Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur

Published by De Gruyter

Volume 46 Issue 1

Issue of Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur

Contents
Journal Overview

Frontmatter

Publicly Available June 12, 2021

Frontmatter

Page range: I-IV

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June 12, 2021

Hans Joachim Schädlich und die niederländische Lyrik

Übersetzungen im verlegerischen Feld der DDR

Paweł Zajas

Page range: 1-23

Abstract

The paper reveals the backstage of a modern Dutch poetry anthology Gedichte aus Belgien und den Niederlanden (1977), published by an East German publisher Volk & Welt. An analysis of the surviving correspondence, publishing reviews, and peritexts (afterwords) has shown the mechanisms of transfer in literary translation to the GDR. This historical-literary case study illustrates the ways in which the political and cultural function of anthologies enabled the introduction of formal/content innovations into the East German literary system.

June 12, 2021

‚Perspektivendifferenz‘ als soziologische Diagnose und ‚Problem‘ in der erzählenden Literatur der Gegenwart

Sandra Kerschbaumer

Page range: 40-65

Abstract

The article aims to show the positions and narrative means by which contemporary literature reacts to a social problem that is currently described as ‘perspective difference’ in sociology. At the same time, it is a matter of historically locating the shown social-literary constellation in modernity.

June 12, 2021

Reportage 4.0

Heike Geißlers Saisonarbeit als Lebenszeichen aus der Versandfabrik

Stefanie Retzlaff

Page range: 24-39

Abstract

The article illuminates Heike Geißler’s book Saisonarbeit ’s relation to the tradition of the reportage genre since the 19th century, and shows why this genre is of current relevance, especially in view of the latest restructuring of work. Although talk of the widespread digitalization of labor implies a fundamental transformation of its conditions, the mail-order business represented in Saisonarbeit tends to evoke reminiscences of past phases of capitalist production. It is precisely here that the reportage has a special function as a report of vivid experiences.

June 12, 2021

Wahrheit – Zusammenhang – Therapie

Entwicklungstendenzen autobiografischen Schreibens zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts

Carsten Rohde

Page range: 66-108

Abstract

While autobiographical research in literary studies has recently focused mainly on aesthetic and theoretical aspects (for example, in the discussion of ‘autofiction’), this article focuses on the variety of autobiographical writing at the present time. It provides an outline of the autobiographical genre spectrum linked to the three principal purposes (truth, coherence, therapy), which regulate the ‘autobiographical desire’ at the beginning of the 21 st century.

Themenschwerpunkt: Der komplexe Faden der Herkunft: Provenienz

June 12, 2021

Editorial

Caroline Jessen

Page range: 109-130

June 12, 2021

Zur Frage der Provenienz

Überlegungen eines Archäologen

Luca Giuliani

Page range: 131-137

Abstract

The question of provenance can have very different implications in different disciplines. In the case of archaeological objects, the finding spot of an object provides us with information about the objectʼs original meaning and function. If the excavation is illegal, those involved in illicit antiquities tend to cancel any trace of their action that could be used as proof of the crime. This leads to a systematic destruction of information: when the objects appear on the market they seem to come out of nowhere; it is exactly this loss of contextual information (and not the problem of ownership) that makes illegal excavation intolerable from a scholarly perspective. My test case is a Greek archaic statue acquired by the Berlin Museum in 1925: it had been heavily damaged in order to facilitate its smuggling out of Greece and then carefully restored in order to promote its acquisition by the museum .

June 12, 2021

Bibliotheken ‚ausgraben‘

Archäologische Quellenkritik und Überlieferung von Büchersammlungen

Ulrike Trenkmann

Page range: 138-148

Abstract

(Book) collections are a vital source for both literary studies and provenance research – in spite of the fact that they often exist only in an incomplete and fragmented state. This article examines the transmission of collections from the perspective of source criticism as practiced in archeology. A systematic approach, taking various processes of transformation and reduction into account, already becomes effective before a collection is transferred to a memory institution.

June 12, 2021

Provenienzprinzip und archivisches Denken

Von der ursprünglichen Ordnung zur Geschichtlichkeit von Überlieferung

Philipp Messner

Page range: 149-156

Abstract

The following paper discusses the ‘principle of provenance’ as a fundamental concept of archival theory and practice. Whereas traditional archival practice follows an understanding of provenance as singular in origin, current discussions in the field of archival science open up this specific notion of provenance towards more complex forms of contextuality.

June 12, 2021

Luxuswaren und Wissensobjekte

Willibald Pirckheimers venezianische Frühdrucke und ihre Wege im Europa der Neuzeit

Bettina Pfotenhauer

Page range: 157-169

Abstract

The Venetian incunabula and post-incunabula traced in the library of the Nuremberg humanist Willibald Pirckheimer express the significant influence of the two cities’ relationship on shaping early modern culture in North-alpine Europe: The books, traded by Franconian merchants as luxury goods and, due to the miniatures added by Albrecht Dürer, examples of the influence of Italian Renaissance art north of the Alpes, also shaped the development of Greek humanism in the north and played an important role in constituting learned networks. The ambivalent and always shifting relation of their status as luxury goods or as objects of intellectual knowledge continued after Pirckheimer’s death as they became part of important English book collections and in the 1920 s precious pieces of the stocks of the famous Munich antiquarians Jacques and Erwin Rosenthal, the latter studying as an art historian the artistic importance of Dürer’s miniatures in Pirckheimer’s Venetian books.

June 12, 2021

Konfigurationen einer Bibliothek

Herkunft und Migration von Büchern im Kontext historischer Sammlungslogiken

Petra Feuerstein-Herz

Page range: 170-185

Abstract

The article traces the idea of provenance and its changing relevance for collecting policies governing the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel (HAB) since its foundation as a universal library in the 17 th century. Today, systematic provenance research allows librarians and researchers not only to map layers of the collection’s origins but also to reconstruct the broken, intersected structures of a given collection’s historical delivery. It also reveals the value of books as sources for research into reading practices, cultural history, and the multiple transfers of knowledge in early modern times.

June 12, 2021

So weit der Faden reicht

Mit Katalogen die Provenienz von Büchern ermitteln

Jörn Münkner

Page range: 186-199

Abstract

Book catalogues can be helpful tools for tracing the history of individual volumes. Nevertheless, how far and how deep in time can we go when we wish to reconstruct the provenance of books by relying on catalogue data? Using material samples, the article demonstrates the spectrum of provenance potential book catalogues hold and can offer.

June 12, 2021

„Denn das Falsche kann echt werden“

Die Bibliothek Johann Caspar Goethes im Frankfurter Goethe-Haus

Joachim Seng

Page range: 200-215

Abstract

: In his autobiographical accounts, Johann Wolfgang Goethe emphasizes the vital role that his father’s collections of books and art had for his own Bildung . In fact, the library of Johann Caspar Goethe (1710–1782) played a vital role in Goethe’s education and early studies while also attesting to his family background and status. However, soon after Johann Caspar’s death, his library was dissolved – and whereas Johann Wolfgang Goethe and other family members integrated some of the books into their own collections, the majority of objects were sold and dispersed. Today, a handwritten catalog commissioned by Goethe’s mother, Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, just before the sale (in 1793/1794), is a critical tool for reconstructing the collection. This article describes the history of Johann Caspar Goethe’s library, its dispersal as well as the efforts to reconstruct the collection. As the retrieval of the original copies from Johann Caspar’s library and the re-establishment of the original collection were impossible, the Freies Deutsches Hochstift has managed to collect equivalent titles and editions in order to restore a library that allows visitors to the Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt to learn about Goethe’s family background, the cultural setting of his upbringing, and early influences on his education.

June 12, 2021

„Familien-Denkmal“ vs. „National Eigenthum“

Dimensionen des Erbes in Goethes Bibliothek

Stefan Höppner

Page range: 216-228

Abstract

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s personal library was a prime source of his literary and scientific writings, but has nonetheless found little attention in research. This study explains this disregard by examining the library as both “familial inheritance” ( Erbe ) and “cultural heritage” ( Kulturerbe ), two conflicting concepts that, nonetheless, both resulted in the monumentalization of the writer’s book collection. By turning Goethe’s library into a monument, the individual, telling histories of the books he owned, has often been overshadowed. Many books are associated with multiple owners and have gone through the hands of Goethe’s family, friends, and assistants. Against this background, provenance research allows us to gain new insights into Goethe’s works, reading and writing practices, as well as his stylization as a German national poet.

June 12, 2021

Provenienz braucht Referenz

Notizen und Überlegungen zur Bedeutung von Lesespuren

Helmut Zedelmaier

Page range: 229-239

Abstract

Marks that readers leave in books are instructive documents with regard to what readers did with them, how they came in contact with them, and how those books have come down to us. These traces reflect past readers’ attempts to relate to their act of reading while also establishing references to the texts themselves. In retrospect, historians can understand books as mobile vitae, that is, as products created not by an author alone, but also by a network of references that the physical volumes acquired along their transmission history. References of this kind can also help us understand why and how certain books we are interested in today have become objects of our interest.

June 12, 2021

Fluchtgepäck

Eduard Berends Jean-Paul-Sammlung im Exil

Meike G. Werner

Page range: 240-263

Abstract

Based on the expansive correspondence of the eminent philologist Eduard Berend (1883–1973), this essay reconstructs the multifaceted history of his exquisite Jean-Paul-collection, which, in 1957, became a cornerstone of the newly established Deutsches Literaturarchiv (DLA) in Marbach. Upon the invitation of the DLA, Berend, a refugee from Nazi Germany who had spent 17 years in exile in Geneva, was able to continue his work on the historical-critical edition of the works of Jean Paul (born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 1763–1825), one of Germany’s most prolific writers of the Classical-Romantic period. The Prussian Academy of Sciences had commissioned the critical edition in the Weimar era, and Berend had begun work on it in 1927. But, as a result of Nazi racial policy, he had been removed as the editor in 1938. The return of Berend and his Jean-Paul-Archiv mark the beginning of the DLA’s history as an exceptional research center not just for exile literature but also of and for exiled scholars.

June 12, 2021

Stempel, Schilder, Signaturen

Exemplargeschichten aus der Bibliothek Thomas Manns

Anke Jaspers

Page range: 264-282

Abstract

The article discusses the potential and challenges of provenance research on annotated book copies based on the biographies of three volumes from the library of Thomas Mann. They illustrate how the copies repeatedly disturb the library’s order(s) at their respective locations, how they are charged with meaning, absorbed in other contexts, and how their traces are prone to getting lost. However, by broadening the perspective, taking minor characters, networks, literary references, and practices linked to the authorship of Thomas Mann into account, they change our knowledge of Mann’s life and work, his relationships with other authors, and the history of his personal library.

June 12, 2021

Das ‚Etwas nach dem Nichts‘: Marie-Louise von Motesiczkys Gemälde Gespräch in der Bibliothek

Susanna Brogi, Elisabeth Gallas

Page range: 283-299

Abstract

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky’s painting Gespräch in der Bibliothek ( Conversation in the Library ) relates back to a specific historical constellation insofar as it highlights the interwoven stories of Elias Canetti, Franz Baermann Steiner, and the painter herself, but also of H. G. Adler during the early years of their British exile. Although the painting does not include and likely does not even explicitly refer to H. G. Adler, he saved Steiner’s library from destruction, which made him an integral part of the intellectual exchange that is depicted here, since the library plays a central role in the portrait. Numerous notes and letters in Steiner’s and Adler’s estates testify to the close net of all four protagonists. The article discusses the crucial role of book collections as a mainstay of the three authors’ self-conception and intellectual self-positioning in the wake of the Holocaust, and the continuing impact of this intellectual network visible throughout the dispersed papers of the authors and the painter.

June 12, 2021

The Lives of Objects beyond Ownership

The Meaning of Provenance

Emily D. Bilski

Page range: 300-322

Abstract

Provenance history sheds light on the relationship between works of art and the social, political, and economic conditions of their biographies. Engaging with the provenance of objects establishes a cultural conversation across time and space with previous owners. For artworks in museums, the public has now entered into that conversation. Museums, as custodians of art and educators of the public, can play a significant role in going beyond the question of ownership to get to the heart of what provenance reveals about the meanings of art: the ways people bring art into their lives, and the ways that objects are loved and studied. This essay delves into these human aspects of provenance, which are too often absent from museum displays, and argues in favor of making this information more visible to the public. Finally, works by contemporary artists Hans Haacke and Maria Eichhorn are discussed as examples of projects that successfully expose complicated object histories and provenance within museum installations.

About this journal

Die Anfänge der Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur in den 1970er Jahren standen im Zeichen einer interdisziplinären Begegnung und eines veränderten Literaturbegriffs. Inzwischen haben sich die Diskurse und Methoden in den Kultur- und Literaturwissenschaften sehr stark gewandelt, gleichwohl ist die Hauptfrage einer sozialgeschichtlich orientierten Literaturgeschichte – die nach dem Verhältnis zwischen literarischen Texten und sozialhistorischen Kontexten – unverändert aktuell.

Diese Frage in all ihren Facetten und unter verschiedensten Aspekten untersuchen die Beiträge des Internationalen Archivs für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur (IASL), das 1976 von Georg Jäger, Alberto Martino und Friedrich Sengle gegründet wurde. Sein Spektrum umfasst die gesamte deutsche Literaturgeschichte vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dabei den literaturtheoretischen Grundlagen der Literaturgeschichte, insbesondere den methodischen und thematischen Berührungspunkten zwischen der Literaturwissenschaft und den Geschichts- und Sozialwissenschaften. Zu den Schwerpunkten einer erweiterten Sozialgeschichte der Literatur zählen deshalb nach wie vor Buch-, Verlags- und Kommunikationsgeschichte, Lese(r)forschung und Rezeptionsgeschichte, Wissens- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte sowie die Konstellationen von Literatur und Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert.

IASL veröffentlicht Aufsätze und Beiträge zu aktuellen Forschungsfragen in deutscher und englischer Sprache. Gelegentlich erscheinen thematisch zusammenhängende Themenschwerpunkte; darüber hinaus werden in gesonderten Rubriken aktuelle Forschungsdiskussionen und in Planung befindliche Forschungsprojekte sowie neue Materialien und Dokumente zur Sozialgeschichte der Literatur (Dokumentation) vorgestellt. Alle in IASL veröffentlichten Texte unterliegen einem strengen Begutachtungsverfahren (peer review).

Rezensionen erscheinen auf der von IASL unabhängigen Internet-Plattform von IASL online (www.iaslonline.de/), einer kooperierenden, aber selbstständigen elektronischen Zeitschrift, die auch intermediale Forschungsbeiträge veröffentlicht.

Editorial der neuen Herausgeber aus Bd. 28, H. 1 (2003): http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/iasl.2003.28.issue-1/iasl.2003.1.vii/iasl.2003.1.vii.xml