The psychological novel Anton Reiser (17851790) is Karl Philipp Moritz' best-known major work and a key text for German Enlightenment. The present volume is the first complete critical edition. A detailed commentary analyzes the innovative structure of the work as a hybrid blend of fiction and autobiographical fact. It discusses both the underlying literary patterns and the descriptive processes involved in Moritz' Erfahrungsseelenkunde (experiential psychology), as well as the personal and historical background of the narrative. This casts new light on Anton Reiser as an autobiographical construct.

Autorentext

Christof Wingertszahn, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin.

Klappentext

The Critical Edition of Moritz's Works (KMA) reveals for the first time the complete works of a key figure from the history of German literature and ideas who resided at the intersection between Enlightenment, Classicism, and Romanticism. Apart from producing a reliable edition of the texts, a main objective of this work is to provide a meticulous historical commentary.

The edition, which contains 13 volumes (Vols. 4, 5, and 7 each comprise two parts), presents the complete works and letters of Karl Philipp Moritz (1756-1793), together with documents from his activity as member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

The division of the volumes reflects the multiplicity of genres and subject areas treated by Moritz - poetry, travelogues, journalism, aesthetics, ancient studies, mythology, the theory of language, education, psychology, moral philosophy, freemasonry, as well as the editing and translation of works from foreign languages. It was a particular concern of the editors to document both Moritz's interdisciplinary achievements in linking these manifold interests and his involvement in the intellectual environment of late-Enlightenment Berlin.