Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (Dictionary of World Biography: The 17th and 18th Centuries)
Early Life
Born the son of a Protestant minister, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing enrolled as a student of theology at the University of Leipzig in 1746, but he was soon attracted by literature and the theater. He wrote his first play, Der junge Gelehrte (the young scholar), a comedy which was performed with great success by the local company in 1748. Other comedies were to follow, and soon it became apparent that Lessing had embarked on a literary rather than a theological career. Lessing’s early comedies were comparatively trivial, following the model advocated by Johann...
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