Imagining other worlds: Defining the German Volksbuch through narratives of mobility

Since the debates over the genre during the 1970s and 80s, the early modern prose Volksbuch has been rescued from the status of "sunken" literature and has become the site of intense scholarly inquiry. While early research concentrated on establishing the contexts of the creation of individual Volksbücher and defending them as a worthy subject of study, today scholars view the genre as an important source for investigating contemporary attitudes. Despite the development of the Volksbuch development coinciding with increasing European exploration and mobility, travel has rarely been thematized in studies of the genre. Instead, previous scholarship has often characterized these works as insular and folksy, though their foreign roots and international content has long been recognized. My dissertation disrupts previous interpretations by studying these tales as outward-facing prose novels that explore early modern responses to religious upheaval and global exchange. My research explores how narratives of mobility shed new light on how contemporary social changes and relations are conceptualized in the German Volksbuch. To accomplish this, I analyze four popular works of fiction published between 1450-1600 that expressly thematize travel: Thüring von Ringoltingen's adaptation of the French Melusine (1457), Ein kurtzweilig Lesen von Dil Ulenspiegel (1515), Fortunatus (1509), and Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587). I examine these texts using various theoretical approaches from gender studies to race and ethnic studies as well as the latest work on the interplay between the age of exploration and the “long” Reformation in Western Christianity. By analyzing the Volksbuch through the lens of fictionalized travel, my dissertation positions the genre as an outward-facing form that engages with global discoveries, new market economies, and profound transformations of church and society. Exploring and analyzing the ecosystems of fictionalized travel repositions these works in the literary canon.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

German

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Sternhagen Schwenk, Andrew Charles

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wade, Mara
• Hilger, Stephanie
• Keller, Marcus
• Stoppino, Eleonora
• Horsfall, Walker

• German Literature
• Renaissance
• Reformation
• Protestant Reformation
• Age Of Discovery
• Global Reformations
• Narratives Of Mobility
• Travel
• Melusine
• Thüring Von Ringoltingen
• Dil Ulenspiegel
• Till Eulenspiegel
• Ein Kurtzweilig Lesen Von Dil Ulenspiegel
• Fortunatus
• Historia Von D. Johann Fausten
• Faustus
• Faust
• Gender
• Mercantile Romance

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Andrew Charles Sternhagen Schwenk

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130119

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F130119