>The line "lch finde, daß Er für einen Buckligen nicht schlecht geraten >ist." > >Does the capitalized Er here not refer to the Creator, in which case the >meaning is that God has done very well in making a hunchback? The >grammar seems to make Er the hunchback, but why would he be capitalized? It is an old-fashioned form of address which died out in the course of the 19th century and is frequently to be found in literature. I have the impression that it was normally used to encode social relations - it was used from those in a privileged position to address their social inferiors. For instance, in Büchners Woyzeck, the Hauptmann addresses the protaganist as 'Er', as does the Doktor. But the Hauptmann and the Doktor address each other as 'Sie'. The use of 'Er' here seems be used simply to locate the anecdote in a (God-fearing) past and to make it clear that the comments are addressed directly to the hunchback. JK > >Also the line: "Weber meint, Bucklichte ersetzen meist durch Geist, was >dem Körper abgeht oder zu viel aufgelegt ist<<, und er zählt eine Reihe >von Genies auf, die dieses Kreuz trugen, darunter auch Lichtenberg." > >Does "Bucklichte" here not mean the state or quality of being a >hunchback--i.e., hunchbackedness? So that the idea of coping with one's >burden has wider application. > >GK > > =================================================================== John King Peterstraße 39b D-20355 Hamburg Tel: +49 (040) 35 11 78 ===================================================================
Markup © John King, 2008. Web archive generated Tue, 21st August 2007.