Friedrich Wilhelm Willmann

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Friedrich Wilhelm von Willmann (born June 2, jul. / 13. June  1746 greg. In Gramzda , Courland Governorate , † January 20 jul. / 1. February  1819 greg. In Karja ) was an Estonian - Baltic German writer, popular educator and clergyman .

Life

Willmann was born the son of a crown architect and studied theology at the University of Göttingen from 1766 to 1768 . After another year of study at the University of Königsberg (1768-69), where he was among other things a listener of Immanuel Kant , he was brief tutor and from 1772 in Karja on the island of Saaremaa (auxiliary) pastor. However, he took leave of this office in 1805. He then lived in Kuressaare until 1810, and in 1806 went on a trip abroad. He spent the last years of his life in the countryside not far from Karja.

plant

Willmann wrote various educational writings and achieved the greatest success with his prose book Juttud ja teggud , which bears the German parallel title Fables and Stories , which also correctly reproduces the content. The book contains 51 fables, 38 short stories and 125 puzzles, making it “the first comprehensive Estonian reader of its kind that aims to improve popular education”. The first edition was published in 1782 and experienced three new editions (1787, 1804, 1838), some of which were organized (and edited) without the knowledge of the author. One of the editors was Otto Reinhold von Holtz , who, along with Willmann, Friedrich Gustav Arvelius and Georg Gottfried Marpurg, is one of the most important German-Baltic pioneers of Estonian literature.

Willmann was based on a similar book that Gotthard Friedrich Stender had published in 1766 in Latvian , making him the founder of secular Latvian literature. For his part, Stender often wrote the stories based on German models.

Willmann's book has a clear didactic character, which can be seen in the fact that at the end of each story he explicitly explains morality. Probably he did not have a very high opinion of the Estonians and thought he had to explain to them that the animals had not spoken before, even if this was the case in some fables. Therefore, despite the importance of the book in this context, there has also been talk of an “estophile brainwashing”, as the Estonians, as can be seen from their folklore texts, of course knew how to understand a fable.

Trivia

The first edition of Juttud ja teggud was lost for a long time and was only discovered in 1953 by Otto Alexander Webermann in the Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen , where the only surviving copy is kept today. In 1975 a facsimile edition was published in Tallinn .

bibliography

  • Juttud ja teggud / kui ka Monningad Öppetussed mis maiapiddamisse pärrast tarwis lähtwad (literal translation: 'Tales and deeds plus some lessons that are necessary in the household'; German parallel title: 'Fables and stories to improve the wit and customs of the neighbors Appendix of economic rules ... '). Tallinn: Lindworsse kirjadega 1782. 227 pp.
  • Ellamisse-Juhhataja ('Lebensleitfaden'; German parallel title: 'Christliches Sitten-Büchlein, as a reading book in schools, dedicated to the Estonian rural people'.) Tallinn: Iwerseni ja Wemeri kirjadega 1793. 100 pp.

Secondary literature

  • Otto Alexander Webermann : An Estonian unique in Göttingen, in: Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher 31 (1959), pp. 491–502.
  • Aarne Vinkel: Mõningaid mõistatusi seoses Fr W. Willmanni juttude ja tegudega, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 6/1961, 326–337.
  • Aarne Vinkel: Eesti rahvaraamat. Ülevaade XVIII ja XIX sajandi lugemisvarast. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat 1966, pp. 33-45.
  • Aarne Vinkel: "Juttudest ja Teggudest" "Juttude ja Moistatusteni", in: Keel ja Kirjandus 6/1971, 358–362.
  • Malle Salupere: Täiendust teadmistele FW Willmanni kohta, in: Keel ja Kirjandus 3/1982, pp. 152–153.
  • Jaan Undusk : Addressee and Language in the Baltic German Literature Area, in: Obst, Ulrich et al. (Ed.): Balten - Slaven - German: Aspects and perspectives of cultural contacts. Festschrift for Friedrich Scholz on his 70th birthday. Münster, pp. 347–361 (publications by the Slavic-Baltic seminar at the University of Münster 1).
  • Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 1411 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Alexander Webermann: An Estonian Unikum in Göttingen, in: Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher 31 (1959), p. 492.
  2. ↑ Eesti kirjanike leksikon. Koostanud Oskar Kruus yes Heino Puhvel. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat 2000, pp. 676-677.
  3. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 2006, p. 154.
  4. ↑ Aarne Vinkel: "Juttudest ja Teggudest" "Juttude ja Moistatusteni", in: Keel ja Kirjandus 6/1971, 358-362.
  5. ↑ Jaan Undusk: Addressee and Language in the German Baltic Literature Area, in: Obst, Ulrich et al. (Ed.): Balten - Slaven - German: Aspects and perspectives of cultural contacts. Festschrift for Friedrich Scholz on his 70th birthday. Münster, pp. 349-350.
  6. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Willmann: Juttud yes teggud. Tallinn: Perioodika 1975. (Loomingu Raamatukogu 47-52 / '75).
personal data
SURNAME Willmann, Friedrich Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Willmann, Friedrich Wilhelm von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian-Baltic German writer, educator and clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1746
PLACE OF BIRTH Gramzda , Courland Governorate
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1819
Place of death Karja