This project aims at a history of German-language literary experiments, namely a history of literary texts that contemporaries called ‘Versuche’ (1700-1800) and ‘Experimente’ (1800-1920). For the equivalent genre to the scientific ‘Experiment’ is not only the philosophical ‘Essay’, but also the literary and non-fictional ‘Versuch’ that was disregarded by research hitherto although “Versuch” even became part of the title of hundreds of literary, philosophical, and scientific texts that represent experimental practices of the 18th century. After 1700, this new genre of ‘Versuche’ increased, a genre which included texts on poetry, aesthetics, history, philosophy, physics, chemistry, and electricity. Literary texts were then named “Experiment” in the 19th century.I ask in this project how the ‘two cultures’ negotiated the modern concept of experiment before they fell apart. In contrast to current research which deals with the metaphorical meaning of ‘Experiment’, this project is based upon a history of the concepts of ‘Experiment’, ‘Versuch’, and ‘Essay’. Thus, this project aims at writing a history of literature, considered as part of a conceptual history of knowledge.
