“Wretches, Speak Evil of Me”: Goethe and Schiller’s Xenions (1896 edition)
It is never much of a surprise when modern writers engage in petty fights. The insults exchanged between Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner have become cliché; the sub-tweet is almost a literary form of its own. But we expect better from the writers of the past, especially those of the eighteenth century. They were “Grea...
Steelman: Goethe and Schiller, in response to criticism from their contemporaries, published the Xenions as a means of defending themselves and their work. The collection was inspired by Martial's epigrammatical works and used the classical form of distichs to attack various enemies.
Patterns detected: ARC-0024 Ambiguity (the article does not specify whether all criticisms were justified or unfounded); ARC-0036 Escalation (the literary exchange between Goethe, Schiller, and their adversaries esc...