Private lives in the public sphere

by Todd Curtis Kontje

Private Lives in the Public Sphere examines the Bildungsroman in the context of the rapid changes that affected the German literary institution around 1800. Late eighteenth-century Germany experienced a literary revolution that made up for its belatedness in its rapidity and scope. The nature and quantity of reading material produced, the social status of the writer, and the reading habits of the public changed dramatically within a few decades. At the beginning of the century the new texts that appeared at the annual book fairs were primarily written in Latin and devoted to theology. By the end of the century the number of new publications each year had increased almost exponentially, with the novel leading the way.^ This new institution of literature constituted an important part of what Jurgen Habermas has termed the "public sphere," a forum for public debate in which members of the middle class, although still limited in their direct access to political power, could at least begin