Übersetzen als „parteiisch sondierendes Recycling“. Peter Rühmkorfs Umgang mit Leben und Werk des Walther von der Vogelweide

Abstract

In 1975 Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008) published his 70 page essay "Walther von der Vogelweide - Reichssänger und Hausierer". The text contained 34 translations of Walther's poems, whose Middle High German versions were also printed in the appendix. How these translations came about, how Rühmkorf selected and presented the poems, which translation methods he used and how he justified his approach – particularly in distinction to already existing translations – what translating meant for his own writing, how he located his own writing and the Walther translations in the political context of the post-68 era, how he used the Walther publication to re-strengthen his position in the competitive West German literary field, what role other actors of this field (critics, publishers, authors and commentators, Germanists) played in it – these are the questions dealt with in the article.