Althochdeutsche Literatur: Eine kommentierte Anthologie. zweisprachig

by Stephan Müller

Rare Book

Perfect Paperback

Published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really and truly do wish that I had had a copy of this compact and handy dual language anthology (Old High German / Modern Standard German) in 1996 when I was frantically reading and studying for my First Comprehensive Exam (which was part of my PhD requirement). The First Comprehensive Exam covered German linguistics and German literature until the end of the 15th Century, and we had to thus also peruse a goodly number of Old High German literature pieces (all or at least the vast majority of which were unfortunately presented, were appearing in at times rather halting, old-fashioned and even somewhat frustrating standard German translations). And for me personally, it would indeed have been both much more enjoyable and enlightening (a real language learning experience so to speak) if a dual language collection such as Stephan Müller's Althochdeutsche Literatur had been available for purchase (or as a loan from the University of Waterloo Library), but alas, this book was only published in 2007, thus more than a decade too late.

Conceptualised and published as a delightfully small and handy paperback, Althochdeutsche Literatur features an extensive collection of Old High German literary documents (from the famous Hildebrandslied, the only existent written documentation of a German language heroic saga to magical and medicinal prayers and recipes). Followed by both an extensive and intensive commentary on the diverse inclusions, as well as a short but decent enough bibliography, this collection, this anthology is in most ways an absolute academic treasure, the only minor drawback being that in order to adequate fit all of the literary pieces into basically a miniature sized volume (and there are more than sixty odd offerings included), the text must by mere necessity appear in a dense and rather small font size (not as much of an issue with the primary material, however, the commentary does, at times, become a bit of a chore to read). Still highly recommended and like with most of the Reclam paperbacks, not all that expensive either!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tolle und informative Zusammenstellung. Ohne Müllers Kommentar wäre es schwer lesbar und das, obwohl ich mich mit der deutschen Sprachgeschichte auskenne.