Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Dialektliteratur seit der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts: Ein literaturhistorischer �berblick mit Textbeispielen in 6 B�chern by Peter Pabisch (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Dialektliteratur seit der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts: Ein literaturhistorischer Überblick mit Textbeispielen in 6 Büchern by Peter Pabisch Albrecht Classen Peter Pabisch. Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Dialektliteratur seit der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts: Ein literaturhistorischer Überblick mit Textbeispielen in 6 Büchern. Germanistische Lehrbuchsammlung, 20.I-VI. Berlin: Weidler Buchverlag, 2019. Vol. 1, 483 p. There are many more dialects in this world than so-called standard languages (ca. 26,000 vs. ca. 7100). Dialects represent a linguistic dimension, which is hard to evaluate, especially regarding their social status, their rank within literary discourse, their communicative function and effectiveness, and their emotive value. They represent a linguistic minority, despite their much larger number all over the world, probably because all human societies have tried hard throughout time to establish a universal language—spoken, written, and understood by most people within one "nation"—while every region, province, or territory (even every village or city) maintained, willy-nilly, its own version. Dialect, however, has much to do with local culture and identity, and it still assumes a significant role in Europe and other parts of the world, whereas the situation in the United States (or Russia?) seems to be rather different, especially in light of the mass media since the early twentieth century, which contributed significantly to the elimination of dialects. However, even in the New World, a native speaker of New York might not be easily understood by someone from New Orleans, for instance, and vice versa. Peter Pabisch, Professor Emeritus of the University of New Mexico, explores the history of dialects in German literature since the time of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) until the recent past. His magisterial, six-volume treatment of this topic deserves our respect for its erudition, the author's enormous energy in collecting a vast range of relevant texts, and the sensibility regarding the many efforts across the German-speaking world to preserve and practice dialects, especially in literary texts. The reviewer received only volume one, which is the most important one for the entire project because it outlines the historical framework of dialect literature, analyzes its evolution and function in the wider context and in specific works, and weighs and [End Page 73] balances the significance of dialects in the history of German culture since around 1800. Volume 2 contains the critical apparatus, the bibliography, appendices, and illustrations; volumes 3-6 present copies or excerpts of the relevant texts. Since the early Middle Ages, there was a constant effort throughout German-speaking lands to negotiate the relationship between regional and standard language. This first led to the emergence of Old High German, then Middle High German, and finally Early New High German, with Martin Luther having been one of the most influential catalysts (not the creator!) in the development of the new standard language. Nevertheless, dialects are rather conservative, and they have survived until today, both in spoken and written German (and this actually in many parts of the world, including the USA); hence, the existence of dialect literature, although its function and relevance have always been questioned, debated, and fought about. Pabisch traces these ongoing negotiations in theoretical and practical terms, mostly beginning with central contributions by Herder, to whose insights he returns repeatedly. Much previous scholarship is reviewed at length, which might exhaust some readers since it amounts to a kind of bibliography within the text (not in the notes). However, the author is right to overview the vast field of research focused on dialects and especially on literature composed in dialect. The discussion then turns to the many writers of dialect literature, tracing the tradition from mid-eighteenth century to the recent past by offering brief biographical sketches and critical comments. Might it not have been better to place that information directly in front of the respective text editions in the subsequent volumes? We observe with great interest that there was obviously never any hiatus in the use of non-standard language, but very often a rather deliberate decision by literary historians simply to ignore those texts written in dialect as unwelcome competition. However, the use of dialect made it possible for many writers to preserve...