This study presents the set of audience expectations for German comedy that obtained within the growing literary public sphere of the 1740's. Reviews of isolated plays are used to generate a hypothetical "horizon", which is then tested in an examination of three complex debates of "scandalous" comedies. As important was the participation of texts in the reception process, whereby authors could not only react to public criticism but also try to guide it. The goal is a better understanding of what the emerging middle class expected of its literature at this early stage.
"Its mastery of the material, its general lucidity, and its rigor make this book an important contribution to an understanding of the Early Enlightenment. ...,the book illuminates in a new way the dynamics at work in the founding of bourgeois German theater." (The German Quarterly)
"...,ce travail apporte beaucoup à notre connaissance de la comédie allemande au milieu du 18e siècle." (Dix-Huitième Siècle)
"...,ce travail apporte beaucoup à notre connaissance de la comédie allemande au milieu du 18e siècle." (Dix-Huitième Siècle)