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Germanische Heldensagen
Die germanisch-deutschen Heldensagen von Nibelungen und Burgunden, Hunnen und Goten, Siegfried und Hagen, Kriemhild und Bruenhild, Gunter und Etzel, Dietrich und Wieland sind den Quellen getreu, verständlich und spannend nacherzählt.
356 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1996
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May 27, 2015This volume contains retellings of the Niebulungen saga, Wieland the Smith, and a cycle of stories centred around Dietrich of Bern. The Niebelungen saga is the longest, taking up over half the book and is itself divided into two distinct parts, the first featuring the hero Siegfried and the second in which the men connected with his murder die in a battle so huge that it has to suck in characters from the Dietrich of Bern cycle simply in order to have enough notable people to engage in heroic combats to the death .
Added to these stories is a short glossary, mostly of names of characters, and an afterword with a discussion of the sources and ongoing reception of the stories.
Dietrich of Bern is apparently the entirely historical Theoderic the Great, Ostrogothic King of Italy. However in these stories he is an Arthurian figure - riding around the countryside, building up a retinue in the time honoured manner by fighting people, and having adventurers including fighting giants and capturing dwarf kings (after trampling their rose gardens), rather than doing historical things such as conducting diplomatic relations with the Byzantines or trying to establish a Romano-Gothic polity. The same kind of thing happened with Charlemagne and his paladins, a ship of fantasy is anchored to historical reality but the cable is too slender to bear the weight of much analysis . Perhaps something similar occurs in every generation, we see and maybe understand the big figures of our own times as they are presented to us, the reality slips away to be forgotten . No one can forget how George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and declared how he could not tell a lie even though the story is a complete and relatively recent invention . The stories remind me of TV dramas and films, loved ones are conveniently on hand with keys to rescue imprisoned heroes,while wise advisers know how to overcome even the most cunning plot devices to wind up the story within its scheduled time.
One of Dietrich's followers is the son of Wieland the Smith. This smith appears on a panel of the Franks casket and has a number of places named after him such as Wayland's Smithy. In his day his everyday tale of loss, imprisonment and extreme revenge seems to have been a well known one, even if relatively unknown today.
His story has two distinct parts, as does the Niebelungenleid. The first deals with how he and his brothers came across three Valkyries and stole their wings, thus making them their wives, while the second descends down into the world of human rivalries and emotions. So in the Nibelungenlied we start with Siegfried who kills a dragon, then bathes in its blood which renders him invulnerable to weapons except for the spot where a leaf fell and stuck between his shoulders while he was bathing. He loves Bruenhild, a Valkyrie.
Then abruptly we move down into a human world. The hero and the heroine forget each other. Siegfried now falls in love with Kremhilde and serves her brothers, the three kings of the Burgundians. He helps one of them, Gunter, to win Bruenhild (who in the interim has become Queen of Iceland) to be his wife. In Iceland neither Bruenhild nor Siegfried recognise each other . Bruenhild will only marry the man who can defeat her in a series of trials of strength. It now turns out that Bruenhild is immensely strong. Lucky Siegfried happens to have the Tarnkappe , a cloak of invisibility that gives the wearer the strength of twelve men .
Now we get to the point. Siegfried helps Gunter win his contests against Bruenhild. This includes defeating her in bed which means there is a dangerous over intimacy between the characters. How can Gunter have authority as a king when his authority in the marriage bed was down to Siegfried defeating Bruenhild in intimate circumstances , particularly when increasing numbers of people are made aware of this. Inevitably in the world of sagas this means that Siegfried has to die, despite being the most heroic character in that he's the only one whose killed a dragon, he has to die in an unheroic manner - stabbed in back by a warrior called Hagen.
In the second and longer part of the story Kremhild gets her revenge on Hagen and her brothers, however the heroes of this part of the story in an abrupt transition are Hagen and the three kings. Invited to visit Kremhild, now living her second husband who happens to be Attila the Hun, they are all killed in a long battle. It takes a good thirty pages of combat from the moment when I said 'why don't they just set fire to the hall and burn them all to death' to when the characters in the story finally get round to it. Plainly they had never read Njal's Saga .
What strikes me is the strangeness of it all, the changes of focus, the disappearance of objects and characters, the consideration given to certain motivations but not to others. It is rather as though a series of stories have collided and clustered awkwardly together, lumpy at the joins. Retellings perhaps make this effect worse. The Nibelungenlied comes down to us in three medieval German versions and in an old Norse Saga tradition. There may never have been an original version of the story but many versions catering to many audiences. Audiences change and stories with them.
The descent from myth to semi-history is striking. We move from dragons to Attila the Hun. But here the historic figures are telescoped together, compressed in time to exist in a mythic past - Theodoric, Attila and the three Burgundian kings were not contemporaries, yet they held their places in the imagination, just as did the obscure raid that Beowulf swims home from at the beginning of that Anglo-Saxon epic.
Added to these stories is a short glossary, mostly of names of characters, and an afterword with a discussion of the sources and ongoing reception of the stories.
Dietrich of Bern is apparently the entirely historical Theoderic the Great, Ostrogothic King of Italy. However in these stories he is an Arthurian figure - riding around the countryside, building up a retinue in the time honoured manner by fighting people, and having adventurers including fighting giants and capturing dwarf kings (after trampling their rose gardens), rather than doing historical things such as conducting diplomatic relations with the Byzantines or trying to establish a Romano-Gothic polity. The same kind of thing happened with Charlemagne and his paladins, a ship of fantasy is anchored to historical reality but the cable is too slender to bear the weight of much analysis . Perhaps something similar occurs in every generation, we see and maybe understand the big figures of our own times as they are presented to us, the reality slips away to be forgotten . No one can forget how George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and declared how he could not tell a lie even though the story is a complete and relatively recent invention . The stories remind me of TV dramas and films, loved ones are conveniently on hand with keys to rescue imprisoned heroes,while wise advisers know how to overcome even the most cunning plot devices to wind up the story within its scheduled time.
One of Dietrich's followers is the son of Wieland the Smith. This smith appears on a panel of the Franks casket and has a number of places named after him such as Wayland's Smithy. In his day his everyday tale of loss, imprisonment and extreme revenge seems to have been a well known one, even if relatively unknown today.
His story has two distinct parts, as does the Niebelungenleid. The first deals with how he and his brothers came across three Valkyries and stole their wings, thus making them their wives, while the second descends down into the world of human rivalries and emotions. So in the Nibelungenlied we start with Siegfried who kills a dragon, then bathes in its blood which renders him invulnerable to weapons except for the spot where a leaf fell and stuck between his shoulders while he was bathing. He loves Bruenhild, a Valkyrie.
Then abruptly we move down into a human world. The hero and the heroine forget each other. Siegfried now falls in love with Kremhilde and serves her brothers, the three kings of the Burgundians. He helps one of them, Gunter, to win Bruenhild (who in the interim has become Queen of Iceland) to be his wife. In Iceland neither Bruenhild nor Siegfried recognise each other . Bruenhild will only marry the man who can defeat her in a series of trials of strength. It now turns out that Bruenhild is immensely strong. Lucky Siegfried happens to have the Tarnkappe , a cloak of invisibility that gives the wearer the strength of twelve men .
Now we get to the point. Siegfried helps Gunter win his contests against Bruenhild. This includes defeating her in bed which means there is a dangerous over intimacy between the characters. How can Gunter have authority as a king when his authority in the marriage bed was down to Siegfried defeating Bruenhild in intimate circumstances , particularly when increasing numbers of people are made aware of this. Inevitably in the world of sagas this means that Siegfried has to die, despite being the most heroic character in that he's the only one whose killed a dragon, he has to die in an unheroic manner - stabbed in back by a warrior called Hagen.
In the second and longer part of the story Kremhild gets her revenge on Hagen and her brothers, however the heroes of this part of the story in an abrupt transition are Hagen and the three kings. Invited to visit Kremhild, now living her second husband who happens to be Attila the Hun, they are all killed in a long battle. It takes a good thirty pages of combat from the moment when I said 'why don't they just set fire to the hall and burn them all to death' to when the characters in the story finally get round to it. Plainly they had never read Njal's Saga .
What strikes me is the strangeness of it all, the changes of focus, the disappearance of objects and characters, the consideration given to certain motivations but not to others. It is rather as though a series of stories have collided and clustered awkwardly together, lumpy at the joins. Retellings perhaps make this effect worse. The Nibelungenlied comes down to us in three medieval German versions and in an old Norse Saga tradition. There may never have been an original version of the story but many versions catering to many audiences. Audiences change and stories with them.
The descent from myth to semi-history is striking. We move from dragons to Attila the Hun. But here the historic figures are telescoped together, compressed in time to exist in a mythic past - Theodoric, Attila and the three Burgundian kings were not contemporaries, yet they held their places in the imagination, just as did the obscure raid that Beowulf swims home from at the beginning of that Anglo-Saxon epic.
May 14, 2023
9/10
December 12, 2008
Beinahe Meisterlich ...
... beschreibt Reiner Tetzner die wichtigsten Heldensagen der Germanen - Nibelungenlied, Wieland der Schmied und Dietrich von Bern. Die einzige Schwäche ist vielleicht, dass Tetzners Sprache zwar gut aber nicht sehr poetisch ist. Manchmal wirkt sein Werk eher wie eine sehr interessanter Zeitungsartikel - der Wissenschafter klingt durch.
Sehr wissenschaftlich ist auch seine Herangehensweise daran was er erzählt und wie er es erzählt. Er versucht immer den Originalquellen treu zu bleiben; findet er mehrere wesentliche Quellen vor, so folgt er der Hauptlinie gibt aber die Nebenlinie ebenfalls an. Diese Technik sorgt dafür, dass der Leser ein sehr gutes Verständnis auch der Hintergründe bekommt, Tetzner versucht die Quellen in das ursprüngliche Licht zu rücken, sie so wiederzugeben wie sie gemeint waren. Sein Bestreben ist sehr wesentlich darauf gerichtet, Umfärbungen die im Lauf der Geschichte angebracht wurden wieder zu entfernen und so, inhaltlich einen ursprünglicheren Text wiederzugeben, der in moderne Sprache gekleidet wurde.
Für jene die sich auch für die Mythologie der Germanen interessieren, sei noch erwähnt, dass "Germanische Göttersagen" vom gleichen Autor sinnvollerweise in der Reihenfolge zuvor kommen sollten, weil dieses Buch eher das ältere "Wissen" beinhaltet. Für jene die sich weniger für den dahinterstehenden Mythos interessieren, sei jedoch gesagt, dass dieses Buch absolut keine Voraussetzung ist, um die Heldensagen gut aufnehmen zu können.
Seinem Ziel verpflichtet bemüht sich Tetzner in einem rd. 15-seitigen Anhang nochmals darum, die Quellen und ihre Unterschiede aufzuzeigen, sowie den historischen Kontext kurz zu skizzieren.
Um Alternativen aufzuzeigen, möchte ich kurz noch einen Vergleich mit "Stephan Grundy - Rheingold" wagen. Dieses um ein Vielfaches dickere Buch besitzt genau jene Erzählstimme die Tetzner fehlt. Rheingold befasst sich mit der Siegfriedsage und ist eigentlich ein Phantasyroman geworden, der sich um das gleiche Thema bewegt, sich dafür aber häufig von den sehr weit wesentlichen Quellen entfernt - dafür ist er einfach sagenhaft zu lesen. Sollten Sie jetzt beschließen beides lesen zu wollen, so ist es sicherlich sinnvoll zunächst Tetzners Göttersagen, danach die Heldensagen und danach Grundys Rheingold zu lesen.
Die Zusammenfassung der Beurteilung dieses Werkes ist für mich recht einfach: Das Buch ist überaus gelungen, und hätte Tetzner noch die Sprache eines gewandten Erzählers wären 5 Sterne nicht ausreichend.
... beschreibt Reiner Tetzner die wichtigsten Heldensagen der Germanen - Nibelungenlied, Wieland der Schmied und Dietrich von Bern. Die einzige Schwäche ist vielleicht, dass Tetzners Sprache zwar gut aber nicht sehr poetisch ist. Manchmal wirkt sein Werk eher wie eine sehr interessanter Zeitungsartikel - der Wissenschafter klingt durch.
Sehr wissenschaftlich ist auch seine Herangehensweise daran was er erzählt und wie er es erzählt. Er versucht immer den Originalquellen treu zu bleiben; findet er mehrere wesentliche Quellen vor, so folgt er der Hauptlinie gibt aber die Nebenlinie ebenfalls an. Diese Technik sorgt dafür, dass der Leser ein sehr gutes Verständnis auch der Hintergründe bekommt, Tetzner versucht die Quellen in das ursprüngliche Licht zu rücken, sie so wiederzugeben wie sie gemeint waren. Sein Bestreben ist sehr wesentlich darauf gerichtet, Umfärbungen die im Lauf der Geschichte angebracht wurden wieder zu entfernen und so, inhaltlich einen ursprünglicheren Text wiederzugeben, der in moderne Sprache gekleidet wurde.
Für jene die sich auch für die Mythologie der Germanen interessieren, sei noch erwähnt, dass "Germanische Göttersagen" vom gleichen Autor sinnvollerweise in der Reihenfolge zuvor kommen sollten, weil dieses Buch eher das ältere "Wissen" beinhaltet. Für jene die sich weniger für den dahinterstehenden Mythos interessieren, sei jedoch gesagt, dass dieses Buch absolut keine Voraussetzung ist, um die Heldensagen gut aufnehmen zu können.
Seinem Ziel verpflichtet bemüht sich Tetzner in einem rd. 15-seitigen Anhang nochmals darum, die Quellen und ihre Unterschiede aufzuzeigen, sowie den historischen Kontext kurz zu skizzieren.
Um Alternativen aufzuzeigen, möchte ich kurz noch einen Vergleich mit "Stephan Grundy - Rheingold" wagen. Dieses um ein Vielfaches dickere Buch besitzt genau jene Erzählstimme die Tetzner fehlt. Rheingold befasst sich mit der Siegfriedsage und ist eigentlich ein Phantasyroman geworden, der sich um das gleiche Thema bewegt, sich dafür aber häufig von den sehr weit wesentlichen Quellen entfernt - dafür ist er einfach sagenhaft zu lesen. Sollten Sie jetzt beschließen beides lesen zu wollen, so ist es sicherlich sinnvoll zunächst Tetzners Göttersagen, danach die Heldensagen und danach Grundys Rheingold zu lesen.
Die Zusammenfassung der Beurteilung dieses Werkes ist für mich recht einfach: Das Buch ist überaus gelungen, und hätte Tetzner noch die Sprache eines gewandten Erzählers wären 5 Sterne nicht ausreichend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews