Few eighteenth-century German authors (with the obvious exceptions of Schiller and Goethe) engage with issues concerning the human psychology of artistic perception with as much firsthand experience in both verbal and visual genres as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. From his positions as theater administrator, author, and critic, Lessing examines, understands, and comments upon drama as a visually aesthetic experience as well as a literary art, with great sensitivity, intelligence, and expertise, while penning works for the stage that still play well today. Of the literary forms predating the modern era of film and graphic novels, none is comparable to the drama for its reliance upon “visuality” for its effects, and thus the drama becomes the ideal genre for discussions of ekphrasis, the literary description of a visual work of art, such as a painting, for aesthetic aims. Allert's study on Lessing's visual language goes further, however, and includes relevant aspects of his work in other genres (including his theater criticism and his prose fables), with close attention to his highly significant theoretical works as well.

There is a lot of material packed into Poetic Constellations. Allert organizes her study in three major parts: “Seeing and Images—Theoretical Concerns”; “Experiments and Staging Poignant Moments”; and “Visual-Verbal Dynamics in Lessing's Late Works.” These sections are further subdivided into a total of fourteen chapters that deal with specific aspects of Lessing's rich and extensive oeuvre. Each chapter begins with an abstract summary, and then presents Allert's arguments in several subdivided sections. The organization of the book into ever smaller units does not disturb the cohesiveness of the text, however, since, in addition to each chapter's prefaced summary, Allert closely follows the thread of Lessing's focus on the visual/verbal split. The volume benefits from the author's careful explanation and analysis of difficult concepts, her reluctance to employ jargon or buzzwords, and her logical linkages. I would suggest that the sensible organization and the clear presentation of this study are its two most appealing aspects, leading me to recommend it strongly for everyone conducting research in Enlightenment German literature, and especially for American students approaching Lessing or eighteenth-century aesthetics for the first time.