Download or read book Unpopular Virtues written by Alan C. Leidner and published by Camden House. This book was released on 1999 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study of the criticism of the most idiosyncratic voice of the German Sturm und Drang, the authors try to explain why critics have so often failed to come to terms with Lenz's refusal to encourage the middle class and to cater to its tastes. While many of the first reviewers found Lenz's work liberating, after his death the consensus of critics - when they gave him any attention at all - was that his works were second-rate or worse, and Goethe's negative comments were often used to support this verdict. This volume traces Lenz's reception from the earliest reviews through to New Criticism, Lenz's "rediscovery," and the changes in focus after the 1992 Lenz bicentennial.