In the era of the mature Middle Ages, Western European literary development acquired new features. It has become much more complicated, a larger number of heterogeneous elements began to participate in it. Moreover, we are not talking about a simple increase in the number of surviving literary monuments: very heterogeneous and diverse monuments arose unusually quickly and everywhere. The dynamics of literary development is immediately striking and finds a parallel, for example, in the unusually rapid development of architecture and sculpture, which made its way from the first significant buildings of the Romanesque style (first half of the 11th century) to the flowering of the Gothic (from the middle of the 12th century). All European culture is set in motion, increasing the pace of evolution, becoming unusually complex in structure. Not only feudal-church culture, but also urban culture becomes the most important component of pan-European cultural development.
In the era of the mature Middle Ages, the birth of written literature in new languages took place throughout Western Europe. Young European literature at first was not national, but regional - Burgundian, Picardy, Flemish, Bavarian. A chivalric or courtly literature arises, which has created an extensive system of lyrical genres, the genres of poetic, and then prose novels and stories, as well as knightly chronicles, a "learned treatise" on issues of knightly etiquette, all kinds of instructions on military affairs, hunting, horseback riding and etc. The first poetics appear. Urban literature appears, the development of Christian and natural science literature continues, pre-Christian folklore, primarily Celtic, is being revived.
Education, remaining in the ideological subordination of the church, in many respects got rid of its guardianship organizationally. In the period of the early Middle Ages, the production of manuscript codes of both spiritual and secular content took place exclusively in monasteries. In the era of developed feudalism, monastic scriptoria expanded, but new workshops for the production of handwritten books also arose: at the courts of large feudal lords, at universities, in cities where scribes, bookbinders, and miniaturists eventually united in workshops. Very early in the production of the book there was a specialization, its production becomes an industry with which the old monastic scriptoria could no longer compete.
The concept of beautiful, graceful penetrates into aesthetics and everyday life. A person's behavior is subjected to aesthetic evaluation: not only clothes or carvings on a shield are beautiful, but also behavior, actions, experiences. There is a cult of "beautiful lady".
German heroic epic
In the 12th century in Germany, under the conditions of a developed feudal society, secular literature appeared in the Middle High German language. It is represented mainly by a chivalric novel, created according to French models. However, in the Danubian lands (Bavaria and Austria), where "old-fashioned tastes" were preserved at the courts, at the same time, the heroic epic that existed in the performance of shpilmans was processed into book poems. At the same time, the ancient epic underwent significant changes: alliteration was replaced by rhyme; the so-called "Nibelungen stanza" consists of four long verses united by paired rhymes; in each long verse, the first half-line has four and the second three accents; in the last verse, each half-line has four stresses. The metrical reform could not but be reflected in the poetic language, although the principles of the German folk-epic style (paired formulas, constant epithets, etc.) are no less distinct than in the "Song of Hildebrandt." Numerous descriptions and other devices that slow down the action distinguish Spielman's poems from short epicodramatic songs like "The Song of Hildebrandt".
The pinnacle of the German epic is the famous "Song of the Nibelungs" ("Das Nibelungenlied"; St. "Der Nibelunge liet") a poem of 39 chapters ("adventure"), including about 10,000 verses. Having finally taken shape around 1200 in the Austrian lands (manuscript in Middle High German), it was first published by Zurich University professor Johann Jakob Bodmer in 1757. The Nibelungenlied is not an editorial collection of a number of anonymous songs (such a theory exists), but the fruit of transformation of short alliterative narrative-dialogical songs into a heroic epic. Its starting point was two originally independent Frankish songs about Brynhild (the matchmaking of Gunther and the death of Siegfried) and the death of the Burgundians. They are restored from the old song about Sigurd and from the song about Atli in the Edda. From the song about Brunhild through the 12th c. (reflected in the Norwegian "Tidrek's Saga") the path leads to the first part of the "Nibelungenlied". The song about the death of the Burgundians was significantly revised in the 8th century. in Bavaria, it approaches the legends of Dietrich of Bern. It includes images of Dietrich of Bern and his senior combatant Hildebrandt. Attila (Etzel) turns into a good epic monarch. In the 12th century the Austrian Spielmann used a new strophic form and expanded the ancient song to an epic in the poem "The Death of the Nibelungs" that has not come down to us, which immediately precedes the second part of the "Song of the Nibelungs". This is how a single work is created.
Its summary is as follows:
The city of Worms, King Gunther, having heard about the beauty of his sister Kriemhild, goes from the lower Rhine to woo King Siegfried. Gunther demands Siegfried's help in his own matchmaking with the hero Brynhilde, who reigns in Iceland.
Thanks to the cap of invisibility, Siegfried helps Gunther defeat her in heroic competitions and on the marriage bed. The deceit is discovered ten years later as a result of queens arguing about the merits of their husbands. Kriemhild shows Brynhilde, who considered Siegfried a vassal of Gunther, the ring and belt that Siegfried had taken from Brynhild on their wedding night, and calls her Siegfried's concubine.
Vassal and adviser to the Burgundian kings, Hagen von Tronier, avenges Brynhild with the consent of Gunther. He kills Siegfried while hunting, having found out his weak spot from Krimhilda, and the treasure of the Nibelungs, obtained by Siegfried, plunges to the bottom of the Rhine.
The action of the second part takes place many years later. Kriemhild, who married Etzel, invites the Burgundians to the country of the Huns to avenge Siegfried and regain the treasure of the Nibelungs. During the battle in the banquet hall, all the Burgundian warriors die, and Gunther and Hagen are captured by Dietrich of Bern. He gives them into the hands of Kriemhild, on the condition that she spare them. However, Kriemhilda kills Gunther, and then Hagen, who is blown off his head with Siegfried's sword. Old Hildebrandt, indignant at Krimhilda's act, cuts her to pieces with a sword blow.
"Songs of the Nibelungs", in contrast to the archaic Scandinavian version, elements of pagan mythology are completely alien, the world of heroic tales and historical legends of the "Edda" is pushed into the background. In the first part of the German poem, Siegfried's youthful adventures (finding the treasure, caps of invisibility, defeating the dragon and gaining invulnerability) are purely fabulous in nature and taken out of the main action. The matchmaking to Brynhilde is also endowed with fabulous features, but already remade in the style of a chivalric romance. Fairytaleness emphasizes the historical distance that separates the reader from the characters. The collision of a fairy tale and court life creates a special artistic effect. It is in the atmosphere of court life that a conflict arises, which constitutes the plot of the poem.
In the second part, the action takes place in the country of the Huns, in the world of the harsh heroism of historical legend, but this is only a background against which the internal collisions of the Worms court and the Burgundian royal house are still being resolved. There, with outward brilliance, lies inner trouble, for Gunther's power and the brilliance of his court are based on the secret power of the fabulous hero Siegfried and on deceitful matchmaking with the fabulous hero Brynhilde. The discrepancy between essence and appearance cannot but be revealed and lead to insults, betrayal, endless fatal strife and finally the death of the royal house of Burgundy.
The clan and tribe in the Nibelungenlied are replaced by the family and the feudal hierarchy. Hence the most important plot difference from the most ancient stage of the story presented in the Edda. Kriemhilda takes revenge not on her husband for her brothers, but on her brothers for her husband. The main subject of the queens' quarrel is whether Siegfried is a vassal of Gunther. We are witnessing a conflict of vassalage and family ties. It is no coincidence that Krimhilda and Hagen, who embody the ideals of family and vassal fidelity, become the main opponents. Moreover, Hagen's vassal devotion to Gunther develops into a kind of patriotism towards the Burgundians, even taking on a paradoxical character due to this. Having learned from the Danube mermaids about the impending death of the Burgundians in the land of the Huns, Hagen breaks the shuttle of the carrier so that his fellow tribesmen do not disgrace themselves by flight. Moreover, Hagen dooms Gunther to death by refusing to give Kriemhild the secret of the treasure while his "masters" are alive. The honor of the Burgundian kings is dearer to him than their lives. Hagen grows into a colossal, purely epic figure of a heroic villain.
In the same way, Kriemhild's loyalty to Siegfried only provides the initial impetus for the transformation of a gentle and naive girl into a vengeful fury, whose unfeminine cruelty shocks even such harsh warriors as Dietrich and Hildebrandt. Of course, in the "Nibelungenlied" mainly external actions are depicted, and not internal experiences, the evolution of Kriemhild's character is not shown. It's just that in the second part a completely different image is created than in the first.
At the same time, the almost manic unrestraint shown in Kriemhild's struggle with Hagen exceeds the "measure" usual in the epic and to a certain extent obscures those more general principles (for example, "family" or "state") from which the struggle grows. In the end, not only the heroes themselves die, but also the family, the state, the people. Fatalism loses its naive straightforwardness in the Nibelungenlied. We clearly feel the breath of inexorable fate, but fate is to a large extent, as it were, generated by the characters themselves and partly by complex contradictory situations.
The dramatic and tragic nature of the Nibelungenlied, in contrast to the harmonious epicism of Homer, was noted by Hegel. Hence the numerous appeals of the authors of subsequent eras to the plots of the "Song" (Christian Friedrich Goebbel, dramatic trilogy about the Nibelungs: "Der gehörnte Siegfried", "Siegfrieds Tod", "Kriemhilds Rache"), first of all, it is the grandiose tetralogy of Richard Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung".
Another peculiar feature of the Nibelungenlied genre is its rapprochement with the romance of chivalry. By the beginning of the 13th century. refers to the creation in the Austro-Bavarian lands of the final literary edition of another outstanding poem - "Kudrun" or "Gudrun" ("Das Gudrunlied" St. "Kudrun"), written as a variant of the "Nibelungen stanza". Due to the wide use of the fairy-tale tradition, Kudruna is sometimes called the "German Odyssey".
The poem consists of an introduction (a story about the youth of the Irish prince Hagen, who was kidnapped by vultures and grew up on a desert island with three princesses) and two parts, varying the same theme of heroic matchmaking. The first, oldest part has archaic Scandinavian parallels, colored with mythological fantasy. In order to marry the beautiful Hilda, whose father kills all suitors, Hethel sends her vassals as matchmakers to her under the guise of merchants. One of them, Horant, attracts Hilda with beautiful music, and with Hilda's consent, her kidnapping is organized. After the duel of Hagen, Hilda's father, and Hetel, thanks to the intervention of Hilda, they are reconciled.
The second part, which reflects the era of the Norman raids (9th-2nd centuries), tells about the fate of Hilda's daughter, Kudruna, who was kidnapped by the Norman duke Hartmut. Refusing to marry the kidnapper and remaining faithful to her fiancé Herweg, the captive is turned into a servant by the evil Gerlinda, Hartmut's mother. The sad fate of Kudruna, similar to the story of Cinderella, is drawn against the backdrop of the life of a knight's castle of the 12th-13th centuries. Only 13 years later, Herweg and his friends manage to undertake a campaign to save Kudruna. The poem ends with the defeat of the Normans and the happy return of Herweg and Kudruna home. The magnanimous Kudruna forgives the captured Hartmut, and Gerlinda is killed by the old Vathe, who took part in the kidnapping of Hilda. In the center of the poem, as in the Nibelungenlied, is the image of a woman devoted to her chosen one. But Kudruna's devotion is expressed in long-suffering and moral steadfastness, and not in the demonic vindictiveness of Kriemhild.
A number of epic works of the 13th century. develops legends about Dietrich of Bern. They were especially popular among the peasantry, as evidenced by the Quedlinburg Chronicle, in which Dietrich appears as a noble hero and a just sovereign. Poems about Dietrich include works not only of the heroic, but also of the romantic epic. Some of them, dating back to folk tales, chivalric romances and local legends, tell of his struggle with giants and dwarfs. It is interesting that the hero Ilya appears in the "Saga of Tidrek" and in the poem about Ortnit, this testifies to the popularity among other peoples of Russian epics about Ilya Muromets in the 13th century.
Courtly lyrics
12th-13th centuries - Minnesang era. Minnesang poets were often "ministerials", people of knightly rank, but significantly dependent on patrons - large feudal lords and who were part of their retinue. Among them were representatives of the highest feudal nobility, but they were few. The ministerial, which was most often the minnesinger, especially at the dawn of the development of courtly lyrics, in 1150-1160, was obliged to serve his master and his family. The service included writing songs to entertain them. Most often, the songs are addressed to the ladies who were waiting for worship according to the etiquette of court service, one of the types of which was the composition of songs in honor of the overlord's wife.
Originating in the middle of the 12th century, the minnesang went through a complex path, in which four most important stages are clearly visible:
The first examples of minnesang arose, obviously, almost simultaneously in the Rhineland German-speaking areas, where one of the wonderful masters of courtly poetry, Heinrich von Veldeke, came from, and in Switzerland and in the lands of southern Germany, in particular, in Austria and Bavaria, where phenomena typologically close to Provencal court life developed earlier than in other German-speaking countries.
The huge literary heritage of the Minnesingers has come down to us primarily in the form of the so-called. "Liederbuch" - "song books", which, with the rarest exception, are records of a much later time (13th century and later), probably based on an earlier fixation of works of feudal lyrics in German regions, on pocket collections of shpielmans. "Songbooks" are remarkable as a special kind of monument of German medieval culture. According to them, we can get an idea not only of the high level of poetic and musical culture of medieval Germany, but also of the wonderful art of miniaturists, who decorated some of these books with brightly colored portraits of poets, whose works were saved by the "songbook". Such, for example, are the famous "small" and "large" Heidelberg manuscripts, otherwise the Manes Code ( Manes songbook, Manes manuscript), . These manuscripts give a very concrete idea of the liberated, very secular nature of the minnesinger, of the ability of medieval miniaturists to enjoy the life that breathed in the songs of the minnesingers.
First period. Among the earliest representatives of the minnesang are primarily Kurenberg (Der von Kürenberg), whose work flourishes at the Vienna court between 1150 and 1170. His songs are small four-line and eight-line miniatures, lyrical episodes that tell about the love of a noble maiden and a knight, who talk about their feelings either in the form of a short monologue or exchanging questions and answers. It is very characteristic of the early minnesang that this is not about some kind of semi-conditional courtly romance between a faithful page or vassal and a noble married lady, as in the poetry of the troubadours, but about the feelings that connect the young knight and the girl. In Kurenberg, there is also no question of serving a lady: it is about simple and strong feelings. At the same time, the girl is often more noble than the ministerial in love, she cannot marry him, demands that he retire, disappear from her eyes, and the lyrical hero of Kurenberg is ready for this. It is very significant that the poet often narrates on behalf of a woman; such an appeal to the genre of "women's song", which is also characteristic of many other representatives of the minnesang, indicates the folklore origins of German medieval courtly lyrics. At an early stage, the minnesang is close to the folk song. There are grounds to speak about the impact of spierman singers on the early minnesang. The poetry of the shpielmans, distinct from the courtly lyric poetry, was then going through a period of greatest creative activity. Along with minnesang, folk poetry continued to live, preserved by wandering singers, such as the mysterious Spervogel ( Spervogel), a contemporary of Kurenberg (apparently, this is the nickname "sparrow"). This was a sharp, mocking poet, who loved a strong instructive word, reproached the rich and noble, stood up for The plebeian humor of Sperfogel, the accuracy and precision of expressions, the clear rhythm of the verse make his spruhi - a poetic genre in which political and social and instructive topics are usually presented - a striking phenomenon of German poetry.
"Ein Mann, der eine gute Frau hat und zu einer anderen geht, der ist ein Sinnbild des Schweins. Was könnte es böseres geben?" Spervogel
Some minnesingers also turned to the spruch genre.
Along with Kurenberg, an outstanding poet of the first stage of the history of the Minnesang was Dietmar von Aist (70s of the 12th century), also one of the founders of Austrian literature. His work is marked by a clear connection with the folk song. He writes lengthy poems, conveys not only the dialogue, but also the sincere confessions of the lyrical hero, love does not know his social barriers, its transmission is devoid of complexity and mannerisms.
In the poetry of these two minnesingers, the most important genres of minnesing are already taking shape: Liet (song), often consisting of one stanza (like some of Kurenberg’s works that have come down to us) or several identically constructed stanzas, connected like stanzas, and Leich (leich) - a poem of a more complex content, built in the form of a series of stanzas with a rhyme that is more developed than in a song.
Second period. It is distinguished not only by the typological closeness of Romanesque poetry, but also by direct borrowings. Connections between German poetry of the late 12th century. and other literatures - an example of the rapidly increasing cultural exchange in these years between the most diverse regions. The poetry of the Provencal troubadours affects the lyrics of the German feudal world: it is precisely the translations of the Provencal poets that appear (among them those belonging to Wolfram von Eschenbach, the great epic poet of that time). Romanesque influences are felt in the work of Heinrich von Feldeke (second half of the 12th century), who is considered one of the founders of Netherlandish literature. This is a typical Romano-Germanic artist of his time - the Romanesque and German literary traditions are so closely intertwined in his work (he translated the French courtly "Romance of Aeneas"). Although the poet experiences a certain timidity in front of his beautiful lady, his feeling is joyful and devoid of deep shocks. If the motif of an impregnable beauty arises, then it is interpreted a little ironically, as an obligatory literary move. While glorifying love and its joys, Feldeke sometimes falls into an edifying tone, peevishly condemning the frivolous way of life, which he himself was ready to indulge in quite recently. Feldeke's didacticism, typical of the burgher world outlook, is not always serious: here, too, no, no, and the irony characteristic of the poet breaks through.
The poetry of another minnesinger of this time, Rudolf von Fenis (Rudolf von Fenis), testifies to the close proximity of the German minnesinger with the Swiss one, which was formed somewhat earlier. Poets of this type are representatives of a peculiar feudal environment, the formation of which was greatly facilitated by the Crusades.
Among them there were not only modest minsterials, but also active participants in major political events. This was fully reflected in the poet-emperor Henry VI (1165-1197), whose ardent proud feelings are expressed in a complex, new for Minnesang poetic manner with exquisite rhyme and in a new stanza for Minnesang, apparently borrowed from the treasury of the Provencal-Sicilian poetic arsenal. No less significant is the work of the nobleman poet Friedrich von Hausen ( Friedrich von Hausen) (1150-1190), for example, a farewell song, where he, not without heartache, parted with his beloved, setting off on a crusade. These are the bitter reflections of a secular man who knows the price of female fidelity, to the place of von Feldeke, who quotes "Aeneas". In this poem, the personality of the author was very clearly affected, individual stanzas sound like a reminiscence of a specific conversation. Hausen, who died in the retinue of Barbarossa in one of the battles of this difficult campaign, was one of the most talented and original poets of that time.
To the circle of secular minnesingers, who have already risen above the position of a ministerial, belongs to Reinmar the Elder, or Reinmar von Hagenau (Reinmar der Alte von Hagenau) (about 1160-1207), an Alsatian poet who settled at the court of the Austrian Duke Leopold II, an outstanding politician who gave Vienna the splendor of a real residence. As an Alsatian, he too was a conductor of Romanesque tendencies. In his work, the court problems were clearly defined, fixed by him in the minnesang. Thus, important political motives entered the minnesang, expanding its thematic composition.
The conquests achieved at the turn of the century by the rapidly developing Minnesang poetry were especially vividly embodied in the work of Walther von der Vogelweide (Walther von der Vogelweide) (c. 1170-1230). On the miniature of the Heidelberg manuscript, he is depicted sitting in deep thought with an unfolded scroll for writing, a sword is leaning against his knee, the poet is overshadowed by his coat of arms, depicting a bird singing behind the bars of the cage. On the other miniature there is no coat of arms, but the sword remains: those who depicted the poet knew perfectly well that he wielded the sword no worse than the pen. Both of these miniatures are illustrations for a poem by Vogelweide, in which he sketched his portrait: he sits and reflects on earthly existence, on the struggle of various social forces, which are likened to earthly creatures that bring evil. In the bitter reflection of this verse, the whole of Vogelweide expressed itself with constant anxiety for the fate of the motherland - a new feature that the minnesingers had not shown before.
Walther von der Vogelweide was the son of a landless knight and led a life full of wanderings, traveled to Western Europe, was in Hungary. He is close to both the spilmans and the vagants, and the highest nobility, most of his life was spent at the court of the Austrian dukes. This is an extremely versatile personality: a brave warrior, poet, courtier, philosopher.
Vogelweide took part in the cruel turmoil that tore apart the German lands at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. He told in his poems and songs, understandable and simple, and to the nobility, about the horrors of the bloody struggle. He is a brilliant innovative poet, the first national poet of the emerging German people. The concept of the German nation (die deutsche Nation) first appeared in his poems. A master of high minnesang, he boldly turned to folk poetic forms and created a number of remarkable poetic spurs. In them, he especially persistently opposed the papacy as a force preventing the unification of German lands under the auspices of a single secular ruler. The ancestor of German patriotic poetry, Vogelweide was also the greatest master of love lyrics. He developed new varieties of love songs, to a certain extent returning to the direct poetry of Kurenberg. The new stage in the development of German poetry, to which Vogelweide rose, was achieved in a difficult struggle against the current of minnesang, which crystallized in the work of Reinmar the Elder. This creator of high court minnesang, based primarily on the Romanesque tradition and on the Romanesque concept of courtesy, was at first the mentor and patron of the young Vogelweide. But they parted ways, and Vogelweide consciously countered his manner with his German national style of minnesang, which, however, adopted all the best that was in Romanesque courtly lyrics. Unlike his teacher, Vogelweide sang of "low" love, knowing the joy of possession, genuine and pure. Therefore, his "lady" is, as a rule, not a cold, prudent noble beauty, but a sincere and selfless peasant girl.
We can also find an attempt to combine the German folk tradition with the Romance in Neidhart von Reuenthal (about 1180-1250), nicknamed the Fox for witty and daring songs of satirical content. But he did not succeed in an organic combination of the two concepts. In love lyrics, he remained a subtle imitator of the troubadours, his mocking satires on peasant life, written for the amusement of the court public, sound like deliberate stylizations, far from the folk spirit of Vogelweide. A little time passed, and the peasants answered Neidhard with the songs of their nameless poets, in which they ridiculed the courtiers and their funny manners, borrowed from abroad. However, it had a certain significance for the subsequent development of minnesang in the late Middle Ages, when its stylizations were used by minnesang epigones. The authority of Vogelweide was indisputable, but he had no worthy successors. The Rheinmar tradition prevailed.
13th c. - the era of the degeneration of the minnesang. Ulrich von Lichtenstein (circa 1200-1280) was a typical representative of it. In his work, he sought to embody the ideal of chivalry, which he compiled for himself from chivalric novels and the works of the minnesingers. The poem "Serving the Ladies" (1255) sets out all the subtleties of courtly behavior and etiquette in the form in which they developed by the middle of the 13th century. At the same time, talking about his own novels and love failures, Lichtenstein takes courtly ideals for true reality so much that it seems naive and ridiculous to his contemporaries. He was not a significant poet, although he considered himself the last knight and minnesinger of Germany. Liechtenstein is a largely comic figure.
One of the few remarkable phenomena of a dying minnesang is the figure of the wandering poet Tannhäuser (second half of the 13th century), the hero of a popular legend depicting him as the beloved of the goddess Venus. Tannhäuser, not without success, tried to combine "high" love poetry with folk tradition, of which he was an expert. His deeply original songs and poems expressed the complex inner world of a German itinerant poet of the 13th century, who felt the decline of the poetic system on which he had been brought up.
Romance
Difficult and fruitful was the development of a new genre - the chivalric romance, which arose and flourished in the 12th century. The courtly or chivalric romance (both definitions are conditional and largely inaccurate), as it developed in Western Europe, finds typological parallels in the Middle East (Nizami), Georgia (Rustaveli), and Byzantium; this is a fascinating story about the selfless love of young heroes, about the trials that have fallen to their lot, about military adventures, about incredible adventures. What distinguishes a chivalric romance from a heroic epic is an interest in a private human destiny. In the German lands, the development of the novel, as well as courtly lyrics, began later than in the lands of the Romanesque cultural area. The first samples of it in Middle High German are associated with the activities of Heinrich von Feldecke. His first work is the legend of Saint Servatius, a reworking of a Latin life; the work that glorified him was the reworking of the anonymous French novel Aeneas. "The novel about Aeneas" ("Eneide" ) by Feldek is an impressive epic canvas, rather inspired by the French original than translating it, evidence of a great original talent, especially manifested in everyday sketches: the novel about the Trojan hero became a picturesque picture of knightly life in the 12th century. Turning to ancient stories is hardly accidental, rather this circle was closer to him than the "barbaric" stories of the new continental Europe: one feels the great culture of the scribe for that time, who originally understood the great works of antiquity, on the basis of which he created his new songs with such love.
It was Feldeke who adapted the German four-stroke verse for the peculiarities of the chivalric novel, and his merit is enormous in this. Starting with Feldeke, this meter becomes the classic verse of the chivalric romance in Germany.
At the end of the 12th century accounts for the activity of the first remarkable master of the knightly romance in Middle High German literature - Hartmann von Aue (Hartmann von Aue) (about 1170-1215). He was a ministerial, knighted, could take part in one of the crusades. The first works immediately put him forward in the first row of German poets: he arranged in good German verse two novels by Chrétien de Troyes: "Erec" ("Erec") and "Ivein" ("Iwein"). The very size of the writings was a true poetic feat: like Feldecke, he developed the poetics of the chivalric romance, sought to streamline the German verse. At the same time, he wrote the novel "Gregorius" ("Gregorius") - a reworking of the legend about Pope Gregory, common in the Middle Ages. However, the novel "Poor Heinrich" ("Der arme Heinrich") (circa 1195) became a masterpiece. Based on an old legend, the poet tells the story of a pious knight who was suddenly stricken with leprosy. In the image of a man to whom God sends a terrible test, the ethical line of "Gregorius" continues. It turns out that leprosy can be cured by the blood of an innocent girl, which will wash the sick. There is also a girl who is ready to give her life for such a charitable cause. The image of this young peasant woman, deeply touching and beautiful in her readiness for a feat in the name of saving the knight whom she deeply loves, is one of the most significant achievements of all medieval literature. This is one of the most impressive female images of German literature. At the decisive moment, Heinrich defeats himself: he refuses to accept the sacrifice, healing at such a price is impossible, the cruel test sent by God evokes protest in him.
But Hartmann's god is indulgent: after tormenting the knight, he heals him, and the sufferer rejoices in his recovery, granted for refusing to accept him at the cost of human life. The most powerful verses of the novel are devoted to moments of spiritual struggle, the test through which Heinrich goes. Still not knowing about his salvation, but knowing that the life of his benefactor is out of danger, he experiences a feeling of deep moral satisfaction. He defeated his selfishness, almost becoming a murderer, despite the fact that the victim went under the knife voluntarily. In essence, the old concept of courtesy is replaced here by a new interpretation of the morality of chivalry, which consists in the rejection of one's own good if it is built on the misfortune of another person - even if the origin is lower than the knight himself. A contemporary of Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach (died after 1220) gave the German chivalric romance an even more peculiar and significant character. He was also a ministerial, knighted and a possible member of the Crusades. Eschenbach was probably from Thuringia. Being a talented lyricist, in the prime of his creative powers, he took up the work that perpetuated his name: for about ten years he worked on a large novel "Parzival" ("Parzival") - about 25,000 poems. The source for him was the novel by Chrétien de Troyes, but not only him. At some stage, Eschenbach used Robert de Boron's novel about the Grail, which tells in detail about the history of the sacred vessel.
The Grail is a magical vessel in which neither food nor drink runs out for the hungry (something close in its fabulous function to a self-collected tablecloth), which served at the Last Supper, as they say in a French novel. This holy vessel was concealed and preserved by the disciple of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, and on the terrible day of the crucifixion, Joseph collected the blood of the Savior in this cup. So the fabulous relic acquires the character of a paramount Christian shrine, possessing many mysterious and majestic qualities.
Eschenbach's Grail is not the chalice of the Eucharist. This is a radiant gem endowed with a number of miraculous properties. It becomes a moral symbol, and not just satisfies the hungry. Where the author found such an interpretation is unclear. In any case, its version is so peculiar that it should be considered as an independent work based on an original moral-philosophical and aesthetic concept.
Based on the tradition of Hartmann von Aue, Eschenbach develops the motives of the educational knightly genre. In the first books of the novel, a brief background of Parzival is presented, which is important for the further development of the plot. Gamuret, his father, died in the distant eastern lands, in the service of the caliph of Baghdad, all the brothers died, he alone remained as a bitter consolation and the only hope, with his mother, Mrs. Herzeloyd. Having left the world, the mother brings up her son in the wilderness, hoping to protect him from the dangers of military life. But the son is drawn to the fate of the knight and goes into the big world, to the people. He is so naive that he can be mistaken for a blessed, holy fool, nothing evil and vile is unknown to him, meeting with the baseness and meanness common in feudal society, he stands up for the humiliated and destitute with all the ardor of a pure heart, which is beautifully depicted in the novel.
The wanderings of Parzival are also the search for truth. He acquires friends who help him distinguish good from evil. In this sense, the image of the elderly knight Gurnemanz is very interesting, in whose castle Parzival manages to get a lot of wise and valuable advice. There he learns courtly courtesy, manners, while maintaining his spontaneity. For this, he is singled out by the beautiful princess Kondviramura saved by him, who becomes his faithful and loving wife. On one of his trips, he ends up in the castle of Anfortas, where the Holy Grail is kept, described with all the accuracy and verbosity that Wolfram was so inclined to. Here, a complex oriental motif imperiously invades the knight's tale, leading many threads and connections that go both to the East and to European religious quests of the early Middle Ages. In the interpretation of the German poet, the Grail turned into a kind of magical stone sent down to people by angels, bestowing grace, a. also inexhaustible food and drink. Everything in the castle of Anfortas, where the Grail is kept, is full of secrets and obscurities, including the strange illness of the owner. Parzival is terribly anxious to ask his master about the causes of his troubles, but he delicately hides his curiosity, although it turns out that it is appropriate and even necessary. Anfortas waited for questions - the answer would heal him and put an end to his long torment.
Then Parzival comes to the court of King Arthur. In these scenes, Wolfram's concept of chivalry, his understanding of inner nobility, is revealed. It is not only in courage on the battlefield and not only in protecting the weak from the strong: the highest knightly prowess is not to be arrogant about your chivalry, not to be afraid to seem ridiculous and, if necessary, to transgress the laws of courtesy in the name of the laws of humanity. Gurnemanz's pupil, with his canon of courtesy, Parzival could not give up his good name as a polite knight at Anfortas's feast, did not ask him the question he was waiting for. Therefore, he is not worthy to be a true knight. Arthur does not accept him into his army of the elect. But the young knight does not immediately understand why. He only understands that God punishes him for an unintentional misconduct, rejects his many years of service. Parzival responds with a fiery rebellion against the injustice perpetrated by God, questions the kindness and wisdom of the Almighty himself. The young Parzival rebels for a long time and is at enmity with the Almighty for a long time, but then he realizes the aimlessness of this rebellion. The image and idea of God merge with the image of a fertile nature, in general, everything that is good and good on earth. Such a concept of the deity was available to the warrior, and the cleric, and the city dweller. Parzival meets the wise hermit Trevricent and, thanks to his advice, again finds his way to the Grail castle of Muntsalves (Monsalvat), saves Anfortas from illness and inherits his throne, which the faithful Condviramura shares with him, finds recognition at the Round Table. His transformation into the perfect hero is complete.
"Parzival" is a complex moral and philosophical novel, the action of which takes place against the backdrop of lovingly and skillfully depicted everyday life and German life of the 12th century. The book is connected with many threads with the adventurous side of its time, it amazes with the richness of artistic means, all the characters are individual. They are also present in the novel elements of humor, irony and satire, directed primarily against the highest feudal nobility.Eschenbach was one of the first to express the most complex dialectic of feudal culture of the 12th-13th centuries - and its flourishing, and the emerging signs of crisis, and fragility, vulnerability.For some time he worked over the continuation of "Parzival" - the novel "Titurel" ("Titurel"), of which only two fragments have survived.
The complex moral and ethical problems of "Parzival", as well as the foreshadowing of the approaching crisis of courtly culture, are even more tangible in the novel by Gottfried of Strassburg (Gottfried von Strassburg) (died about 1220). "Tristan and Isolde" ("Tristan und Isolde") (written around 1210).
With Gottfried, a learned city dweller, a man of a new, emerging urban culture, comes to German literature. Strasbourg was one of its centers. One Anglo-Norman novel served as a model for Gottfried, but he approached the well-known plot as an opportunity to show the formation and development of a person, the difficult path of sinful human flesh, full of happiness and troubles. It turned out a completely new work, the author talks about the state of mind of the characters, their experiences. Unfortunately, the novel was left unfinished.
Renaissance. German humanism
The Renaissance culture of Germany is associated primarily with the flourishing of cities. The German humanists learned a lot from the humanists of Italy, but their worldview has a number of specific features. German humanism is developing on the threshold of the Reformation, and its attraction to satire is undoubtedly connected with this. Almost all significant German humanist writers were satirists, the main place in their work belongs to anti-clerical satire. In terms of social composition, they are heterogeneous: immigrants from the burghers predominated, but there were also peasants and knights. But Italian epicureanism is not inherent in German humanism; in antiquity, they valued primarily an arsenal of artistic techniques, so Lucian and the form of satirical dialogue were most popular. The German humanists studied the Bible in order to crush the authority of the Vulgate. They prepared the Reformation, not knowing that it would turn against humanism and that Luther would become their open enemy.
German humanism originated in Prague at the end of the 14th century, where the earliest examples of documents in New High German appeared, created under chancellor Johann of Neumarkt in the so-called language of the Bohemian office. But the decisive role in its formation was played by the southern German cities - Augsburg, Nuremberg and others. At this time, their economic heyday falls, due not least to their proximity to Italy. Humanists paid great attention to university education, trying to free it from the power of the church. At first, for this purpose, they translated into German works of ancient and Italian literature, over the years, however, they almost stopped writing in German. The change of languages meant the desire of progressive people, concerned about the fate of their homeland, to rise above the feudal particularism of Germany, at least in the linguistic environment, one of the expressions of which was the absence of a single literary language with a multitude of dialects. The humanists of the older generation did not think of directly influencing broad circles; they appealed to the enlightened minority, seeing in it the bulwark of a new culture. Only later does German humanism make an attempt to enter the broad public arena. At an earlier stage, he mainly fights against scholasticism. Its foundations were shaken, for example, by the outstanding scientist and thinker Nicholas of Cusa (Nikolaus von Kues) genannt Cusanus (1401-circa 1464), who studied mathematics and the natural sciences. Anticipating Copernicus, he argued that the Earth rotates and is not the center of the universe. As a cardinal, in his theological writings he went far beyond the limits of church dogma, for example, putting forward the idea of a universal rational religion that would unite Christians, Muslims and Jews. In political matters, Nicholas of Cusa also took the side of the humanists, defending the state unity of Germany.
Another prominent representative of German humanism was a friend of Albrecht Dürer, Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530), a brilliant Nuremberg patrician and highly educated person, known as a popularizer of Hellenic philosophy and literature and translating ancient Greek authors into Latin. He also translated into German the "Characters" of Theophrastus, dedicated to Dürer, Pirckheimer mourned the death of a friend in the heartfelt "Elegy on the death of Albrecht Dürer". When the obscurants began to persecute Reuchlin, Pirckheimer came out strongly in his defense.
Johannes Reuchlin) (1455-1522) was an armchair scholar who was completely immersed in science, but found time to write two Latin satirical comedies. He was distinguished by the breadth of scientific interests and inclination towards Neoplatonism. Believing, following Nicholas of Cusa, that the divine should be sought in man, Reuchlin saw his comrades-in-arms in the faith both in ancient scientists and in the followers of the Kabbalah. When the reactionary Catholic circles attacked the ancient sacred Jewish books, demanding their destruction, he boldly spoke out against the fanatics, standing up for freedom of thought and respect for cultural values, writing the pamphlet "Eye Mirror" ("Augenspiegel") (1511). Thus a dispute flared up that stirred up the whole country and went beyond its borders. Everyone who opposed the humanists rose up against Reuchlin. With special zeal, he and his like-minded people were persecuted by the professors of the University of Cologne Arnold of Tongre and Ortuin Gracius. The Cologne Inquisitor diligently sought to condemn Reuchlin as a heretic, but he was supported by the humanists of many countries. On his side was the color of the then culture, scientists, writers and statesmen who shared his views from all over Europe wrote letters to him, which were then published in the form of a book "Letters of Famous People" ("Clarorum virorum epistolae") (1514). This victory of the German humanists over the obscurants was prepared by the vigorous activity of Erasmus von Rotterdam (1466-1456), who, although not a proper German writer, played an outstanding role in the development of German humanism.
The struggle was in full swing, when a work appeared that dealt a crushing blow to obscurantists: "Letters from dark people" ( "Epistolae obscurorum virorum") (1515-1517) . One of its main authors was Mole Rubean ( Crotus Rubeanus, eigentl. Johannes Jaeger(1480-1539), others - Hermann von dem Busche (1468-1534), Ulrich von Hutten (1468-1523) actively participated in the second part. However, there could have been more authors. This book is a kind of analogy to Letters of Famous People. Various obscurants, including fictitious ones, allegedly write to Magister Ortuin Gratius. These are all local, provincial, ordinary people, they are all ignorant. The humanists recreated their spiritual world in such a way that many took the "Letters" for a genuine creation of the anti-humanist camp, when in reality we are dealing with one of the most brilliant examples of Renaissance satire. The private life of the obscurantists is also very unattractive. They are expressed in a funny mixture of German and "kitchen" Latin. Obscurants are absurd and tasteless in everything. Church obscurantism has never been spoken of so sharply and directly in Germany. The obscurantists were alarmed, and Ortuin Gracius himself rushed into battle, publishing the "Laments of the Dark People", proving once again that the "dark people" have nothing but malice and stupid hatred for everything advanced. The humanists rejoiced.
At the turn of the 13th-14th centuries. In Italy, the first collection of short stories - short stories - appears. Born from oral folk art, the short story finally took shape as a literary genre by the middle of the 14th century in the conditions of the cultural flourishing of the city-states of northern Italy. This is one of the most striking and characteristic products of the culture of the Italian Renaissance. The roots of the novel are in oral folk art, in sharp anecdotes about a resourceful and self-aware city dweller who leaves a fool for a narcissistic and unlucky knight, a voluptuous priest or a mendicant monk, or a lively and quick-witted townswoman. Close to anecdotes are the so-called facies (“a sharp word, a joke, a mockery”), from which the novella’s amusingness, energetic laconism of the narration, sharpness and showiness of an unexpected denouement come. The same sources informed the short story of its topical nature, the ability to touch upon acute life problems.
The short story gave the reader fresh material that he could not find in the works of other genres: epic poetry developed in line with the traditional chivalric romance, and the lyrics gravitated towards abstract philosophical constructions.
From the oral folk story comes another tradition characteristic of the short story: figurative, lively colloquial language, rich in proverbs and sayings, winged words and expressions.
Already in the first samples of the novella, light and shadows are distributed with the utmost clarity and sharpness in the very fabric of the narrative, so that the position of the author, his tendencies were indicated very sharply. But with the development of this form, with the aggravation of contradictions in life, only plot bias begins to seem insufficient. The narrative is enriched with various kinds of psychological observations and historical references, the characteristics of the characters are deepened, the motivation for events is enhanced; Increasingly, direct authorial remarks appear in the text, and sometimes lengthy digressions, reasoning "about" a sharp critical or other nature. Construction: usually the short story is preceded by an introduction, and it ends with a certain "moral". The identification of the author's idea was usually facilitated by the creation of collections of short stories, dividing them into parts, uniting short stories by themes and ideas, as well as framing the entire collection with author's stories about how, when and for what purpose the circle appeared, in which the short stories contained in the collection were told.
All these literary changes did not make the short stories less entertaining; the focus on entertaining the reader remains in place; the richness and immediacy of the folk genre, deep folk wisdom, to which humanistic ideas are added, are also preserved.
The spirit of a cheerful attitude to the world, deep attachment to earthly life, free thinking reigns in the short stories. New heroes appear - energetic, cheerful, enterprising people with a sense of their human dignity and natural right to happiness, able to stand up for themselves when it comes to protecting this right.
Typical stories:
- 1) a young townswoman lures into the house an excessively zealous priest who encroached on her honor, and together with her husband rewards him according to his deserts;
- 2) a young townswoman, weighed down by her forced seclusion and the jealousy of her old husband, deftly arranges a meeting with a young man she likes;
- 3) Tragedy: the heroine prefers death to the abandonment of her beloved.
The novel has developed over 3 centuries and during this time has undergone many changes. This was due to the socio-political conditions in Italy (the fall of the city-republics, the establishment of the dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie, the decline of trade and industry ...). In addition, Italy remained at this time fragmented strangely, in cities - various types of social and state structure, the cultures of city-states were seriously different. Therefore, the picture of the development of the Italian short story was extremely varied.
The father of the Italian short story was the Florentine Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). He managed to give the short story a classic look, to develop the canon that for a long time determined the development of the genre as a whole. An important prerequisite for this was the strong blood ties that linked Boccaccio with Republican Florence. All the progressive achievements that characterize the era of the early Renaissance, non-Florentine soil appear earlier and in a fuller and brighter form than in other Italian cities.
The cutting edge of the new, humanistic ideology and literature was directed primarily against the feudal Catholic worldview and medieval survivals. The situation created favorable conditions for a certain convergence of scientific culture and folk culture on the basis of common anti-feudal aspirations. The Italian literary language, created in the era of Dante on the basis of the Florentine dialect, made an important step forward in its development at that time, feeding on the riches of colloquial folk speech; Florentine writers showed a keen interest in oral folk art.
Boccaccio was one of the writers closest to folk culture, he treated with love the apt and figurative folk word. At the same time, he was also a passionate humanist scholar who devoted much time to the study of Latin and Greek, ancient literature and history. Having adopted the best traditions of the oral folk story, Boccaccio enriched them with the experience of Italian and world culture and literature. Under his pen, the Italian short story took shape, its characteristic language, themes, types. He used the experience of French humorous stories, ancient and medieval oriental literature. The material for the short story was contemporary reality; the short story is cheerful, freethinking, anti-clerical. Hence - a sharply critical attitude towards the short stories on the part of those in power for its cheerful spirit and sharp criticism of the clergy, for the folk, and not the Latin language. In contrast to those who considered the short story to be a "low" genre, Boccaccio argues that genuine inspiration and high skill are also needed to create it; he strengthened the educational impact of the newborn genre (“Good stories always serve the good”).
The richness of the artistic fabric of his short stories was created through skillfully introduced numerous remarks that reveal the psychology of the characters and the essence of events and guide the reader's perception. The development of the plot is often interrupted by the author's digressions of a journalistic nature, which simultaneously reflect both the humanistic point of view and the mood of the people. This is a protest against the hypocrisy and acquisitiveness of the clergy, lamenting the decline of morals, and so on.
Boccaccio wanted the novella to serve not only as a source of pleasure and entertainment, but also as a bearer of civilization, wisdom and beauty. He believed that it was in everyday life that the short story should capture the wisdom and beauty of life.
From these positions, his main work was created - the famous collection of short stories "The Decameron" (1350-1353).
The reason, the impetus for the creation of the book was the plague epidemic that Florence experienced in 1348. The plague not only destroyed a significant part of the population, but also had a corrupting effect on the consciousness and morals of citizens. On the one hand, along with penitential sentiments, the medieval fear of death and afterlife torments returned, all kinds of medieval prejudices and obscurantism were reborn. On the other hand, moral foundations were shaken: in anticipation of imminent death, the townspeople indulged in unbridled revelry, wasting their own and other people's property, violating the laws of morality.
In the introduction, the author says: a company of seven ladies and three young men decided to meet the plague in their own way. They wanted to resist the pernicious influence of the plague, to defeat it. In a country villa, they led a healthy, reasonable lifestyle, strengthening the spirit with music, singing, dancing and stories that tell about the triumph of human energy, will, intelligence, cheerfulness, selflessness, justice over the inert forces of the feudal Middle Ages, various kinds of prejudices and vicissitudes of fate. So, fully armed with a new cheerful worldview, they turned out to be invulnerable - if not for the plague, then for the pernicious influence of the remnants revived by it (“Death will not defeat them or strike them down cheerfully”).
Construction: "Decameron" (ten diary) consists of 100 short stories (10 days multiplied by 10 short stories). At the end of each day - a description of the life of this circle of young people. The author's narration about the life of the narrators is the frame of the entire collection, with the help of which the ideological unity of the work is emphasized.
The main thing for Boccaccio was the "principle of nature", which he reduced to the protection of man from the perversion and unnaturalness of medieval religious and social survivals. Boccaccio is a resolute and consistent opponent of ascetic morality, which declared the joys of material life to be sinful and called on a person to abandon them in the name of a reward in the next world. Many short stories justify sensual love, the desire for free expression and satisfaction of one's feelings; heroes are taken under protection, and especially heroines who know how to achieve their goal through bold, decisive actions and all sorts of cunning tricks. All of them act without regard to the formidable precepts of the Domostroy and without religious fear. From the point of view of Boccaccio, their actions are a manifestation of the legitimate, natural right of a person to freely express their feelings and achieve happiness. Love is not the satisfaction of base instincts, but one of the conquests of human civilization, a powerful force that ennobles a person, contributing to the awakening of high spiritual qualities in him. Example: (the first short story of the fifth day) the young man Gimone, falling in love, turns from a rude bumpkin into a well-mannered, enterprising and courageous person.
//Quote: Italian novel, p.16//
Boccaccio is worried about selfishness, rough calculation, money-grubbing, the moral decay of society. In contrast to this, in his short stories, he seeks to depict the image of a person, a high ideal that grew out of the novelist's ideas about "knightly behavior", closely merged with humanistic ideas about the true nobility of a person. Reasonable management of one's feelings, humanity and generosity left the basis of this code.
In the Decameron there is a group of romantic and heroic short stories, specially dedicated to depicting vivid examples of selflessness in love and friendship, generosity, generosity, which Boccaccio calls the “brilliance and torch” of any other virtue and makes triumph over class and religious prejudices. In these short stories, Boccaccio often turned to book material, sometimes not actually finding convincing examples of ideal behavior. In connection with these, his ideas did not always translate into full-blooded realistic images, acquiring a utopian connotation, although his faith in man remained unchanged.
Another important feature of the Decameron is its anti-clerical orientation, sharp criticism of the Catholic Church and, above all, the hypocrisy and hypocrisy characteristic of the church brethren (“rogues”, “rogues”). The character of these short stories is satirical. A certain Mr. Chappelletto, a scoundrel, a bribe-taker, a swindler, a misanthrope, a murderer, not being a religious person, but acting with the tried and tested weapon of clerics - hypocrisy - at the end of his life is awarded an honorary burial and acquires the posthumous glory of a saint.
An intelligent and subtle observer, an experienced and cheerful storyteller, Boccaccio knew how to extract the maximum of comedy from those acute situations in which priests, monks and nuns found themselves, acting contrary to their sermons and becoming victims of their own greed or voluptuousness.
Boccaccio speaks of the clergy in an evil and poisonous language. In the short stories there are sharp angry speeches against the monks, which are almost journalistic in nature. An inglorious end or brutal reprisal is the usual lot of the monks of the Decameron. Sooner or later, people bring them to clean water. Example: (day 4, short story 2) Brother Albert at night flew in the form of an angel to an unlucky Venetian; his adventures ended in the city square at the pillory, where he, previously smeared with honey and rolled in fluff, was exposed to general ridicule and torment caused by flies and horseflies.
At the heart of many short stories of the Decameron are conflicts caused by social inequality. Example: (day 4, short story 1) About Gismond, the daughter of the Prince of Salerno, who fell in love with her father's servant, "a man of low birth, but in his qualities and morals more noble than any other." By order of the prince, who was not convinced by his daughter's passionate speeches about the personal virtues of a person, independent of his origin and wealth, the servant was killed, and Gismonda took poison.
Such conflicts were not always resolved tragically: mind and energy, endurance and the consciousness of being right won. Example: (d.3, short story 8) A simple girl, the daughter of a doctor, who rendered great services to the French king and was given on his orders to marry the count she loved from her youth, in the end defeats the noble pride of the count, offended by such an unequal marriage, and gives him love and respect.
The Decameron brilliantly demonstrated the great possibilities of the small genre in covering and revealing various aspects of modern reality. Boccaccio created several types of short stories: 1) a fable - an anecdotal plot with an unexpected comic denouement; 2) a parable - a philosophical-moralistic, dramatic narrative with characteristic pathetic monologues; 3) history - adventures, ups and downs, experiences of heroes with a vivid description of the customs of citizens and city life.
Boccaccio had a remarkable command of the art of the short story and was the greatest of all novelists of the Italian Renaissance. After Boccaccio, the development of the novel continued.
Masuccio Guardatti(15th century): "Novellino" - listed by the Vatican in the index of banned books (destroyed for the heresy speeches of the novelist in defense of early Christianity, who did not know churches and monasteries with their wealth and depravity).
Giraldi Cinthio (16th century): "One Hundred Tales" - the reason - the plague in Rome, but the attitude towards the epidemic is different: this is a punishment for the depravity of morals and the decline of religiosity. Moralization often poured out in defense of conservative views and - voluntarily or involuntarily - was directed against the achievements of humanistic thought. The short story of the 7th third decade is indicative, which tells about the love of the young Venetian Disdemona for the valiant Moor, who is in the service of the republic. Only in the Renaissance did love become possible, breaking age-old racial, religious and other prejudices. But for Giraldi, this is a "bloody genre" used to preach conservative views. The Moor has lost his valor and nobility, he shows only his African passion and cruelty, Disdemona - as an instructive example for noble girls, as a victim of unbridled, hasty, violating the age-old foundations of hobbies. (“How can I not become a fearsome example for girls who marry against the will of their parents”). This is a typical crime story, a naturalistic description of the murder of Disdemona.
Matteo Bandello(k.15 - 1561): a short story about Romeo and Juliet is a touching, dramatic story that reveals the wildness and inertia of feudal morality and glorifies, completely in the spirit of the humanistic philosophy of "nature", the free expression of feelings by a person. This is a sad, touching story, with which the author wanted to influence young people who are too hot, passionate, forgetting the arguments of reason in matters of love. In Bandello, Shakespeare found not only the plot basis, but also a number of starting points for characterizing Juliet, Romeo, and the monk Lorenzo. Creativity Bandello - the result of three hundred years of development of the Italian short story.
23. German literature of the Renaissance (“Ship of Fools” by S. Brant, Ulrich von Hutten).
BRANT SEBASTIAN (SEBASTIAN) (1457/1458 - 05/10/1521) - a famous German scientist of the Middle Ages, lawyer, writer, humanist and satirist, founder of the democratic trend of German burgher satire, who laid the foundation for "literature about fools" in the Renaissance. Brant occupies an intermediate position between medieval "enlightenment" and Renaissance humanism.
Brant's literary heritage consists of political and historical works and sayings. At the age of forty, Sebastian began to compose Latin verse (1498) - poems of a political, religious, historical and didactic nature; to compose codes of laws, but he was most famous for his poetic work in German, The Ship of Fools (1494). In Brant's poetry, there is a strong attraction to the folk language, a desire to use folk verse. In adulthood, poetry began to be distinguished by sarcasm, harsh satire and "philosophy of wisdom."
In the book "Ship of Fools" all kinds of vices were considered by Brant as varieties of stupidity, fools acted as the personification of vices. The image of a “trip” or “swimming” of fools also figured here. Brant, in his satire, made an attempt to collect all conceivable vices and weaknesses together and present them in the form of various "stupidities". At the same time, he is not always consistent: either he is talking about a "ship of fools", or about a whole "stupid fleet". "Fools" Brant - one hundred and eleven varieties of human stupidity. Each of the characters personifies some one human weakness (selfishness, money-grubbing, bad manners, debauchery, adultery, envy, etc.), but all vices, from the author's point of view, result from natural human stupidity. Brant's characters are devoid of individuality (names, biographies, characters), since the image is created solely by what is endowed with an all-consuming passion. The hero does not appear in the story alone, but always in a community of his kind. The gallery of images of fools has many faces. These are old fools who teach the young all sorts of nonsense; these are red tape, ready to endure any mockery of the cheat of Venus; these are gossips, intriguers and squabblers. There are also narcissists, sycophants, players, false saints, charlatan doctors and harlots on the “ship”.
The author tries not to miss a single human sin. Since the stupidity of the character is always exaggerated, the image is caricatured or even caricatured. The author crowns fools with a cap with bells and often calls one or the other Hans the Fool. It is not uncommon for Brant to compare crazy fools with donkeys. At the same time, the abundance and variety of heroes testifies to the thoroughness of the author, who thoroughly studied the private and public life of Germany on the eve of the Reformation. His satire is anti-Catholic and anti-bourgeois. His heroes are protected from retribution for their deeds by indulgences. The motto of the church was the rule: if you want to sin, pay. This is why, Brant suggests, evil goes unpunished.
The author of the "Ship of Fools" complains that a person is judged not by his merits, but by his wealth. The rich man in any company is provided with the most honorable place. Brant mourns that His Majesty Mr. Pfennig reigned over the world! Greeders, usurers, dealers, swindlers and beggars rush to take possession of it. The author does not make a distinction between a character trait and a profession, since all of his characters are greedy for profit. On the contrary, modest, honest and poor people are dear to him. The antipodes of proprietors are those virtues for which Luther and his followers will stand up - hard work, moderation, humility.
Ulrich von Hutten
BIOGRAPHY
He was the eldest son in a poor knightly family. Due to his poor health, his father gave him in 1499 to a Benedictine monastery in Fulda to become a monk when he reached the required age. But Ulrich did not like the monastery and in the summer of 1506 he entered the University of Erfurt. Then he moved to the University of Leipzig.
In Leipzig in 1508 he contracted syphilis.
In 1509, Hutten published his first work, Nemo, in Rostock. In 1511 at Wittenberg he published De Arte Versificandi on versification, which became known both in Germany and abroad.
After that he visited Vienna, Venice, Pavia and Bologna, in Italy he studied law.
In 1514, Hutten received an invitation to the court of the Archbishop of Mainz Albrecht. In Mainz Hutten met Erasmus of Rotterdam. Here he wrote the second part of the "Letters of Dark People" with criticism of the opponents of Johann Reuchlin.
In 1522, Hutten became the ideological leader of the Knights' Revolt.
He died at the age of 35 on Lake Zurich from complications of syphilis.
CREATIVITY AND PUBLIC ACTIVITIES
Ulrich von Hutten was one of the first humanists who realized the need to unite the forces of the opposition for a decisive struggle against Rome for the independence of Germany and the free development of culture. Contrary to the persistent prejudices of his estate, he brilliantly mastered the achievements of European humanism and became an outstanding master of satire, rhetoric, political journalism, the most secular figure in his views among the German humanists. Political and cultural interests dominated his work. He vigorously propagated the ancient heritage, defended freedom of speech from the attacks of obscurants - "censors of sciences", glorified the strength of the mind and will of man in the struggle for earthly happiness, and argued that "God helps only those who are enterprising and active." Hutten perceived scholastic theology as a pseudoscience of "certain irrefutable", a refuge for the ignorant. Without abandoning the noble pride of his ancestry, he shared humanistic ideas about the role of a person's personal merits in gaining true nobility. As a writer, Hutten was one of the most witty authors of his time. He knew how to skillfully combine angry denunciations with the pathos of affirming humanistic ideals.
Hutten made an important contribution to the development of reformist sentiments in the country, sharply attacking the main church institutions, all levels of the church hierarchy, and the system of exploitation of Germany by the papacy. He first published Lorenzo Valla's work on the forgery of the so-called Constantine gift - one of the main pillars of the papacy in its worldly claims. He ironically dedicated this edition to Pope Leo X. Based on Tacitus, Gutten created the ideal image of the ancient German warrior for the freedom of the fatherland from Rome - Arminius. The dialogue with this hero was published only after the death of Hutten, but Hutten developed the same theme of the liberation of the country from Roman domination in his other dialogues, as well as in speeches, messages, poems, becoming the most popular author in Germany on the eve of the Reformation.
Initially evaluating Luther's speech against indulgences as yet another "squabbling of monks" useful for humanists, Hutten soon realized the national and political significance of Luther's writings and actions and joined the Reformation. In an effort to activate broad sections of German society, he supplemented his works in Latin with a series of works in German, overcoming the orientation characteristic of humanists only towards educated circles. Unlike Luther, he became the leading spokesman for anti-princely tyrannical ideas and called for war against Rome and the priests. Although the ultimate goals of his political program reflected the unfounded hopes of chivalry for control over society, the main place in Hutten's work was occupied by what he considered the primary task - advocating for a single German centralized state, a church independent of Rome, and the development of culture on a humanistic basis. As a result, the glory of a patriot, a fighter "for the freedom of Germany" was fixed for Hutten.
His saying "Breathing in the air of freedom" became the motto of Stanford University.
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Page 1 Representatives of the Melik family in the Russian serviceSpecial question. Law Institute. Israel Ori. Melikov Pavel Moiseevich. Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov. The purpose of this work is to study the contribution of the Armenian people both to the Armenian-Russian relations economic systemThe concept of economic systems. Classification of economic systems. Types of economic systems. traditional economic system. Command-administrative system. Market system. mixed system. General concepts of crises. Typology of crises. Cycles of social reproduction and their role in the occurrence of economic crises. Basic theories of economic crises. Features of the Russian economic system Complaint about the installation of road signs and traffic lightsIn the city of Votkinsk, remarks were found on the installation of road signs and traffic lights, which create controversial situations, mislead traffic participants and do not meet the requirements of traffic rules. Follow-up planar antennaDepartment of radioelectronic attachments and systems Laboratory work. Vivchennya principles pobudov planar antennas. |
At the turn of the 1819 centuries. Weimar was rightfully considered the literary center of Germany, giving the name to the period of the late Enlightenment “Weimar classicism”. Meanwhile, romanticism gained momentum. However, there were three writers in this era who stood apart, Jean Paul, author of lengthy novels; poet-prophet Hölderlin and Kleist, author of comedies and entertaining plays.
Romanticism. Already in the 18th century. in Germany, France and England, trends emerged that promised the coming "romantic revolution", which took place in these countries at the turn of the century. Unsteadiness, fluidity constituted the very essence of romanticism, which promoted the idea of an unattainable goal, forever alluring the poet. Like the philosophical systems of Fichte and Schelling, romanticism considered matter as a derivative of the spirit, believing that creativity is a symbolic language of the eternal, and a complete comprehension of nature (scientific and sensual) reveals the total harmony of being.
For the Berliner W. G. Wackenroder (17731798) and his friend Tieck, the medieval world was a real discovery. Some essays by Wackenroder, collected in his and Tick's book Heartfelt outpourings of a monk, art lover(1797), reflect this aesthetic experience, preparing a specifically romantic conception of art. The most prominent theorist of Romanticism was Schlegel, whose aesthetic and historical-philosophical works on the culture of Europe and India had a huge impact on literary criticism far beyond Germany. F. Schlegel was the ideologist of the magazine "Atheneum" ("Atheneum", 17981800). Collaborating with him on the magazine was his brother August Wilhelm (1767-1845), also a gifted critic, who influenced Coleridge's concepts and helped to spread the ideas of German romanticism in Europe.
Thicke, who put into practice the literary theories of his friends, became one of the most famous authors of that time. Of the early romantics, the most gifted was Novalis (real name F. von Hardenberg), whose unfinished novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen ends with a symbolic fairy tale about the liberation of matter through the spirit and the assertion of the mystical unity of all that exists.
The theoretical foundation laid by the early Romantics ensured the extraordinary literary productivity of the next generation. At this time, famous lyric poems were written, set to music by F. Schubert, R. Schumann, G. Wolf, and charming literary tales.
Herder's collection of European folk poetry found a romantic equivalent in a purely German anthology Boy's magic horn(18061808), published by A. von Arnim (17811831) and his friend C. Brentano (17781842). The largest collectors among the Romantics were the brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. In his illustrious collection Children's and family tales(18121814) they completed the most difficult task: they processed the texts, preserving the originality of the folk tale. The second business of the life of both brothers was the compilation of a dictionary of the German language. They also published a number of medieval manuscripts. The liberal-patriotic L. Uhland (17871862), whose ballads in the style of folk poetry are famous to this day, as well as some of the poems of W. Muller (17941827), set to music by Schubert, had similar interests. Great master of romantic poetry and prose ( From the life of a slacker, 1826) was J. von Eichendorff (17881857), in whose work the motifs of the German baroque echoed.
The action of the best short stories of this era takes place in a semi-real-semi-fantastic world for example, in Undine(1811) F. de la Motte Fouquet and The amazing story of Peter Schlemil(1814) A. von Chamisso. Outstanding representative of the genre Hoffmann. Dream-like fantastic narratives earned him worldwide fame. The whimsical short stories by W.Hauf (18021827), with their realistic background, foreshadowed a new artistic method.
Realism. After the death of Goethe in 1832, the classical-romantic period in German literature came to an end. The political reality of the era did not correspond to the lofty ideas of the writers of the previous period. In philosophy, which turned towards materialism, the leading place belonged to L. Feuerbach and K. Marx; in the literature, more and more attention was paid to social reality. Only in the 1880s was realism supplanted by naturalism with its radical programs.
The work of some authors born at the turn of the century was of a transitional nature. The landscape lyrics by N. Lenau (18021850) reflected the desperate search for peace and tranquility. F. Ruckert (17881866), like Goethe, turned to the East and masterfully recreated his poetry in German; at the same time in verse Sonnets in lats, 1814) he supported the war of liberation against Napoleon. Poland's struggle for independence became the subject of many poems by A. von Platen (17961835), who spent the last years of his life in Italy, singing his eternal ideal Beauty in perfect verses. E.Mörike (18041875) developed in his poetry the rich literary heritage of the past.
Not accepting the departure of most of the then authors from reality into an imaginary, imaginary world, the group of liberal writers "Young Germany" proclaimed the ideals of citizenship and freedom. L. Berne (17861837) occupies a special place among them, but only one of the great writers in this movement, albeit temporarily, was Heine. Over the years, the bitter contrast between dream and reality has brought irony and emotional discord into the poet's work. In later narrative poems Atta Troll(1843) and Germany. winter fairy tale(1844) Heine fully revealed a bright satirical talent.
A growing awareness of the role of the environment characterized the development of prose in the middle and late 19th century. The best achievements belong to the genre of the short story, which has been successfully cultivated in Germany since about 1800. However, due to the limited volume, the short story could not embody the fateful socio-political changes in the life of the nation. C. L. Immerman (17961840) in the novel Epigones(1836) a name symbolic for the entire post-Goethian period tried to portray the collapse of the old social order under the onslaught of commercialism. Immerman's Immoral Society Oberhof, one of the parts of the novel Munchausen(18381839), contrasted the image of a "healthy" straightforward peasant. The novels of the Swiss I. Gotthelf (pseudo; real name A. Bitzius, 17971854) are also devoted to the life of peasants.
The first successful novels in dialects appear, in particular the works of F. Reuther (18101974) in Low German From the time of the French invasion(1859) and its sequels. Readers' interest in alien life was satisfied by such writers as Ch. Ship's log(1841) in many ways contributed to the formation of the image of America among the Germans.
Drawing inspiration from her native Westphalia, the German poetess Annette von Droste-Gülshof (17971848) created her own lyrical language, echoing the voice of nature. Only in the 20th century the significance of the works of the Austrian A. Stifter (18051868) was revealed, who focused on the fundamental principles of existence in nature and society ( Etudes, 18441850). His idyllic romance Indian summer(1857) marked by conservative tendencies, which intensified after the revolution of 1848, and loyalty to the humanistic ideal in the spirit of Goethe; Stifter's heroes often come to stoic humility. The same motif plays an important role in the work of T. Storm (18171888), a native of Northern Germany. Following the early lyrical short stories among them stands out Immensee(1850) came out even more impressive Aquis submersus(lat.; water absorption, 1876) and Rider on a white horse(1888). W. Raabe (1831-1910), in search of a refuge from pessimism, plunged into the wild world of lonely little people. Beginning with Chronicles of Sparrow Street(1857) he continued the tradition of the humorous novel, which in Germany goes back to Jean Paul.
The poetic realism that a number of critics see in all the artistic prose of this period is easily understood by the example of the Swiss novelist Keller (1819-1890). Based on the philosophy of Feuerbach, he discovered the miracle of beauty even under the most nondescript appearance. In his work he achieved the harmony of reality and poetic vision. Keller's compatriot C.F. Meyer (18251898) wrote elegant historical novels, in particular from the Renaissance ( Marriage of a monk, 1884). In both prose and poetry, Meyer endowed circumstances with symbolic meaning. The perfection of form is also characteristic of the stories of the prolific and at one time very popular P. Geise (1830-1914). T. Fontane (18191898) shared the interest of his predecessors in history (ballads and novel Shah von Wutenow, 1883) and home province ( Wanderings on the Brandenburg stamp, 18621882). Fontana was especially successful in analyzing the metropolitan society in the novel Effie Brist (1895).
Literature of the 20th century Hurray-patriotism, feigned optimism and the fabulous character of a whole series of literary works of the late 19th century. characterize the background against which modern German-language literature developed. The rebellion against these tendencies began with the rise of naturalism and did not stop until the Nazis put a straitjacket on literature. This whole period is characterized by the widest experimentation, when many writers became the prey of one or another literary hobby.
German naturalism had forerunners in France and Scandinavia. According to the then philosophical and natural-science theories, the personality was determined by heredity and environment. The humanist writer was now primarily interested in the ugly reality of industrial society, with its unresolved social problems.
The most typical naturalist poet was A. Holz (18631929); there were no bright discoveries in the field of the novel. However, the clashes of heterogeneous characters, whose lack of freedom was aggravated by determinism, contributed to the emergence of a number of dramatic works that have not lost their significance.
Enduring literary value was provided to his works by Hauptmann, who began as a naturalist and steadily expanded the scope of his work, up to classicism (plays on ancient subjects), in which he is quite comparable to Goethe. The diversity inherent in Hauptmann's dramas is also found in his narrative prose ( Holy fool Emanuel Quint, 1910; Adventure of my youth, 1937).
With the advent of Freud's pioneering work, the focus of literature shifted from social conflict to a more subjective exploration of the individual's reactions to his environment and himself. In 1901 A. Schnitzler (18621931) published the story Lieutenant Gustl, written in the form of an internal monologue, and a number of impressionistic theatrical sketches, where subtle psychological observations and pictures of the degradation of the metropolitan society are fused ( Anatole, 1893; round dance, 1900). The pinnacle of poetic achievements is the work of D. Lilienkron (18441909) and R. Demel (18631920), who created a new poetic language that can vividly express lyrical experience. Hoffmannsthal, combining the style of impressionism with the Austrian and pan-European literary tradition, created unusually deep poems and several poetic plays ( Fool and death, 1893).
At the same time, interest in the work of Nietzsche flared up, whose analysis of traditional morality is based on his famous thesis "God is dead." In terms of literature, Nietzsche's brilliant language, especially in the work Thus spoke Zarathustra(18831885), became a model for a whole generation, and some of the philosopher's ideas resulted in the wonderful, strict verses of George, whose poetry echoes French Symbolism and English Pre-Raphaelites. Gheorghe is associated with the formation of a circle of writers who were largely under his influence and took over from him an interest in a number of half-forgotten aspects of the cultural tradition. In contrast to George's elitist missionary work, Rilke was focused on himself and his art. The senseless horrors of the First World War forced him to seek his own esoteric worldview in Duino (Duino) elegies(1923) and Sonnets to Orpheus(1923), which are rightfully considered the pinnacles of poetry.
No less significant achievements took place in prose. T. Mann is the most prominent representative of a galaxy of writers, among whom was his older brother G. Mann (18711950), known for his satirical and political novels.
If Thomas Mann's central theme is the dichotomy of life and art (a particular case the antithesis "burgher artist"), then Kafka in his posthumously published novels Process, Lock and America posed the problem of existence as such. In his visionary objectification of the whimsical processes of human thought, ultimately aimed at unraveling the eternal mystery of being, Kafka created his own mythological world, and his work had a great influence on European literature. The expressive scope and main theme (the collapse of the monarchy) by R. Musil (18801942) are also found in the novels of his compatriot H. von Doderer (18961966) Strudlhof stairs(1951) and Demons(1956). The early works of Hesse, the penetrating autobiographical novels of H. Carossa (18781956) and the search for a “pure” life in the novel Simple life(1939) by E. Wiechert (18771950) are closely connected with the German literary tradition. Hesse's later novels reflect the dismay of the individual after the First World War and testify to the influence of psychoanalysis ( Demian, 1919; steppe wolf, 1927) and Indian mysticism ( Siddhartha, 1922). His main novel Bead game(1943), combining utopia and reality, sums up the views of the writer, as it were. Turning historical epochs, the crisis of religious consciousness became a favorite material for such novelists as Ricarda Huh (18641947), Gertrude Le Fort (18761971) and W. Bergengrün (18921964), while Zweig was attracted by the demonic impulses of great historical figures . The First World War gave rise to a number of significant works: apocalyptic scenes Last days of mankind(1919) by the Viennese essayist K. Kraus (18741936), ironic Dispute about Unter Grisha(1927) Zweig, Remarque's extraordinarily popular novel All Quiet on the Western Front(1929). Subsequently, Remarque consolidated this success with action-packed novels ( Triumphal Arch, 1946).
After the First World War, the need for new values urgently declared itself. The Expressionists loudly and sharply proclaimed the reform of society and the individual. Missionary fervor brought to life the outstanding poems of the prophetic G. Trakl (18871914) and F. Werfel (18901945). Werfel's early prose also belongs to expressionism, but in his later novels historical and religious motifs prevailed ( Forty Days of Musa Dagh, 1933; Song of Bernadette, 1941). In the same way, A. Döblin (18781957) after the socio-psychological novel Berlin, Alexanderplatz(1929), stylistically ("stream of consciousness") reminiscent of J. Joyce, turned to the search for religious values.
Literature of the Third Reich. After the Nazis came to power, over 250 German writers, poets, and writers left the country T. and G. Mann, Remarque, Feuchtwanger, Zweig, Brecht, and others. Books by progressive German and foreign writers and thinkers were thrown into the bonfires on the campuses of the universities.
Some of the writers who remained in the country withdrew from literary activity. The rest were asked to write within the four genres approved by the 8th Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Propaganda and the Imperial Chamber of Literature, which from 1933 was headed by playwright Hans Jos. These were: 1) “front-line prose”, glorifying the front-line brotherhood and wartime romanticism; 2) "party literature" works reflecting the Nazi worldview; 3) "patriotic prose" nationalist works, with an emphasis on German folklore, the mystical incomprehensibility of the German spirit; 4) "racial prose", exalting the Nordic race, its traditions and contribution to world civilization, the biological superiority of the Aryans over other "inferior" peoples.
The most talented works in German during this period were written among émigré writers. At the same time, a number of capable writers were attracted to cooperate with the Third Reich Ernst Glezer, Hans Grimm, whose novel People without space widely used by Nazi propaganda. Ernst Junger in an essay Worker. dominance and gestalt,About the pain in the novel On the marble cliffs(1939) developed the image of a worker-soldier, a heroic figure who draws a line to the “burgher era”. Gottfried Benn defended the aesthetic side of Nazi nihilism, seeing in National Socialism "a stream of hereditary life-affirming energy." Günther Weisenborn and Albrecht Haushofer (Moabite sonnets) dared to criticize Nazism in their works, for which they were persecuted.
Within the framework of the standard requirements of Nazi propaganda, Werner Bumelburg novels about front-line camaraderie, Agnes Megel provincial "folk" literature, Rudolf Binding and Berris von Munchausen epic poems about chivalry and male virtues.
In general, the period of Nazi totalitarianism was a significant test for the writers of Germany, putting everyone before a choice, and not so much aesthetic as political.
Modern tendencies. After World War II, the focus shifted from the horrors of war to the issue of guilt. The suffering of the Jews and the extermination of the people under Hitlerism found a particularly vivid reflection in the work of two poets P. Celan (19201970) and Nelly Sachs, who raised this topic to the level of suffering of all mankind. In 1966 Nellie Sachs was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among socialist writers, Anna Zegers (19001983) deserves special mention, with her novel seventh cross(1942) the story of the escape from the concentration camp.
The despair of the war-torn young generation, which gave the so-called. "literature in ruins", clearly shows in the radio play by W. Borchert (19211947) On the street in front of the door(1947). The military theme is also reflected in the surreal nightmare of the novel. City across the river(1947) by G.Kazak (18961966), and in the existentialist atmosphere of such novels by H.E.Nossak (19011977) as Nekiya(1947) and The Unthinkable Judgment(1959), and in the late poems of G. Benn (18861956).
In the post-war years, Swiss German-language literature produced major writers. The grotesque plays of F. Dürrenmatt ruthlessly exposed the venality of human nature. M. Frisch (19111991) confirmed the regularity of his fame with such plays as Biderman and the arsonists(1958) and Andorra(1961). The theme of self-acquisition and alienation, first touched upon in the novels Stiller(1954) and Homo faber(1957), will turn into a whimsical "narrative game" in I'll call myself Gantenbein(1964). Frishevsky diaries 19661971 (1972) reflect the complex nature of modern artistic and ideological predilections.
After Germany's defeat in World War II, the Soviet Union and the Western occupying powers attempted to revive the country's cultural life by encouraging it to turn towards German classical and humanist traditions. In the first years after the war in the east of Germany, in the theatrical repertoire, which included, for example, the plays of J. Anouilh, J.-P. Sartre, T. S. Eliot, T. Wilder, T. Williams, it was difficult to find significant differences from the repertoire in western zones of occupation. But as the Cold War grew, the occupying powers began to gradually restructure their cultural policies as well. In East Germany, tolerance in the field of literary politics quickly gave way to the dictates of socialist realism. The development of East German literature went through a series of "frosts" caused mainly by foreign policy events: 1949-1953 from the formation of two German states to the death of Stalin; 19561961 from the uprising in Hungary to the construction of the Berlin Wall; 19681972 from the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to the diplomatic recognition of the GDR by the FRG and the international community; 19771982 from the expulsion of the poet V. Birman to relative stabilization. Between the "freezes" in the GDR, there were short periods of liberalization. For the initial period are typical About those who are with us(1951) E. Claudius (19111976), Burgomaster Anna(1950) F. Wolf (18881953) and Katzgraben(1953) E. Stritmatter (19121995).
One of the most human novels of post-war literature, Naked among the wolves(1958; in Russian translation In the wolf's mouth) B. Apica (19001979), tells about the unimaginable efforts of the prisoners of the concentration camp, rescuing a small child from the executioners. In the novel Jacob the liar(1968) J. Becker (b. 1937) addresses the theme of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. A number of "return novels" ("Ankunftsromane") reflected the difficulties of the transition from fascist to socialist ideology, for example The Adventures of Werner Holt(1960, 1963) D. Noll (b. 1927). G. Kant (b. 1926) assembly hall(1964) with a fair amount of humor told about the education and upbringing of young workers during the formation of the GDR. The Bitterfeld Movement (1959) demanded increased attention to the problems of the working class. Until 1989, the leadership of the GDR continued to support groups of amateur writers from the working environment, which gave rise to the so-called. "introductory literature" (after the novel by Brigitte Ryman Introduction, 1961) novels Trail of stones(1964) E. Neucha (b. 1931), Ole Binkop(1964) Stritmatter et Krista Wolf (b. 1929) in her first novel shattered sky(1963) writes about a woman forced to choose between love and socialism.
The West German "Group 47" ("Gruppe 47") united most of the major German prose writers and critics. Two of the most famous, U.Jonzon (19341984) and Grass, moved to the West from East Germany. Yonzon novels Speculation about Jacob(1959) and The third book about Achim(1961) reveal the painful psychological and worldly discord in a divided country. In trilogy anniversaries(1970, 1971, 1973) History itself stands behind the detailed stories of life. Grass became world famous after the publication of the novel tin drum(1959). Other significant prose writers include Belli A. Schmidt (1914-1979). Böll's early stories and novels deal with dehumanization in war. The pinnacle of Schmidt's work, marked by artistic search, is considered to be monumental Zettel's dream (1970).
Since the 1970s, there has been a move away from politicized literature in Germany. The works of the Austrian P. Handke (b. 1942) explored the psychological and social structures underlying aesthetic and linguistic conventions. In his Goalkeeper's fear of a penalty kick(1970) recreated paranoid reality, and in A short letter for a long goodbye(1972) a gradual recovery from such a picture of the world. The Lost Honor of Katharina Bloom(1975) Böll and Birth of a sensation(1977) Wallraf exposed the destructive power of the Springer newspaper empire. Under the escort of care(1979) Böll examines the impact of terrorism on life and social institutions in Germany. The aesthetics of resistance (1975, 1978, 1979) and the “folk plays” by F.K. However, confessional openness came to the fore. From Montauk(1975) Frisch before Lenz(1973) P. Schneider (b. 1940) and Youth(1977) W. Köppen (19061996), the authors gradually moved from political issues to personal experience.
A trend towards subjectivity and autobiography also emerged in East Germany. Reflections on Christ T.(1968) Krista Wolf marked this shift by narrating the problems of a young woman searching for herself; images of childhood(1976) and There is no place. nowhere(1979) continued this intimate psychological line. The literature of the GDR did not pass by the theme of feminism, although in a socialist aspect ( Cassandra, 1984, Christa Wolf; Franziska Linkerhand, 1974, Brigitte Ryman, 19361973; Karen W., 1974, Gerty Tetzner, b. 1936; panther woman, 1973, Sarah Kirsch, b. 1935; The Life and Adventures of the Troubadour Beatrice, 1974, Irmtraud Morgner, b. 1933).
After the reunification of Germany, the search for a way out of the gravitational field of the topic of "German military guilt" becomes relevant. German society is increasingly acquiring the features of a mobile middle class society, turning, in accordance with the ideology of M. Houellebeck, into a kind of huge supermarket of ideas, things, relationships, etc. Most interestingly, these trends in Germany in the 1990s were refracted in the work of Christian Kracht (b. 1966) . The hero of his cult novel Faserland (1995) a consumer to the core, but an "advanced" consumer, with great respect for the "correct" choice of manufacturers of clothing, shoes, food, etc. In order to bring his image to perfection, he lacks an intellectual passion that would finally complement his “bright image”. To this end, he travels around Europe, but everything he has to meet makes him sick, literally and figuratively.
The hero of another work by K. Kracht 1979 an intellectual who found himself in the “hot spots” of 1979 for approximately the same reason as the hero Faserland's. The difference between the advanced consumer of 1995 and the stoned, relaxed intellectual of 1979 is not as great as it seems at first glance. They are both kind of intellectual tourists who want to get some essential life values from the outside in a ready-made form. But the tactic of borrowing from the outside does not work and makes obvious the need to make a different kind of effort - to move inside oneself and one's personal history. However, considerations of political correctness come into force here - how not to "drive" into something unsightly, like Nazism.
In 1999 Kracht and four of his fellow writers Benjamin von Stukrad-Barre (autobiographical novels Solo album, Live album, Remix), Nickel, von Schonburg and Bessing rented a room in an expensive hotel and for three days debated popular topics relating to various aspects of modern life. Their conversations, recorded on tape, were published in a book. royal sadness a kind of manifesto for a new generation of German writers. Its essence is in recognizing superficiality as the main virtue of our time, since the “deep” searches of previous generations did not lead to anything good. Therefore, the new generation prefers to stay on the surface of everyday life and pop culture fashion, TV, music. In this spirit, in addition to the authors mentioned, write Reinald Goetz, Elke Natters, and others. The anthology contains 16 young German writers Mesopotamia, compiled by K. Kraht, is also about finding remedies for boredom and indifference. Whether the younger generation will be able to not get lost on the way from a nightclub to a fashion boutique and find their “light at the end of the tunnel”, time will tell.
In turn, a representative of the previous generation, the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (1946), laureate of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, does not refuse the opportunity to reveal, analyze the laws of the functioning of the so-called civilized society, as well as ordinary and class consciousness. According to the writer, it is in them that the germs of violence are laid, which subsequently develop into female and sexual despotism, violence at work, terrorism, fascism, etc. The most famous novels by Jelinek mistresses, Pianist, In front of a closed door,Lust,Children of the Dead.
Everyday life, the boredom of everyday life is an extremely common theme in modern German literature. Detailed melancholy descriptions of the usual banalities of life are full of books by young authors Maike Wezel, Georg-Martin Oswald, Julia Frank, Judith Hermann, Stefan Beuse, Roman Bernhof. Nicole Birnhelm in the story Two minutes to the train station conveys the oppressive feeling of a dumb ban on the manifestation of feelings, fear of sight and touch, fenced off and loneliness of citizens. Ingo Schulze in the novel Simple Story indulges in nostalgia for the GDR, punctually listing the details of the life of a German family under socialism habits, trips, lifestyle, small events.
A kind of entertaining reading for intellectuals can be attributed to the work of Patrick Suskind (1949) his novel Perfumer(1985), as well as short stories Dove, The Story of Herr Sommer, novel double bass and others brought the author to the ranks of world sales leaders in the field of popular literature. Suskind regards his writing as a rejection of the "merciless compulsion to depth" that criticism demands. His characters usually experience difficulties in finding their place in the world, in establishing contacts with other people, from any kind of danger, they tend to close in their little world. The writer is also interested in the themes of the formation and collapse of a genius in art.
Arouse interest and works-confessions novel Crazy young author Benjamin Lebert, about the revelations of a teenager suffering from a mild form of paralysis, instantly sold 300,000 copies. A story by Thomas Brussig sunny alley about teenagers living near the Berlin Wall, in love and restless, claims that memories associated with the totalitarian period can be bright and happy. Psychological novel by Michael Lentz Declaration of love written in a stream of consciousness style it is about the crisis of marriage, about a new love, about the city of Berlin.
After the unification of Germany, a “historical direction” began to develop in German literature Michael Kumpfmüller writes about the confrontation between the two Germanys in the recent past and the fate of people who find themselves between the two systems. In the novels of Christoph Brumme (1966) Nothing but this, a thousand days, Obsessed with lies, in an essay City after the wall we are also talking about the changes associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. German writers are also interested in fragments of Russian history Günter Grass wrote a book Crab trajectory, which is based on the story of the documentary writer Heinz Schoen about the Soviet submarine S-13 under the command of Alexander Marinesko. Walter Kempowski published a 4-volume echo sounder a collective diary of January-February 1943, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, and continues to work on echo sounder-2 covering 19431947. He also wrote an autobiographical novel In a prison cell about 8 years of imprisonment in the German NKVD.
In modern Germany, a collection of 26 authors was published whose parents are not German, but they were born, raised and live in Germany, Morgenland. Recent German Literature. In the youth almanac X. Ygrek. Zet. the first stories and essays of German teenagers are published.
Books by older writers continue to be published. The book by Martin Walser (1927) received a great response. Death of a Critic accusations of anti-Semitism rained down on the writer because of the nationality of the prototype of his hero. Hugo Lecher's Books Continue to Publish (1929) collection of short stories Hump(2002) and others . Many new names appeared Arnold Stadler, Daniel Kelman, Peter Heg, Ernst Jandl, Karl Valentin, Rainer Kunze, Heinrich Belle, Heinz Erhardt, Yoko Tawada, Loriot, R. Mayer and others.
German-language prose today is also represented by authors from Austria and Switzerland. In addition to the Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek mentioned above, the Austrian writers Josef Hazlinger and Marlena Streruvitz gained fame. In the novel Viennese Ball(1995) by Hazlinger, long before the events of the Moscow Nord-Ost, the possibility of a gas attack by terrorists at the Vienna Opera House was predicted. A novel by Marlena Streruvitz Without her about ten days of a woman who came to another country in search of documents about a certain historical person. Swiss writer Ruth Schweikert novel Closing your eyes writes existential prose, which continues to dominate European literature. Another author from Switzerland Thomas Hürlimann is famous for the mini-novel Fraulein Stark, which takes place in an ancient monastery library, where a 13-year-old teenager discovers the world of love and books.
In general, the position of the writer in Germany changed after the unification. Few writers can afford to live on royalties. Writers take part in festivals, give lectures, give author's readings, including outside the country. “In an era of change, a writer is free to express himself, but his words have no moral weight,” says Michael Lentz. In trying to be a prophet, a writer is in danger of getting into a ridiculous position today.”
LITERATURE Zatonsky D.V. Austrian Literature in the 20th Century. M., 1985
Purishev B.I. Essays on German Literature of the XVXVII centuries. M., 1955
Neustroev V.P. German literature of the Enlightenment. M., 1958
German ballads. M., 1959
Austrian novella of the 19th century. M., 1959
History of German literature, tt. 15. M., 19621976
German novella of the 20th century. M., 1963
Zhirmunsky V.M. Essays on the history of classical German literature. L., 1972
German fairy tales. L., 1972
German antiquity. Classical and folk poetry of Germany XIXVIII centuries. M., 1972
The Golden Ratio: Austrian Poetry of the 19th and 20th Centuries in Russian Translations. M., 1977
Selected Prose of the German Romantics, tt. 12. M., 1979
German Literary History. M., 1980
Austrian novella of the 20th century. M., 1981
Literary history of the GDR. M., 1982
Poetry of the German Romantics. M., 1985
German schwanks and folk books of the 14th century. M., 1990
Alps and freedom. M., 1992
“What a joy to live! Science is flourishing, minds are awakening: you, barbarism, take the rope and prepare for exile! - so wrote in 1518 the German humanist, writer and philosopher Ulrich von Hutten. At this time, the culture of the German Renaissance reached its peak: it gave the world remarkable scientists, such as the linguist I. Reuchlin, the doctor T. Paracelsus, the great artist A. Dürer (1471 - 1528; see t. 12 DE, Art. "Art Germany in the 15th - 16th centuries"), excellent writers. Art of Germany of the 16th century. imbued with a life-affirming spirit, it no longer puts up with feudal oppression, the arbitrariness of princes - all that hinders the renewal of the country. Art brought down its main blow on the greedy Catholic clergy, who had been robbing the German people for centuries.
The humanists of Germany prepared a broad movement - the struggle for the reform of the church (1517); it stirred up the entire population and had a huge impact on the development of German culture in the 16th century. The writers of Germany saw their purpose not only in the fight against the clergy. They showed the world where Mrs. Stupidity reigns, they tried to illuminate life with the light of Reason. In the XVI century. in Germany, the satirical "about fools" was born, vividly depicting the vices of the modern world. Her firstborn is the poetic satire "The Ship of Fools" (1498).
Written by humanist scholar Sebastian Brant. The satirist gathered the adherents of Stupidity on a large ship sailing to Gluppland - the country of Stupidity. He laughed angrily at noble feudal lords, monks and other "fools". Brant's satire was deepened by magnificent engravings based on drawings by A. Durer, placed in the book.
A rare success fell to the "Eulogy of Stupidity" by the great Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. His work is closely connected with the German Renaissance. Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536) Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam enjoyed the fame of one of the most educated people in Europe. He resolutely opposed church obscurantism, traveled to many countries, and everywhere he was enthusiastically greeted by numerous admirers.
In England, in the hospitable home of Thomas More, the famous author of Utopia, he completed his wonderful satire, The Eulogy of Stupidity. The writer makes Mrs. Stupidity herself speak. She is unhappy with human ingratitude. After all, Stupidity has done so much for people, and they have not said a single kind word about it.
Therefore, Stupidity decides to glorify itself according to all the rules of oratory. Doesn't she rule the world? Isn't it the kings and princes who care only about "filling their treasury, depriving the citizens of their property"? The author condemns greed and selfishness, superstition and stupidity, heartlessness and despotism of court nobles who indulge the bad inclinations of the sovereign; arrogant feudal lords, who “although they do not differ in anything from the last day laborer, however, they boast of the nobility of their origin”; obese merchants who “always lie, swear, steal, cheat, cheat and, for all that, imagine themselves to be the first people in the world just because their fingers are decorated with gold rings.” Only that their fingers are decorated with golden rings.
And of course, a large place in the "Eulogy of Stupidity" is given to the Pope, the ministers of the church, supporters of church, or scholastic (as it is called), science. Evil ridicules Erasmus the shamelessness of the monks, who "with the help of petty rites, absurd inventions and wild cries, subject mortals to their tyranny." He calls the theologians a "stinking swamp" and a "poisonous plant" and advises to stay away from them so as not to become a victim of their immeasurable malice.
Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) The greatest German humanist Ulrich von Hutten was a talented satirist. He came from an old knightly family and owned not only a pen, but also a sword. His father wanted to see him as a minister of the church, but the young Hutten fled from the monastery and eventually became one of the most daring opponents of papal Rome. In his caustic "Dialogues" (1520), he accused the Catholic Church of oppressing and plundering Germany, hindering its national revival.
“We will return freedom to Germany, we will liberate the fatherland, which has endured the yoke of oppression for so long!” he wrote to the leader of the burgher reformation Martin Luther in 1520. Hutten considered the princely autocracy to be no less dangerous enemy of freedom. With great anxiety, he watched how the power of the princes increased at the expense of the power of the emperor, how chivalry lost its former importance and weakened. When Duke Ulrich of Württemberg treacherously murdered his cousin in 1515, Hutten branded this villain on the throne in a series of fiery speeches. Addressing all Germans who had not yet lost their love for freedom, he demanded that they punish the bloodthirsty tyrant.
In 1522, Hutten took an active part in the uprising of chivalry against the Elector (Prince) Archbishop of Trier. He hoped that the rebels would curb princely arbitrariness, strengthen imperial power and raise the importance of chivalry. But neither the townspeople nor the peasants, who suffered from feudal oppression, did not want to support the rebellious knights.
Hutten fled to Switzerland, where he soon died in poverty. However, if Hutten's desire to restore the German chivalry to its former power could not meet and did not meet with sympathy in wide circles, then his angry satires against church and princely despotism, against the enemies of humanism and everything new and advanced were a great and well-deserved success. K. Marx called him "damn witty" for a reason. His "Dialogues" are witty, reminiscent of the dialogues of the ancient Greek satirist Lucian, who was well known and highly valued by German humanists. Brilliant satire - the famous "Letters of dark people" (1515 - 1617) - was written with the close participation of Hutten.
In these "Letters" a group of German humanists ridiculed the ignorance and stupidity of the representatives of scholastic science. Boasting of their education, these "scientists" have never heard of the glorious ancient Greek poet Homer. "Letters from Dark People" was an international success. They were read with enthusiasm both in London and in Paris. Not a single work of the humanists of the early 16th century. did not undermine the authority of the scholastics so much as this cheerful, mocking little book, extremely characteristic of the literature of German humanism, which gravitated towards satire from the very beginning.
The authority of the scholastics was torn as much as this cheerful, mocking little book, extremely characteristic of the literature of German humanism, from the very beginning gravitating towards satire. Germany in the 16th century folk literature is also widely developed. First of all, songs, sometimes sincere, lyrical, sometimes formidable, fighting, associated with the Great Peasant War that broke out in 1525. At the beginning of the 16th century. a folk story was written about the fervent apprentice Til Ulenspiegel (1515), at the end of the century - a book about the famous warlock Dr. Johann Faust (1587), which is based on a popular folk legend that has repeatedly attracted the attention of writers (Marlo, Lessing, Klinger, Goethe , Lenau, Pushkin, Lunacharsky and others). Cheerful poetic stories (schwanks) and comedies (fastnachtspili) were written by the industrious Nuremberg shoemaker Hans Sachs (1494 - 1576), who knew the everyday life of German cities and villages well. His numerous works show artisans and merchants, scholars and peasants. Ridiculing human weaknesses, the author depicts resourceful and intelligent people with undisguised sympathy.
