Shepherd novel

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The pastoral romance is next to the courtly gallantry and the picaresque novel , a novel form of the Baroque .

history

The shepherd novel is a prose form of shepherd poetry . Like this, it stands in the tradition of Virgil's ancient bucolic and its utopian idealistic content. There are also influences of the late medieval Amadi novels , such as the glorification of the courtly form of society.

The shepherd novel originally comes from the Romance- speaking area. Jacopo Sannazaro with his novel Arcadia (1502) can be regarded as the founder . Honoré d'Urfés L'Astrée (1607–27) was a high point and, at the same time, the provisional end point of his development . The shepherd novel was also widely used in Germany, but initially only through translations. Due to the lack of court centers, it was less widespread than in France.

The Schäfferey von der Nimfen Hercinie by Martin Opitz is wrongly assigned to the genre of the shepherd novel . Rather, the text is to be assigned to the tradition of the prose box whose characteristics it exhibits. Nevertheless, Opitz also takes up different elements of the European shepherd novel. German shepherd poems usually do not take place in a mythological Arcadia , but always in a recognizable German landscape.

features

The content mostly follows similar standardized patterns: Shepherds appear, they fall in love and have adventures. The blind youthful love is finally tamed by reason and the young people regain their emotional balance. This usually leads to an amicable separation.

The shepherd novel depicts an idealized country life in nature, where everything is good and beautiful. For example, it never rains, but the grass is always lush green. As a rule, a male-dominated, restrictive value system prevails, which makes clearly defined demands on the individual. For example, the woman is expected to marry and devote herself entirely to her husband. If she doesn't, she will be ostracized by the community. It is characteristic of the passive role of women that women never appear actively, but are only described in the men's speeches.

Formally, the shepherd's novel is characterized by the frequent inclusion of lyrical elements such as songs or poems. Allegorical descriptions and codes are often found .

The shepherd novel is written for the court nobility in the Baroque era and offers a fictional escape from social reality, but at the same time confirms the social norms and values ​​of the ruling classes.

Selection of important shepherd novels in chronological order

literature

  • Marieluise Bauer: Studies on the German shepherd novel of the 17th century . Diss. Munich 1979.
  • Gerhart Hoffmeister: The Spanish Diana in Germany: Comparative studies on style change and world view of the shepherd novel in the 17th century . Berlin 1972.
  • Heinrich Meyer: The German shepherd novel of the 17th century . 2nd edition, Hanover 1978 (originally Diss. Freiburg / B. 1927).

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