Abstract
Christian Felix Weisse (1726–1804), in addition to many other works, composed ten tragedies between the 1750s and 1770s, which show a remarkable development and can be seen to mirror, perhaps even go beyond, the general development of German tragedy in the period. He begins with alexandrine tragedies in strict Gottschedian style (Eduard der Dritte, Richard der Dritte), though the latter may well show some, albeit negative, Shakespearean influence. After further tragedies in alexandrines, he changes to blank verse (Die Befreiung von Theben, Atreus und Thyest), then to prose for two ‘domestic’ tragedies, Romeo und Julie (in this case explicitly a Shakespearean adaptation) and Die Flucht, concluding his output with another prose tragedy on a subject of considerable topical interest (Der Fanatismus, oder Jean Calas) which has been claimed as a forerunner of twentieth-century ‘documentary drama’. The last two in particular deserve further critical attention.
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