Medieval German Voices in the 21st Century: The Paradigmatic Function of Medieval German Studies for German Studies

Description

As witnessed by a tremendous upsurge in medieval research, academic meetings, innovative interpretive approaches, enrolment numbers, and public interest, Medieval Studies are proving once again to be a vibrant field of investigations both inside and outside of academia. Nevertheless, there is a tendency among colleagues and administrators in the field of Germanistik/German Studies to exclude the earlier period as an exotic and irrelevant subject matter. The contributors to this volume, all of whom teach at North American universities, make a strong case for the paradigmatic function of medieval German literature for the general field of Germanistik, and argue that many of the most recent changes in our discipline related to the German Studies paradigm have been foreshadowed by Medieval Studies where interdisciplinarity, comparative approaches, the consideration of Mentalitatsgeschichte, theology, history, art history, even gender studies, and the history of everyday life have often constituted the conditio sine qua non. Some of the authors in this volume argue for the relevance of medieval German literature by investigating concrete cases taken from the Middle Ages, others show how modern German literature has been deeply influenced by medieval texts. The purpose of this volume is not to privilege medieval literature over modern literature, but instead to reclaim the premodern period as an important and relevant field of investigation within contemporary German Studies. Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Medieval Perspectives and the Future: Medieval German Studies as a Paradigm for German Studies. An Introduction Differing Voices and the Call to Judgment in the Poems of Frau Ava Spruchdichter and Liedermacher: Songs Then and Now A Shift in the Paradigm: Medieval Wisdom Literature Health and Sickness, Life and Death: Medieval Medical Literature and its Role in German Studies Medieval German Religious Literature as a Paradigm for Gender Studies Rewriting Women's History: Medieval Nun's Vitae by Johannes Meyer Modern Perspectives and the Past: Enchanting German Studies: Medieval Fantasies as Facilitators for Cross‒Cultural Understanding (Post)Modern Rewritings of the Nibelungenlied — Der Nibelungen Roman and Armin Ayren as Meister Konrad Visionary or Hysteric? Ingeborg Bachmann's Malina and Mechthild of Magdeburg's The Flowing Light of the Godhead Feminismus und Systemkritik im mittelalterlichen Kostüm: Irmtraud Morgners 'Trobadora'‒Roman Adolf Muschgs Parzivalroman Der rote Rifler und die Schweizer Mitschuld am Holocaust Gabrielle Alioth: Mittelalterliche Stoffe und Themen im modernen literarischen Diskurs