Wolfgang Kirsch (classical philologist)

Wolfgang Kirsch, 2009

Wolfgang Kirsch's grave in Halle's Stadtgottesacker

Wolfgang Kirsch (born December 31, 1938 in Westewitz , Döbeln district ; † December 9, 2010 in Halle an der Saale ) was a German classical philologist with a specialist teaching and research focus on Late and Middle Latin poetry (Alexander romance).

Wolfgang Kirsch was a specialist in Latin literature from late antiquity and the Middle Ages. He published critical editions of various Middle Latin texts as well as numerous articles. His father was Edgar Kirsch (1903–1978), his brother Rainer Kirsch (1934–2015), a poet. Wolfgang Kirsch's widow is Gertraude Clemenz-Kirsch.

Career

Kirsch did his Abitur at the August-Hermann-Francke-Oberschule in Halle. From 1956 to 1962 he studied German, English and Latin studies at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle an der Saale, with the professional goal of becoming an upper level teacher. From 1962 to 1967 he was a teacher of German and Latin at the August-Hermann-Francke-Oberschule in Halle. From 1967 to 1969 he was a lecturer and from 1969 to 1971 lecturer for German language and literature at the Philosophical University Kyrill und Method, Skopje (Macedonia). In 1969 he received his doctorate and his habilitation in 1982 . From 1982 he was a lecturer and in 1986 Kirsch became full professor for Latin philology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. From 1989 to 1990 Kirsch was director of the Oriental and Classical Studies section. From 1990 to 1991 he was head of the research area Greco-Roman Antiquity at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg .

From 1978 Kirsch was a member of the Scientific Council for Archeology and Ancient History at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. In 1981 he became a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Classical Studies at the Ministry of Higher Education and Technical Education and in 1986 Chairman of the Central Expert Commission for Latin / Methodology for Classical Language Teaching. In 1988 he was a founding member of the 1st International Medieval Latin Congress in Heidelberg and was appointed to the International Medieval Latin Committee and from 1978 to 1990 a member of the editorial team of the Philologus.

Wolfgang Kirsch was relieved of his duties as director of the Oriental and Classical Studies Section on March 1, 1990. From 1993 the scientist worked as a private scholar and created Laudes Sanctorum on his magnum opus until his death .

Works (selection)

• Quilichinus de Spoleto: Historia Alexandri Magni, together with the text of the Zwickau manuscript of the Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni - Review, Skopje 1971 = ZIVA ANTIKA, posebni izdanija 4, LXIII, 337 pp.
• History of Alexander the Great. From the Middle Latin. Reclams Universal Library 625; 2., ext. 1978. 3rd, revised edition. 1981. 4th edition (also Röderberg-Taschenbuch 130, Frkf./M. 1984, 207).
• Willibald Pirckheimer: Defense speech or self-praise of gout. With ten copper engravings by Baldwin Zettl. Latin and German, annual edition of the Pirckheimer Society in the Kulturbund der DDR, Aufbau-Verlag 1988.
• The book of Alexander, the noble and wise King of Macedonia with the miniatures of the Leipzig manuscript. Reclam-Verlag Leipzig, 1991.
• Chronicle of Petersberg (Cronica Montis sereni) together with the (Genealogy of the Wettiner) flies head publishing house, Halle, 1996.
• Laudes Sanctorum: History of the hagiographic verse from IV.–X. Century Approaches (IV. – VIII. Centuries) First and Second Part Volumes, 2004. Development (VIII. – X. Centuries) First Part Volume 2011. Second Part Volume 2012. Anton Hiersemann Verlag Stuttgart
• Willibald Pirckheimer: Defense speech or self-praise of gout. Elegy on the death of Albrecht Dürer. Edited by Gertraude Clemenz-Kirsch and Joachim Jahns. With a cover graphic, front: Juliane Jahns, "Pirckheimer and Dürer with the seven trumpet angels", acrylic on wood, 2013, cover graphic, back: Juliane Jahns, "Willibald Pirckheimer and Albrecht Dürer", acrylic on paper, 2013. Annual edition of the Pirckheimer- Society 2013. Dingsda-Verlag Querfurt in Leipzig, 2013.

Article (selection)

• Emperor Friedrich II. A new Alexander. Archives for Cultural History 56, 1974.
• Claudian's gigantomania as a political poem, in: Rom und Germanien, SB der Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR 15 G, 1982.
• Alexander the Great among the Slavic Macedonians, in: Byzanz in der Europäische Staatswelt, Berlin 1983.
• Paulinus von Nola and Nicetas von Remesiana - On the literary conception of two Christians of the 4th century, in: From Late Antiquity to Early Byzantium, ed. By Vavrinek, Prague 1985.
• St. Patrick's Concept of Peace, in: Ireland - Culture and Society, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 1987.
• Hrotsvit von Gandersheim as an epic writer, in: Latin culture in the Xth century, Middle Latin Yearbook 24/25, 1989/90.
• Bartholomew Ghotan. Dyaloghus Vite et Mortis. Dialogue between life and death. Facsimile print after the original in the Department of Rare Prints and Manuscripts of the Scientific Library of the Lomonosov State University in Moscow. Essay by Ekatarina Skvairs, Moscow / translation by Wolfgang Kirsch, Röblingen am See, 2006.

literature

• Joachim Jahns: The Kirschs or The View of Things. Dingsda-Verlag, Leipzig 2016, 224 pages, ISBN 978-3-928498-71-5
• Obituary: Wolfgang Kirsch died , by Andreas Fritsch , Forum Classicum 1/2011, p. 62. [1]
• Walter Berschin: Obituary for Wolfgang Kirsch . In: Middle Latin Yearbook ( PDF )
• Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar , 18th Edition (2001), p. 1554.

Newspaper articles

• Andreas Debski: The Wolfgang Kirsch case - first slandered, now rehabilitated. Halle university professor was dismissed in 1992 after Stasi allegations and despite protests. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , January 24, 2017, page 4 - therein reference to the book Die Kirschs or The View of Things by Joachim Jahns, Leipzig 2016, ISBN 978-3-928498-71-5

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Kirsch  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Wolfgang Kirsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Table of contents of the book Die Kirschs or The View of Things by Joachim Jahns, Leipzig 2016, ISBN 978-3-928498-71-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DNB 1122993927