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German literature
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German literature

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Category: Arts & Culture
Key People:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Schiller
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Rainer Maria Rilke
Related Topics:
Büchner Prize
Poetic Realism
Old Saxon literature
Old High German literature
Middle High German literature
See all related content →

German literature, German literature comprises the written works of the German-speaking peoples of central Europe. It has shared the fate of German politics and history: fragmentation and discontinuity. Germany did not become a modern nation-state until 1871, and the prior history of the various German states is marked by warfare, religious turmoil, and periods of economic decline. This fragmented development sets German literature apart from the national literatures of France and England, for instance, which enjoyed uninterrupted brilliance from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Nevertheless, German literature has experienced three periods of established greatness: the high Middle Ages ...(100 of 17485 words)

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