The lecture series by Henrike Lähnemann (Professor of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics) in Michaelmas Term 2022 at the Taylor Institution Library, Room 2, discusses German prose texts published in the first hundred years of printing. This includes a number of iconic texts written earlier such as the ‘Ackermann von Böhmen’ or transformed from verse into prose such as the ‘Prosa-Tristan’. The series also takes in some of the special holdings in Oxford collections. The lectures are aimed at German students studying late medieval (Paper VI) and early modern (Paper VII) as well as historical linguistics (Paper IV) but are also open for the interested public.

1. Prose & Printing or: how to tell a story for the press (‘Vier Historien’, Bamberg 1462). Recording. Handout.
2. ‘Tristrant und Isalde’ or: how to make a long story short (Augsburg 1484). Recording. Handout.
3. Launch of the ‘Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen’ (includes recording and edition).
4. Ashmolean Museum, New Douce Room. Watch a recording of a meeting of all surviving editions by the printer Albrecht Pfister, including the Ashmolean leaf of the ‘Ackermann von Böhmen’ and early printed German texts and images.
5. ‘Pontus und Sidonia’ or: how to translate (Augsburg 1483/5). Recording. Handout.
6. Hans Sachs’ Reformation dialogues (Nuremberg 1524). Edition and recording of the first dialogue. Recording of the second dialogue. Handout. Recording.
7. Ruth von Bernuth (Chapel Hill): Representing Otherness. Little People in the ‘Zwerchen Cabinet’ (Augsburg 1715). Recording.
8. Friday, 2 December 2022, 3-4pm, Taylor Institution Library, Room 2
   Pia Selmayr (Munich): ‘Fortunatus’ (Augsburg 1509)
   First printed in Augsburg in 1509, “Fortunatus” is considered one of the most important prose novels of the early modern period. In addition to an extremely fascinating pictorial program, the plot reveals a variety of different themes: genealogy, economics, fortune and coincidence, social change, itinerancy, magic, and much more. In my lecture I will ask about the structure of the narrative and the different narrative order constellations. A main focus will be on the woodcuts and their function of visualization. Recording.

Header Image: The Ackermann edition by Albrecht Pfister. The Ackermann accusing Death, c. 1463. Ashmolean Museum, WA1863.1915 GW 194. Bequeathed by Francis Douce, 1834.