The Oera Linda Book, According to a Manuscript from the Thirteenth Century

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
503K words
Chapters
51

Tags

Foreign Language Books Historical Classics Historical DocumentsHistorical ReappraisalMysticalClassic InterpretationAcademic StudyAuthorship QuestionFolk CustomsNational OriginFolk LegendDutch Culture

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Thet Oera Linda Bok, Naar een Handschrift uit de Dertiende Eeuw by J. G. OttemaAuthor: ,Language: Dutch, Class: PF: Language and Literatures: West Germanic, Release Date: Nov 13, 2009

Editor's review

Thet Oera Linda Bok is a text presented as an Old Frisian manuscript, edited and published by J. G. Ottema, dealing with the ancient history, myths and institutional imaginings of the Frisian people. Since its appearance the book has been surrounded by disputes over authenticity, and scholars generally regard it as a nineteenth-century product of literary and national imagination rather than a genuine medieval manuscript. Its value for readers therefore lies not in being taken as reliable history, but in observing how an era constructed a narrative of national origins under the name of an "ancient manuscript." The text contains motifs such as creation stories, a priestess system, floods and migrations, and its archaic style holds a particular appeal for readers studying European nationalism, pseudo-historical texts and Frisian culture. The Dutch original poses a certain barrier for Chinese readers; a basic knowledge of Dutch or reference to relevant scholarly literature for comparison is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Begin with introductory material on the authenticity controversy to establish its status as a literary construct rather than a historical source.
  2. There is no need to tackle archaic word forms character by character; first grasp the narrative framework of core motifs such as creation, the priestesses and migrations.
  3. Read alongside secondary literature on Frisian regional history and nineteenth-century European nationalism.
  4. If reading Dutch is difficult, turn first to relevant English-language scholarship for an overview before returning to the original.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51

FAQ

Is this book a genuine medieval manuscript? The mainstream scholarly view is that it is not a genuine medieval manuscript but a nineteenth-century text with a strong flavor of national origin imagination. It should be read as literary and intellectual-historical material rather than a reliable historical record, and the authenticity debate itself is an important part of understanding the book.
Can I read this book without knowing Dutch? The book is a Dutch text in an archaic style, which poses a high barrier for non-native readers. Readers without Dutch should first use relevant scholarship in English or Chinese to understand its content and controversies, then decide whether to read it alongside the original; word-by-word translation alone will hardly convey the overall thread.
Is this book suitable for learning about Frisian history? It is not suitable as an introductory history book. It offers a nineteenth-century imaginative account of Frisian origins rather than historically verified facts. To learn the real history, one should first read general historical works, then return to this book to observe how it rewrites and constructs tradition.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.