Julian Schmidt

* 07.03.1818 in Marienwerder; ✝ 27.03.1886 in Berlin

Scholar, Journalist

Biography

Schmidt studied history and philology in Königsberg, and after having gained his degree in 1840 became a schoolteacher in the same town. A year later, however, he moved to the Royal Luisenstädt School in Berlin. In 1847 he moved once again, this time to Leipzig, where he wholly dedicated himself to journalism and his literary-critical works. In 1848 he and Gustav Freytag took over the editorship of the Leipzig newspaper Die Grenzboten, which under their guidance became a vehicle for moderate liberalism and literary realism. In later years Schmidt worked on the Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung, before finally retiring on a pension authorized by Wilhelm I.

Yet, it was his literary-historical works which were to make his name: the Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur im 19. Jahrhundert (1853), in particular, was reprinted many times. Schmidt’s criterion was always that of realism: the artist’s capturing of the universe was more important than self-expression. He was disdainful of Romantic literature and the politically aspirational writing of the ‘Vormärz’ period.

In line with these literary proclivities he honoured Shakespeare as the great poet of realism and Protestantism. He dedicated a chapter of his Geschichte der Romantik (1848) to him – entitled ‘Der Protestantismus in der Poesie’ –  and the ‘Fragmente über Shakespeare’ (1873) goes so far as to present the playwright as ‘the representative of the German protestant spirit’ (p. 74) Schmidt’s influence on Germany literary opinion and the culturally active middle class is still a controversial topic today.

Abhandlungen

• „Der Protestantismus in der Poesie. Shakespeare“. In: ders.: Geschichte der Romantik in dem Zeitalter der Revolution und Restauration. Leipzig, 1848. Pp. 69-133.
• „Fragmente über Shakespeare“. In: ders.: Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unsrer Zeit. 4 Bde. Leipzig, 1870-1874. Band 3. Pp. 1-75.

Literature

Primary Literature

• Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1853.
• Übersicht der englischen Litteratur im 19. Jahrhundert. Sondershausen, 1859.
• Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland von Leibniz bis auf Lessings Tod, 1681-1781. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1861-1863.

Secondary Literature

• Bernd, Clifford A.: 'Politik, Religion und Ästhetik in der deutschsprachigen Welt des 19. Jahrhunderts. Zum literaturkritischen Programm Julian Schmidts'. In: Peter Hesselmann et al. (ed.): 'Das Schöne soll sein': Aisthesis in der deutschen Literatur. Bielefeld, 2001. Pp. 295-306.
• Köster, Alex: Julian Schmidt als literarischer Kritiker. Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung des Realismus im 19. Jahrhundert und zur Geschichte der Kritik. Münster, 1993 (Diss.).
• Lassalle, Ferdinand: Herr Julian Schmidt, der Literaturhistoriker. Berlin, 1862.
• Paulin, Roger: 'Shakespeares allmähliches Bekanntwerden in Deutschland'. Aspekte der Institutionalisierung Shakespeares 1840-1875“. In: Martin Huber et al. (ed.): Bildung und Konfession. Politik, Religion und literarische Identitätsbildung 1850-1918. Tübingen, 1996. Pp. 9-20.
• Peschken, Bernd: Versuch einer germanistischen Ideologiekritik. Goethe, Lessing, Novalis, Tieck, Hölderlin, Heine in Wilhelm Diltheys und Julian Schmdts Vorstellungen. Stuttgart, 1972.
• Susteck, Sebastian: 'Schmidt, Heinrich Julian Aurel'. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie, 23 (2007). Pp. 198-199 [Online Version]. Url: www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd11875968X.html.
• Thormann, Michael: 'Der programmatische Realismus der Grenzboten im Kontext liberaler Politik, Philosophie und Geschichtsschreibung', Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, 18 (1993). Pp. 37-68.

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