Laurence Sterne in Germany: A Contribution to the Study of the Literary Relations of

In Short

This book provides a meticulous account of how the English author Laurence Sterne achieved a profound and lasting influence on the intellectual and emotional life of 18th-century Germany. It tracks his slow arrival, his explosive popularity following the publication of A Sentimental Journey, and the subsequent wave of German imitators who adopted his style, his "hobby-horse" characterizations, and his philosophy of sentiment. By examining translations, reviews, and contemporary literature, it explains why Germany embraced the "Yorick" persona with a fervor that eventually surpassed his native England.

The Story

The narrative begins with a curious delay; despite the burgeoning literary ties between England and Germany in the 1760s, Sterne’s works did not immediately penetrate the German consciousness. The author establishes that the initial mentions of the English writer in Hamburg were sparse and tentative. The story of his rise truly commences with the arrival of the first translations, notably those of Tristram Shandy. However, the translator Johann Friedrich Zückert provides only a weak, inaccurate rendering. The real catalyst for the "Sterne cult" in Germany emerges with the translation of A Sentimental Journey. Unlike the fickle English public, which soon began to view Sterne with a critical or weary eye, the German audience found in his work a profound "sanction for emotional expression."

As the influence spreads, the narrative shifts to the literary fallout. A generation of German writers, including figures like Jacobi, Kotzebue, and Wezel, begins to mirror Sterne’s stylistic eccentricities. These writers adopt the "Shandean" method of digression, the focus on minor, trivial details as the drivers of human fate, and the cultivation of a "sentimental" life. The book details how this movement manifested in social rituals, such as the fashion of carrying snuff-boxes inscribed with "Pater Lorenzo" to commemorate the tenderness found in Sterne’s travelogues.

The arc of the story then turns toward the inevitable friction between the imitators and the critics. As the decade of Yorick-mania concludes, a backlash forms. Authors like J. L. Benzler begin to attack the quality of the earlier, beloved translations, pointing out egregious errors and a lack of linguistic rigor in the works of pioneers like Bode. This critical reassessment attempts to strip away the myth of the "flawless" translation to reveal the clumsy machinery underneath. The narrative concludes by evaluating the long-term impact on major figures like Goethe, whose own work shows traces of Sternean influence—not as slavish imitation, but as a subtle shift in how an author might directly address a reader or structure a character's interiority. By the time the study closes, it has painted a picture of a literary movement that transformed from a wild, unchecked craze into a established, albeit debated, component of the German literary canon, eventually settling into the quiet domain of academic study.

How It Unfolds

The delayed arrival The author explains the slow, tentative introduction of Sterne to German readers, noting that the novelist remained an obscure curiosity in Hamburg years after his English fame was established. This section highlights the logistical and cultural barriers that initially kept the German public from the "new prodigy."

The Shandean experiment The focus shifts to the first, flawed attempts to translate Tristram Shandy into German. The author discusses how Zückert and others grappled with the text, reflecting a growing fascination with the analysis of human passions and temperaments.

The sentimental revolution The narrative moves to the publication of A Sentimental Journey, which ignited an emotional fervor across Germany. This portion documents how the work became a moral guide, leading to the "Lorenzodosen" social movement and a widespread desire to live by the dictates of human sympathy.

The imitators’ harvest The author surveys the works of writers who attempted to capture the "Yorick" spirit, from deliberate digressions to the use of "hobby-horse" eccentricities in character development. Each example shows how German novelists adapted, or sometimes misunderstood, the English model to suit their own cultural needs.

The critical reaction The final movement covers the backlash against both the imitators and the translators. It details the emergence of sharp, scholarly critiques that sought to correct the record and challenge the uncritical adoration of the previous decades.

The People

The central figure is Laurence Sterne (or "Yorick"), whose idiosyncratic style and emotional gospel serve as the book's primary subject. He is not a participant in the narrative so much as a catalyst whose elusive, "rocket-like" personality forces German writers to define their own literary identities. Johann Friedrich Zückert appears as a pivotal, if flawed, bridge; his attempt to translate Tristram Shandy represents the first clumsy, medicalized interest in Sterne's "gallery of originals." Christoph Martin Wieland stands out as an ardent admirer, whose public praise and personal imitation of Sterne helped cement the English author's status in Germany. Bode, a prolific translator, emerges as the most influential figure in the cult's success; his "transcriptions" are seen as vital, though later critics like J. L. Benzler would harshly dismantle their accuracy, viewing them as amateurish barriers to a true understanding of the original text. Finally, Goethe looms in the background, representing the mature, sophisticated integration of Sternean influence. Unlike the earlier imitators who wept over butterflies, Goethe interacts with Sterne's legacy with an objective, critical eye, incorporating specific motifs while rejecting the sentimental excesses that consumed his contemporaries.

In Its Own Voice

"The first mention of Sterne's name in Germany may well be the brief word in the Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent for January 19, 1762, in a letter from the regular London correspondent, dated January 8."

This quote marks the modest, inconspicuous beginning of a literary relationship that would eventually define a decade.

"Germany was turning with longing toward the natural man, that is, man unhampered by convention and free to follow the dictates of the primal emotions."

The author identifies the underlying cultural hunger that allowed a foreign writer's peculiar brand of sentimentality to find such fertile soil.

"The creature of fancy which, by a process of elimination, the Germans made out of Yorick is more easily explicable from existing and preceding literary and emotional conditions in Germany."

In this assertion, the author shifts the focus from the English original to the way the German audience actively reconstructed Sterne to suit their own ideals.

What It's Really About

This study is an investigation into the mechanics of cultural reception. It explores how a foreign text is not merely imported, but actively reshaped by the reader's own psychological and social climate. The author argues that Sterne was a "creature of fancy" whom the Germans constructed to satisfy a specific, indigenous need for the "natural man"—someone unburdened by the stiff conventions of the age. Beyond the biography of a writer, the book is a study of the "Shandean" influence on the evolution of the German novel, examining the shift from rigid structure to the free-flowing, digressive, and emotionally transparent styles that characterized the era. It asks why a culture adopts a foreign voice, how it justifies that adoption through imitation, and when it eventually turns to dismantle the very idols it once worshiped.

Why Read It Today

Readers with an interest in the history of ideas or comparative literature will find this book an invaluable, if dense, resource. It captures the specific, localized intensity of the 18th-century "sentimental" movement, showing how a literary fashion can genuinely alter the behavior and social rituals of its followers. The writing is precise, earnest, and deeply researched, reflecting the scholarly standards of its time.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the book's academic rigor. It assumes a strong familiarity with both the English and German literary canons of the period, often referencing obscure journals and forgotten novels without providing extensive plot summaries. The text also includes untranslated German excerpts and technical bibliographical details, which may be challenging for those without a background in the language or the period's specific scholarly disputes. It does not attempt to romanticize the era; rather, it offers a stark, sometimes dry, look at the "dubious successes" and "whimsical" failures of those who tried to capture a genius on the page. It stays with you as a meditation on the strange ways in which cultural boundaries are crossed and the often-baffling transformations that occur when one nation falls in love with the reflection of another's literature.