Johann Heinrich Joseph Düntzer (July 12, 1813 – December 16, 1901) was a German

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and historian of literature.

Biography

He was born at

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. After studying philology and especially ancient classics and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(1830–1835), he took the degree of doctor of philosophy and established himself in 1837 at Bonn as ''

privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

'' for classical philology.Internationales Germanistenlexikon 1800 - 1950, Volume 1
edited by Christoph König He had already, in his ''Goethes Faust in seiner Einheit und Ganzheit'' (1836) and ''Goethe als Dramatiker'' (1837), advocated a new critical method in interpreting the German classics, which he wished to see treated like the ancient classics. He subsequently turned his attention almost exclusively to the poets of the German classical period, notably

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

. Düntzer's method met with much opposition and he consequently failed to obtain the professorship he coveted. From 1846 up to the time of his death in 1901 he maintained the post of

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

at the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

gymnasium in Cologne. In 1849 he was awarded with the title of professor.

Evaluation

Düntzer was a painstaking and accurate critic, but lacking in inspiration and finer literary taste, consequently his work as a biographer and commentator has, to a great extent, been superseded and discredited.

Works

Among his philological writings may be mentioned: *''Die Lehre von der lateinischen Wortbildung'' (1836). *''Die Deklination der indogermanischen Sprachen'' (1839). *''Homer und der epische Kyklos'' (1839). *''Die homerischen Beiwörter des Götter- und Menschengeschlechts'' (1859). Of his works on the German classical poets, especially Goethe, Schiller and

Herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...

, the following are particularly worthy of note: *''Erläuterungen zu den deutschen Klassikern'' (1853–1892). *''Goethes Prometheus und Pandora'' (1850). *''Goethes Faust'' (2 vols., 1850–1851; 2nd edition 1857). *''Goethes Götz und Egmont'' (1854). *''Aus Goethes Freundeskreise'' (1868). *''Abhandlungen zu Goethes Leben und Werken'' (2 vols, 1885). *''Goethes Tagebücher der sechs ersten weimarischen Jahre'' (1889). *''Goethes Leben'' (1880; 2nd edition 1883; Engl. transl. by T Lyster, London, 1884)
"Life of Goethe", Vol.1"Life of Goethe", Vol.2
*''Schillers Leben'' (1881); translated into English and published as
The Life of Schiller
(1883). *''Schiller und Goethe'' (1859). *''Übersicht und Erläuterung zum Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe'' (1859). *''Herders Reise nach Italien'' (1859). *''Aus Herders Nachlass'' (3 vols., 1856–1857). *''Charlotte von Stein'' (1874).

References

HathiTrust Digital Library
(published works) {{DEFAULTSORT:Duntzer, Johann Heinrich Joseph 1813 births 1901 deaths German philologists Goethe scholars 19th-century German librarians Writers from Cologne People from the Rhine Province University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn 19th-century German people