CONTENTS List of contributors ... ⅷ Preface ... xi Acknowledgements ... xv 1. The Carolingian period and the early Middle Ages (750-1100) / BRIAN F. MURDOCH ... 1 2. The high and later Middle Ages (1100-1450) / NIGEL F. PALMER ... 40 3. The early modern period (1450-1720) / HELEN WATANABE-O'KELLY ... 92 4. The German Englightenment (1720-1790) / RUTH-ELLEN BOETCHER JOERES ... 147 5. Aesthetic humanism (1790-1830) / NICHOLAS SAUL ... 202 6. Revolution, resignation, realism (1830-1890) / GAIL FINNEY ... 272 7. From Naturalism to the National Socialism (1890-1945) / RITCHIE ROBERTSON ... 327 8. The literature of the German Democratic Republic (1945-1990) / HELEN FEHERVARY ... 393 9. German writing in the West (1945-1990) / MORAY MCGOWAN ... 440 Select bibliography ... 507 Index ... 583