E-Book Overview
The High Middle Ages, and particularly the period from 1180 to 1230, saw the beginnings of a vibrant literary culture in the German vernacular. While significant literary achievements in German had already been made in earlier centuries, they were a somewhat precarious vernacular extension of Christian Latin culture. But the vernacular literary culture of the High Middle Ages was an integral part of broader cultural developments in which the unquestioned validity of traditional authoritative models began to lose its hold. A secular culture began to emerge in which positive value began to be attached to the -- however transitory -- allegiances, pleasures, and loves of life. In new essays dealing with the most significant literary genres (the heroic epics, the romances, the love lyrics, and political poetry) and with broader political, social, and cultural issues (control of aggression, territorialization), this third volume of the Camden House History of German Literature demonstrates how the emergence of a vernacular literary culture in Germany was an important part of a broader cultural transformation in which medieval people began to redefine themselves, their relationships to one another, and the position of humanity in the scheme of things.Contributors: Albrecht Classen, Nicola McLelland, Rodney Fisher, Neil Thomas, Marion Gibbs and Sidney Johnson, R?diger Krohn, Will Hasty, Nigel Harris, Susann Samples, Sara Poor, Michael Resler, R?diger Brandt, Elizabeth A. Andersen, Ulrich M?ller and Franz Viktor Spechtler, Ruth Weichselbaumer, W. H. Jackson, Charles Bowlus.Will Hasty is Professor of German Studies and co-founder and co-director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida.
E-Book Content
The Camden House History of German Literature Volume 3 German Literature of the High Middle Ages
The Camden House History of German Literature Volume 3
The Camden House History of German Literature Edited by James Hardin Vol. 1: Early Germanic Literature and Culture Edited by Brian Murdoch and Malcolm Read, University of Stirling, UK Vol. 2: German Literature of the Early Middle Ages Edited by Brian Murdoch, University of Stirling, UK Vol. 3: German Literature of the High Middle Ages Edited by Will Hasty, University of Florida Vol. 4: Early Modern German Literature Edited by Max Reinhart, University of Georgia Vol. 5: German Literature of the Eighteenth Century: The Enlightenment and Sensibility Edited by Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Ohio State University Vol. 6: Literature of the Sturm und Drang Edited by David Hill, University of Birmingham, UK Vol. 7: The Literature of Weimar Classicism Edited by Simon Richter, University of Pennsylvania Vol. 8: The Literature of German Romanticism Edited by Dennis F. Mahoney, University of Vermont Vol. 9: German Literature of the Nineteenth Century, 1832–1899 Edited by Clayton Koelb and Eric Downing, University of North Carolina Vol. 10: German Literature of the Twentieth Century: From Aestheticism to Postmodernism Ingo R. Stoehr, Kilgore College, Texas
German Literature of the High Middle Ages
Edited by
Will Hasty
Camden House
Copyright © 2006 by the Editor and Contributors All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. First published 2006 by Camden House Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA www.camden-house.com and of Boydell & Brewer Limited PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK www.boydellandbrewer.com ISBN: 1–57113–173–6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data German l