#sorbian literature

[itsagrummel]

just a normal day on german twitter with this tweet by El Hotzo

Harry Potter:

arrogant celeb

goes to a posh school in a castle in England

did not learn something proper

needed 7 books to kill the villain

Krabat:

normal dude

works at a mill in Lusatia

based apprenticeship as a miller

1 book, quick work with the villain

[salvadorbonaparte]

Hello! I’m the anon that had asked @/Profiterole-Reads about any German or Latin American Spanish book recommendations. You said you may be able to help?

In terms of language levels, I’m about B2 with my Spanish, and A2 with my German. I’m looking to strengthen my reading skills in both, but am unsure where to start my search. I like reading fiction (contemporary, fantasy, and/or romance, but am not picky).

If you have any recommendations, that would be great! If not, that’s ok too; I just figured I’d ask. Thank you so much for your help!! Have an amazing day :))

Hello :) Sorry for the late reply but I have been moving back home for the summer haha

Well, I hope I can help.

First, I will recommend some resources that aren't books per se but help with reading. There are several apps and websites that offer parallel texts or texts with the option to look up vocabulary. Some examples include LingQ, Bilinguis, Beelinguapp, and Linga. These usually have short stories or novels with expired copyright, so usually classics. But because they offer parallel texts or vocabulary options, it doesn't matter that some of them look a bit more difficult.

My second recommendation are graded readers. They seem boring at first glance but they can be quite fun and helpful and eliminate some of the stress to read "real" literature. I know that the "short stories in XY for Beginners/Intermediate/Advanced" by Olly Richards are quite popular. I personally am fond of Circon books graded readers, who offer Spanish-German and German as L2 graded crime novels and short stories.

Now for some specific books:

Tschick - Wolfgang Herrendorf (this is technically a YA story but can be enjoyed by all ages, it's about two teenagers on a road trip and there is an English translation as well as a film)

Krabat - Otfried Preußler (this is technically a children's book but see above, it's a fantasy novel based on Sorbian folklore and full of dark magic, it's pretty dark actually, there is also a film)

Das Labyrinth des Fauns - Cornelia Funke and Guillermo del Toro (novelization of Pans Labyrinth, should be available in German and Spanish)

Mieses Karma - David Safier (this is a romance comedy novel about a woman reincarnated into an ant trying to get back with her ex, the same author wrote multiple funny romance novels that are quite popular and often have fantasy elements)

[rjana-luzica]

On this day...

On this Day, the 20th October 2023, exactly 100 years ago, Otfried Preußler was born as Otfried Syrowatka in Czechia.

Preußler was an infamous author for German children's literature, with protagonists all taking up the role of outsiders. He is especially well known for his Krabat retelling of the sorbian folk tale, which is his own literary confrontation with the national-socialism.

[prekladatelsky-orisek]

🌸 Introduction 🌸

🍃🍄Hello! I'm Tony.🍄🍃

I'm an avid language learner and linguist (I have a bachelor's degree in linguistics and am pursuing an MA). I'm studying a bunch of languages, some more actively, some more passively, and some I'm just dabbling in for fun. Usually friends are my motivation for learning languages, but sometimes it's just sheer curiosity, music, or literature that reels me in.

📚 My favorite thing to use language for is reading, especially fantasy novels! I've read books in 9 languages so far. 📚

The languages I currently use/study are:

English (native, C2)

Czech (heritage, ~C1)

German (C1)

Spanish (~B1-B2)

Esperanto (~B1-B2)

Polish (B2)

Russian (~A2-B1??)

toki pona (~A2-B1???)

Korean (~A1-A2)

Scottish Gaelic (~A1-A2)

Upper Sorbian (B1)

Latin (~A1)

📖 I'm very interested in ancient languages, and would also love to learn to read Old Church Slavonic, Old English, Middle English, and Middle High German (among others). I think it would be fun to learn Latin in order to read The Witch Hammer and silly poetry.

📖 On the conlang front, I'm curious about Na'vi (I love the ejectives!), Quenya, and Dothraki.

📖 When I have the time, I would also love to study so many other languages...like Cherokee, Swedish, Zulu, or Yiddish.

I've never been that consistently active on tumblr, but I hope that making a langblr can be motivating for me as I continue studying! ✨

[valkyries-things]

MARIA GROLLMUẞ // PUBLICIST

“She was a Catholic Sorbian publicist and a socialist resistance member against the Nazi government. After the NSDAP took over in, she continued her political activity illegally. She supported political prisoners, transported illegal literature and helped endangered comrades to escape to Czechoslovakia. She was in contact with resistance groups of the SPD, KPD, SAPD and the Austrian socialist Otto Bauer.She was denounced to the German authorities and on November 7, 1934, she was arrested. The Nazi government offered her freedom and cancer therapy if she agreed to spy for them in the Sorbian resistance movement once having served her term. She refused. Therefore, she was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she died.”

[hunting-songs]

V: Böse Menschen haben keine Lieder [Pre-curse Verse] Translation of the saying: "Settle, where one loves to sing, singing is no bad-folks' thing." First and last line of Johann Gottfried Seumes Poem "Die Gesänge", based on the idea that when singing people can never have bad thoughts. Singing is in its origin a tool of communication, cooperation and social togetherness. This Verse spans the time from Senritsus childhood with her family and their trade with the bodypart-collector-community, to her time in the Consortium, to the Hunter-Exam and eventually beeing a full fledged Music-Hunter until Ask plays the Sonata of Darkness when they are drunk. In this verse Senritsu is not only very young, but also very much still the typical Emitter-personality with a short temper , stark restlessness and typical boldness.

V: Es saß ein klein wild Vöglein [HxH Verse] There sat a little wild birdie” is a ballade from the 19th century, best known as the “first emanzipation song”. The little wildbirdie sits on a branch in the cold night when a voice asks why wouldn´t the birdie come into his warm home and sing for him as he would put gold and silk on the birdies wings. The birdie (the woman) refuses (the marriage proposal from the man) the offer and instead stays outside in independence, waiting for the soon rising sun to warm her wings instead. This Verse spans Senritsus time from beeing cursed: Her time at the hospital, her time as a Music-Hunter starting her connections to the Bodypart-collectors and eventually the Mafia, the Yorkshin Arc and the Black Whale Arc. Unless plotted otherwise Senritsu will be a Music-Hunter traveling around and looking or the Musicsheets of the Sonata of Darkness, taking on jobs as a bodyguard/ Musical researcher/ Musical-instrument conservator on her journeys

V: Bium bium [Paranormal investigator Verse] Bium Bium is a monster waiting outside before childrens windows to lure them away at night. Outside of the Hunter X Hunter-World, Senritsu seeks out paranormal happenings and locations in hopes she would find the cursed Music-sheets that listening to had turned her the way she is. 

V: Chatot Sings [Pokemon Verse] Originally a hobby- musician and fulltime archaeologist from Paldea, focused on the discovery of Musicinstruments and the textualisation of songs from all over the world, Senritsus life changed after her best friend (and colleague) played a Musicpiece he had found on the dig side they were working at at that time. Her friend and colleagues gone and her changed into a unrecognizable state, Senritsu now seeks out old ruins and Dig-Sides all over the world to find other parts of the Musicpiece to make sure what happened to her would not happen to anyone else. Her team consists of: Seismitoad, Toxtricity , Toxicroak, Poliwhirl , Politoed and her best friends Chatot who keeps on copying Senritsus passed friends (his former trainers) voice to make sure noone forgets how he sounded.

V: Krabats Songcycle [Jujutsu Kaisen Verse] Krabat is a sorcerer from many sorbian stories describing his life during the the Great Northern War, first how he is bound to the Black Mill to learn, how he escapes the Miller-Master, his life serving people in the war and eventually returning to the Black Mill to free the other journeyman from the Miller-Master. Parts of the story were brought into modern literature through Ottfried Preußlers young-adult Novella “Krabat and the sorcerer’s mill”.

As a normal human, Senritsus life changed one night when her friend gets his hands on a cursed object and plays the music of the musicsheet. Her soul distorted and her body transfiguered in such a way that she is now even able to hear cursed energy through the bones of her skull beeing brutally crushed and reassembled wrongly, Senritsu is fetched up by  the european sorcerer community who originally thought that she would just die off after a few days.Just like her friend and the distorted flora and fauna of the area she and her friend were in did*. She did not, against all exceptions. In fact due to her much too keen hearing and the distortion of her soul, Senritsu is able to use reverse curse technique by using the by her played music to speed up a bodies self-healing. Although she is specifically not able to heal her disfiguered body. Usually always accompanied by a Sorcerer from europe, Senritsu travels to Japan after she heard about the transfigured humans Mahito left behind in hopes she might find a hint to other musicsheets of the cursed Musicpiece. Obviously this was a wrong lead *There are bets on how long Senritsu survives as a transfigured human and if she dies first or instead first transmits the curse by playing the Sonata for someone else (In which case she would be killed beforehand). For now there are a lot of european sorcerers who own Senritsu money, because she had passed all expections and is against all odds not only still alive but still very sane.

[cutestknife]

3, 6, 13, 18 and 42 for the Cute Ask- ^^

3. Hearts, or stars?

I choose both! (but actually i like hearts more??? or stars… HARD)

6. Favorite cute word?

“sweetheart” i love that word so much tbh!

13.  Favorite animal?

I love all animals. It’s really hard to choose one! If we talk about pets, i will choose cats and dogs, maybe sea urchin as exotic one. 

If we talk about wild animals and again exotic what can’t live at home - rainbow shrimp!

18. 3 qualities you like about yourself.

super supportive. patient. nerd.

42. Favorite childhood book, show, or videogame?

Brothers Grimm fairy tales, i read them by my own, when i was a kid. About stories what read my family to me, it was simple tales, like everybody knows them! Bluebeard, one of my fav tales, what my mom gave me, or Krabat.

Krabat is truly amazing book what i read, when i was a child. Like says Wikipedia to help me explain that book: 

“ Krabat  is a fantasy novel about the eponymous Sorbian folk hero, written by Otfried Preußler. The book deals primarily with black magic and the lure of evil. Other themes include friendship, love, and death. It won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Prize for Literature for Young People) in 1972.”

I read that book in russian translation, bc thats what i only had. BUT INTERESTING FACT WHY DO I HAVE SUCH OLD BOOK!!! That was one of my mom gifts from her school friend, when she was a child, and her friend moving to another country, and they give her that book as gift. 

BTW in russian version of this book, have a such super illustrations! (yeah thats one of my super favorite one)

AND AT THE END I DONOTRECCOMENDWATCH THE MOVIE

Book is better.

About  games and shows. I love watching Jetix and Nickelodeon, and i always as kid, watch how my big brother played games on his computer. And when i was 6, i first time played Mario, my mom showed me a game. And at my birthday, she give me a gameboy, where i continue play Mario and Pokemons :з

(I also loved as kid, watch old shows like:  “X-Files”, “Tales from the crypt” and some detective shows, like “Rex” about police dog, and “Bones”. Also loved “Fringe” and “desperate housewives”. AND SUPER OF COURSE “Twin Peaks”. I love kinda old shows…heh.)

Thank you for questions :”)

[siberianchan]

Because amazingly enough, wise I am up to other things aside from gay opera singers. A while ago I got published in two German-language anthologies. No 1.: "Der Dampfkochtopf" published by Vienna-based #verlag_ohneohren is an amazing collection, doubles as cookbook and contains "Sylvesterwein" a steampunky ghost story by me. (Featuring mulled wine because it's me after all.) No 2.: "Alte Meister Neue Meister" is a collection of stories and art re-interpreting classical fairy and folk tales ans works of literature and art. Not only do I feature with two stories (one a sort of potential creation myth to a deathbringer figure in Sorbian folklore, one a re-working of E.T.A. Hoffmann's Sandman) I also had the pleasure to work as editor on some of the other stories (one by dear #fendassor). The Meister is published by the obscurcouleur e.V. a small, Zwickau based foundation connecting artists and writers. #writing #publishedStuff #obscurlcouleur #ohneohren

[itsagrummel]

Antisemitism in Krabat

Obviously I like the tale about Krabat a lot, including all it's retellings. And since i love it so much, I need to point out flaws in it so that it can be enjoyed in a more honest and reflective way plus allow people to make their own choices about interacting with old tales like it.

Jewish life in central-European regions like Lusatia faced somewhat continuous oppression and persecution. This antisemitic hatred is coded in literature as well, which shows up in the Krabat tale as an old tale carrying those rather classical antisemitic markers:

The antagonist is an evil black magic sorcerer who mistreats, kills and oppresses the otherwise as christian presented characters.

Vulnerable kids and young adults get recruited into the study of black magic. There is also the ritualistic killing of these kids by black magic for the benefit of the antagonist to prolong his life which is a version of the blood libel trope.

The first thing the antagonist teaches the protagonist Krabat is how to dry up a well. That is the antisemitic well poisoning trope.

The antagonist has a secret book called the Koraktor which is the invert of a regular book: it is black with white writing. In it are records on how to do black magic. In the context of the otherwise christian society it is noticeably marked as a bad book, drawing parallels to the depiction of the Tora by medieval Christians.

The antagonist uses his magical powers to be a secret political influence to a king, which leads to the as pointless and just out of evil desires portrayed continuation of a war. This fits the (international) jewish conspiracy trope of as jewish coded people or in this case characters just wanting to harm the good (christian) people out of no reason.

The antisemitic coded antagonist is shown to be greedy, never sharing his wealth with those he is expected to help out, which is another antisemitic trope. Also he orders his students to trick and lie to get him money.

I am sure there are more codes I missed since Antisemitism and both fear of and fascination for the occult go hand in hand in many more facets. Looking at the massive amount of fantasy literature with the same antisemitic tropes as Krabat (eg Harry Potter) it's clear that we need to keep looking at these pieces of literature to learn how to tell great stories without including harmful tropes.

[itsagrummel]

Otfried Preußler: Krabat's parents died from the pest. He is a beggar boy now. It is winter. Jurij Brězan: There once fell a stone from the sky and the stone burst into pieces and out of the pieces came Krabat and Krabat was a human who came to do what had to be done.