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Lenz (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz, a talented poet of the German Storm and Stress movement. At the age of twenty- seven, Lenz is no longer able to write and has gone to the small town of Waldbach, hoping to ease his mental suffering, which verges on insanity. His alternating mood swings and strange behavior reveal a deeply troubled personality. Physically, Lenz is shy and blond, with a child’s face and generally unkempt clothes. As a writer, he opposes idealism and insists instead on a reality portrayed so that the reader responds emotionally. At the beginning...

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