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"Lessing International: Lessing
Reception Abroad"
International Symposium, Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, USA (October 28-31, 1999)
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81) is one of the most significantly critical and
innovative thinkers of the 18th century. His enduring impact on the intellectual life of
Germany since the Age of Enlightenment has been widely noted in such areas as literary
criticism, performance theory, art theory, biblical exegesis, women's rights, and the
history of religion. Lessing's fame as an advocate of religious tolerance is legendary.
The international symposium, Lessing International: Lessing Reception Abroad, will be
hosted by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages at Vanderbilt University. It
seeks to focus attention on an important aspect of the history of Lessing studies which
has been accorded only sporadic and limited attention in the past. By shifting the focus
to the international plane, contexts and connections come into view which provide new
perspectives and shed new light on the interdisciplinary nature of reception studies in
general and of G.E. Lessing in particular.
At the center of the deliberations stands the reconstruction of the
various contexts of Lessing's works and their modes of reception outside the territorial
boundaries of Germany itself. Thus, it is not so much the author's work and intention
which will figure prominently, as the history of mentality at the various moments of
reception. These heterogeneous moments are critical to the "remaking" and
reconfiguring of enduring themes according to one's own historical situation. Thirty-four
scholars from around the world will examine such specific topics as: 1) Lessing and the
Press, 2) Lessing in Libraries, 3) Lessing in the Schools and Colleges, 4) Lessing in the
Publishing World, 5) Lessing in the American Academy, 6) Lessing at Conferences, 7)
Lessing Among the Jews, 8) Lessing and Women, 9) Lessing in Contemporary Theory, and 10)
Lessing in the Age of Mass Communication. The international focus includes among others
Armenia, Canada, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA.
For further information, please contact: Prof. John A. McCarthy,
President, Lessing Society, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, Vanderbilt
University, Box 24B, Nashville, TN 37235. E-mail: john.a.mccarthy@vanderbilt.edu . Fax:
(615)343-7258; Tel. (615) 322-2611.
To purchase a volume of the Lessing Yearbook, vol. 32 (ISBN
0-8143-2985-3/ISSN 0075-8833) which contains several of the papers mentioned
below, please visit the Lessing
Society web site.
Program
Lessing International: Lessing-Reception Abroad
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 28-31 October 1999
Sponsored by:
Office of the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
Office of the Provost, Vanderbilt University
Office of the Dean of the College of Arts & Science, Vanderbilt University
Graduate School, Vanderbilt University
Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages, Vanderbilt University
German Academic Exchange Service, New York
Max Kade Foundation, New York
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Washington DC,
Goethe Institute, Atlanta GA
Lessing Museum Kamenz
Fritz Thyssen Stiftung
Thursday, Oct. 28 (Room 223, Social Religious Bldg, Peabody College)
12:00-15:00 Arrival in Nashville, Check-in at the Vanderbilt Hampton Inn
1919 West End Avenue, Nashville TN 37203, Tel. 615-329-114
16:00-16:30 Greeting and Opening Remarks Greeting and Opening Remarks
Thomas Burish, Provost, Vanderbilt University
Ettore Infante, Dean, College of Arts and Science
16:30-16:45 John A. McCarthy (Nashville)
Matthias Hanke (Lessing Museum, Kamenz)
16:45-18:30 Lessing Reception – Reception Theory (Moderator: Richard E. Schade, Cincinnati)
Wilfried Barner (Göttingen), "Wirkung und Wechselwirkung. Lessing in der
Weltliteratur"
Walter Schmitz (Dresden), "Grundsatzüberlegungen zur Rezeptionstheorie"
19:00-20:30 Opening Reception (Foyer, Kirkland Hall, Arts & Science
Campus)
Hosted by Joe B. Wyatt, Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
 Friday, Oct. 29 (Art Gallery, The University Club of Nashville)
8:15-10:30 Lessing Reception in Central & Eastern Europe (Moderator: Laurie Johnson, Nashville)
Franz M. Eybl (Wien), "Österreichs Lessingrezeption – Lessings
Österreichsrezeption im 18. Jahrhundert"
Matthias Hanke (Kamenz) "Die Wirkung Lessings in Böhmen und Mähren"
Wojciech Kunicki (Wrocklaw), "Lessing und die polnische Literaturöffentlichkeit im
19. und 20. Jahrhundert"
Alfred A. Kipa (Allentown PA), "Lessing in Ukraine"
10:30-10:45 Coffee Break
10:45-12:30 Lessing in Northern Europe (Moderator:
Herbert Rowland, West Lafayette IN)
Klaus Bohnen (Aarhus), "Lessings Politik-Rezeption: ein deutsch-dänischer
Problemfall"
Carl Niekerk (Champaign-Urbana), "Lessing Reception in the Netherlands"
Ann Schmiesing (Boulder), "The Reception of LessingÂ’s Drama in Norway"
12:30-13:45 Lunch (University Club Dining Room)
13:45-16:15 Lessing in England, France and Italy (Moderator: Kartharina Gerstenberg)
Carsten Zelle (Siegen), "Der ‘Lessing’ eines englischen Opiumessers: das
deutsche 18. Jahrhundert bei Thomas de Quincey"
Wolfgang Albrecht (Weimar), "Französische Lessing-Rezeption in der 2. Hälfte des
19. Jahrhunderts"
Ann Lagny (Lille), "Der Fall Lessing: Die schwierige Rezeption eines deutschen
Klassikers in Frankreich im 20. Jahrhundert"
Alessandro Costazza (Trento), "Lessing-Rezeption in Italien: die
Laokoon-Debatte"
16:15-16:30 Coffee Break
16:30-18:15 Lessing Globally (Moderator: John A.
McCarthy)
Adrian Hsia (Montréal), "Die Lessing-Rezeption in China"
Donara Karapetjan (Yerewan), "Ãœber die Lessing-Rezeption in Armenien und die
Aktualität Lessings in der Gegenwart"
Teruaki Takahashi (Tokyo), "Lessing-Rezeption in Japan"
David John (Waterloo), "Lessing and Islam: 'Nathan in Africa'"
Free Evening: Nashville Nightlife
Saturday, October 30 (Art Gallery, The University Club of Nashville)
8:30-10:15 Lessing and North America (Moderator:
Monika Nenon, Memphis)
Arnd Bohm (Ottowa), "Just Sizzle? Lessing in Canadian Academic Discourse"
Herbert Rowland (West Lafayette IN), "Lessing in American Magazines of the 19th
Century"
Joachim Dyck (Oldenburg), "Lessing in ausgewählten German Departments"
10:15-10:30 Coffee Break
10:30-12:15 LessingÂ’s Jewish Reception (Moderator:
Arno Schilson, Mainz)
Willi Goetschel (New York), "Lessing, Mendelssohn, Nathan:
German Jewish Myth Building as an Act of Emancipation"
Barbara Fischer (Tuscaloosa AL), "Spatial and Temporal
Responses to NathanÂ’s Wisdom: On the Jewish Reception of G.E. LessingÂ’s Nathan
der Weise during the Early 20th Century"
Gad Kaynar (Tel Aviv), "Lessing and Non-Lessing on the Israeli Stage: Some
Theological, Political, and Theatrical Aspects"
12:15-13:30 Lunch (University Club)
13:45-16:00 Lessing in Critical Discourses (Moderator:Arno
Schilson)
Inge Stephan (Berlin), "Die Rezeption von Lessings Frauen"
Sara Paulson Eigen (Cambridge MA), "Lessing, Arendt, and the ‘Truths’ of
History"
Beate Allert (West Lafayette IN), "Lessing im Kontext kunsttheoretischer
Debatten"
Wolfgang Bender (Münster), "Lessing in der Theaterpublizistik zwischen 1755
-1800"
16:00-16:15 Coffee Break
16:15-18:15 Determinants of Reception (Moderator:
Richard E. Schade)
Terry Foreman (Murray KY), "LessingÂ’s Quest for Religious Truth 200 Years On:
MichalsonÂ’s Confusion and Other Anglophone Deconstructions"
Dieter Fratzke (Kamenz), "Lessing in fremden Sprach- und Kulturwelten: Ãœbersetzungen
als museale Zeugnisse der Rezeption und Wirkung im Ausland"
Thedel von Wallmoden (Göttingen), "Lessing und seine Verleger"
19:00 Reception and Dinner at McCarthys
(Busses pick up in front of Hotel and return to hotel ca. 22:30)
Â
Sunday, October 31 (Room 223, Social Religious Building, Peabody
Campus)
8:45-10:00 Lessing Reception via Modern Technology (Moderator:
Dieter O. Sevin)
Franz Birgel (Allentown, PA), "Minna von Barnhelm in the Service of the Third
Reich"
Georg Braungart (Regensburg) und Deanna Kendall (Nashville), "Die (bewußte oder
unbewußte) Rezeption der Laokoon-Ästhetik im Kontext der neuen Medien"
10:00-10:20 Break
10:20-11:45 Roundtable Discussion & Action Agenda (Moderators:
McCarthy, Schilson, Stephan)
(Each speaker is asked to make a brief, five-minute personal statement
based on an initial critical reaction to the symposium papers and to make one suggestion
for possible future research directions.)
Albrecht
               Â
Nenon
Allert      Â
             Niekerk
Barner
                 Â
Schmiesing
DyckÂ
                  Â
Zelle
Fratzke
               Â
John
11:45-12:00 Closing Remarks
Hans-Ulrich Seidt (German Embassy, Washington DC)
John A. McCarthy
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