Jenseits Der Gabe

Dr. Marshall explores the economy of the Middle Ages and the attitudes of medieval people toward treasure and gold. She seeks the evidence of the greatest medieval works of literature (predominantly Germanic), knowing full well that the authors might often be biased and that literature is an unsafe transcript of life. Therefore, she also consults nonliterary sources and compares her conclusions with those of other students of literature, history, and economics. She has strong opinions, but her polemic, which, quite naturally, does not constitute the main part of her book, is always courteous. Her erudition is boundless, and probably no one will find fault with her data. Yet when year after year I slowly eat my way through German dissertations and monographs (this book is not an edited dissertation), I often wonder whether the approach, covered by the almost untranslatable German word Akribie (leaving no stone unturned, meticulousness, thoroughness) is such an unquestionable virtue. It is as though German academics always strive to show that they did not miss a single monograph or article pertaining to their topics. Hence also countless footnotes (some of them quite long), of which there are 1782 in this book.To be sure, all the relevant facts have to be discussed, but opinions converge and diverge, and in Literary Studies, every survey becomes outdated a year after its appearance, especially in the humanities, with a never-abating flood of publications in several languages on every subject. It soon becomes clear that Sophie Marshall is indeed thoroughly familiar with the literature, that she knows her subject inside out, and that one of her main sources of inspiration is Lévi-Strauss's idea of exchange being the backbone of social relations. The genre, prevalent among German scholars, partly alienates the reader, who may not always have enough time and patience to read a thick book, footnotes and all, to arrive at the denouement, interesting but long guessed at. This is not caviling. I admire the book, but if the humanities are expected to inspire, they should probably favor a format more accessible to students at all levels.The book consists of four long chapters and a relatively brief conclusion. Gold and precious stones have always existed, but money, as we understand it, is a relatively late invention. In the remote past, goods were exchanged, rather than sold and bought, and the role of gift-giving is known very well from both old poetry and the Icelandic sagas. Also, a cursed, inviolate treasure is a familiar motif in Indo-European folklore and myth from India to Scandinavia. The point made in the book is that as follows from various literary sources, keeping riches is detrimental to societal life, because exchange, rather than amassing “valuables,” is necessary and good for the community, hence the curse.The most conspicuous plots dealing with treasure are those developed in the Nibelungenlied and Fortunatus. But the episode in the last part of Beowulf, a seemingly chance and insignificant incident leading to the hero's death and the collapse of the kingdom over which Beowulf reigned for decades, is typical. One would have thought that a slave's stealing a goblet from the treasure guarded by the dragon should not have caused a global catastrophe, but the hoard is untouchable by definition. And of course, the treasure of the Nibelungen had to be buried in such a way that no one would be able to discover it. The time span between the Germanic books discussed in the monograph is three centuries (from 1200 to 1500), and by comparing them, one can follow the development of the main motifs and themes almost to the beginning of the modern period.The present investigation shows with great clarity what questions interested medieval authors and what difficulties they encountered. The plots of the early poems (the eddic lays, Beowulf, and the Nibelungenlied), as well as the late “novel” Fortunatus, drew heavily on the motifs of old myths and folklore but, quite naturally, could not ignore the views and practices of their contemporaries. To complicate matters, Christian teachings shaped the mentality and practices of the Europeans, especially of the elite, the church, and well-read authors. The Bible taught Christians not to lay treasure on earth but lay it in heaven. Yet people lived on earth, and as time went on, their economy developed and reached a state we today call early capitalism. The book traces the contradictions between the Biblical sermon, literary attitudes, and the economy as it existed at that time. Though not in such minute detail as, for example, the Nibelungenlied, discussion also turns to Hartmann's Gregorius and Wolfram's Parzival.Dr. Marshall's main achievement is of course not in the detailed retelling of plots but in her ability to show how various costly objects went into circulation, how views on exchange emerged and developed, and how attitudes toward money clashed with attitudes toward treasures. A close look at keeping and giving (the two English words are used throughout the book) determines the entire exposition. We are constantly told what, why, and whether something is “given” or “kept.” The ancient treasure was indivisible, and “giving” was thus out of the question, but on the other hand, while abroad, Kriemhild pays for the services with parts of that treasure. To repeat, money played no role in the hoard that belonged to Kriemhild or in the heap of precious objects dragons, from Fafnir on, guarded by tradition (nor did the slave in Beowulf steal coins: they would have had no value in his world). Yet in the much later Fortunatus, we already witness exchange and the use of money, and in Parzival, we get more than a glimpse of Anfortas's riches, a counterpart of a fabulous inexhaustible treasure.Since exchange, as the author insists, determined the earliest forms of medieval living, marriage was also part of that system: brides were “exchanged,” with a view to obtaining other benefits, very much like other precious objects. The author, as already mentioned, is fully aware of the fact that literature, by describing reality, distorts it and interprets the data. Her book, whose title should perhaps be translated into English as Outside of Giving: Treasures and Money in Medieval Literature (or imitating Scott Fitzgerald, should we say That Side of Giving?). Despite the title that promises a relaxed walk through famous texts, this book is slow reading, and I am sorry that it is not only learned (and from this point of view, it is exemplary) but also rather dense, because it might have become required reading for everyone interested in the literature, economy, and sociology of the Middle Ages, and not only in their Germanic context. It seems that English-speaking, French, and Scandinavian authors are more interested in making their products accessible to an audience outside of the elite circle of specialists. Dr. Marshall's monograph is a treasure, and despite its bulk it should not remain buried on a library shelf. However, its challenger must have both patience and derring-do (that is, “chivalrie and manhood”) to read the text, never leaving out the digressions and footnotes

Casual · German · German Literature · Middle Ages · Treasure · Wonder · German Literature and Culture Studies · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · Medieval Literature and History