The `Nibelungenlied' in the Intermediary Area between Orality and Literacy

Abstract

The paper argues against an understanding of the `Nibelungenlied' as `Buchepos', including Heusler's explanation of its origin in the context of a tradition of `Buchepen', and instead proposes the concept of memory text. It proposes that the linguistic and metrical-stanzaic form, the emphasis on visual and spatial representation as well as the lively representation of the affects of characters can be explained as mnemonic devices. Unintended variants, incongruencies, fissures and other instances of unevenness in the text indicate the production of the text in the mind and from memory. The concept of `fictive (simulated) orality' is to be rejected as an ad-hoc hypothesis.