Ernst Ralf Hintz & Scott Pincikowski 
The End-Times in Medieval German Literature 
Sin, Evil, and the Apocalypse

Drawing upon the most current methodologies, the essays in this book pursue the multifarious functions of end-times in medieval German texts.






The contemporary fascination with the end of the world and of life as we know it would not have surprised our counterparts a millennium ago; only the fact that such an end has not yet occurred. Current visions of the apocalypse encompass climate change, terrorism, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and war. Popular culture expresses the fear associated with these global crises, obsessively portraying zombies, alien attacks, pandemics, and self-destructive technology. This book explores how end-times were envisioned in medieval Germany. The essays, written by well-established scholars, examine the period’s fascination with the apocalypse by applying the most current methodological approaches to a wide range of literary genres. Drawing upon methodologies such as adaptation theory, gender analysis, space and place studies, reception studies, and memory studies, this book uncovers the rhetorical, didactic, narratological, mnemonic, thematic, cultural, and political functions of end-times in medieval German texts.


Contributors: Tina Boyer, Albrecht Classen, Winfried Frey, Will Hasty, Ernst Ralf Hintz, Winder Mc Connell, Evelyn Meyer, Scott E. Pincikowski, Marian E. Polhill, Alexander Sager, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Joseph M. Sullivan.


Ernst Ralf Hintz is Professor of German and Medieval Studies at Truman State University. Scott E. Pincikowski is Professor of German at Hood College.

Tabela de Conteúdo

Introduction – Ernst Ralf Hintz and Scott E. Pincikowski

Thiu wirsa giburd: Cain’s Legacy, Original Sin, and the End of the World in the Old Saxon Genesis – Alexander Sager

The
Heliand Revisited: Spiritual Transgendering and the Defiance of Evil – Ernst Ralf Hintz

The Beginning of the End: Binary Dynamics and Initiative in Hartmann von Aue’s
Gregorius – Will Hasty

Poetic Reflections in Medieval German Literature on Tragic Conflicts, Massive Death, and Armageddon – Albrecht Classen

Beyond Good and Evil: Apocalyptic Vision without Judgment in the
Nibelungenlied. An Essay – Winder Mc Connell

End-Times in the Hall: The Modern Reception of the Apocalyptic Ending of the
Nibelungenlied – Scott E. Pincikowski

Past Present, Future Present? Visualizing Arthurian Romance and the Beholder’s Share in a World that Refuses to End – Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand

Ich diene und wirbe / biz ich gar verdirbe: Lovesickness, Apocalypse and the End-Times in
Mauritius von Craûn and
Das Nibelungenlied – Marian E. Polhill

The Slippery Concept of Evil in Hartmann von Aue’s
Erec and
Iwein – Evelyn Meyer

Wigamur’s Lessons on the Complexity of Evil – Joseph M. Sullivan

The Miracles of the Antichrist – Tina Boyer

Monsters and Monstrosities in the Pamphlet Wars of the Reformation – Winfried Frey

Sobre o autor

Scott E. Pincikowski is Professor of German at Hood College, Frederick, Maryland.