Christoph Martin Wieland

Born Sept. 5, 1733, in Oberholzheim, near Biberach; died Jan. 20, 1813, in Weimar. German writer. A pastor’s son.

Wieland studied at the University of Tubingen. He published didactic religious narrative poems, including The Trial of Abraham (1753). In 1772 he became tutor to the future Duke Charles Augustus in Weimar, where he published the magazine Der Deutsche Merkur (1773-1810). In poking fun at both sentimental daydreaming and moral asceticism, Wieland contributed to the rococo literature of the aristocratic salon. His Agathon (1766; Russian translation, 1783-84) was the first example in Germany of the Enlightenment ’’novel of education.” His satirical novel The Abderites (1774; Russian translation, 1832-40) and his narrative poemMusarion (1768) are set in ancient Greece. Wieland’s best work is his fantastic narrative poem Oberon (1780; Russian translation, 1787). Wieland’s philistine trust in the final victory of“common sense” and his role as court poet made him a target of ridicule by the Sturm und Drang writers, notably Goethe, and later by H. Heine. However, his translations of Lucian and Shakespeare were of progressive significance for the development of German culture.