Sebastian Coxon – författare

This book sheds light on the complexity of medieval German literary culture as it evolved in the course of the thirteenth century (c. 1220-1290) by analysing the attitudes of narrative poets towards the issue of authorship. It describes the various ways in which vernacular writers could address the theme of their own authorship within their literary works, and explores the tensions that arose between such authorial strategies on the one hand and their subsequent manuscript transmission on the other. The first part of the book deals with the presentation of authorship in the works of two poets who stand at the heart of literary tradition (Rudolf von Ems; Konrad von Würzburg), and involves discussion of such topics as authorial signature, acrostics, author portraits, and patronage; the second part deals with two genres (heroic epic; short story) that evince a rather more problematic relationship with the figure of the author.

This book explores both the narrative design and fundamental thematic preoccupations of short comic tales that flourished in late medieval Germany and that provided bawdy entertainment for larger audiences of public recitals as well as for smaller numbers of individual readers.

In contrast to the vernacular literary traditions of France, Italy and England, comic tales in verse flourished in late medieval Germany, providing bawdy entertainment for larger audiences of public recitals as well as for smaller numbers of individual readers. In a sustained close analysis Sebastian Coxon explores both the narrative design and fundamental thematic preoccupations of these short texts. A distinctively performative tradition of pre-modern narrative literature emerges which invited its recipients to think, learn and above all to laugh in a number of different ways.

In contrast to the vernacular literary traditions of France, Italy and England, comic tales in verse flourished in late medieval Germany, providing bawdy entertainment for larger audiences of public recitals as well as for smaller numbers of individual readers. In a sustained close analysis Sebastian Coxon explores both the narrative design and fundamental thematic preoccupations of these short texts. A distinctively performative tradition of pre-modern narrative literature emerges which invited its recipients to think, learn and above all to laugh in a number of different ways.

This book explores both the narrative design and fundamental thematic preoccupations of short comic tales that flourished in late medieval Germany and that provided bawdy entertainment for larger audiences of public recitals as well as for smaller numbers of individual readers.

Der Band fragt nach den Möglichkeiten deutschsprachiger Texte des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit, auf die Prägung kollektiver und individueller Identitäten einzuwirken. Dabei geht es nicht allein um Akte der Setzung, der Vermittlung, der Explikation und der Sicherung von Normen, sondern ebenso um Prozesse ihrer Infragestellung, Reflexion und Kritik, ihrer Transformation oder ihrer Destabilisierung, Auflösung und Neusetzung. Anhand von Fallbeispielen behandeln die Beiträge textsorten-, gruppen- und genderspezifische Modellierungen von Normen und loten die Spielräume aus, die in der Literatur für die Thematisierung, die Konkretisierung und die Infragestellung von Erwartungen an das soziale Handeln eröffnet werden; zudem geht es darum, welche Funktionen die Materialität der literarischen Kommunikation in Handschriften und Frühdrucken sowie in intermedialen Ensembles bei der Formierung normativer Konstellationen besitzt. Dabei wird die Bedeutung, welche Normierungsprozesse für die Konstitution einer allgemeinen sozialen Ordnung haben, abgewogen gegenüber Prozessen sozialer Differenzbildung in engeren Kommunikationsgemeinschaften.

Der Band fragt nach den Möglichkeiten deutschsprachiger Texte des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit, auf die Prägung kollektiver und individueller Identitäten einzuwirken. Dabei geht es nicht allein um Akte der Setzung, der Vermittlung, der Explikation und der Sicherung von Normen, sondern ebenso um Prozesse ihrer Infragestellung, Reflexion und Kritik, ihrer Transformation oder ihrer Destabilisierung, Auflösung und Neusetzung. Anhand von Fallbeispielen behandeln die Beiträge textsorten-, gruppen- und genderspezifische Modellierungen von Normen und loten die Spielräume aus, die in der Literatur für die Thematisierung, die Konkretisierung und die Infragestellung von Erwartungen an das soziale Handeln eröffnet werden; zudem geht es darum, welche Funktionen die Materialität der literarischen Kommunikation in Handschriften und Frühdrucken sowie in intermedialen Ensembles bei der Formierung normativer Konstellationen besitzt. Dabei wird die Bedeutung, welche Normierungsprozesse für die Konstitution einer allgemeinen sozialen Ordnung haben, abgewogen gegenüber Prozessen sozialer Differenzbildung in engeren Kommunikationsgemeinschaften.

This anthology of twenty medieval tales contains a representative selection of the various kinds of short narrative in verse that were transmitted together in German manuscript collections from the later thirteenth century onwards. They include religious miracle-tales, comic tales, moral-didactic tales, and courtly tales. Considered together, they offer an insight into how medieval poets tried to entertain as well as instruct their audiences in matters of faith and everyday conduct, and just what it was that made medieval listeners (and readers) laugh. The translations have been taken from DVN vol. 5 (Deutsche Versnovellistik des 13. bis 15. Jahrhunderts, ed. by Klaus Ridder and Hans-Joachim Ziegeler) and revised for the general reader; they are presented here for the first time with a commentary and notes.

This anthology of twenty medieval tales contains a representative selection of the various kinds of short narrative in verse that were transmitted together in German manuscript collections from the later thirteenth century onwards. They include religious miracle-tales, comic tales, moral-didactic tales, and courtly tales. Considered together, they offer an insight into how medieval poets tried to entertain as well as instruct their audiences in matters of faith and everyday conduct, and just what it was that made medieval listeners (and readers) laugh. The translations have been taken from DVN vol. 5 (Deutsche Versnovellistik des 13. bis 15. Jahrhunderts, ed. by Klaus Ridder and Hans-Joachim Ziegeler) and revised for the general reader; they are presented here for the first time with a commentary and notes.