Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, Die Zwillinge [The Twins]

Gerhart Hoffmeister (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1776

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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With his play

Die Zwillinge

[

The Twins

, publ. 1776], Friedrich Maximilian Klinger won the Hamburg drama competition of 1775, beat his rival Johann Anton Leisewitz (1752-1806) with his entry

Julius von Tarent

, and gained instant recognition as a formidable author. It was the fourth of six plays that he composed during his two years as a law student at the University of Giessen (1774-76); his sixth drama (original title:

Wirrwarr

[

Chaos

]) was eventually entitled

Sturm und Drang

[

Storm and Stress

, 1777], thus providing the name for the literary movement around young Goethe. As he had to meet the expectations of the theater, Klinger paid more attention to the conventional three dramatic unities in

Die Zwillinge

than in his previous compositions and thus produced a play of a transitional…

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1112 words

Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Die Zwillinge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21638, accessed 10 May 2024.]

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