Tiecks und Wackenroders Diskurs über das Theater: Dramaturgie und Bestimmung des Geschmacks

The late Eighteenth century lacked clear-cut criteria to define the line between Hoch- and Trivialdramaturgie. In the two centuries that ensued, literary critics attempted to classify the plays in a more definite way, yet sometimes employed questionable criteria. In the development of Wackenroder’s and Tieck’s aesthetic taste, which can be interestingly followed in their correspondence between 1792 and 1793, the two friends show critical positions regarding works staged that highlight both Wackenroder’s debt towards Lessing’s and Mendelssohn’s Gefühlstheorien and also Tieck’s orientation towards the study of Stoic doctrines in Antiquity and the Renaissance, which is linked to his interest in the works of Shakespeare. This study seeks to further Tieck’s investigation into the esthetic and ethical-moral ›sublime‹ and triggers a lively debate with his friend on the values that make the conduct of man exemplary on the scene and, above all, in daily life.