This introduction provides a compact critical overview of the German bourgeois tragedy as a central genre of literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. The author informs about the background and influences from tragedy writers in other countries. He thoroughly analyzes bourgeois tragedies from Lessing's "Miss Sara Sampson" and "Emilia Galotti" to "Kabale und Liebe," outlining the characteristics of the genre. The sixth edition has been updated and particularly expanded in the chapters on the theory and history of bourgeois tragedy. Selling points: a central genre in schools and universities, a standard work in a completely revised new edition.