THE CONDITION OF GERMAN LITERATURE and its place and function in society was one of Herder's major concerns. He thought of “literature” in an older, more comprehensive sense: It included, in addition to poetry, all types of prose writing, not only drama and fiction, but also biographies and memoirs, historiography, essays on all topics of general interest including science, and last but not least writings in the area of theology and religion, from church hymns and sermons to edifying and scholarly treatises. Herder opposed the ongoing process of specialization and professionalization that made itself felt during his lifetime and that began to generate specialized scholarly idioms (or jargons) for different fields of knowledge. As Herder adhered to the ideal of Bildung for a well-rounded personality, he insisted on standards for a clear and beautiful prose accessible to a general public as part of a public discourse.

In his early texts, Herder mentioned the project of a “history of German literature” (F1, SWS 1:133), but this never materialized. Instead, he wrote extensively on the current state of German letters, on the social functions and psychological effects of literature, on specific authors, and on the history of individual genres. His studies and commentaries were made in different contexts and for different purposes and are scattered throughout his oeuvre from its beginnings to his last project, the periodical Adrastea (1801–). In their variety and diversity, they reveal some underlying themes and principal concerns that can be specified and will be highlighted in the following presentation.

As Herder was preoccupied with the role of language, literature, and culture in general in shaping the changing German society, his views on literature must be discussed in connection with his perspective on the historical situation of Europe, and specifically on the social and political conditions of Germany. Herder was a sharp critic of his “philosophical” age, which, in his view, was anything but enlightened about itself, a criticism most stridently voiced in his polemic treatise against Enlightenment philosophy of history, Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit (Another Philosophy of History for the Education of Humankind, 1773). According to Herder, his age considered itself the pinnacle of human history, but it was blind to its own serious faults and weaknesses.