Living legend

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Living legend is a name for a person who is assigned a particularly remarkable life story as well as lasting significance during his lifetime.

Meanings

The term legend has different connotations in today's language. In relation to people, it is often associated with fame and notoriety . However, it can also be used and understood in a negative sense for implausible and / or hagiographically transfigured descriptions of people and processes. The term living legend combines these two possible meanings. The positive connotation is retained through the personal reference , but the designation is also an oxymoron that indicates the alleged or actual incompatibility of a person who is still alive with their already iconized life story (see also image ). The legend of this person's life thus becomes metonymically the name for the person himself.

Usage and examples

A very early mention of the term can be found in the German version of Les 73 journées de la Commune: du 18 mars au 29 mai 1871 by Catulle Mendès . While in the original French text “ Vous nous apparaissez, victorieux, dans une vision lointaine; vous êtes légende. "Stands, the imaginary address to the aged General Garibaldi became in German with" Your laurel-studded picture appears to us like a vision from distant times; You are a living legend to us. " translated. The compound term living legend is also used in English (also in the variant a legend in his / her own time , for example ' a legend during his lifetime ').

In the media, especially in sports and tabloid reporting on celebrities , the term is mostly used in connection with widespread, rhetorical exaggeration and mythologization. Some of these attributions are taken over by people who call themselves living legends , such as in the case of extroverted sports stars such as Muhammad Ali or Usain Bolt .

Others see it more ironically like the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards , who when asked how it feels to be a living legend, replied with the laconic words: "Better a living legend than a dead one."

Nelson Mandela, in turn, categorically rejected such a designation when asked: “It is not good for people if they see a messiah in me. The disappointment is then inevitable. They should know that their political leaders are made of flesh and blood, that they are human [...] I can be made a hero, but not a legend. "

Living Legends - Awards

In the English-speaking world in particular, there have been several prizes that have been awarded for life's work since the beginning of the 21st century.

  • Since 2000 - at that time on the occasion of the 200th anniversary - the Library of Congress has given a Living Legend award to artists, writers, activists, directors, medical professionals, entertainers, athletes and public servants, "who make a significant contribution to the cultural, America’s scientific and social heritage ”.
  • Classic Rock Magazine has honored musicians with the Classic Rock Roll of Honor Awards since 2005 ; since 2007 the Living Legend award has also been given.

Living fossil

In biology, the term living fossil , also an oxymoron, is used analogously and in popular scientific literature, for example in relation to the coelacanth , is occasionally linked to the term of the living legend .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Tepe: Myth & Literature. In: Archive for Conceptual History 44, Ed. 25-26, Hamburg 2002, p. 258
  2. ↑ Klaus Weimar , Georg Braungart (ed.): Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft , Volume I, De Gruyter , p. 390
  3. ↑ Catulle Mendès: Les 73 journées de la Commune: du 18 mars au 29 may 1871 (1871) , p. 73
  4. ↑ Catulle Mendès: The 73 days of the Commune: From March 18 to May 29, 1871. By Catulle Mendès . A. Hartleben, 1871, p. 93.
  5. ↑ Peter Schmitt, Eberhard Vollmer (Ed.): DLV Yearbook 2012 , Norderstedt, p. 13
  6. ↑ London Evening Standard, Usain Bolt declares himself a 'living legend' after double gold win and promises to 'party like it's my birthday' , August 10, 2012
  7. ↑ Martin Compart: 2000 Lightyears From Home: Stones, Fauser and Other Crimes . BoD - Books on Demand, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-9057-9 , p. 117.
  8. ↑ Richard Stengel: Mandelas Weg: Love, Courage, Responsibility - The Wisdom of a Life, Bertelsmann 2010, p. 201
  9. ↑ Living Legends website of the Library of Congress (English)
  10. ↑ John Burton, Dietmar Mertens, Johann Brandstetter and Marta Hofmann: Extinct Animals , Tessloff Verlag (2005), p. 11