VIRTUALLY EVERY ASPECT of our professional and political lives has changed dramatically over the past year, and the compilation and production of this volume is no exception. The Covid-19 pandemic hit hard just as we were fielding readers’ reports, granting extensions, and embracing the arrival of late submissions. For these and other reasons, we are especially grateful for the support and enthusiasm of our colleagues—contributors, readers, and Camden House editors. Without the collective effort, we would not have been able to produce such a robust volume.

The pandemic also affected planning processes beyond this issue of the Goethe Yearbook, as the Atkins Goethe Conference, organized around the theme “Goethe's Things,” had to be postponed until 2021. Despite the challenges, Volume 28 presents a wide spectrum of scholarly interventions into eighteenth-century Goethe and German studies from established and emerging scholars across multiple disciplines. Every article breaks new ground on the German literary landscape around 1800 by presenting original research in a global context, widening the lens on conventional approaches, or revisiting and revising theoretical frameworks. Sheila Dickson's engagement with K. P. Moritz speaks to an ever-abiding interest in the writer, while Martin Wagner casts new light on vice and variation in eighteenth-century comedy. Karin Schutjer's reading of Xenien pushes the refresh button on the reading of well-worn texts. Invoking the scope of Atkins Conferences past, Daniel Purdy's substantive piece on relationships between eighteenth-century Nanjing and Weimar takes us back to persistent “reorientations” around Goethe. Contributions by Matthew Feminella on masks, Anna Christine Spafford on embarrassment in Die Wahlverwandtschaften, and Carrie Collenberg-González on the daisy oracle in Faust each illuminate new perspectives on canonical genres and texts through their innovative approaches.

Several articles take us beyond the realm of the textual. With a focus on magic and music, Hans Lind reconsiders the Zauberflöte in the late eighteenth century. From the realm of Goethe as a collector and creator, Lesley Fulton elaborates on the Hemsterhuis gem collection and its possible impact on aesthetics. Monika Nenon applies media theory to eighteenth-century adaptations of novels. Ilinca Iurescu previews—albeit unintentionally—the focus of the 2021 Atkins Conference in Chicago with her richly suggestive and substantive submission on “paper thinking” and pedagogy in the nineteenth century.