Johann Joachim Eschenburg
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (February 2012) |
Johann Joachim Eschenburg (7 December 1743 – 29 February 1820) was a German critic and literary historian.
He was born and educated at Hamburg, going on to study at the University of Leipzig and University of Göttingen. In 1767 he was appointed tutor, and subsequently professor, at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig (today TU Braunschweig). The title of Hofrat was conferred on him in 1786, and in 1814 he was made one of the directors of the Carolinum.[1]
He is best known for his efforts to popularize English literature in Germany. He published a series of German translations of the principal English writers on aesthetics, such as Charles Burney, Joseph Priestley and Richard Hurd; and also produced the first complete translation in German prose of Shakespeare's plays (William Shakespear's Schauspiele, 13 volumes, Zürich, 1775–1782). This is virtually a revised edition of the incomplete translation published by Christoph Martin Wieland between 1762 and 1766.[1]
Besides editing, with memoirs, the works of Friedrich von Hagedorn, Zachariä and other German poets, he was the author of a Handbuch der klassischen Literatur (1783); Entwurf einer Theorie und Literatur der schönen Wissenschaften (1783); Beispielsammiung zur Theorie und Literatur der schönen Wissenschaften (8 volumes, 1788–1795); Lehrbuch der Wissenschaftskunde (1792); and Denkmäler altdeutscher Dichtkunst (1799). Most of these passed through several editions.[1]
Eschenburg was also a poet, and some of his hymns, e.g. Ich will dich noch im Tod erheben and Dir trau ich, Gott, und wanke nicht, remain well-known.[1]
Eschenburg became a correspondent, living abroad, of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1809. In 1818 he became associated member.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
- ^ "J.J. Eschenburg (1743 - 1820)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eschenburg, Johann Joachim". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 764.
Further reading
[edit]- Cord-Friedrich Berghahn und Till Kinzel (ed.). Johann Joachim Eschenburg und die Künste und Wissenschaften zwischen Aufklärung und Romantik. Netzwerke und Kulturen des Wissens. Heidelberg: Winter, 2013. [with Bibliography]
- Johann Joachim Eschenburg. Von Chaucer zu Pope. Essays und Übersetzungen zur englischen Literatur des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit. Till Kinzel, editor. Hannover: Wehrhahn, 2013.
- Johann Joachim Eschenburg. Über William Hogarth und seine Erklärer. (= Edition Wehrhahn. Band 2). Till Kinzel, editor. Wehrhahn, Hannover 2013, ISBN 978-3-8652-5347-7.
- 1743 births
- 1820 deaths
- German literary critics
- German male dramatists and playwrights
- German male poets
- Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Academic staff of the Technical University of Braunschweig
- Translators of William Shakespeare
- Writers from Hamburg
- 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights
- 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
- 19th-century German male writers
- 18th-century German historians