Prodesse et delectare in den deutschen Fastnachtsspielen von Hans Sachs und in den arabischen Schattenspielen von Ibn Dāniyāl.

Abstract

The German Shrovetide plays and the Arabic Shadow plays belong to the earliest scenic literature which has dramatic elements such as storyline, dialogues and monologues. The most famous representatives of this scenic literature are the German Shrovetide plays of Hans Sachs (1494–1576) as well as the Arabic shadow plays of Ibn Dāniyāl (1248–1311). The following study tries to cover a kind of entertaining literature that is not lacking in social critical allusions which has a moralizing purpose (prodesse) and reflects the reality of everyday life in an entertaining way (delectare). Therefore, this study tries to show, how both poets illuminate the problems in their societies in a humorous way. The image of women and the image of different types of people occupy centre stage in this study. The texts to be analyzed are ‚Die alt verschlagen Kuplerin mit dem Thumbherrn‘ (1553) and ‚Das Hoffgesindt Veneris‘ (1517) by the German poet Hans Sachs, and the shadow plays ‚Tayf al-Khayal‘ and ‚Adjib and Gharib‘ (the Wonderful and the Strange) by the Arabic poet Ibn Dāniyāl in the 13th century.