Monatshefte

Michael Maurer’s new biography of the 18^th-century German polymath Johann Gottfried Herder is appropriately organized according to the major chapters of his life: Herder’s childhood in Mohrungen, followed by his studies and initial ecclesiastical appointment in Riga (1744–1769); his travels to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and western Germany (1769–1771); the years as court preacher and superintendent of schools and churches in Bückeburg (1771–1776); his final appointment to a similar position in Weimar (1776–1788 and 1789–1803); and his journey to Italy (1788/89). These chapters are likewise helpfully subdivided so that readers who are interested only in particular dimensions of Herder’s life or in specific works can easily locate what they are looking for, but readers less familiar with Herder would also have benefited from a more detailed timeline of his life. Twelve illustrations add much to the book, but they are unfortunately placed together as pages 49–60 and not at the appropriate stages of Herder’s life. The book also contains a useful index of names and bibliographies of both secondary literature and editions of Herder’s collected works. Citations for quotations from sources other than Herder himself—only eleven in number—are given at the end of the book. There are no footnotes, as is appropriate for a biography that does not address first and foremost the seasoned Herder scholar.

Maurer’s excellent introduction to the book mentions nearly all the topics that Herder cognoscenti would expect to find, such as his contributions to the philosophy of history, the nature and origin of language, aesthetics, anthropology, epistemology, theology and religion, hermeneutics, and literary criticism. Yet Maurer stresses that Herder’s œuvre must be seen as a whole and not as disparate contributions to the development of a variety of academic fields (13). The introduction also features the key terms for which Herder has become known: “Kultur,” “Humanität,” and “Kraft.” Happily, Maurer debunks the idea that Herder was a prophet of irrationalism and a narrow-minded nationalism (8).

Maurer confronts head on the issues for which Herder is often criticized. He offers four reasons why interest in Herder began to wane until the late 20^th century and ingeniously turns these points into positive attributes. That Herder did not attract many disciples, intellectually speaking, shows his primary interest in furthering the [End Page 284] progress of humanity rather than his own reputation. That many of the leading lights of the early 19^th century failed to acknowledge their debt to Herder shows how much and how quickly his thought became part of the intellectual substratum of his time. After the mocking of the term in the wake of Nietzsche, Herder’s “Humanität” can again be seen as a worthy goal to pursue after the brutality of the 20^th century. The frequent opacity of Herder’s style—especially in his early years—also reveals Herder as a creative and inspired user of language (10–12).

Maurer’s Herder biography provides the reader with a substantial number of quotations from the author’s works. Since Maurer cites Herder both extensively and judiciously, the reader gains a representative picture of his œuvre that is remarkably complete for a book of such modest length. Likewise, a section in the chapter on the later Weimar years, entitled “Was Herder nicht zu veröffentlichen gewagt hat,” offers insights into Herder’s nuanced stance toward democracy and revolution that are perhaps more detailed than what one might expect to find in a brief biography.

In general, it is not Maurer’s purpose to highlight new perspectives on Herder or to open new vistas for Herder research in the 21^st century, but one exception might be the distinctions he sees in Herder’s understanding of the term “Volk.” On the one hand it meant “der gemeine Mann” for Herder; on the other hand, it also had a connotation of ethnic connection and heritage. In the first case, “Volk” could be understood only in the singular, but in the latter one could speak of “Völker” in the plural (108–109). A second point that perhaps goes beyond the conventional wisdom among Herderians is Maurer’s drawing of connections between Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit and Herder’s multi-volume magnum opus Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, works that at first glance might seem quite different in tone and scope (123). Maurer ends his book with a section that details those things that, in his opinion, contribute to Herder’s greatness.

Johann Gottfried Herder: Leben und Werk invites comparison with two other Herder biographies from this century: Hans Dietrich Irmscher’s Johann Gottfried Herder (2001) and Michael Zaremba’s Johann Gottfried Herder: Prediger der Humanität (2002). The former focuses on Herder’s thought, having less than 20 pages about his life, whereas the latter is much more like a traditional biography. Maurer’s book manages to weave Herder’s life and works together so that the reader can see how the two are interrelated.

Despite the fact that Maurer presents a collage of the various dimensions of Herder’s œuvre, his book has a strong narrative quality that brings an admirable unity to a multifaceted life of extraordinary intellectual productivity. It assumes little previous knowledge of Herder yet addresses its readers in a voice that is at once sophisticated and lucid. I found the book a pleasure to read.

This new biography of Herder is a very welcome addition to the exponentially growing body of work on this truly unique figure in German intellectual history, especially now that both Irmscher’s and Zaremba’s biographies are out of print and available only as e-books. For the experienced Herder scholar who might tend to become immersed only in certain aspects of his works, Maurer provides a valuable reminder of the astonishing breadth of Herder’s contributions to intellectual history and a good resource to recommend to anyone looking for a convenient overview of his life and works. One can only hope that it can be translated into English and made accessible to the many scholars in fields outside German studies who are beginning [End Page 285] to see the relevance of Herder to the history of their own academic disciplines. If it were available in English, it might become the biographical analogue to Hans Adler and Wulf Koepke’s Companion to the Works of Johann Gottfried Herder. Be that as it may, Johann Gottfried Herder: Leben und Werk will likely become the accepted portal for entering the ever-widening field of Herder studies in the coming decades.