Download or read book Catalyst of Enlightenment, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing written by Edward Malcolm Batley and published by Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 1990 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lessing's work, in a lifetime increasingly dedicated to advancing the German Enlightenment, is presented against the background of social and cultural division, political fragmentation, controversy, anti-semitism, religious intolerance and intermittent war. A system of priorities is shown to underpin his various activities. Concern for mankind and for the right to speak and think freely characterizes his work as practical man of the theatre and dramatist, literary critic and polemicist, productive thinker, defender of the defenceless, publicist of contentious religious issues and relentless seeker of truth.