biography
| name: |
Gerstenberg, Heinrich Wilhelm von
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pseudonym Ohle Madsen
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pronunciation:
[gairstenbairk]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1737–1823)
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| biography:
| Playwright and poet, born in Tondern, Silesia. After military posts in the service of Denmark, he became Danish consul in Lübeck (1775–83). Early anacreontic poems such as Tändeleyen (1756) were followed by the tragic drama Ugolino (1768), which marked the start of the Shakespeare-influenced movement "Sturm und Drang', a cult of turbulent emotion and genius. Other works in this genre include Kriegslieder eines königlich dänischen Grenadiers (1762) and Gedicht eines Skalden (1766, encouraging a neo-bardic trend). In his literary theory he championed originality and the forceful, non-cerebral ‘Kraftmensch’ against French classicism, as seen in the ardently pro-Shakespeare Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur (1766–7). |
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