Originally published in 1959, Dr Blackall's book cuts across the usual distinction between 'literature' and 'linguistics' in the study of modern languages. The importance of Dr Blackall's remarkable study is that one is shown both sides in this interplay in convincing detail. The study will be of interest to any student of German literature or history. It sheds light on the eighteenth century and the general movement from seventeenth-century language to ease, pliability and grace, and then to the tremendous literary achievement of the age of Goethe. Dr Blackall starts with the provincialism and confusion of German in the early eighteenth century. He examines in detail the arguments of critics, philosophers and poets who attempted to establish new standards. He discusses the principal works of literature from this special point of view. He ends with the young Goethe, the required genius who confirmed and magnificently exceeded the careful advances of his predecessors.
