Fables and Tales by the German Aesop, C.F. Gellert (1715-1769)

Title

en_US Fables and Tales by the German Aesop, C.F. Gellert (1715-1769)

Description

en_US Original language: ger

en_US Translated by John W.Van Cleve

Creator

en_US Gellert, Christian Fürchtegott See all items with this value

Contributor

en_US Duncan, Bruce (Foreword)

Date

2016-01-25T15:38:53Z

en_US 2014-09

en_US 2013

Date Available

2016-01-25T15:38:53Z

Date Issued

en_US 2013

Abstract

en_US The title continues: A Moral Teacher of the German Nation. Here is a helpful book, especially since this collection includes no other translation of Gellert's work. The foreword helps carve out Gellert's place in the history of fable. Reading of a sample of the offerings here prompts the following reactions. It is hard for me to know when we are dealing with a fable and when with an Erzählung, especially since the former tend to be longer and the latter shorter than we would expect. A frequent target is writers of low quality. They are like larks trying to vie with nightingales. It is no use, and people recognize poorer quality. This theme appears in The Nightingale and the Cuckoo (189-90) and elsewhere. Two Black Men (208-10) is a curious piece. Two black slaves are in love with the same black woman. They love each other, and she loves them both. She refuses to settle the matter and leaves it to them to choose whom she will marry. They struggle long with their feelings and finally decide together on the following plan: they kill her and then each other! Gellert's moral is just as curious: The cause of acts that break all Nature's laws/Can be an impulse noble in itself/That has become depraved as time has passed--/And just because it never has been trained. I find The Monkey (136-37) helpful. A monkey studies players playing checkers and wants to get in the game. A serious player asks the monkey Should I do x? and the monkey nods Yes. Should I do y? Yes. Should I do z? Yes. If people want you to think they have grasped exactly what you are saying, ask their advice. If they say a quick yes, you will know that they don't have a clue. Gellert tells the traditional fable of the blind man and lame man. Advantages given to others belong to us all As long as we're companions here below. An old favorite of mine is The Land of the Lame (23-24). The easy walker is laughed at in the land of the lame; he needs to learn how to walk!

Identifier

en_US 9780773445147

en_US 10289 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/76277

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US The Edwin Mellen Press

en_US Lampeter, UK

Subject

en_US PT1883.G455 2013 See all items with this value

en_US Christian Fürchtegott Gellert See all items with this value

en_US Title Page Scanned See all items with this value

Type

en_US Book, Whole