Amish literature
The Amish literature in the narrower sense is that literature in the American literature , which of Amish has been written for Amish. Since the Amish religious community does not encourage literary careers, Amish literature in a broader sense also includes the work of authors who grew up as Amish but later left their community, which were influenced by Amish motifs.
In the advertising language of the American book market, Amish Romance or "Amish romance novels" is also understood to mean a certain genre of popular romance novels whose main characters are Amish and with which non-Amish authors serve an audience of non-Amish Christian readers.
background
Although the Amish generally reject higher education beyond the eighth grade, they have a lively written culture. Its most important press organ has been the weekly newspaper The Budget since 1890 . Although Amish live secluded from the world and have traditionally not emerged as authors outside of their own community, a small “Amish literature” has recently established itself, which has also become perceptible to non-Amish for the first time since the 21st century.
A starting point for this development was the increase in private Amish one-class schools in the 20th century. To satisfy the growing need for suitable reading materials, starting two Amish Farmer, David Wagler and Joseph Stoll, 1964 the publisher Pathway Publishers . In two magazines from this publisher, The Young Companion and Family Life , fictional texts were published early on - often anonymously, since individuality among the Amish does not find the high valuation it enjoys in the rest of American society. In 1999 Brad Igou published an anthology compiled from these texts.
Another major publisher for Amish literature is the Herald Press in Scottdale, Pennsylvania , which is now affiliated with the Mennonite Publishing Network .
Non-fictional literature
A classic of Amish literature is the Amish Society (1963) by John A. Hostetler , an Amish-raised anthropologist who offers a comprehensive account of Amish history and culture. In 1993 he edited the volume Amish Roots , the first anthology of Amish writings.
The best-known younger author of non-fictional Amish literature is David Kline , who in his book Great Possessions (1990) tells of everyday life on an Amish farm in Ohio ; His band Scratching the Woodchuck followed in 1997 .
Poetry
Julia Kasdorf is one of the most famous authors of Amish poetry , and her collection of poems Sleeping Preacher (1992) won the Agnes Lunch Starrett Poetry Prize and the Great Lakes Colleges Association Award for New Writing . Kasdorf is the daughter of Amish parents who had left their religious community; nevertheless, this family history is clearly reflected in Kasdorf's work. Her book Fixing Tradition (2003), a biography of the Amish writer Joseph W. Yoder, is one of the very few works that treats Amish writing from an Amish perspective. Another Amish poet is GC Waldrep (* 1968), who was awarded the Colorado Prize for his anthology Goldbeater's Skin (2003) .
Authentic Amish fiction
For the reasons mentioned above , there is no such thing as Amish fiction in the strictest sense of the word. H. Novels by authors who live as Amish and write for Amish. Since the 20th century, however, novelists have appeared on several occasions who grew up as Amish but then left this community and later wrote about Amish. Although these authors do not write for Amish readers but for the general Christian book market, they share a profound knowledge of the intellectual and everyday life of the Amish. One example is Joseph W. Yoder (1872–1956), who grew up as an Amish but later studied. His book Rosanna of the Amish , published in 1940, is considered to be the pioneering work of Amish fiction. Mary Christner Borntrager (* 1921), who also grew up among Amish, published a whole series of youth novels in 1988-1997, which became known as Ellie's People . The books by Carrie Bender (e.g. Miriam's Journal series, 1993ff; Whispering Brook series, 1995ff) are addressed to the same age group (nine to twelve year olds) . Levi Miller , whose debut novel Ben's Wayne , published in 1989, achieved great popularity among the Amish, also grew up among the Amish .
Amish Romance Novel
In keeping with the interest shown by the American public and tourists in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country in the Amish, there is now extensive fiction about Amish characters, which is usually far less authentic than that of the authors mentioned above. These authors occasionally pretend to be Amish themselves, but as inspirational writers they are actually in the tradition of modern Christian prose and the entertaining or trivial romance novel. The historical forerunners of the Amish Romance Novels were the so-called Bodice Rippers , cheap romance novels, on the cover of which a man was often shown reaching for a scantily clad woman. The novels are therefore not only referred to as bonnet books , but also jokingly as bonnet rippers , even though they do not contain sex and the young women shown on the covers are regularly and cheekily covered with a bonnet .
The genre's most successful writer, Beverly Lewis , has sold more than 17 million books to date. Her novel The Thorn (2010) reached number 11 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list when it appeared . Two of her novels were made into films. Other prolific authors in the genre are Annette Blair, Mary Ellis, Wanda Brunstetter, Kathleen Fuller, Annalisa Daughety, BJ Hoff, Cindy Woodsmall, Shelley Shepard Gray, Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipson, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Mindy Starns Clark, Patricia Davids, Kelly Long, Adina Senft, Gayle G. Roper and Jerry Eicher. Linda Byler is one of the few Amish people who have published Amish romance novels .
Although the novels are also read by Amish women, the main target audience, as Newsweek wrote, is Evangelical Christian women who buy the books at Wal-Mart and see the Amish lifestyle as romanticized because their human relationships are personal, authentic and romantic reliably apply and their children do not ask for Wiis , but play with dolls. Some of the novels by Lewis, Brunstetter and Woodsmall are also available in German translation.
literature
- Emmanuel Sampath Nelson: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. 2005, ISBN 0-313-33059-X .
- David Weaver-Zercher: The Amish in the American Imagination. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8018-6681-2 .
Web links
Amish literature
- Amish Reading List ( Memento of November 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) List of “classics” of Amish literature
Amish Romance
- Amish Romance Novels: No Bonnet Rippers Time Magazine
- Romance novels set in Amish country pick up the pace USA Today
- Amish Romance Novels Provide Stolen Kisses, But Not "Women's Rights" Washington City Paper
Individual evidence
- ^ The Budget Official Website
- ↑ a b c Nelson, p. 152
- ^ Pathway Publishers Official Website
- ↑ Brad Igou (Ed.): The Amish in Their Own Words. Herald Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8361-9123-4 .
- ↑ Mennonite Publishing Network ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. official website
- ^ Amish Society Google Books
- ↑ Amish Roots Google Books
- ↑ Great Possessions. An Amish Farmer's Journal Review; Scratching the Woodchuck Google Books
- ↑ Nelson, p. 153
- ↑ Fixing Tradition Review
- ↑ GC Waldrep
- ↑ Joseph Warren Yoder ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Mary Christner Borntrager
- ↑ Carrie Bender
- ↑ Ben's Wayne
- ↑ Nelson, p. 153; Weaver Zercher
- ^ Love, Amish Style Newsweek
- ^ The Thorn in the New York Times , Sept. 26, 2010
- ↑ Beverly Lewis on IMDB
- ↑ Beverly Lewis ; Annette Blair ; Mary Ellis ; Wanda E. Brunstetter ; Kathleen Fuller ; Annalisa Daughety ; BJ Hoff ; Cindy Woodsmall ; Shelley Shepard Gray ; Beth Wiseman ; Amy Clipston ; Suzanne Woods Fisher ; Mindy Starns Clark ; Patricia Davids ; Kelly Long ; Adina Senft ; Gayle G. Roper ; Jerry Eicher ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Linda Byler
- ↑ They're No Bodice Rippers, But Amish Romances Are Hot The Wall Street Journal
- ^ Love, Amish Style Newsweek; In Amish romance novels, racy takes a back seat to values
