author
Wolfgang Menzel
1798–1873
A sharp-tongued nineteenth-century German critic and historian, he became one of the most influential literary voices of his time. His writing ranged from poetry and cultural criticism to sweeping works of history and politics.
1 Audiobook
Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4
by Wolfgang Menzel
About the author
Born in Waldenburg in Silesia on June 21, 1798, he studied at Breslau, Jena, and Bonn before settling in Stuttgart. He is generally described as a German poet, critic, and literary historian, and he also took part in public life, serving in the Württemberg Diet during the 1830s.
He was especially known for his forceful literary criticism and for editing an important literary journal that helped shape German cultural debate in the nineteenth century. Alongside criticism, he published poetry, travel writing, political works, and historical studies, building a reputation as a prolific and often controversial man of letters.
He died in Stuttgart on April 23, 1873. Though not as widely read today as some of the writers he judged, he remains a notable figure in German literary history for the reach of his criticism and the sheer range of his work.