Heilige Zeiten

Ludwig SpeidelProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.2

Word count: 173K words
Chapters: 18

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.Heilige Zeiten by Ludwig SpeidelAuthor: Speidel, Ludwig, 1830-1906,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Feb 17, 2009

Editor's review

Ludwig Speidel was an important voice in nineteenth-century German literature and theater criticism. This book collects his essays under the title "Sacred Times," using festivals, rituals, and everyday episodes to observe the subtle connections among faith, art, and bourgeois life. The style is clear and restrained, retaining both the readability of newspaper essays and the depth of classical cultivation. Readers can glimpse the cultural atmosphere of the nineteenth-century German-speaking world and see how a critic turned personal impressions into writing of public significance. As a public-domain e-book, it is best suited as extended reading in cultural history and essay writing, to be dipped into at random or read selectively for its rhythms and angles of observation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century German prose and essays who want to broaden their reading
Learners of German or students of German literature who want to encounter authentic critical texts
General readers who enjoy understanding cultural history through festivals and everyday detail
Those who need short prose pieces for writing practice or book-club discussion

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic theology or religious theory with rigorous argumentation
Readers accustomed only to contemporary vernacular narrative who lack patience for nineteenth-century style and the German original

Reading tips

Start with the two or three essays whose titles appeal most, to feel the author's rhythm of observation and writing.
Keep a notebook and jot down how he draws cultural judgments from small matters.
If reading the German original, read a passage aloud to feel the syntax of nineteenth-century prose.
Read alongside contemporary German essays and note the difference between a critic's angle and a writer's angle.

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.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a collection of essays?

Based on the available materials, it consists of Speidel's essayistic writing, not a novel. The content revolves around "sacred times" and is closer to cultural observation and essayistic criticism, suited to reading in fragments rather than following a plot continuously.

Can I read this book without knowing German?

The original is in German. Without German, you can read with translation tools or a parallel translation, but the flavor of the language will be lost. It is better suited to readers with some German or a research interest in nineteenth-century German prose.

What should I note when reading the e-book edition?

This is a Project Gutenberg public-domain e-book whose layout is primarily text and may lack modern annotation. You can look up names, places, and festival backgrounds yourself, and distinguish the original text from explanatory information added by the platform.

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About the author

Ludwig Speidel Author · Austrian · 1830–1906

Ludwig Speidel (1830–1906) was an Austrian journalist and theater critic who wrote drama reviews for Viennese newspapers over many years. Grounded in Vienna's lively theatrical life and close to actual performances, his criticism discussed acting and plays while paying attention to their intellectual and social implications, giving him some influence among contemporary readers and in theatrical circles. His writings appeared mainly in periodicals, with few works published as separate books; his representative work is Heilige Zeiten. Public information about his life and education is limited, and only one of his works is currently held in this collection, with classification information unavailable. Overall, Speidel was one of the notable voices in Viennese theater criticism in the second half of the nineteenth century, and his writings offer a reference for later understanding of the stage fashions and critical tastes of his time.