New, specially commissioned essays providing an in-depth scholarly introduction to the great thinker of the European Enlightenment.Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) is one of the great names of the classical age of German literature. One of the last universalists, he wrote on aesthetics, literary history and theory, historiography, anthropology, psychology,education, and theology; translated and adapted poetry from ancient Greek, English, Italian, even from Persian and Arabic; collected folk songs from around the world; and pioneered a better understanding of non-European cultures.A student of Kant's, he became Goethe's mentor in Strasbourg, and was a mastermind of the Sturm und Drang and a luminary of classical Weimar. But the wide range of Herder's interests and writings, along with his unorthodox ways of seeing things, seems to have prevented him being fully appreciated for any of them. His image has also been clouded by association with political ideologies, the proponents of which ignored the message of Humanität in histexts. So although Herder is acknowledged by scholars to be one of the great thinkers of European Enlightenment, there is no up-to-date, comprehensive introduction to his works in English, a lacuna this book fills with seventeennew, specially commissioned essays. Contributors: Hans Adler, Wulf Koepke, Steven Martinson, Marion Heinz and Heinrich Clairmont, John Zammito, Jürgen Trabant, Stefan Greif, Ulrich Gaier, Karl Menges, Christoph Bultmann, Martin Keßler, Arnd Bohm, Gerhard Sauder, Robert E. Norton, Harro Müller-Michaels, Günter Arnold, Kurt Kloocke, and Ernest A. Menze. Hans Adler is Halls-Bascom Professor of Modern Literature Studies at the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison. Wulf Koepke is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of German, Texas A&M University and recipient of the Medal of the International J. G. Herder Society.

Introduction - and Wulf KoepkeHerder's Life and Works - Steven D. MartinsonHerder's Epistemology - Heinrich Clairmont and Marion HeinzHerder and Historical Metanarrative: What's Philosophical about History? - John H. ZammitoHerder's Concept of Humanität - Herder and Language - Juergen TrabantHerder's Aesthetics and :Poetics - Stefan GreifMyth, Mythology, New Mythology - Ulrich GaierParticular Universals: Herder on National Literature, Popular Literature, and World Literature - Karl MengesThe Germans and Their Future Literature - Wulf KoepkeHerder's Biblical Studies and Theology I - Christoph BultmannHerder's Biblical Studies and Theology II - Martin KesslerHerder and Politics - Arnd BohmHerder's Poetic Works and Translations - Gerhard SauderHerder's Style - Herder as Critical Contemporary - Robert E. NortonHerder in Office - Harro Mueller-MichaelsThe Reception and Influence of Herder's Works - Guenter Arnold and Kurt Kloocke and Ernest A. Menze