Calendar history

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The calendar story is a short narrative that combines elements of other small epic forms (e.g. the swank , the anecdote , the parable ). The name derives from the medium of the folk calendar in which this narrative form arose and to which it was originally limited. Calendar stories often end with a punchline .

Folk calendars were - apart from the hymn book and the Bible - in the 17th and 18th centuries often the only reading material of the "unlearned" classes. In addition to calendar and astronomical information, they contained weather rules, health tips, practical advice, cooking recipes and general wisdom. The stories inserted to increase their entertainment value dealt with "strange incidents" and amusing events in the everyday life of ordinary people, often against the background of far-reaching historical events. The linguistic design of these stories was simple and based on the oral speech . The Age of Enlightenment discovered calendar history as a means of popular education to combat superstition and to provide moral instruction.

Calendar history remained tied to the medium of the folk calendar until the 19th century. Through Johann Peter Hebel they developed into an independent literary art form. With his stories published in the Rheinländisches Hausfreund and collected in the treasure chest of the Rheinisches Hausfreund (1811), he permanently shaped the genre and brought the originally simple form to a high linguistic level. His stories, e.g. B. Kannitverstan and unexpected reunion belong to the canon of German literature ; they are so original because on the one hand they are written very close to the people, but on the other hand they have a sophisticated narrative technique.

In the 20th century, Bertolt Brecht , in particular , revived calendar history in its artistic version.

Calendar story authors are:

literature

  • Guido Bee: Enlightenment and narrative form. Studies on the calendar texts by Johann Peter Hebels (= international university publications. Vol. 252). Waxmann, Münster 1997 (preview) .
  • Gerd Driehorst: Narrative technique and speech formation with Johann Peter Hebel. Marburg 1995.
  • Stephan Giess: "Merck-worthy incidents". Knowledge transfer in the folk calendar of the 18th century. In: Traverse . Journal of History / Revue d'histoire. Vol. 6, 1993, No. 3, pp. 35-50.
  • Jan Knopf : The German calendar history. A work book (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch. Vol. 2030). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-518-38530-5 .
  • York-Gothart Mix (Ed.): The calendar as a primer of everyday knowledge. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 2005, ISBN 978-3-484-81027-3 .
  • Ludwig Rohner: Calendar History and Calendar. Academic Publishing Company Athenaion, Wiesbaden 1978, ISBN 3-7997-0692-5 .

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