About this ebook
Since the invention of the printing press in ca. 1450, the early modern book market emerged, and so also the phenomenon of the bestseller. The sixteenth century witnessed especially the rise of Schwankbücher (books with jest narratives), and one of the most influential examples was Georg Wickram’s Rollwagenbüchlein (1555), a collection of facetious, exciting, horrifying, dramatic, foolish, and also didactic short prose tales reflecting on the ordinary lives of people primarily in the countryside and cities. Wickram drew from a range of literary sources, and his work in turn became the inspiration for many other literary collections (Montanus, Kirchhof, Frey, etc.). Although the Rollwagenbüchlein can easily be identified as one of the most influential sixteenth-century texts in the history of German literature, it has never been translated into any other language. The current book offers a biographical and interpretive sketch, the translation into English, and an extensive scholarly apparatus with linguistic, historical, cultural, and literary explanations.
Since the invention of the printing press in ca. 1450, the early modern book market emerged, and so also the phenomenon of the bestseller. The sixteenth century witnessed especially the rise of Schwankbücher (books with jest narratives), and one of the most influential examples was Georg Wickram’...
About the author
Albrecht Classen received his PhD from the University of Virginia, US, in 1986. He has a broad range of research interests covering the history of German and European literature from about 800 to 1600. He has currently published 133 books and 827 articles dealing with comparative issues, gender topics, environmental concerns, and cultural historical themes in the Middle Ages and early modern period. Most recently appeared Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature (2021), Charlemagne in Medieval German and Dutch Literature (2021), Tracing the Trails in the Medieval World (2021), Wisdom from the European Middle Ages (2022), The Secret in Medieval Literature (2022), Globalism in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age (ed., 2023), and Der Niederrheinische Orientbericht, c. 1350 (trans., 2024). A new book on court criticism and of evil kings in medieval literature appeared in 2024. In 2017, he received the rank of Grand Knight Commander of the Most Noble Order of the Three Lions.
Albrecht Classen received his PhD from the University of Virginia, US, in 1986. He has a broad range of research interests covering the history of German and European literature from about 800 to 1600. He has currently published 133 books and 827 articles dealing with comparative issues, gender t...
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