Literarisches Leben in Reval in Der Ersten Hälfte Des 17. Jahrhunderts 1600-1657

The presence of Paul Fleming (1609-1640) in the Estonian metropolis has led to a perspective on literary life in Reval (Tallinn) that tends to concentrate on his influence and to identify his active presence as a visitor and guest in Reval with the first flourishing of German poetry in the wake of Martin Opitz. As this bias necessarily implies a restricted perspective, the present volume essays a new approach to the description of literary life in Reval. It outlines the contemporary urban nobilitas literaria and discusses the writings that have come down to us from that time with a view to obtaining as objective a picture as possible of the circumstances that Fleming was to have such an impact on. In this way the study achieves for the first time an appropriate consideration of Reval's poets and their urban environment, so that the influence exerted on them both by their illustrious guest and by other poets can be accurately gauged.