Dissertation: … und hiengen in an einem boum – Schuld und Sühne im Spiegel der Zeit

… und hiengen in an einem boum – Schuld und Sühne im Spiegel der Zeit

Untersuchungen zur produktiven Helmbrecht-Rezeption im neueren deutschen Drama

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Studien zur Germanistik, volume 53

Hamburg , 478 pages

ISBN 978-3-8300-8225-5 (print) |ISBN 978-3-339-08225-1 (eBook)

About this book deutschenglish

Wernher the Gardener's Helmbrecht is probably one of the most unusual and interesting works of late medieval literature. The short novel about the peasant’s son, who wants to become a knight and ends hanging from the gallows, attracted widespread interest by German literary researchers, which interest has not declined until today. The composition however, has not only seen a broad academic reception, but it has also been welcomed within literary circles. In addition to several re-narrations, two novels and a poem, 19 dramas are also in existence which shows the haughtily peasant on the stage. While some of the Helmbrecht -adaptations have been analyzed in German literary research, however, they have never actually been compared nor reviewed in full until now.

While investigating the literary reception of Helmbrecht, two factors, in particular, stand out: Firstly, the predominance of dramas in comparison to adaptations in different genres is surprising. Secondly, all Helmbrecht-dramas have been written between 1900 and 1966. This leads to following questions: Are there historical circumstances that have lead to such a large reception to this specific medieval literary material? Can such a reception be explained at all by social and historical circumstances? Is there a reason for the predominance of dramatic adaptions? Last but not least, in what way is the story revisited in the different periods by the modern authors?

By exploring these questions, the study approaches the subject matter from three sides. The first chapter investigates the transfer to a new genre on a basis of drama theory. The second chapter is dedicated to an individual analysis of the dramas whilst evidencing the new interpretational approaches of modern authors. The emphasis here is on the subject of personal guilt, a theme that connects all modern adaptions and Wernher’s work. The third chapter positions the dramas in their social and historical background and explains the new approaches on the basis of this context.

Thus, this study becomes a complete presentation of the literary reception of Wernher’s Helmbrecht, which not only investigates the dramatic adaptions individually, but also analyses why this specific work and ist contents was repeatedly replicated and adapted in the 20th Century.

Ihr Werk im Verlag Dr. Kovač

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