Zugelich: Diss. Chemnitz, 2008. / Literaturverz.

In the Deutsche Poemata the word Tod and its variant forms appear in over 130 different poems. The word may appear more than once in the same poem. Despite the frequency of this word, its use has not previously been researched in depth. Secondary sources fall into five basic catagories: l. the use of the word Tod is ignored completely; 2. its use may be isolated to borrowings from Roman Literature; 3. its use is Petrarchan; 4. if comprehensible at all, it is an expression of Fleming's Christian philosophy of nature; 5. Fleming's use of the word is typical for the entire Baroque era. This thesis attempts to show that Fleming's use of the word is predictable according to certain patterns. With only a few exceptions, Fleming retains the concrete meaning of the word. The word, however, becomes a series of motifs. The series of motifs builds a weltanschauung. This philosophy is expressed in Fleming's conception of God, Christ, nature, the cosmos and the loved-one. God is immanent, but He also intervenes directly in human affairs. In recognition of divine intervention, Fleming believes in an animi tranquillitas. Fleming also believes in a unification of the microcosm and macrocosm. There are strong Stoic elements in this Christian philosophy of nature. Although it cannot definitely be proven that Fleming was a believer in Stoicism, certain concepts of death are similar to those of the Stoic philosophers. The philosophy of nature, the cosmos and ever-changing human destiny is expressed throughout the Deutsche Poemata. Fleming's use of Petrarchan elements is isolated, however, to his love poetry. By limiting the use of Petrarchism to the love poetry, Fleming rejects the religious Petrarchism of Sarvievsky and Spee. Some themes are borrowed from the rhetorical structure of the memento mori. But, in contrast to the memento mori, Fleming does not show any strong influence from the Erbauungsliterature. The Roman influence usually does not extend beyond a borrowing of naked motifs. The Latin expression is used to elicit a certain effect but the original context, although understood, is not retained in Fleming’s poem. The original form is given free expression. The thesis also investigates Fleming’s views on the Thirty Years war and its destruction of Germany. The war hero has a significant place in Fleming's concept of Heaven; however, Fleming always expresses a disdain for the tragedy of war, and he seeks peace. Death motifs are integrally connected to Fleming's view of the poet and his creation. The thesis also shows how Fleming's conception of his own death relates to his philosophy of the tranquil acceptance of divine intervention. Several different themes, systems and philosophies are joined together by Fleming into a clearly conceived, if somewhat eclectic weltanschauung. In general, Fleming's use of death motifs is subjective, even though material may be borrowed from traditional sources.

Tandis que la « civilisation de l’anatomie » qui définit la Première Modernité fait émerger un nouveau régime d’images artistiques et poétiques du corps en Europe, la bouche s’impose comme l’une des parties du corps les plus fréquemment représentées dans la littérature allemande du XVIIe siècle. Organe de la parole mais aussi de la sensualité par excellence, elle est considérée par certains comme ce qu’il y a de plus prodigieux chez l’homme après son entendement, au point de s’illustrer dans les textes poétiques comme un topos dense et prolifique. Erigée en organe noble dès qu’elle obéit à une rectitude morale, la bouche peut tout aussi bien s’avérer « ig-noble » dès qu’elle pervertit le langage et le corps en commettant des actes impies. La présente étude analyse ce qui prend la forme, à l’intérieur de cette topique, d’une dialectique entre logos et eros, qui s’ancre dans des présupposés théologiques et anthropologiques – conséquence de la confessionnalisation des cultures et des crispations religieuses qui en découlent. Or par la lorgnette de cette dialectique, l’étude donne à voir les rouages de la constitution tardive, poétique et esthétique, d’une littérature artistique de langue allemande. En proposant un parcours représentatif à travers des auteurs qui en sont des jalons majeurs et des types divers d’œuvres littéraires, dramatiques et poétiques – d’Opitz à Hoffmannswaldau –, la thèse montre in fine comment, sur fond de changements progressifs de repères et de paradigmes littéraires, s’instaure un nouveau système de représentation poétique qui va de pair avec une revalorisation ambiguë du logos. / While in Europe the culture of anatomy that characterizes the Early Modern Age has brought about a new kind of artistic and poetical images of the body, the mouth imposes itself as one of the most frequently represented parts of the body in the German literature in the 17th century. As the medium of speech but also of sensuality par excellence, it is considered by some as what is most prodigious in man beside his understanding, so much so that it has emerged in poetical works as a bounteous and fruitful topos. Presented as a noble instrument as soon as it respects moral rectitude, the mouth may also be featured as “ig-noble” as soon as it corrupts the language and the body through ungodly acts. The present study focuses on what comes to be – within this topos – the logos-eros dialectics, rooted in former theological and anthropological assumptions, ensuing the denominalization of cultures that triggered religious tensions. And through the close analysis of this dialectics, the research work unveils the workings of the build up of a German artistic literature. By relying on the exemplary career of its major writers – from Opitz to Hoffmannswaldau – and different kinds of literary works (drama and poetry), the thesis finally enhances how a new system of poetical representations going along with an ambivalent primacy of the logos is set up, with as a backcloth some gradual changes in literary landmarks and paradigms.