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dialectic

(Encyclopedia)dialectic dīəlĕkˈtĭk [key] [Gr.,= art of conversation], in philosophy, term originally applied to the method of philosophizing by means of question and answer employed by certain ancient philosop...

Sternheim, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Sternheim, Carl kärl shtĕrnˈhīm [key], 1878–1943, German dramatist. In his successful comedy Die Hose (1911, tr. A Pair of Drawers, 1927) and in his later works he satirized as corrupt the manne...

Erlenmeyer, Richard A. C. E.

(Encyclopedia)Erlenmeyer, Richard A. C. E. ĕrˈlənmīˌər [key], 1825–1909, German chemist. He studied at Giessen under Justus von Liebig and at Heidelberg under Friedrich Kekulé, both German chemists. Erlenm...

Frederick William III

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William III, 1770–1840, king of Prussia (1797–1840), son and successor of Frederick William II. Well-intentioned but weak and vacillating, he endeavored to maintain neutrality in the Nap...

Sturm und Drang

(Encyclopedia)Sturm und Drang shto͝orm o͝ont dräng [key] or Storm and Stress, movement in German literature that flourished from c.1770 to c.1784. It takes its name from a play by F. M. von Klinger, Wirrwarr; od...

Semper, Gottfried

(Encyclopedia)Semper, Gottfried gôtˈfrēt zĕmˈpər [key], 1803–79, German architect. Semper was among the most influential architects of the 19th cent. In his book Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen...

Dalberg, Emmerich Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Dalberg, Emmerich Joseph (Emeric Joseph, duc de Dalberg) ĕmərēkˈ zhōzĕfˈ dälbârkˈ [key], 1773–1833, French diplomat of German origin; nephew of Karl Theodor von Dalberg. The foreign minist...

Broch, Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Broch, Hermann hĕrˈmän brôkh [key], 1886–1951, Austrian novelist. Broch is one of the masters of European modernism. Influenced by Immanuel Kant and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Kraus, and the Vien...

German literature

(Encyclopedia)German literature, works in the German language by German, Austrian, Austro-Hungarian, and Swiss authors, as well as by writers of German in other countries. The postwar decades saw a gradual litera...

Zuckmayer, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Zuckmayer, Carl kärl tso͝okˈmīər [key], 1896–1977, German dramatist. Zuckmayer devoted himself to writing after the success of his comedy Der fröhliche Weinberg [the merry vineyard] (1925). Du...