Cross reading
A form of literary montage is called cross-reading (from English (a) cross "quer" and reading "reading, reading") . It was originally developed as a witty parlor game in which the text in a multi-column book is not read line by line, as usual, but line by line across the columns. The result was the funny, ambiguous or simply nonsensical accidental discoveries.
Caleb Whitefoord introduced cross-reading to literature ( New Foundling Hospital for Wit , 1784), e.g. B. with finds like
| This day his Majesty will go in state to / | sixteen notorious common prostitutes | |
| Today His Majesty will visit / | sixteen common street whores |
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg tried to make the literary game productive in German literature by imitating the English crossreadings ( Vermischte Schriften , 1844). In addition, cross-readings have not found their own tradition in Germany, at most as an imitation in fun and joke songs such as B. "O hang him up".
| Oh hang him up | Him, our prince, | |
| the wreath full of laurels. | we want to worship him. | |
| We kick you | Well in the body | |
| to honor today together. | - bright flames blaze. |
Only the techniques of cut-up and Collage appealed in the 20th century back to the cross-Reading, and especially the satirical effect was highlighted.
swell
- ↑ Text handed down orally. Quoted from: Gerhard Buchner (Ed.): Fun and Quatschlieder . Verlag Schneider, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-505-08138-8 .
literature
- Karl Riha : Cross-Reading and Cross-Talking. Quote collages as a poetic and satirical technique and a. with Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (texts Metzler; vol. 22). Metzler, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-476-00230-6 .
- Margaret A. Rose: Parody. Ancient, modern and post-modern (Literature, Culture, Theory; Vol. 5). CUP, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-41860-7 .
- Verena Theile, Linda Trendennick: New formalism and literary theory . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013, ISBN 978-1-13-701048-3 .