One Single Dance Form like the Sword Dance Can Open Up a Whole Lost World”

The Vienna Ritualists and the Study of Sword Dancing and Secret Men's Unions between the World Wars

Bibliographic Data

ID8935290
AuthorsStephen D Corrsin (corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume121
Issue2
Pages213-233
Publication date2010-07-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2010.481152
OpenAlexW2014140550
LanguageEN
References cited14

This article examines the study of the purported connection between sword dancing and secret men's unions, or Männerbünde. This notion was promoted by the “Vienna ritualists,” a group of Germanists and folklorists from the University of Vienna, which included Richard Wolfram, Otto Höfler, Elisabeth (Lily) Weiser, and their professor, Rudolf Much, in the interwar years until the end of World War II. Wolfram, author of Schwerttanz und Männerbund [“Sword Dancing and Men's Unions”] was the most important for this approach, but he applied the same “Germanic continuity” model as the others, and drew on evidence and models they provided. Their work was consistent with that of older German and Austrian scholars, including Karl Müllenhoff, Wilhelm Mannhardt, Heinrich Schurtz, and Leopold von Schroeder, who wrote on the same and related topics. Notes [1] In this case, I use the translation from Dow and Bockhorn (Citation2004); the original is in Wolfram (Citation1936). All other translations are by the author. [2] On Schönerer, see Whiteside (Citation1975). [3] On Hauer's career and significance, including under National Socialism and later, see Poewe and Hexham (Citation2005). [4] Besides Wolfram (Citation1934), a review of the literature can be found in Eliade (Citation1973). One difficulty in studying this topic is that various dominant “magical motivations” explanations appear to have blocked historically or sociologically based research. [5] Wolfram's interpretation of his 1935 visit to England, including his acceptance of a contemporary satirical song as evidence of ancient Männerbünde, is discussed—besides in Corrsin (Citation1998)—in Dow and Bockhorn (2004, 205–7)

Art · Art history · Dance · First world war · German · Humanities · Interpretation (philosophy · Literature · Nazism · SWORD · World War II · Central European national history · Classics · European history and politics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Philosophy

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