The history of the United States has been deeply determined by Germans throughout time, but hardly anyone has noticed that this was the case in the Southwest as well, known as Arizona/Sonora today, in the eighteenth century as Pimería Alta. This was the area where the Jesuits operated all by themselves, and many of them, at least since the 1730s, originated from the Holy Roman Empire, hence were identified as Germans (including Swiss, Austrians, Bohemians, Croats, Alsatians, and Poles). Mo...

The Secret in Medieval Literature: Alternative Worlds in the Middle Ages explores the many strange phenomena, both in the Middle Ages and today, that do not find any good rational explanations. Those do not pertain to magic or to religion in the traditional sense of the word; they are secrets of an epistemological kind and tend to defy human rationality, without being marginal or irrelevant. At first sight, we might believe that we face elements from fairy tales, but the medieval ...

Criticism of the Court and the Evil King in the Middle Ages: Literary-Historical Analyses, identifies and discusses the discourse focused on the criticism of the court, specifically of the king, across medieval Europe. Tracing its development from the tenth through the fifteenth centuries, chapters examine Icelandic sagas, Old Spanish heroic epic poetry, courtly romances, early modern French and German prose novels, and late medieval short verse and prose narratives as well as the...

Ecocritical thinking has sensitized us more than ever before to the tremendous importance of water for human life, as it is richly reflected in the world of literature. The great relevance of water also in the Middle Ages might come as a surprise for many readers, but the evidence assembled here confirms that also medieval poets were keenly aware of the importance of water to sustain all life, to provide understanding of life’s secrets, to mirror love, and to connect the individual with Go...

Prostitution is known as the oldest profession in the history of humanity. While historians have already given due consideration to the profession’s social and cultural meanings across time periods, little has been written about literary representations of prostitution. Prostitution in Medieval and Early Modern Literature analyses the work of writers from an array of social positions, including courtly poets and even religious writers, dealing with the topic during the medieval and early m...

Every human being knows that we are walking through life following trails, whether we are aware of them or not. Medieval poets, from the anonymous composer of Beowulf to Marie de France, Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von Strassburg, and Guillaume de Lorris to Petrarch and Heinrich Kaufringer, predicated their works on the notion of the trail and elaborated on its epistemological function. We can grasp here an essential concept that determines much of medieval and early modern Europe...

By pursuing an ecocritical reading, The Forest in Medieval German Literature examines passages in medieval German texts where protagonists operated in the forest and found themselves either in conflictual situations or in refuge. By probing the way the individual authors dealt with the forest, illustrating how their characters fared in this sylvan space, the role of the forest proved to be of supreme importance in understanding the fundamental relationship between humans and nature. The me...

Although courtly literature is often associated with a chivalrous and idyllic life, the fifteen original essays in this collection demonstrate that the quest for love in the world of medieval courtly literature was underpinned by violence. Lovers were rejected, mistrust ruled, rape was a rampant problem, and marriage was often characterized by brutality. Albrecht Classen brings together an outstanding group of historical, cultural, and literary scholars in this volume to investigate the co...

englische Haikus, die über die Welt, Natur und die Menschen reflektieren und zum Nachdenken anregen. Sie sind alle in Reaktion auf meine eigenen Fotos entstanden, die ich oftmals auf FB veröffentlicht habe.

Viele träumen von Hawai'i, dem 50. Staat der USA. In der Werbung gibt es viele beeindruckende Bilder von diesen Inseln, aber nur wenn man dort länger lebt und mit der Kamera genauer hinschaut, und dazu auch noch Lyrik in der Gattung der Haiku verfasst, kommt uns diese subtropische Welt näher. Klar, da sind die schönen Strände, aber oftmals säumen raue Basaltgesteine die Küste. Ein näherer Blick auf die Blumen, die Früchte, die Bäume oder Steine vermittelt auf einmal einen ganz anderen Eind...

More than ever before do we need the critical engagement with religious tolerance. Historical perspectives allow us to gain access to the discourse on this universal, often very contested topic. Already the Middle Ages and the early modern age witnessed the emergence of significant voices addressing toleration, if not even tolerance. This anthology opens many new perspectives toward this centrally important topic, adding a cultural-historical, religious, literary, and philosophical dimensi...

This book brings together, in a modern English translation, a selection of relevant medieval texts that are determined by wisdom. Mostly hidden in a literary framework, the messages contained in these excerpts prove to be highly valuable for all people throughout time, addressing ethical, moral, and religious values and ideals. Critical discussions of the meaning of wisdom frame the text anthology.