AK - Varia

2007

AK – Varia

Kinderliederbücher 1770-2000: eine annotierte, illustrierte Bibliografie der deutschsprachigen Kinderliederbücher im Deutschen Volksliedarchiv [Children’s Songbooks 1770-2000: An Annotated, Illustrated Bibliography of German-Language Children’s Song Books in the German Folksong Archives]. Barbara Bock. Münster: Waxmann, 2007. 445 p. ill. 21 cm. (Volksliedstudien, 8). ISBN 978-3-8309-1819-6: EUR 34 [07-2-279]

This bibliography contains a list of children’s songs and songbooks from the German Folksong Archive (DVA) in Freiburg (see http://www.dva.uni-freiburg.de). Begun in 1914, the Archive today sees itself as an international center for research on popular songs. One of the archive’s current research projects is its Internet publication Liederlexikon (http://www.liederlexikon).

The bibliography begins with an introductory article by Barbara Bock on the history of children’s songs from 1800 until today, followed by Günter Knoll’s essay on children’s songs at the time of National Socialism in Germany. The bulk of the bibliography (p. 55-384) lists some 1,000 children’s songbooks; the oldest book mentioned dates from 1766, the newest was published in 2000. This book includes only titles in the DVA’s extensive collection, but there are many more songs and songbooks outside the Archive. Among the children’s song books described are sheet music books, music research books, school songbooks, dialect songbooks, hymnbooks, and the like. The arrangement of titles in each section is first chronological then alphabetical by the author’s name. Each entry provides the author, title, publisher, date, indications of illustrations and special notes, call number in the DVA, and the ISBN. The entries also include information on the contents, author(s), publishers, sources, and illustrations, but only rarely on the history of the work. Three indexes–by songbook title, by each song’s opening line, and by person–close the volume.

The online Liederlexikon, or more properly Populäre und traditionelle Lieder: historischkritisches Liederlexikon, edited by Eckhard John, is a work in progress. Searchable by song title, each entry provides a brief critical essay on the song, with links to a musical notation of the song and its text; links to various editions in which the song has been published, including facsimile reprints; and a list of sources, including those publications with translations from the German into several other languages. [mmk/sas]

Erfolgreiche Kinderbuchautoren des Biedermeier: Christoph von Schmid, Leopold Chimani, Gustav Nieritz, Christian Gottlob Barth. [Successful Children’s Book Authors in the Biedermeier Era: …] Klaus Dieter Füller. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2006. ix, 247 p. 21 cm. (Kinder- und Jugendkultur, Literatur und Medien, 42). ISBN 3-631-54516-9: EUR 45.50 [07-1-011]

This cultural history introduces four authors of juvenile literature from the first half of the 19th century: Catholic theologian Christoph von Schmid, Austrian pedagogue Leopold Chimani, teacher Gustav Nieritz, and Protestant theologian Christian Gottlob Barth.

An introductory essay on the evolution of children’s and juvenile literature, beginning with pedagogical readers of the end of the 18th century, is followed by a chapter on each author that includes a biography, a selection of 20-25 of the author’s works in chronological order, and a synopsis of each work. The concluding chapter provides a sociological analysis of reading habits, market place, and schooling, and reviews the pedagogical goals of children’s books during the period from 1810 to 1860. Each chapter has extensive footnotes, and the bibliography of secondary literature after the last chapter provides further reading.

There is no analysis of literary or esthetic aspects of the works, because Füller assumes that each author’s works aspire only to social relevance and not to literary merit. This could be considered a shortcoming; the following reference works are recommended for further exploration of the topic: Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, and Klaus-Ulrich Pech’s Handbuch zur Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (see RREO 95-4-504 and RREA 4:30) and Aiga Klotz’s six-volume work, Kinder- und Jugendliteratur in Deutschland 1850-1940 (see RREO 95-4-504 and RREA 7:14). [mmk/hm]

Ungarische Literatur in deutscher Sprache: Bibliographie der Neuerscheinungen [Hungarian Literature in German: Bibliography of New Titles]. Ed. Christine Schlosser. Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek. 21 cm. (Göttinger Bibliotheksschriften, ...). [07-1-013]

2000/05. 2006. 95 p. (..., 36). ISBN 978-3-930457-80-9: EUR 9

Since this bibliography covers only the beginning of the 21st century, it is surprising that there is no reference to Werner Schweikert’s definitive Bibliographie der ungarischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts in deutscher Sprache (see RREA 6:30). The work is divided into three chapters: Fiction, Non-fiction and Art. While the first contains both translations and original German publications, the other two contain exclusively Germanlanguage works by Hungarians as well as publications with a focus on Hungary. Like the Schweikert bibliography, the present work derives its content from the Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB) [Books in Print] and the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie (DNB) [German National Bibliography]. Just a small portion of these publications is reflected in the bibliography, the only useful part of which is the list of translations. Instead of going to the trouble to publish this material as a monograph, the author would have been better advised to have it appear in one of the several existing German yearbooks for Hungarian studies. [sh/as]

L’Enfer de la Bibliothèque: éros au secret [A Hell of a Library: Eros in Secret]. Ed. Marie-Françoise Quignard and Raymond-Josué Seckel. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 2007. 460 p. ill. 23 cm. ISBN 978-2-7177-2379-3: EUR 38 [07-2-276]

In France, the term enfer [lit., hell] refers to a library’s collection of works that are deemed inappropriate for the public, as opposed to those in the usuel [i.e., circulating] collection. Materials in the enfer include not just works of pornography and erotica, but also works of an atheistic, heretical, or other subversive content or nature.

When it comes to publicizing library treasures, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France) knows no peer. This catalog was published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, presented by the BNF, under the direction of MarieFrançoise Quignard, between 4 December 2007 and 2 March 2008.

The catalog is arranged chronologically into four parts. The work begins with a section on 18th-century erotica and includes chapters on such topics as novels (e.g., Thérèse Philosophe, La Religieuse by Diderot), and prominent authors such as the Marquis de Sade and Rétif de la Bretonne. Additionally, there is a chapter concerning ancient erotic art, such as that illustrated in the publications by d’Hancarville, who worked as an excavator at Herculaneum and Pompeii. Material from the 19th century follows, covering the collection of erotica begun in the 1830s. Chapters include entries for smaller collections of erotic literature beyond the collections of Auguste Lesouëf, and Félicien Rops, who dominated the erotic book illustration market during the second half of the century. Subsequent chapters cover major publishers and include Auguste Poulet-Malassis (who published Beaudelaire’s Fleurs du mal), Gay and Doucé, Henry Kistemaekers, and Isidore Lisieux. Additionally, there is a lengthy chapter on pornographic photography, most notably the work of Auguste Beloc, and a chapter covering Japanese erotic illustrations, most of which are full-color renderings. Beginning with a chapter about Guillaume Apollinaire, who along with two others was the first to publish the catalog L’Enfer de la Bibliothèque Nationale, part three considers the 20th century. The fourth and final part briefly considers the discontinuance of the label enfer in 1969–”the year it was forbidden to forbid.” In 1983, the 1969 decision was revised and allowances for the designation enfer were adopted with other classification criteria.

The catalog concludes with a selective bibliography, a personal name index, and a directory of the 12 collaborators, seven of whom are not associated with the BNF. This exhibition catalog is not only an excellent contribution to French-language erotica and the history of the BNF and its acquisitions and reader services, but also represents well changes in taste regarding eroticism and societal tolerance for it. [sh/jmw]

Dictionnaire des livres et journaux interdits par arrêtés ministériels de 1949 à nos jours [Dictionary of Books and Journals Prohibited by Ministerial Decree from 1949 to the Present]. Bernard Joubert. Paris: Cercle de la Librairie, 2007. 1233 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 978-2-7654-0951-9: EUR 70 [07-2-277]

The first part of the publication lists ca. 4,900 titles of books, brochures, and magazines banned by the French Ministry of the Interior under Article 15 of the Law of 16 July 1949 on Protection of Youth. The list is arranged not by author’s name but rather by the uniform title. The title entries include author, publisher, and a small illustration of the cover.

The entries, taken from the Journal officiel de la République Française, are annotated with the reason for the item’s prohibition: (1) forbidden to minors (under age 18), (2) forbidden to display publicly, or (3) forbidden to advertise. Each entry also has a brief summary of its contents. Data tables are also included, for example, a chart showing the number of items prohibited by year.

The second part of the work contains some 2,000 titles in foreign languages or published abroad between 1949 and 2000. These were banned under the provisions of the Press Law of 1881 (rescinded in 2004). The third part lists around 40 titles of books and journals from abroad, directed at children or youth, which were denied entry into the country.

The appendix contains (1) lists of the members, year by year, of the Interior Ministry committee making the decisions, (2) a reprint of the texts of the laws on which the decisions were based, and (3) a cumulative list of ca. 16,700 titles, authors, and publishers.

While the brief annotations were taken from official sources, many of the works were held in private collections, from which the majority of the book-cover illustrations were taken. For the ca. ten percent of items not in private hands, the depository copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France were consulted, although more than a few of these were discovered missing from the shelves.

The editor offers analysis and commentary on the laws themselves and on shifting standards and attitudes over the decades regarding the prohibition of certain books, magazines, and brochures. It would be very helpful to know more about official practices and policies regarding the prohibition of printed matter. While not specifically stated, it appears that the materials were prohibited because of sexual content, and not for other reasons. [sh/ga]

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