Originally published in 1977, this volume gives a co-hesive overview of Franco-German literary relationships between 1770 and 1895. It discerns the dynamics and outlines the structure of the interrelationship. The two literatures develop in a broadly similar direction in the nineteenth century, but there is a puzzling time-lag which forms the focal point of enquiry. It looks back to the combination of literary, political and social factors that may explain how the time-lag came into being. The book serves both as an introduction and as a starting point for further detailed analysis of specific areas and offers a new approach to the comparative study of literature.

Lilian R. Furst was Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas, Dallas

1. An Introduction: Naturalism and Its Decline 2. Jung-Wien 3. Aestheticism, Decadence and Neo-Romanticism in Germany 4. The Cosmic Dimension 5. Modernism and 'Sprachkrise' 6. The Problem of Expressionism 7. The 1920s and 1930s 8. Barbarism, Exile and Return