Real Lexicon of German Literary Studies

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The Real Encyclopedia of German literature (RLW) is a phrase dictionary that a comprehensive and systematic inventory of literary aims language use. It is the successor to the Real Lexicon of German literary history .

History of the Real Lexicon

The real dictionary of German literary history , also briefly referred to as Merker / Stammler after its editors Paul Merker and Wolfgang Stammler , was first published in 4 volumes from 1925 to 1931 and was based on literary history as a central subject of German studies .

The 2nd edition was overseen by Werner Kohlschmidt and Wolfgang Mohr from 1958 to 1984 . During this long processing period, there was a major change in German studies, which was primarily reflected in the strong differentiation of various methodological approaches in literary studies and the associated terminology. For this reason, the 2nd edition of the Reallexikon reflected an inconsistent overall picture of German research.

Therefore, when the 3rd edition was introduced, a new concept was sought, which was already reflected in a change in the title: In order to distinguish between science and its subject area, the title keyword literature history was replaced by literature studies . The aim of the project was to take stock of literary language usage as completely and systematically as possible, without taking sides in a particular direction of the subject. The RLW comprises more than 900 articles.

Structure of the lexicon articles

The systematic character of the RLW is shown in a strictly maintained structure for each lexicon entry:

  • The explication (Sigle: Expl) attempts a "historically based suggestion for use": How is the term to be used meaningfully in contemporary literary studies? How does it relate to other terms in its terminological field?
  • The word history (WortG) provides information about where the keyword in question comes from, what its meanings were and are.
  • The concept history (GruG) explains how the concept has conceptually developed and changed and how it may have been named as an alternative.
  • The Sachgeschichte (SachG) describes how the thing referred to today with the explicit term, especially in the German-speaking area, has looked from its beginnings to the present day.
  • The history of research (ForschG) shows the extent to which German-language literary studies in particular have researched this matter so far.
  • A literature list (lit) provides information on relevant research literature .

Bibliographical information

Real Lexicon of German Literary Studies: revision of the Real Lexicon of German literary history. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997–2003:

  • Vol. 1: AG. Edited by Weimar, Klaus . In collaboration with Fricke, Harald / Grubmüller, Klaus / Müller, Jan-Dirk, 1997. 754 pages. ISBN 3-11-010896-8 .
  • Vol. 2: HO. Edited by Fricke, Harald . In collaboration with Braungart, Georg / Grubmüller, Klaus / Müller, Jan-Dirk / Vollhardt, Friedrich / Weimar, Klaus, 2000. 777 pages. ISBN 3-11-015663-6 .
  • Vol. 3: PZ. Edited by Müller, Jan-Dirk. In association with Braungart, Georg / Fricke, Harald / Grubmüller, Klaus / Vollhardt, Friedrich / Weimar, Klaus, 2003. 912 pages. ISBN 3-11-015664-4 .