Dann dise sind der Eltern schönster WinterMeyen: The Life of Children in Johann Fischart’s Geschichtklitterung

Abstract

This study examines sixteenth century views of the world of childhood and childrearing in Johann Fischart’s Geschichtklitterung (1590), a major work of early modern German fiction. A clearly defined concept of childhood did not exist in Fischart’s time: it was not until the eighteenth century that modern ideas of children and their stages of development formed. The notion of childhood as something essentially different from adulthood is the product of the Enlightenment; but the lives of children were on the mind of many Renaissance writers. For example, the education given to children was what distinguished humans from other creatures in the works of Erasmus (1466–1536). In the Geschichtklitterung, the story of Gargantua’s journey from birth to adulthood gave Fischart ample opportunity to infuse his narrative with contemporary views of children’s lives in a highly innovative literary style much ahead of his times. Throughout the novel, Fischart’s fictional treatment of childhood offers the modern reader perceptions of children and young people at end of the sixteenth century and offers rich insights into the lives of children. This close reading of Fischart’s challenging, playful text invites discussion and analysis of children’s needs, upbringing, education, sexuality, games, and integration into the world of adults in the early modern period.