual [[subjectivity]] and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by [[the Enlightenment]] and associated [[aesthetic]] movements. The philosopher [[Johann Georg Hamann]] is considered to be the ideologue of ''Sturm und Drang'', and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] was a notable proponent of the movement, though he and [[Friedrich Schiller]] ended their period of association with it, initiating what would become [[Weimar Classicism]].

==19th century==

===German Classicism===
{{main|Weimar Classicism}}
Weimar Classicism ([[German language|German]] “''Weimarer Klassik''” and “''Weimarer Klassizismus''”) is a [[cultural movement|cultural]] and [[literary movement]] of [[Europe]], and its central ideas were originally propounded by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]] during the period 1786 to 1805.

===Romanticism===
[[File:Heinrich Heine 1827.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Heinrich Heine]], 1827]]
[[German Romanticism]] was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its [[English language|English]] counterpart, coinciding in its early years with the movement known as [[German Classicism]] or [[Weimar Classicism]], which it opposed.  In contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety is notable for valuing humor and wit as well as beauty. The early German romantics tried to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, looking to the [[Middle Ages]] as a simpler, more integrated period.  As time went on, however, they became increasingly aware of the tenuousness of the unity they were seeking.  Later German Romanticism emphasized the tension between the everyday world and the seemingly irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius. [[Heinrich Heine]] in particular criticized the tendency of the early romantics to look to the medieval past for a model of unity in art and society.
* [[G.W.F. Hegel]]
* [[Jean Paul]]
* [[E.T.A. Hoffmann]]
* [[Friedrich Hölderlin]]
* [[Heinrich von Kleist]]
* [[Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg)]]
* [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel|Friedrich Schlegel]]
* [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]]
* [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]]
* [[Ludwig Tieck]]
* [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]]
* [[Ludwig Uhland]]
*[[Arthur Schopenhauer]]
* [[Joseph von Eichendorff]]

===Biedermeier and Vormärz===
[[Biedermeier]] refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 ([[Vienna Congress]]), the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], and 1848, the year of the [[Revolutions of 1848|European revolutions]] and contrasts with the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] era which preceded it. Typical Biedermeier poets are [[Annette von Droste-Hülshoff]], [[Adelbert von Chamisso]], [[Eduard Mörike]], and [[Wilhelm Müller]], the last three named having well-known musical settings by [[Robert Schumann]], [[Hugo Wolf]] and [[Franz Schubert]] respectively.

[[Young Germany]] (''Junges Deutschland'') was a loose group of [[Vormärz]] writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth movement (similar to those that had swept [[France]] and [[Young Ireland|Ireland]] and originated in [[Young Italy (historical)|Italy]]). Its main proponents were [[Karl Gutzkow]], [[Heinrich Laube]], [[Theodor Mundt]] and [[Ludolf Wienbarg]]; [[Heinrich Heine]], [[Ludwig Börne]] and [[Georg Büchner]] were also considered part of the movement. The wider circle included [[Willibald Alexis]], [[Adolf Glassbrenner]] and [[Gustav Kühne]].

===Realism and Naturalism===
Poetic [[Literary realism|Realism]] (1848–1890): [[Theodor Fontane]], [[Gustav Freitag]], [[Gottfried Keller]], [[Wilhelm Raabe]], [[Adalbert Stifter]], [[Theodor Storm]]

[[Naturalism (literature)|Naturalism]] (1880–1900): [[Gerhart Hauptmann]]

==20th century==
[[File:Franz Kafka, 1923.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Franz Kafka]]]]

===1900 to 1933===
* [[Fin de siècle]] (c. 1900)
* [[Weimar culture#Literature|Weimar literature]] (1919–1933)
* [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]]
* [[Expressionism]] (1910–1920)
* [[Dada]] (1914–1924)
* [[New Objectivity]] (Neue Sachlichkeit)

===Well known writers of the 20th century===
A well-known writer of [[German Literature|German literature]] was [[Franz Kafka]]. A Kafka novel, ''[[The Trial]]'', was ranked #3 on [[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/108|title=Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century by Le Monde - The Greatest Books|website=thegreatestbooks.org|accessdate=23 August 2021}}</ref> Kafka's iconic writing style that captures themes of bureaucracy and existentialism resulted in the coining of the term “Kafkaesque.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/therapy-matters/201105/why-kafka-still-matters|title=Why Kafka Still Matters &#124; Psychology Today|website=www.psychologytoday.com|accessdate=23 August 2021}}</ref> Kafka's writing allowed a peek into his melancholic life, one where he felt isolated from all human beings, one of his inspirations for writing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Franz Kafka Biography |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Kafka |website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=8 May 2024 }}</ref>

===Nazi Germany===
*National Socialist literature: see [[Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft]], [[Blut und Boden]], [[Nazi propaganda]]

Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile (''[[Exilliteratur]]'') and others submitted to censorship ("[[inner emigration]]", ''Innere Emigration'')

*''Inner Emigration'': [[Gottfried Benn]], [[Werner Bergengruen]], [[Hans Blüher]], [[Hans Heinrich Ehrler]], [[Hans Fallada]], [[Werner Finck]], [[Gertrud Fussenegger]], [[Ricarda Huch]], [[Ernst Jünger]], [[Erich Kästner]], [[Volker Lachmann]], [[Oskar Loerke]], [[Erika Mitterer]], [[Walter von Molo]], [[Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen]], [[Richard Riemerschmid]], [[Reinhold Schneider]], [[Frank Thiess]], [[Carl von Ossietzky]], [[Ernst Wiechert]]
* in exile: [[Ernst Bloch]], [[Bertolt Brecht]], [[Hermann Broch]], [[Alfred Döblin]], [[Lion Feuchtwanger]], [[Bruno Frank]], [[A. M. Frey]], [[Anna Gmeyner]], [[Oskar Maria Graf]], [[Hermann Hesse]], [[Heinrich Eduard Jacob]], [[Hermann Kesten]], [[Annette Kolb]], [[Siegfried Kracauer]], [[Emil Ludwig]], [[Heinrich Mann]], [[Klaus Mann]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[Balder Olden]], [[Rudolf Olden]], [[Robert Neumann (writer)|Robert Neumann]], [[Erich Maria Remarque]], [[Ludwig Renn]], [[Alice Rühle-Gerstel]], [[Otto Rühle]], [[Alice Schwarz-Gardos]], [[Anna Seghers]], [[B. Traven]], [[Bodo Uhse]], [[Franz Werfel]], [[Arnold Zweig]], [[Stefan Zweig]], [[Joseph Roth]].

===1945 to 1989===
* Post-war literature of [[West Germany]] (1945–1967): [[Heinrich Böll]], [[Günter Grass]], [[Group 47]]; [[Holocaust literature]] ([[Paul Celan]], [[Edgar Hilsenrath]])
* [[GDR Literature]] in [[East Germany]]: [[Johannes R. Becher]], [[Jurek Becker]], [[Wolf Biermann]], [[Bertolt Brecht]], [[Uwe Johnson]], [[Sarah Kirsch (poet)|Sarah Kirsch]], [[Günter Kunert]], [[Reiner Kunze]], [[Heiner Müller]], [[Ulrich Plenzdorf]], [[Anna Seghers]], [[Christa Wolf]] {{further|Heinrich Mann Prize}}
* Postwar literature of Switzerland and Austria: [[Ingeborg Bachmann]], [[Thomas Bernhard]], [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]], [[Max Frisch]], [[Elfriede Jelinek]], [[Peter Handke]]
* [[Postmodern literature]]: [[Christian Kracht]], [[Hans Wollschläger]], [[Christoph Ransmayr]], [[Marlene Streeruwitz]], [[Rainald Goetz]], [[Clemens J. Setz]], [[Oswald Wiener]]
* [[W.G. Sebald]]
* [[Arno Schmidt]]

==21st century==
[[File:Frankfurt book fair 20161021.jpg|thumb|Frankfurt Book Fair 2016]]
Much of contemporary poetry in the German language is published in literary magazines. [[DAS GEDICHT]], for instance, has featured German poetry from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg for the last twenty years.

*Science-Fiction, Fantasy: [[Andreas Eschbach]], [[Frank Schätzing]], [[Wolfgang Hohlbein]], [[Bernhard Hennen]], [[Walter Moers]]
*[[Pop Literature]]: [[Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre]]
*[[Migrant literature]]: [[Wladimir Kaminer]], [[Feridun Zaimoglu]], [[Rafik Schami]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cuadra|first1=P. V.|title=Las traducciones al español de literatura intercultural alemana|journal=Revista de Filología Alemana|date=2010|pages=301–309|url=http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/RFAL/article/download/36606/35439}}</ref>
*Poetry: [[Jürgen Becker (poet)|Jürgen Becker]], [[Kerstin Becker]], [[Marcel Beyer]], [[Theo Breuer]], [[Rolf Dieter Brinkmann]], [[Marc Engelhard]], [[Hans Magnus Enzensberger]], [[Aldona Gustas]], [[Ernst Jandl]], [[Thomas Kling]], [[Uwe Kolbe]], [[Friederike Mayröcker]], [[Durs Grünbein]], [[Kurt Marti]], [[Karl Krolow]], [[Elke Erb]], [[Ulrike Draesner]], [[Ann Cotten]], [[Monika Rinck]], [[Judith Zander]]
*Aphorists: Hans Kruppa
*Thriller: [[Ingrid Noll]], [[Zoë Beck]]
*Novel: [[Wilhelm Genazino]], [[Günter Grass]], [[Herta Müller]], [[Siegfried Lenz]], [[Charlotte Link]], [[Rainald Goetz]], [[Anna Kaleri]], [[Norbert Scheuer]], [[Dietmar Dath]], [[Christian Kracht]], [[Kathrin Schmidt]], [[Burkhard Spinnen]], [[Robert Menasse]], [[Martin Walser]], [[Andreas Mand]],<ref>[http://german.wustl.edu/files/german/2007BIBLIO023.pdf Twenty-Third Annual Bibliography], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415172903/http://german.wustl.edu/files/german/2007BIBLIO023.pdf |date=15 April 2012 }} Max Kade Center for Contemporary German Literature at the [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]], in St. Louis, [[Missouri]], Retrieved 13 December 2011</ref> [[Zsuzsa Bánk]], [[Marc Degens]], [[Jenny Erpenbeck]], [[Klaus Modick]], [[Peter Handke]], [[Elfriede Jelinek]], [[Daniel Kehlmann]], [[Franzobel]], [[Clemens J. Setz]], [[Julya Rabinowich]], [[Olga Flor]]
* Literaturport (in German): audio clips of contemporary literature, many read out by the authors themselves
* German-American literature: [[Paul-Henri Campbell]], [[Walter Abish]]

==Children's literature==
[[File:Grimm.jpg|thumb|[[Wilhelm Grimm]] (left) and [[Jacob Grimm]] (right), portrayed by [[Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann]] (1855)]]

The [[Brothers Grimm]] ({{langx|de|die Brüder Grimm}} or {{lang|de|die Gebrüder Grimm}}), [[Jacob Grimm|Jacob]] (1785–1863) and [[Wilhelm Grimm|Wilhelm]] (1786–1859), were [[Germans|German]] academics who together collected and published [[folklore]]. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of [[Oral tradition|folktale]]s, popularizing stories such as "[[Cinderella]]" ("{{lang|de|Aschenputtel}}{{-"}}), "[[The Frog Prince (story)|The Frog Prince]]" ("{{lang|de|Der Froschkönig}}"), "[[Hansel and Gretel]]" ("{{lang|de|Hänsel und Gretel}}{{-"}}), "[[Town Musicians of Bremen]]" ("{{lang|de|Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten}}"), "[[Little Red Riding Hood]]" ("{{lang|de|Rotkäppchen}}"), "[[Rapunzel]]", "[[Rumpelstiltskin]]" ("{{lang|de|Rumpelstilzchen}}"), "[[Sleeping Beauty]]" ("{{lang|de|Dornröschen}}"), and "[[Snow White]]" ("{{lang|de|Schneewittchen}}"). Their first collection of folktales, ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales|Children's and Household Tales]]'' ({{lang|de|Kinder- und Hausmärchen}}), was first  published in 1812.

The rise of [[Romanticism]] in [[History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914)|19th-century Europe]] revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the Brothers Grimm represented a pure form of national literature and culture. With the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folktales, they established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for [[folkloristics|folklore studies]]. Between 1812 and 1857 their first collection was revised and republished many times, growing from 86 stories to more than 200. In addition to writing and modifying folktales, the brothers wrote collections of well-respected [[Germanic mythology|Germanic]] and [[Norse mythology|Scandinavian]] [[Mythology|mythologies]], and in 1838 they began writing a definitive German dictionary ({{lang|de|[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]]}}), which they were unable to finish.

The popularity of the Grimms' collected folktales has endured. They are available in more than 100 translations and have been adapted by renowned filmmakers, including [[Lotte Reiniger]] and [[Walt Disney]], in films such as ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''.

==German women's literature==
<gallery>
File:Roswitha of Gandersheim.jpg|[[Hrotsvitha]]
File:Hildegard von Bingen.jpg|[[Hildegard of Bingen]]
File:Ausstellung 'Der Zeit voraus - Drei Frauen auf eigenen Wegen' - Stadtmuseum Rapperswil - Marianne Ehrmann-Brentano 'Kleine Fragmente für Denkerinnen', Isny 1789, Porträt M.E. 2015-09-05 16-19-24 -crop-.JPG|[[Marianne Ehrmann]]
File:Caroline von Wolzogen.jpg|[[Caroline von Wolzogen]]
File:Droste-Hülshoff 2.jpg|[[Annette von Droste-Hülshoff]]
File:G-63-11113 Postkarte-Portraetfotografie-E-Hennings-ONLINE.jpg|[[Emmy Hennings]]
File:Nelly Sachs 1966.jpg|[[Nelly Sachs]]
File:Anne Frank passport photo, May 1942 (cropped).jpg|[[Anne Frank]]
File:Lesung "Atemschaukel", Potsdam, Juli 2010.jpg|[[Herta Müller]]
File:Cornelia Funke, Frankfurter Buchmesse 2023.jpg|[[Cornelia Funke]]
</gallery>

==Nobel Prize laureates==
{{further|Nobel Prize in Literature}}

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German-language authors fourteen times (as of 2020), tying with French-language authors, or the second most often after English-language authors (with 32).

The following writers are from Germany unless stated otherwise:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:right; margin-right:50px;"
|-
! align=center |[[Thomas Mann]]<br /><small>(1875–1955)</small>
! align=center |[[Hermann Hesse]]<br /><small>(1877–1962)</small>
|-
| align=left | [[File:Thomas Mann 1929.jpg|106px]] || align=left | [[File:Hermann Hesse 1927 Photo Gret Widmann.jpg|110px]]
|}
*1902 [[Theodor Mommsen]]
*1908 [[Rudolf Christoph Eucken]]
*1910 [[Paul Heyse]]
*1912 [[Gerhart Hauptmann]]
*1919 [[Carl Spitteler]] (Swiss)
*1929 [[Thomas Mann]]
*1946 [[Hermann Hesse]]
*1966 [[Nelly Sachs]]
*1972 [[Heinrich Böll]]
*1981 [[Elias Canetti]] (Bulgarian, later British)
*1999 [[Günter Grass]]
*2004 [[Elfriede Jelinek]] (Austrian)
*2009 [[Herta Müller]] (Romanian by birth, later naturalized in West Germany)
*2019 [[Peter Handke]] (Austrian)

==See also==
{{Portal|Poetry|Germany|European Union}}
* [[Goethe-Institut]]
* [[German-speaking Europe]]
* [[Swiss literature]]
* [[Austrian literature]]
* [[Stiftung Lesen]]
* [[History of German]]
* [[List of German-language authors]] 
* [[List of German-language playwrights]]
* [[List of German-language poets]]
* [[List of German-language philosophers]]
* [[History of literature]]
* [[Sophie (digital lib)]]
* [[Luso-Germanic Literature]]
* [[Kindler literature encyclopedia|Kindlers literature encyclopedia]]
* [[Media of Germany]]
** [[Books in Germany]]
* [[Geographical distribution of German speakers]]

==References==
{{Culture of Germany}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Literature==
===English===
*''Cambridge History of German Literature''. Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen, ed. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
*Konzett, Matthias Piccolruaz. ''Encyclopedia of German Literature''. Routledge, 2000.
*''The Oxford Companion to German Literature'', ed. by Mary Garland and Henry Garland, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1997
* Grange, William, ed. ''Historical dictionary of German literature to 1945'' (2011) [https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000gran online]
* [[Malcolm Pasley|Pasley, Malcolm]], ed. ''Germany: A Companion to German Studies''. Methuen & Co., 1972 (2nd ed. 1982)
* {{cite book|last=Van Cleve|first=John W.|title=The Merchant in German Literature of the Enlightenment|publisher=Chapel Hill|year=1986}}
* {{cite book|last=Van Cleve|first=John W.|title=The Problem of Wealth in the Literature of Luther's Germany|publisher=Camden House|year=1991}}
* Ed.: Alexandra Merley Hill, Hester Baer. German Women's Writing in the Twenty-first Century. United Kingdom, Camden House, 2015.

===German===
*Bernd Lutz, Benedikt Jeßing (eds.): Metzler Lexikon Autoren: Deutschsprachige Dichter und Schriftsteller vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Stuttgart und Weimar: 4., aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage 2010
*[[Theo Breuer]], Aus dem Hinterland. Lyrik nach 2000, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2005, {{ISBN|3-87512-186-4}}
* Theo Breuer, Kiesel & Kastanie (ed.): Von neuen Gedichten und Geschichten, Sistig/Eifel : Edition YE, 2008, {{ISBN|3-87512-347-6}}
*[[Jürgen Brocan]], [[Jan Kuhlbrodt]] (eds.), Umkreisungen. 25 Auskünfte zum Gedicht, Leipzig: Poetenladen Literaturverlag, 2010
*[[Manfred Enzensperger]] (ed.), Die Hölderlin-Ameisen: Vom Finden und Erfinden der Poesie, Cologne: Dumont, 2005
*[[Peter von Matt]], Die verdächtige Pracht. Über Dichter und Gedichte, Munich [etc.] : Hanser, 1998
*[[Joachim Sartorius]] (ed.), Mimima Poetica. Für eine Poetik des zeitgenössischen Gedichts, Cologne : Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1999

===Anthologies===
*German poetry from 1750 to 1900, ed. by Robert M. Browning. Foreword by [[Michael Hamburger]],  New York : Continuum, 1984, 281 pp. (German Library), {{ISBN|0-8264-0283-6}}
*Twentieth-Century German Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Michael Hofmann, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008 (Paperback Edition), 544 pp., {{ISBN|0-374-53093-9}}
*[[Heinz Ludwig Arnold]] (ed.), TEXT+KRITIK: Lyrik des 20. Jahrhunderts (1999).
*Verena Auffermann, [[Hubert Winkels]] (ed.), Beste Deutsche Erzähler (2000–)
*[[Hans Bender]] (ed.), In diesem Lande leben wir. Deutsche Gedichte der Gegenwart (1978)
*Hans Bender, Was sind das für Zeiten. Deutschsprachige Gedichte der achtziger Jahre (1988)
*[[Christoph Buchwald]], [[Uljana Wolf]] (ed.), Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2009 (2009)
*[[Karl Otto Conrady]] (ed.), Der Große Conrady. Das Buch deutscher Gedichte. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (2008).
*[[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]] (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler I (1912, 1979)
*[[Marie Luise Kaschnitz]] (ed.), Deutsche Erzähler II (1971, 1979)
*Boris Kerenski & Sergiu Stefanescu, Kaltland Beat. Neue deutsche Szene (1999)
*[[Axel Kutsch]] (ed.), Versnetze. Deutschsprachige Lyrik der Gegenwart (2009)
* [[Andreas Neumeister]], Marcel Hartges (ed.), Poetry! Slam! Texte der Pop-Fraktion (1996)

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= German Literature | volume= 11 |last1= Robertson |first1= John George |author1-link= John George Robertson | pages = 783&ndash;800 |short=1}}
* [http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sophie/ Sophie] – A digital library of works by German-speaking women
* {{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Germany, Language and Literature of |short=x}}

{{Literature of Europe}}
{{German literature}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:German Literature}}
[[Category:German literature| ]]
[[Category:German-language literature| ]]