Articolo
Abstract

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1798), one of the most important authors of short writings and aphorisms, is also the author of four volumes of letters, most of them still unavailable for the Italian reader. After a reconstruction of the German and Italian publishing history of Lichtenberg’s epistolography, this essay dwells on the form, themes and main features of his letters, that range from his private epistolary to the Briefessay, and are marked by Natürlichkeit, Kürze, Lebhaftigkeit, Leichtigkeit, plurilingualism and elegance of style and can be aligned with his masterpieces of short and elliptical writings.