Walter Schamschula

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Walter Schamschula (born December 23, 1929 in Prague ) is a German Slavist , literary scholar and translator .

Life

Schamschula was born into the family of the commercial clerk Othmar Schamschula and his wife Amalie. He grew up bilingual, attended elementary school and grammar school in Königliche Weinberge , then switched to Stephansgymnasium (which Rainer Maria Rilke , Franz Werfel , Max Brod and Gustav Mahler also attended). After the outbreak of World War II , the family moved to Karlovy Vary . In 1945 the family lost their property due to the Beneš decrees and Shamschula had to do forced labor at the age of fifteen. In February 1946 the family left Czechoslovakia and moved to Schwäbisch Gmünd , where Schamschula graduated from grammar school.

Since 1950 he studied Slavic , Romance , English and German at the University of Frankfurt am Main . 1952/53 followed a year of study at the Sorbonne University in Paris with Pierre Pascal and Victor Tapié. From 1954 he studied at the University of Marburg . In 1958 he followed his teacher Alfred Rammelmeyer as an assistant to Frankfurt, where after his appointment he helped to set up the Slavonic seminar. There he received his doctorate in 1960 with his dissertation The Russian Historical Novel from Classicism to Romanticism . In 1970 he completed his habilitation in Frankfurt with his work on The Beginnings of Czech Renewal and German Spiritual Life (1740–1800) . In the 1970/71 academic year he was visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley , where he taught, among other things, Czech language and literature. He then taught at Saarbrücken University (1971/72). In 1972 he was a full professor at Berkeley. He later built up the Slavonic Seminar at the University of Bamberg (1981–1984). In 1984 he returned to Berkeley, where he taught until his retirement in 1994.

Create

Schamschula provided evidence in 1969 that Mikhail Lomonossow was not a full-blooded representative of the late Baroque, but rather anticipated ideas of Leibniz-Wolff's early enlightenment in his “cosmological” odes. He analyzed several essays by Pushkin , including in 'Porok ljubezen', which led to evidence of a Boileau quote with Pushkin's ironic position on the main directions of romanticism. But it is significantly the discovery of materials for Igor song "Slovo o polku Igoreve" that, that it was the text is a work of the 12th century, basically, the theory in question and concludes that it is in the, lost ' Manuscript about a manipulated version of the " Zadonščina " at the end of the 18th century .

There are several focal points in Schamschula's work on Czech literature. He presented new insights into the Middle Ages in the article on the Czech Mastičkář fragment, the wording of which suggests Czech origins, since the rhymes work fully in contrast to the Middle High German equivalents, which in turn creates a Czech class of 'Ioculatores' and thus a full integration of the Czech Easter games in the Western European tradition. Caused a stir its Bamberger inaugural lecture on the " Ackermann from Bohemia " and "Tkadleček" . In this he pointed out that there were indications that the text of the early New High German Ackermann from Bohemia was not written directly by Johannes von Saaz, but was a later anonymous adaptation of a more extensive text by Johannes, since the old Czech Tkadleček contained passages of the text that have a more extensive and common older template adopted. This goes back to the 14th century.

A correction of ideological errors in Czech Medieval studies should be his contributions on the estates satires of Königgrätzer rule and the 'Schwank vom Fuchs und Krug', which were rated as early realistic social criticism in the literary studies of the Czechoslovakia, but which are clearly in the context of the late medieval religious didactics.

His research interests also deal with Karel Hynek Mácha and the entire Czech romanticism, as well as the literature of the 20th century up to Václav Havel . He offered the first scientific interpretation of the latter in the West when the poet and later president was still a political prisoner in his homeland.

His large-format works, which have partly summarized and partly inspired such individual studies, e.g. B. the habilitation thesis, but especially the three-volume history of Czech literature (1990-2004), which is used worldwide, especially in university courses and outside as a standard work, are part of his overall scientific work.

This category also includes his most personal work, which combines his linguistic and structuralistic / literary approaches in the field of all-Slavic folklore epic: “From myth to epic. Die Weg der Slavischen Sängerepik “, in which the connection of the aesthetic dynamics established in Prague structuralism (visible in the change of its epochs) with the worldwide advancement of the Western European worldview and its manifestations up to the political-ideological thought is traced. The first thoughts on this can be found in his contribution "Thoughts on a cultural morphology of East Central and West Central Europe", also in connection with folklore and high poetry, as well as in the confrontation of the West and East European cultures, presented in Chapter 23 of "From Myth to Epic" . It is also a statement on the catchphrase 'Eurocentric worldview' (K. Chvatík) and a full recognition of the contribution of Western European thought to human history, in which the Western Slavs of the Latin cultures played a major role.

This “bridge building” in the scientific work also includes his numerous translations into German and English, especially from Czech, Polish and Slovak. It begins with works on literary theory and aesthetics . Schamschula acted as a pioneer of the structuralist Prague school in the German-speaking area as the first translator of essays by Jan Mukařovský and chapters from Aesthetics and other essays, as well as of Jiří Levý's "Umění překladu" (German as "The literary translation. Theory of an art genre", too “The Art of Translation”). This fundamental work reformed the craft or the art of literary translation and also inspired shamschula to translate their own work from the Slavic literatures.

The following are important translations:

  • The main work of Czech Romanticism, Karel Hynek Mácha's poem “ Máj ” (May).
  • Samples by Otokar Březinas in the collection “The gentle load of my hands”.
  • Selection of writings by the church reformer Jan Hus : "Writings on the Reform of Faith and Letters of the Years 1414-1415".
  • Selection from Jaroslav Hašek's “Party of Moderate Progress within the Limits of Laws”.

In the second phase, since the late 1980s, Schamschula dealt more intensively with top works of Polish literature, mostly as translations of verse, which he borrows from the traditions of German poet scholarship ( Friedrich Rückert , etc.). So far, partly at the suggestion of Hans Rothe's project in the Unesco series, partly as a contribution to Carl Dedecius' Polish Library, partly on his own initiative in his "West Slavic Contributions", verse translations of the ancestral celebration (Dziady) by Mickiewicz and Polish have been created Baroque as well as the translation of Juliusz Słowacki's “König Geist” Król-Duch (Lang, Frankfurt 1998) suggested by Czesław Miłosz . The Czech-English anthology of old Czech literature, which he oversees, also appeared in this series: An Anthology of Czech Literature. 1st Period: From the Beginnings Until 1410 .

Works

  • The Russian historical novel from Classicism to Romanticism. Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1961.
  • Jan Hus: Writings on the reform of the faith and letters from the years 1414-1415. Edited and introduced by Walter Schamschula, Frankfurt am Main 1969 (= Insel Collection , 49).
  • The beginnings of Czech renewal and German intellectual life (1740–1800). Fink, Munich 1973.
  • The uptake of Czech literature in Germany. In: P. Merker u. W. Stammler (abbreviation): Reallexikon der Deutschen Literaturgeschichte. 2nd Edition. Vol. 4, De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1979, pp. 50-67.
  • Jaroslav Hašek: 1883–1983; proceedings of the International Hašek Symposium Bamberg, June 24-27, 1983. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1989, ISBN 3-8204-8139-7 .
  • History of Czech Literature. Böhlau, Cologne 1990:
Volume I: ISBN 3-412-01590-3 .
Volume II: ISBN 3-412-02795-2 .
Volume III: ISBN 3-412-07495-0 .
  • Adam Mickiewicz: The ancestral celebration. A poem. Bilingual edition. Translated, edited and with an afterword by Walter Schamschula. (Writings of the Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Promotion of Slavic Studies 14). Böhlau, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-412-04691-4 .
  • Pan Twardowski, the Polish Variant of the Faust Legend, in Slavic Literatures. A Study in Motif History. In: California Slavic Studies. vol. 14, University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-520-07025-9 , pp. 209-231.
  • Madame de Krüdener Facing Three Giants: Goethe, Pushkin, Mickiewicz. In: For SK. In Celebration of the Life and Career of Simon Karlinsky. (Modern Russian Literature and Culture. Studies and Texts, vol. 33). Berkeley 1994, ISBN 1-57201-002-9 , pp. 263-280.
  • Juliusz Słowacki: King Spirit. (Król-Duch). Translated from Polish, with commentary and afterword by Walter Schamschula. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-631-33613-6 .
  • An Anthology of Czech Literature. 1st Period: From the Beginnings Until 1410. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1999, ISBN 3-631-43044-2 .
  • Jan Mukařovský. In: Monika Betzler, Mara-Daria Cojocaru , Julian Nida-Rümelin (eds.): Aesthetics and philosophy of art. From antiquity to the present in individual representations (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 375). 2nd, updated and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-520-37502-5 , pp. 643-649.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Journal for Slavonic Philology 34, pp. 225-253
  2. Festschrift for Alfred Rammelmeyer, Munich 1975, pp. 285–296
  3. American Contributions to the Eleventh International Congress of Slavists 1993, pp. 130-153, ISBN 0-89357-238-1
  4. Quack Drama from the Easter Play: Am. Contrib. to the 8th Int. Congress of Slavists, Zagreb 1978, 678-690, ISBN 0-89357-238-1
  5. Bohemia 1982, pp. 307-317
  6. Festschrift for O. Horbatsch, Munich 1983, pp. 129–141
  7. Festschrift for K. Bosl, Munich 1988, 52–62, ISBN 3-486-55071-3
  8. ^ Document of a crisis of the upper class - J. Hrabák
  9. ^ Fiction and Drama in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, even UCLA Slavic Studies, vol. 1, 1980, 337-360, ISBN 0-89357-064-8
  10. From myth to epic. The ways of the Slavic singer epic. Frankfurt / M. 2012, ISSN  0176-4039 and ISBN 978-3-631-63702-9
  11. Festschrift zu F.Seibt, Munich 1992, pp. 47–58, ISBN 3-486-55970-2
  12. Chapter from the Poetics, Suhrkamp, ​​Edition Suhrkamp 270, 1967
  13. ^ Es 428, 1970
  14. ↑ published under the first title: Frankfurt 1969
  15. Der Mai, Cologne – Vienna, 1983, ISBN 3-412-08283-X , which was regarded as the most valid version (of around eleven printed so far) and was published in bilingual form, most recently in 2006: “Máj - Mai”, Akropolis , Praha, ISBN 80-7304-073-5 . Another multilingual edition is planned, which has been cleaned of printing errors.
  16. ↑ The gentle burden of my hands. Mainz, DVB 2002, ISBN 3-87162-056-4 . Standing on the threshold from classical rhyming poetry to modern association technique, these samples are part of the collection of a selection from five poetry cycles by the symbolist of the turn of the century.
  17. Writings on religious reform and letters from the years 1414–1415, Insel Collection No. 49, Frankfurt 1969, from the Old Czech
  18. ^ Library Suhrkamp No. 28, 2nd edition. Frankfurt 1971, ISBN 3-528-1283-5 together with Peter Richter.
  19. The ancestral celebration. A poem / dziady. Transl., Ed. u. with an afterword by Walter Schamschula. Foreword by Hans Rothe. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau 1991. XIII, 506 pp. (= Writings of the Committees of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Promotion of Slavic Studies 14) Bilingual edition. ISBN 3412046914
  20. ^ Polish Baroque, 1991, ISBN 3-518-40401-6
  21. An Anthology of Czech Literature. 1st Period: From the Beginnings Until 1410, Lang, Frankfurt 1990

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