Abschiedsbriefe in Literatur und Kultur des 18. Jahrhunderts

· spectrum Literaturwissenschaft / spectrum Literature Book 25 · Walter de Gruyter
Ebook
306
Pages
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

This study focuses on the significance and functions of last letters written before death in the literature and culture of the eighteenth century. Last letters are understood in the study as an epistolary sub-genre with a shared theme and distinctive features which are shaped by culture-specific rituals of dying and which are subject to historical change. By drawing on epistolary theory, the analysis shows that last letters in the period were characterized by particular conventions, functions, and modes of reception, which were not codified but established and transmitted through usage and public or private discourse, primarily with the help of examples. Based on close readings of literary texts and published historical letters written in German, English, and French, it is argued that there were two predominant trends in the usage of fictional and real last letters. On the one hand, given the special authority attributed to the words of the dying, last letters were written to conform to contemporary ideals of a ‚good death‘ and then used as examples for the edification, education, and consolation of their readers. In contrast, other authors, suicides in particular, used the protection death and the written medium afforded them to communicate freely and in a consciously nonconformist manner. They revealed intimate secrets, tried to legitimate their actions, or expressed unconventional beliefs. In real life and fiction, last letters served the dying as a means of shaping posteriority’s reaction, and retaining control of their bodies or corpses.

About the author

Marie Isabel Schlinzig, University of Oxford, Großbritannien

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.