In the sixth volume of his Writings, Lessing published a drama subtitled “bürgerliches Trauerspiel” (usually translated as ‘a domestic tragedy’), which was to make literary history with its genre: Miss Sara Sampson. “A domestic tragedy! My God! Can you find a word about such a thing in Gottsched’s Critical Ars Poetica (Critische Dichtkunst)?” (B 2, 389) With this comment, made in a self-review, Lessing polemically asserts himself against Gottsched, the great reformer of the German stage.