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Mörike and the higher criticism

Abstract:
As a Protestant clergyman, Mörike was familiar with the historical study of the Bible (the 'Higher Criticism') represented by his friend David Strauss's Das Leben Jesu. He regarded it with ambivalence, agreeing in substance yet regretting its demolition of such attractive stories as the Gospel narratives of the birth of Jesus, and he found it hard to reconcile this historical understanding with his duties as a clergyman. His imaginative attraction to Christian legend was in tension with his liking for traditional tales about elves and ghosts, which he also associated with forbidden and disturbing sexuality. This tension finds expression both in his novel Maler Nolten and in the poem 'Auf eine Christblume', the two texts being linked by the key phrase 'Tochter des Walds'.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1179/174592107x224196

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
Medieval & Modern Languages Faculty
Sub department:
German
Oxford college:
St John's College
Role:
Author

Contributors


Publisher:
W. S. Maney & Son Ltd
Journal:
Oxford German Studies More from this journal
Volume:
36
Issue:
1
Pages:
47-59
Publication date:
2007-01-01
DOI:
ISSN:
0078-7191


Language:
English
Subjects:
UUID:
uuid:e9f0cbaa-bcc9-4352-94ea-de7509f0f5fc
Local pid:
ora:4263
Deposit date:
2010-10-15
ARK identifier:

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