August Gottlieb Meissner (3 November 1753 – 18 February 1807) was a German writer of the Enlightenment and is considered the founder of the German detective story.

Life

Meissner was born in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...

. His father (died 1761) was a government quartermaster. From 1764 to 1772 he attended the school in Löbau and graduated in law at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

on 18 September 1772. In 1774 he moved to the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where he finished his studies in 1776. During his studies he developed a passion for the theater and poetry. At the urging of his mother he went to Dresden, where he joined the Federation of Free Masons. After a journey through Austria in 1785 he was offered the position of professor of aesthetics and classical literature at the University of Prague. In 1805 he went to Fulda to take up the position of director of the school, which he retained until his death. He died in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

, aged 53. Meissner's 1783 marriage to Johanna Becker produced several children. His daughter Bianca married, as her second husband, the German art historian and art patron

Johann Gottlob von Quandt Johann Gottlob von Quandt (9 April 1787 – 19 June 1859) was a German artist, art scholar, and collector. Biography Von Quandt was born in Leipzig. He had met and corresponded with Goethe. Some of his own works are exhibited in the Tower of ...

. The poet

Alfred Meissner Alfred Meissner (15 October 1821, Teplitz – 29 May 1885, Bregenz) was an Austrian poet. Biography He is a grandson of the voluminous miscellaneous author August Gottlieb Meissner (1753-1807). He studied medicine, taking his degree at Prague i ...

was his grandson.

Literary work and importance

Meissner's literary debut was in 1776 with the text of the comic opera ''Das Grab des Mufti oder die zwei Geizigen'' (''The grave of the Mufti, or the two misers''), which premiered in Leipzig on 17 January 1779. Meissner's significance for German literature is his role in developing the new genre of the detective story. There had been representations of crime in the form of sensational journalism and collections of legal cases, which were sometimes very popular, but Meissner's separation of legal and moral accountability of a crime made his tales of true crime the best-sellers of his time. Meissner shifted the focus of his stories from the criminal offense and its punishment to the psychological and social sources of the crime. The reader is acquainted with the offender before the criminal act occurs, they get to know the circumstances and motives of the crime and join the criminal in court. Meissner's narrative tradition was continued by

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

, in his ''Crimes of Lost Honor'', and in the works of

Kleist Kleist, or von Kleist, is a surname. von Kleist: *August von Kleist (1818–1890), Prussian Major General *Conrad von Kleist (1839-1900), German politician (German Conservative Party), member of Reichstag *Ewald Georg von Kleist (ca. 1700–1748), ...

. The detective story flowered in Germany in the 19th century. The genre is also known as Meissner's contribution to the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, as his works caused a "humanization" of the law by incorporating social and psychological origins of crime. By 1800, psychological reports were accepted as relevant and were also cited in legal judgments. Meissner wrote many fables. One of the best known is ''Sonne und Wind'' (The Sun and the Wind) which is often mistakenly attributed to

Johann Gottfried von Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. Biography Born in Mohrung ...

. He also undertook translations from English, such as ''Der Unsichtbare Kundschafter'', a translation of

Eliza Haywood Eliza Haywood (c. 1693 – 25 February 1756), born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. An increase in interest and recognition of Haywood's literary works began in the 1980s. Described as "prolific even by the standar ...

's ''The Invisible Spy''.

Detective stories

Meissner published more than 50 detective stories, which were very successful. The titles of some of these stories are: *"Mord aus Schwärmerey" *"Unkeusche, Mörderin, Mordbrennerin, und doch blos ein unglückliches Mädchen" *"Blutschänder, Feuerleger und Mörder zugleich, den Gesetzen nach, und doch ein Jüngling von edler Seele" *"Mörder seiner Verlobten und Räuber! dann eine Zeitlang redlicher Mann; seltsam entdeckt, noch seltsamer sich selbst angebend"

References

* August Gottlieb Meißner: ''Ausgewählte Kriminalgeschichten.'' Mit einem Nachwort hg. v. Alexander Košenina, Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert, 2004 * Karl Heinrich Jördens: ''Lexikon deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten.'' Weidmannische Buchhandlung, Leipzig, 1808, Bd. 3, S. 473
Online
* Arnošt Kraus: ''August Gottlieb Meissner.'' In: Athenaeum. Listy pro literaturu a kritiku vědeckou. V, 5 (15. Februar 888), 125–135, 153–163 * Rudolf Fürst: August Gottlieb Meissner: ''Eine Darstellung seines Lebens und seiner Schriften, mit Quellenuntersuchungen.'' Verlag B. Behr, Berlin, 1894 u. 1900

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meissner, August Gottlieb 1753 births 1807 deaths 19th-century German people German crime fiction writers German male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German male writers