French Literature Reviews - 2026

Schiller, Writings on the Theatre
Theatre and Performance

Schiller, Writings on the Theatre

Edited by Gilles Daras.

Paris: Les Belles Lettres, coll. "Bibliothèque allemande", 2012.

EAN 9782251830056

300 p.

29.00 EUR

Publisher's overview:

With some ten plays that hold a prominent place in the German theatrical repertoire, Friedrich Schiller embraced and built upon a diverse heritage bequeathed by the classical model, Shakespearean dramaturgy, and Lessing's reflections on theatrical aesthetics and practice. Less known than his dramatic output, his theoretical work—presented here in its entirety—is no less essential for understanding the questions and aesthetic stakes that underpin it. Spanning a wide variety of forms (prefaces, notices to the public, critical reviews, and treatises on aesthetics), these Writings on the Theatre paint the portrait of an author who, from the Mannheim stage to the Weimar theatre, consistently demonstrated an intimate knowledge of theatrical practice in all its dimensions, deeply nourishing his reflections on the methods, potential, and goals of dramatic art. This rich theoretical and practical stage experience was harnessed by Schiller—that clear-eyed, watchful, yet deeply committed Enlightenment figure—in the service of an art he envisioned as a living, dynamic medium for the aesthetic education of humanity, itself the guarantor of anthropological and social harmony. It is to the theatre that Schiller entrusts the task of reconciling man with the world and with himself.

Friedrich Schiller holds a major position in the German literary tradition as a central voice of Weimar Classicism and the Enlightenment. His dramatic oeuvre and theoretical writings emerged during a transformative period for European letters, when playwrights and thinkers sought to synthesize classical models with the innovations of Shakespearean drama and contemporary aesthetic philosophy.

Readers interested in eighteenth-century German literature and the intersection of dramatic practice with aesthetic philosophy may find this volume relevant. The texts gathered in this edition address the methods, potential, and goals of dramatic art across diverse forms such as prefaces, critical reviews, and treatises. Through these writings, the volume reflects how Schiller engaged with the classical model, Shakespearean dramaturgy, and Lessing's reflections, presenting the theatre as a dynamic medium for the aesthetic education of humanity and the pursuit of social harmony.