Erotic Tales of Medieval Germany (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies)

by Albrecht Classen

"Just as late-medieval Italian literature has its Decameron and late-medieval English literature has its Canterbury Tales, late-medieval German literature, though less familiar, also has collections of erotic tales. The genre of moeren (short verse narratives) treated a wide range of erotic subjects, including marriage, sexuality, violence, and adultery. One of the best authors of these tales was Heinrich Kaufringer, and Dietrich von der Gletze, Jans der Enikel, Ruprecht von Wurzburg, and Count Froben Christoph von Zimmern also composed little masterpieces of erotic verse novellas. The present collection offers a selection of some of the best moeren in English translation and, insofar as these late-medieval German writers demonstrated similar narrative skills as their European contemporaries, provides more opportunity for comparative literary analysis."--book jacket.