Martin Luthers Fabeln und Sprichwörter
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Authors
Dithmar, Reinhard
Luther, Martin
Issue Date
1989
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This is a fine Insel paperback. Dithmar lays out important texts in careful fashion, starting from Luther's thirteen fables of 1530 and their antecedents in Steinhöwel's Liber Primus. I take Dithmar's thesis to be that many commentators pounce on these thirteen fables as though they were Luther's word on the subject. Dithmar says rather that fable was important to Luther's thinking at a very basic level throughout his life. Dithmar goes on to present Luther's old-testament fables and then a set of fables labeled simply Luthers Fabeln. These seem to be individual stories for individual purposes; that is, Luther created them for individual literary creations. Such is, e.g., Vom Reichstag der Dohlen und Krähen, which Dithmar subtitles Luthers Brief an die Wittenberger Tischgesellen. New to me here, among Steinhöwel's woodcuts, is the image of Papstesel (87), an ass that incorporates in a rather voluptuous body the features of many different animals. There follow sections Aus Luthers Tischreden (119) and Luthers Theorie und Urteile über die Fabel (155). Next we find the collection of Luther's proverbs; these are of course all over whatever of his writings I have seen, including the fables. Dithmar does very good work, as far as I have checked, in the fifty-page section on sources and commentary. What a rich little volume!
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Insel Verlag
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Identifier
5746 (Access ID)