!!!Barockdichtung

Baroque Literature: In the 17%%sup th/%  and first half of the 
18%%sup th/%  centuries, Austrian Baroque literature did not form one 
single tradition, but branched out into three different directions, 
clearly distinguished from each other by their programmatic claims and 
points of departure: The learned poetry in neo-Latin, which was mostly 
written by members of monastic orders ( Instructional Religious 
Plays), was still very much under the influence of classical models 
and drew its inspiration from Italy and Spain. It continued the 
tradition of Humanist and Renaissance poetry and primarily served to 
glorify the ruling house and the church. 

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V. Gleissenberger and S. Rettenpacher were important representatives 
of this school. Much more popular with the reading public, however, 
was the specific Upper German Catholic poetry, which was characterised 
by its sympathy with popular culture, local themes, and a lively 
language rich in imagery. The eloquent sermons of the Barnabite monk, 
Florentius Schilling from Alsace (1602-1670), who lived in Vienna from 
1633, achieved great popularity, as did those of Sebastian 
Felsenegger, Abraham a Sancta Clara and the prose of Matthias Abele 
von and zu Lichtenberg (1616/18-1677) from Steyr, which was, however, 
purely intended for entertainment. Humorous popular plays such as 
those by J. B. Adolph and later M. Lindemayr, which were 
sometimes even written in the vernacular, were also successful. In 
competition with the first two modes of writing were those authors 
from the Protestant nobility who saw themselves as the successors of 
M. Opitz and J. J. Grimmelshausen. These included the notable 
poetess C. R. von Greiffenberg, as well as her teacher and 
mentor W. Stubenberg, who made a name for himself as a translator 
of Italian and French novels, and W. H. von Hohberg, the author 
of epics and specialist literature, who were both members of the 
"Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft" (The "Fruitful Society"). One of the 
most important Baroque poets was the writer J. Beer, from an Upper 
Austrian Protestant family. His development of the picaresque novel in 
the tradition of Grimmelshausen marked a new high point of this genre. 
The large amount of specialist literature of the Baroque period is 
also of great importance, such as the economic and historiographic 
works of P. W. Hoernigk, F. A. Brandis and H. Guarinonius.

!Literature
I. Pyritz, Bibliographie zur deutschen Literatur des 
Barockzeitalters, 1980ff.; G. Duennhaupt, Personalbibliographie zu den 
Drucken des Barock, 1990ff.; H. Zeman (ed.), Die oesterreichische 
Literatur. Ihr Profil von den Anfaengen im Mittelalter bis ins 
18. Jahrhundert. (1050-1750), 1986.


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