Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Freedom literature
(2,696 words)

1. Definition and background

Poets and writers became increasingly influential as critical thought-leaders during the early modern era, and they called increasingly urgently for individual and collective freedom. Lessing’s “thinking out loud with a friend” presented in Freimaurergesprächen (“Masonic Dialogues,” 1779) [2. 25]), Wieland’s call for “freedom of speech and of the press” (1788; Freedom of the press) in connection with his cosmopolitan world view [3. 198 ff…

Cite this page
Manger, Klaus and Immer, Lena, “Freedom literature”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_019415>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



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