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Romantic Love And The Enlightenment: From Gallantry And Seduction To Authenticity And Self-Validation, Edgar Landgraf

German Faculty Publications

My comparative analysis of Lessing's Miß Sara Sampson, Sophie von La Roche's Geschichte des Fräulein von Sternheim, and Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther elicits how the concept of love changes during the Enlightenment period. These literary texts mark the end of the art of gallantry and seduction and introduce a new understanding of love which emphasizes authenticity and self-validation. The texts by Lessing and La Roche struggle directly with intrigue and seduction, which threaten not only the innocence of "father's only daughter," but‑‑because communication itself becomes a suspect and inherently unreliable undertaking‑‑also threatens the very foundation of …