Forms of Sociability and their historical Change as a Challenge to early modern Cultural History The Example of Leipzig

Abstract

Based on a satirical poem about the asparagus mass in Leipzig by the writer Johann Christian Tromer, who wrote about the sociability in the city of Leipzig in the first half of the 18th century, this introduction sketches the thematic concern of this volume. Firstly, it provides an overview of the state of research on early modern sociability in German Studies and in adjacent disciplines. Secondly, it explains why Leipzig can be regarded as a representative place for research concerning forms of Geselligkeit in the early modern period.