The Nibelungenlied
1 Dec, 2022
830 German and related literatures
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Song of the Nibelungs, a twelfth century German epic, full of blood, violence, fantasy and bleakness. It is a foundational work of medieval literature, drawing on the myths of Scandinavia and central Europe. The poem tells of two couples, Siegfried and Kriemhild and Gunther and Brunhilda, whose lives are destroyed by lies and revenge. It was extremely popular in its time, sometimes rewritten with happier endings, and was rediscovered by German Romantics and has since been drawn from selectively by Wagner, Fritz Lang and, infamously, the Nazis looking to support ideas on German heritage.
Guests
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Sarah Bowden No other episodes
Reader in German and Medieval Studies at King's College London - Mark Chinca
2 episodes
Professor of Medieval German and Comparative Literature at the University of Cambridge -
Bettina Bildhauer No other episodes
Professor of Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews
Reading list
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Medieval Things: Agency, Materiality, and Narratives of Objects in Medieval German Literature and Beyond
Bettina Bildhauer (Ohio State University Press, 2020) Google Books → -
The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs
Cyril Edwards (trans.) (Oxford University Press, 2010) -
Brides and Doom: Gender, Property and Power in Medieval German Women's Epic
Jerold C. Frakes (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994) Google Books → -
Rules for the Endgame: The World of the Nibelungenlied
Jan-Dirk Muller (trans. William T. Whobrey) (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) -
Women and the Medieval Epic: Gender, Genre, and the Limits of Epic Masculinity
Sara S. Poor and Jana K. Schulman (ed.) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) Google Books → -
Gender Bonds, Gender Binds: Women, Men, Family in Middle High German Literature
Sara S. Poor, Alison L. Beringer, and Olga V. Trokhimenko (eds.) (De Gruyter, 2021) Google Books → -
The Dark Queens: A Gripping Tale of Power, Ambition and Murdeous Rivalry in Early Medieval France
Shelley Puhak (Head of Zeus, 2022) Google Books → -
Narrating Law and Laws of Narration in Medieval Scandinavia
Roland Scheel (ed.) (De Gruyter, 2020) Google Books → -
Das Nibelungenlied: Mittelhochdeutsch, Neuhochdeutsch
Ursula Schulze (ed.) and Siegfried Grosse (trans.) (Reclam, 2011) Google Books → -
Medieval Literature on Display: Heritage and Culture in Modern Germany
Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand (Bloomsbury, 2020) Google Books →
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Programme ID: m001fmpd
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fmpd
Auto-category: 831 (German literature)