The project examined the historical emergence of rating and ranking in 18th century German literary criticism focusing on the revision of critical judgement during the ‘Sturm und Drang’ period. Schubart’s ‘Critical Scale’, published posthumously in 1792, is considered exemplary for German poets. A comprehensive ‘Balance of German poets’, however, was already published in 1772, by Naumann. The question was what happened between 1772 and Schubart’s death, precisely at the time when the ‘Sturm und Drang’ movement was emerging and producing poets like Goethe, Lenz and Schiller. What poet ratings and rankings existed during this period and on what basis? Which new criteria were added to the evaluation and which were replaced? How did this change the view of already established national poets? In my research project I investigated the rating systems of German poets in the context of the aesthetic discourses at the end of the 18th century and asks to what extent this rating system has laid the foundation for modern forms of evaluation and ranking. In my studies I concentrated on the controversial pamphlet ‘On the Value of German poets’ by Ludwig August Unzer and Jakob Mauvillon (1771/72) in which recognized poets like Gellert, Lessing and Wieland are subjected to rigorous criticism. In the second part of the book, both authors developed a comprehensive classification of the German poets. Unzer and Mauvillon discuss specific poets according to subject areas and classify them according to quality groups. In a typical image of that time, these groups are arranged on the Parnassus. Depending on their qualitative value, they are situated at the top of the peak or below on certain levels. The image of the Parnassus is also used by Lenz himself in his ‘Pandemonium Germanicum’ (written in 1775), where he depicts the ascent to the Parnassus from a subjective perspective and reflects his relationship with Goethe, who is always a step ahead of him. 

The purpose of this literary inquiry, its reference to the present is the question of the social relevance of evaluations and assessments, the validity of the criteria as well as the change of these criteria. It raises the question of the appropriateness of quality evaluations like rating and ranking, which has become more important today than ever before.