Light and fast

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Light and fast. 555 comical poems from 5 centuries is a poetry anthology in which German-language comic poetry by over 200 authors is collected. It was edited by Robert Gernhardt and Klaus Cäsar Zehrer and was published in 2004 by Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag .

title

The title refers to a quote from Christian Morgenstern , which precedes the book, as it were as a motto: In an answer to an editor, Morgenstern protests against words such as nonsense or stupidity , since the advantage of his poems in a certain kind of spirituality, of brightness and speed .

construction

The editors chose the names of rooms as chapter headings, so that the reader walks or is guided through the collection, as if in an exhibition. Within each “room” the poems are arranged chronologically according to the year of birth of the authors.

  • Entry : In a kind of foreword, Gernhardt formulates and explains ten theses on the comic poem .
  • The Hall of Honor contains the 25 most famous comic poems by classical authors.
  • The gallery is the longest chapter, it is supposed to offer an overview of German-language comic poetry.
  • The mirror cabinet : parodies , extrapolations and imitations of other poems. The models are listed at the end of the chapter for comparison.
  • The gaming room : poems with language and word games, the comedy of which results from (non-) obeying language rules.
  • The concert hall : texts for couplets , chansons and other songs
  • The Wunderkammer : “whimsical”, sometimes involuntarily comical poems
  • Output : In his epilogue informs the Foundation Poetry Test first describes Klaus Caesar Zehrer the selection process, due to the collection, and then to follow up with each of the rooms paced some explanations. For example, he uses a few examples to explain what constitutes the comic effect of poems and why poems with a comic meaning from earlier times (up to the 17th century) generally no longer appeal to today's readers' humor. Furthermore, it is about the special achievement of the big seven in comic poetry : Heinrich Heine , Wilhelm Busch , Christian Morgenstern , Joachim Ringelnatz , Kurt Tucholsky , Bertolt Brecht and Ernst Jandl . Finally, Zehrer addresses the question of why there is so much more comic poetry in German literature than in other languages: He believes that censorship and small states have hindered the development of comic narrative literature and comic theater in German-speaking countries, so that many authors dodged poetry - especially since it is easier to memorize and “whisper” on. These would have established a tradition that has continued to the present day.
  • In the appendix there is a list of sources with short biographies of all authors and a list of all poems.

Web links

source

  • Robert Gernhardt, Klaus Cäsar Zehrer: Light and Fast. 555 comical poems from 5 centuries. Frankfurt / M .: S. Fischer Verlag 2004. ISBN 978-3-10-025505-1 .