The Eighteenth-Century Culture of Witz and Its Afterlife

Co-Sponsored by the Goethe Society of North America, the Lessing Society, and the North American Heine Society

German Studies Association Annual Conference

September 24-27, 2026

Phoenix, AZ

In the 18th century, the concept of Witz was so central to poetic and aesthetic discourse in the German language that Lessing could claim in 1751 that the Reich des Witzes encompassed the entire realm of the schönen Wissenschaften und freien Künste. The concept had the advantage of being both rigorously defined by figures such as Baumgarten and Gottsched while also being capacious enough to address embodied and experiential aspects of art and culture. Witz, in other words, was a term that allowed an age of reason to speak about things beyond reason's purview. But by the end of the century the hegemonic status of Witz had become much less clear. While the Jena Romantics still championed it in the pages of the Athenäum, even for them, similar, more loosely defined concepts such as Genie and Phantasie had begun to compete with and displace Witz. Regardless of the shifting terms of discourse, Witz left a lasting imprint on the aesthetics, poetics, and culture that emerged towards the end of the 18th century. This is the case even into the 19th century, particularly for figures such as Jean Paul and Heine. This panel will investigate the life and afterlife of the culture of Witz. We invite contributions investigating Witz's lasting influences, whether explicit or implicit, across all levels of literary and aesthetic culture, such as theories of laughter, performance arts, philosophical aesthetics, pedagogy, literary style, and salon culture. What affordances did Witz continue to provide beyond the age of Enlightenment? In what ways did it trouble aesthetics and cultural practice? What lasting traces did Witz leave on a culture that sought to define itself with other means?

Please send a 200-word abstract and short bio to Austen Hinkley (austen.hinkley@yale.edu) and Elliott Schreiber (elschreiber@vassar.edu) by March 1, 2026.

Call for Papers:

German Studies Association Conference, Phoenix, AZ

September 24-27, 2026

Affects and Emotions in the Long Eighteenth Century

Panel sponsored by the Lessing Society

In light of the centrality of affects and emotions in today’s political and cultural landscape, this panel aims to trace their prominence and functions in the long eighteenth century. We invite papers that explore the complex emotive spectrum ranging from affects – basic, often automatic feeling states linked to arousal, valence, and physiological responses – to more context-specific, conscious, and sustained emotions that integrate bodily reactions with higher-level cognition and influence thought, decision-making, and social behavior. Although the conceptual vocabulary of the eighteenth century differs significantly from contemporary usage, can we nonetheless identify categories that correspond to our modern distinctions between transient affects, sustained passions, subjective feelings (Gefühl), and socially mediated, complex emotions?

This period of profound cultural, intellectual, social, and political transformation provided an ecosystem in which affects and emotions were unleashed, regulated, and steered. Examples include the “invention” of human rights through the epistemological integration of sensitivity and empathy into notions of the individual (Lynn Hunt) and the birth of aesthetic theories exploring the relationship between affects, emotions, morality and sensitivity (Baumgarten, Lessing, Herder, Goethe, Schiller). At the same time, intense affects and emotions – especially pleasant ones – were often tainted by their association with entertainment and femininity and came under close scrutiny as potential corruptors of good taste. In parallel, we also consider the minor, ambivalent, “ugly” feelings – irritation, envy, anxiety – that reveal how everyday forms of control and precarity inform what subjects can do (Sianne Ngai).

The panel will investigate the historical, social, and cultural processes by which affects and emotions drew a new kind of attention in the long eighteenth century. Papers might offer insights into how they were evoked, perceived, and strategically mobilized and/or analyze their interplay with emerging orders – such as the literary market, the bourgeois family, “modern” gender roles, racialization, colonial trade and fantasies, industrialization and “nature.” How were these orders shaped through affects and emotions, and how, in turn, were emotions and affective responses integrated within them?

Please send proposals by March 6, 2026 to Thomas Martinec (thomas.martinec@ur.de), Claudia Nitschke (claudia.nitschke@durham.ac.uk), and Heidi Schlipphacke (heidis@uic.edu)

Das Lessing Yearbook/Jahrbuch zählt zu den einschlägigen Periodika im Bereich der internationalen Aufklärungsforschung. Für die Ausgabe 2026 suchen die neuen Herausgeber:innen Beiträge in englischer oder deutscher Sprache, die sich mit Forschungsfragen zu Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, seinen Zeitgenoss:innen, dem historischen, intellektuellen und kulturellen Kontext seines Werks sowie dessen Einfluss bis in die Gegenwart auseinandersetzen. Ausdrücklich erwünscht sind Arbeiten, die interdisziplinäre und komparatistische Perspektiven auf die deutsche Aufklärung entwickeln und/oder sich kritisch zu aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Debatten auf den Gebieten von Literatur, Philosophie, Theologie, bildender Kunst, Musik, Medien, Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Geschichte im weiteren Sinne positionieren.

Die eingereichten Beiträge unterliegen einer double-blind peer review.

Einreichungsfrist für das Jahrbuch 2026 ist der 15. April 2026.

Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an die Herausgeber:innen:

Thomas Martinec (Universität Regensburg): thomas.martinec@ur.de

Claudia Nitschke (Durham University): claudia.nitschke@durham.ac.uk

Heidi Schlipphacke (University of Illinois Chicago): heidis@uic.edu

Herausgeber der Rezensionen:

Christopher Meid (Universität Freiburg): christopher.meid@germanistik.uni-freiburg.de

Wir danken Carl Niekerk herzlich für seine Arbeit als alleiniger Hauptherausgeber des Jahrbuchs von 2016 bis 2025.

The incoming editors of the Lessing Yearbook invite submissions for the 2026 issue.

As the official publication of the Lessing Society, the Lessing Yearbook is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal widely recognized in the international field of Enlightenment Studies.

We seek articles in English or German that explore any aspect of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), his contemporaries, the historical, intellectual, and cultural contexts of his work, as well as his enduring influence from the eighteenth century to the present.

We also welcome articles that emphasize interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on the German Enlightenment broadly understood, as well as those that critically engage with innovative theoretical frameworks reflecting the diversity of current scholarly practices and debates. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, literature, philosophy, theology, visual arts, music, media, history of science, and history more broadly.

We thank Carl Niekerk for his expert and innovative work at the helm of the yearbook as sole managing editor from 2016 to 2025. 

Deadline for submission of 2026 Yearbook:

April 15, 2026

Please contact the editors with questions and/or submissions:

Professor Thomas Martinec (Universität Regensburg): thomas.martinec@ur.de

Professor Claudia Nitschke (Durham University): claudia.nitschke@durham.ac.uk

Professor Heidi Schlipphacke (University of Illinois Chicago): heidis@uic.edu

Reviews Editor:

PD Dr. Christopher Meid (Universität Freiburg): christopher.meid@germanistik.uni-freiburg.de