ABSTRACT
The early period of German Naturalism was not rich in positive suggestions as to how the literature of the day should be revolutionised. There is a widespread awareness that an older reality has been called in question, and that old forms are therefore no longer viable; but there is very little agreement about how the new reality is to be handled. The emphasis placed on the contribution of the creative artist, for instance, is constantly being revised. From the theoretical writings of the time it is quite impossible to abstract a picture of the Naturalist drama about which there is any degree of conformity. Two important principles of dramaturgy did meet with substantial approval both of them anti-Aristotelian: the elevation of characterisation over action, and rejection of the doctrine of generic purity leading to a breaking-down of the distinction between the epic and dramatic genres; but even these did not pass entirely without contradiction. It is typical of this period of transition and its opposition to aesthetic rules that two attempts to formulate a literary credo, Eugen Wolff’s ‘Zehn Thesen’ and Conrad Alberti’s ‘Die zwölf Artikel des Realismus’, failed to attract a single endorsement other than that of their respective authors.1
