Erik PETERSEN: Latin, Literature and Literary History around 1700 (Advance abstract)

Born in Leipzig and living in Hamburg during his entire adult life, Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736) became a key figure in the intellectual Europe of the Early Enlightenment. As a pioneer in the field of classical literary history, he established a new foundation for the study of Greek and Latin literature in antiquity and the Middle Ages in his Bibliotheca Latina, Bibliotheca Graeca, and Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ & Infimæ Ætatis.

Fabricius used Latin as his scholarly language, but also had a keen interest in his native language German. He was the co-founder of the Teutsch-übende Gesellschaft in Hamburg, and later contributed to the widely read weekly Der Patriot; he translated English texts into German, and composed poems in German as well as in Latin.

In this paper I will briefly analyse Fabricius' contributions to the literary culture of his age, with special attention to his uses of Latin and German, to the common European and particular German background of his literary activities, and to his role in the Republic of Letters.

[Leitseite/Homepage Germania latina] / [Leitseite/Homepage GGREN]

Verantwortlich/Responsible: Dr. Heinrich C. Kuhn & Prof. Dr. Eckhard Keßer
Dokument erstellt / Document created: 2000-11-06
Letzte Aktualisierung / Last update: 2000-11-06