Baldanders

Last updated

Baldanders or Soon-Different is a creature of Germanic literary myth that features protean properties.

Contents

Origin

Baldanders (Soonchanged, [1] Soon-Different [2] ) is a character in the novel Simplicius Simplicissimus by Grimmelshausen, appearing in its Continuatio (1669) or Sixth Book. [3] [1] The character was appropriated from Hans Sachs's poem Baldanderst[ sic ] [4] dated to 31 July 1534. [5] [6] Hans Sachs probably derived his "Baldanderst" from Proteus, the shapeshifter of classical Greco-Roman mythology. [7]

The hero of the story meets Baldanders when he stumbles upon a stone statue of an ancient Germanic hero, dressed in a Roman soldier's outfit with a large Swabian codpiece (i.e., Hosenlatz , or "flap of the breeches") [8] [9] (Schwabenlatz, literally "Swabian bib".). Baldanders claims to have met Sachs in July 1534, teaching the writer the secret art of conversing with inanimate objects. [8] [lower-alpha 1] The protagonist begs to learn the art, and Baldanders offers to teach it, and administers a test in the form of a riddle consisting of a jumble of nonce words. [10] [2] Baldanders subsequently changes into a succession of forms: an oak tree, a sow, a bratwurst sausage, then a peasant's excrement, a meadow of clovers, cow dung (Kuhfladen), a flower, mulberry tree, and silk carpet. [11] [12] [13] The significance of these objects is that the oak produces acorns that are eaten by the female pig, then turned into sausage, and eaten by human, in a natural cycle of things that perish and are reborn. [14]

According to Sachs’ and collected descriptions, the Baldanders is a creature that is symbolic for the continual change in nature and society as well as the importance of familiarizing oneself with the common from another perspective.

The idea Baldanders appeared in illustration as the satyr-headed, winged, and fish-tailed composite creature in the frontispiece drawing of the book (image here) had been espoused by writer Jorge Luis Borges ( El libro de los seres imaginarios ), but that idea has been refuted. [15] [lower-alpha 2]

Being a creature of literature, the Baldanders is not often featured in contemporary works. However, there have been a few mentions and inclusions of the creature in various media.

In further literature, the Baldanders was included in The Book of Imaginary Beings (El libro de los seres imaginarios) compiled by novelist Jorge Luis Borges.

In The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe, a recurring character's name was Baldanders, which Wolfe affirmed was based on Borges' description. In Chanda Hahn's UnEnchanted series book three, Fable, the baldander appears as a small, shape-shifting creature. In music, the Baldanders was the subject of a song by the 1970s German folk/progressive rock band Ougenweide.

Baldanders is a regular character in the bi-weekly, alternate history webcomic What Happened When created by Andrew Scott and Carlos Morote. [17] In this comic's alternate universe, Baldanders fulfils his original role as a 'Trickster' who also gives sage advice to his fellow members of The Ghost Club concerning an epidemic of rage-fuelled madness in Victorian London presumably caused by an onslaught of souls returning from the land of the dead.

The Baldanders is also mentioned in Japanese video games. In the Sega Mega Drive game Curse, the player controls the Baldanders star fighter, which was created by an ancient alien super technology. The PlayStation 2 and portable game Puyo Puyo Fever 2 features a character who is a large dog in knight's armor named Baldanders. In the game Final Fantasy XIII , Baldanders is an antagonist and fal'Cie who poses as a human named Galenth Dysley; in the English translation, his name is Latinized as Barthandelus. In the board-game-like Culdcept, Baldanders is a creature that temporarily changes into a different, random creature every time it fights. In Kazuhiro Fujita's manga, Ushio and Tora, Baldanders appears in the form of a small child, but also can become a ghost-like entity when fighting.

Explanatory notes

  1. Thus Grimmelshausen's novel alludes to borrowing Baldanders from Sachs. [7]
  2. Gersch's monograph on the frontispiece creature contends Borges was mistaken, but he also feels its identification as the "phoenix" is incorrect. [15] Other commentators regard the creature to be the Phoenix Copper (German: Phönix-Kupfer), an allegorical being embodying the plan or purpose behind the book. Grimmelhausen attached a poem about this phoenix in the work. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German literature</span>

German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects.

<i>Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg</i> 1868 opera by Richard Wagner

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditionally not cut. With Hans von Bülow conducting, it was first performed on 21 June 1868 at the National Theater in Munich, today home of Bavarian State Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picaresque novel</span> Genre of prose fiction featuring "rascal"-like protagonists

The picaresque novel is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. Picaresque novels typically adopt the form of "an episodic prose narrative" with a realistic style. There are often some elements of comedy and satire. Although the term "picaresque novel" was coined in 1810, the picaresque genre began with the Spanish novel Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), which was published anonymously during the Spanish Golden Age because of its anticlerical content. Literary works from Imperial Rome published during the 1st–2nd century AD, such as Satyricon by Petronius and The Golden Ass by Apuleius had a relevant influence on the picaresque genre and are considered predecessors. Other notable early Spanish contributors to the genre included Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599–1604) and Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscón (1626). Some other ancient influences of the picaresque genre include Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence. The Golden Ass by Apuleius nevertheless remains, according to different scholars such as F. W. Chandler, A. Marasso, T. Somerville and T. Bodenmüller, the primary antecedent influence for the picaresque genre. Subsequently, following the example of Spanish writers, the genre flourished throughout Europe for more than 200 years and it continues to have an influence on modern literature and fiction.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1668.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabanus Maurus</span> Archbishop of Mainz and writer (d. 856)

Rabanus Maurus Magnentius, also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis. He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible. He was one of the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, and was called "Praeceptor Germaniae", or "the teacher of Germany". In the most recent edition of the Roman Martyrology, his feast is given as 4 February and he is qualified as a Saint ('sanctus').

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. G. Sebald</span> German writer and academic (1944–2001)

Winfried Georg Sebald, known as W. G. Sebald or Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was according to The New Yorker ”widely recognized for his extraordinary contribution to world literature.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen</span> German novelist (1621/2–1676)

Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen was a German author. He is best known for his 1669 picaresque novel Simplicius Simplicissimus and the accompanying Simplician Scriptures series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robinsonade</span> Literary genre

Robinsonade is a literary genre of fiction wherein the protagonist is suddenly separated from civilization, usually by being shipwrecked or marooned on a secluded and uninhabited island, and must improvise the means of their survival from the limited resources at hand. The genre takes its name from the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simply as a "desert island story" or a "castaway narrative".

<i>Simplicissimus</i> Satirical German magazine

Simplicissimus was a German weekly satirical magazine, founded by Albert Langen in April 1896 and headquartered in Munich. It was interrupted by a hiatus from 1944–1954, became a biweekly in 1964, and ceased publication in 1967. Simplicissimus took its name from the protagonist of Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's 1668 novel Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mother Courage</span> Character from a Grimmelshausen novel

Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670. The character had played a cameo role in Der abentheuerliche Simplicissimus in 1669.

<i>Simplicius Simplicissimus</i> 1668 novel by H. J. C. von Grimmelshausen

Simplicius Simplicissimus is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in five books by German author Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen published in 1668, with the sequel Continuatio appearing in 1669. Inspired by the events and horrors of the Thirty Years' War which devastated Germany from 1618 to 1648, it is regarded as the first adventure novel in the German language and the first German novel masterpiece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Head</span> 17th-century Irish writer

Richard Head was an Irish author, playwright and bookseller. He became famous with his satirical novel The English Rogue (1665), one of the earliest novels in English that found a continental translation.

Theologia Germanica, also known as Theologia Deutsch or Teutsch, or as Der Franckforter, is a mystical treatise believed to have been written in the later 14th century by an anonymous author. According to the introduction of the Theologia the author was a priest and a member of the Teutonic Order living in Frankfurt, Germany.

"Thumbling," published in German as "Daumesdick" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1819. The Grimms included another, similar story, "Thumbling's Travels." Both stories are related to the English Tom Thumb and often share its title when translated into English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of salamanders</span> Elemental spirit associated with fire

The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela which, as with many real creatures, often has been ascribed fantastic and sometimes occult qualities by pre-modern authors not possessed by the real organism. The legendary salamander is often depicted as a typical salamander in shape with a lizard-like form, but is usually ascribed an affinity with fire, sometimes specifically elemental fire.

Camden House, Inc. was founded in 1979 by professors James Hardin and Gunther Holst with the purpose of publishing scholarly books in the field of German literature, Austrian Literature, and German language culture. Camden House books were published in Columbia, SC until 1998. When the company became an imprint in that year, place of publication moved to Rochester, NY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kujata</span>

Kuyūthā is the cosmic bull in medieval Islamic cosmography. It is said to carry on its back the angel who shoulders the earth and the rock platform upon which the angel stands. The bull is said to stand on the giant fish or whale, Bahamut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann von Götzen</span> German nobleman

Johann von Götzen was a Lüneburg nobleman and Generalfeldmarschall who fought during the Thirty Years' War. He was married to Elisabeth of the Falke family, with whom he had two sons: Johann Sigismund, Count of Götzen (1622–1622) and Johann, Georg Count of Götzen (1623–1679).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augsburg Book of Miracles</span> 16th-century book manuscript

The Augsburg Book of Miracles is an illuminated manuscript made in Augsburg in Germany in the 16th century.

<i>Tyll</i> (novel) 2017 novel by Daniel Kehlmann

Tyll is a 2017 novel, originally written in German, by the Austrian-German writer Daniel Kehlmann. The book is based, in part, on the folkloristic tales about Till Eulenspiegel, a jester who was the subject of a chapbook in 16th century Germany, as well as on the history of the Thirty Years' War. The book was first published in October 2017 in the original German by Rowohlt Verlag. An English translation by Ross Benjamin was published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House, New York, in February 2020. Between its initial publication in 2017, and its publication in English, Tyll had sold almost 600,000 copies in Germany.

References

Citations
  1. 1 2 Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), Book Six, Chapters 9–13, pp. 236–245.
  2. 1 2 Speier, Hans (1989) [1966]. "Simplicissimus, the Irreverent Man". The Truth in Hell and Other Essays on Politics and Culture, 1935-1987. Oxford University Press. p. 235. ISBN   9780195058758.
    (Spring 1966). "Simplicissimus, the Irreverent Fool". Social Research. 33 (1). Johns Hopkins University Press: 19. JSTOR   40969802.
  3. Fleishman (2011), p. 15.
  4. Sachs, Hans (c. 1553) [1534]. Baldanderst, so bin ich genannt, der gantzen Welte wol bekant (in German). Nürnberg: Hamsing.
  5. Scholte, J. H. (1949). "Die Stellung der «Continuatio» in Grimmelshausens Dichtung". Trivium (in German). 7: 333.
  6. Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), p. 236, n324.
  7. 1 2 McCarty, Paul Truman (1940). Hora Martis: A Study of the Literary Reaction of Seventeenth Century Writers to the Thirty Years War in Germany. University of Wisconsin. pp. 60–61.
  8. 1 2 Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), p. 236.
  9. Fischer, Hermann [in German] (1914). "Latz". Schwäbisches Wörterbuch. Vol. 4. Tübingen: H. Laupp. p. 1017.
    3. An der (bes. altern) Mannerkleidung =Hosenlatz.. Sonst in älterer Zeit bes. schwäbisch L... Schwabenlatz GRIMMELSH. Simpl. 6. Buch 9. Kap.
  10. Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), pp. 236ff.
  11. Grimmelshausen & Adair tr. (1986–2012), p. 237.
  12. Sebald (1995) , p. 32; Sebald (1998) , pp. 23–24
  13. Here Simplicius comments that though he had not read Hans Sachs at that point, Balanders changing rapidly into different forms differed from what he read of Proteus according to Ovid's Metamorphoses .
  14. Jacobs, Carol (2015). Sebald's Vision. Columbia University Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN   9780231540100.
  15. 1 2 Gersch, Hubert (2015), Literarisches Monstrum und Buch der Welt: Grimmelshausens Titelbild zum »Simplicissimus Teutsch«, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, ISBN   9783110915150
  16. Tatlock, Lynne (1993). "Johann Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen". Seventeenth Century German Prose: Grimmelshausen, Leibniz, Opitz, Weise, and Others. German Library 7. New York: Continuum Publishing Company. pp. 165–166. ISBN   9780826407108.
  17. "The WHW Team is creating Comics". Patreon. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
Bibliography