Christian Friedrich von Blanckenburg's reputation as a man of letters rests primarily on his Versuch über den Roman (Essay on the Novel, 1774). Although it is a work of considerable length, Blanckenburg did not regard it as an exhaustive and systematic treatment of the subject but as an attempt to stimulate critical reflection on a popular genre which had attracted little serious attention in Germany during the eighteenth century. This neglect Blanckenburg ascribes to the belief that the novel is written for "die Unterhaltung der Menge" (the entertainment of the masses) and did not warrant the attention of the literary critic. Blanckenburg considers this neglect reprehensible: should it not be our first duty, he asks, to provide "gesunde Nahrung" (healthy nourishment) for the largest part of the human race? In his view the popular novel of the age, the romance, exerted a pernicious influence on both the aesthetic...