Habent Sua Fata Libelli: A Response to John Brown: Moses Mendelssohn on Evolution and Change in Poetry
In 1932 Fritz Bamberger documented the data that led him to search for "observations" by Moses Mendelssohn on John Brown's Dissertation on the Rise, Union and Power, the Progression and Corruption of Poetry and Music. The present paper examines Mendelssohn's knowledge of John Bro...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1983
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1982, Volume: 53, Pages: 165-177 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In 1932 Fritz Bamberger documented the data that led him to search for "observations" by Moses Mendelssohn on John Brown's Dissertation on the Rise, Union and Power, the Progression and Corruption of Poetry and Music. The present paper examines Mendelssohn's knowledge of John Brown's earlier writings and the likelihood of his interest between 1763 and 1768 in Brown's theories on the evolution of poetry. On the internal evidence of a Mendelssohn fragment which turned up unexpectedly in 1979 it seems likely that Mendelssohn knew Brown's Dissertation (1763) as well as his History of the Rise... of Poetry (1764). A prefatory note to History averred that it omitted all mention of music but that otherwise the two texts were identical. However, Brown's conclusions in History differ substantially from those in Dissertation. In fact, the theses put forward in History would account for Mendelssohn's spirited argumentation against the current worship of imitation as a poetic principle; and it can be shown that Brown's arguments here, rather than in Dissertation, precipitated Mendelssohn's eloquent and pointed defence of good poetry, irrespective of period of composition or celebrity of its author. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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