WIELAND, v(vIlint, CIIRISTOPII MARTIN (1733-1813). A German author, one of the most important of the classic period of German litera ture, born at Oberholzhtim, near Biberach, in Wiirttemberg. Ile went to Ttibingen (1750) to study law-, but "as more interested in literature ;laid the classics, and 1-Pi 'trued to his family much tfc(ted by the mystical piety of Klopstaack, as he tells us in his Emplindunym nines Christen, but also under the spell of the skeptical French phi losophy of the time. Al Zurich he was welcomed (1752) by Bodiner who called his tion to biblical (aical Ilnames and enlisted his aid in a controversy with the Anacreontic school of (Mein (q.v.). In the course of this oceupat ion Wieland himself was attracted to Greek literature and in poetie contributions to the psychology of modern love broke irretrievably with the Puri tans of Zurich. In 1759 lie went to Bern to ae cept a position as private tutor. Here his natu rally light heart. betrayed him into several love adventures; but in 17(i0 he I/htalta'll an alive in Biberach. In intimate association with the fas cinating Sophie von La Itoche, who played an important part in Goethe's life, Wieland hovered for a time on the brink of thoughtless hedonism, but presently outgrew this, married a homespun bread and butter wife (1765), and settled dawn to the daily round of a model paterfamilias amid a circle of fourteen children. During these years Wieland was writing fiction that made him a favorite with the German nobility and an Ichabod to his former associates. The versified Xudinc (1769) is Greek in its joy of life, the prose Don. Sari() non Rosalra (1764) is a satire on idealism, and the Comic Talcs (KoMische Erzah lln.gen, 1766) pass the border line of frivolity. Then study of Fielding and other English ist aai appears in Agathon (1767) and the versi fied tale 11 usarion ( 1768) ; and the influence of Shakespeare. twenty-two of whose plays he had translated before 1767, is also unmistakable. Wieland now attempted in Der goldene Spiegel a description of an ideal State (1772), after ob taining a professor's chair in the University of Erfurt (1769), whence he was summoned in 1772 to Weimar to become tutor to the young Prince Karl August and his brother. At Weimar Wieland remained honored and respected till death. The added dignity naturally produced greater literary seriousness, llis critical quarter lies, Der Deutsche Merkur (1773-95), _I tiisehcs Museum. (1796-1804), and Ncues Attischcs ilu sc»m (1808-09), spread and confirmed his influ ence, which was now toward a serene optimism, purer taste, and the diffusion of culture. Thus lie
moderated with a discriminating sympathy the excesses of the writers of the period of Storm and Stress (q.v.). The first important work of the Weimar period was Die Abderiten (1774), satirical novel in the interest of political cos mopolitanism. Then Goethe, and soon after ward Herder, came to Weimar and gave new wings to Wieland's genius, leading him back to verse and to the nnworked mine of mediwval Germany, whence lie drew the inspiration of Ge roli del .1e/e/ige and of his best known epic, the romantie Oberon. (1780). His later romances, Peregrinus Proteus (1791) and Aristipp (1800), are of inferior interest, and his most valu able contributions to literary culture in the last thirty years of Ids life were his translations of the Satires and Epistles of Horace (1782-86), the Letters of Cicero (1808-12). the Dialogues of Lucian (1788), and parts of Xenophon, Aristo phanes, and Euripides. Ile took an active part in critical journalism up to 1809, and from 1794 to 1S02 superintended an edition of his Works (45 vols.). His death was that of a calm Epicurean. Of all the Weimar galaxy lie is the most recrea tive, the most delightful, the most genial, though others be more philosophical. more serious, more versatile or profound. Wieland first called Ger man attention generally to Shakespeare and to the Middle Ages: he first made stylistic elegance and refinement natural to German verse and prose.
Wieland's complete Works are edited by Gruber (53 vols., Leipzig, I518-28. and in 40 vols., Ber lin, 1867-75). Of selections the editions are numerous. His Letters are collected in .4 usge wahltr Briefe an. rerschiedcne Preande (Zurich, 1815-16) ; u.secohl Bricfc (Vienna, 1815) Bricfe an Sophie von. La Roche (Berlin, 1S20) ; and Hasseneamp, Nene Briefe Wielands., vornehmlich an Sophie non La Rock (Stuttgart, 1894). The .1bderiten is translated by Christmas as The Republic of Fools (London, 1861) ; the Oberon by Sotheby (3d ed.. London. 1326). There are Lives of Wieland by Gruber (Leipzig, 1827 281. Hallberg (Paris, 18691. Prdhle (Berlin, 1877), Ofterdingen (1877). Consult also: Loe bell, Entiriekelung der deuts.rhen 1'oesie (Bruns wick, 185S): Ranke, Zur Beurtluilung Wielands (Marburg. 1885) ; Hirzel, Wieland nod Martin and Reynla Kiinai (Leipzig, 1891).