Puritans into Revolutionaries: Butler's Hudibras and Ratschky's Melchior Striegel

Author: Robertson, Ritchie1

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 15, Number 1, 1 December 2007 , pp. 17-40(24)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

English satirical writing of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was widely read in Austria during the Enlightenment period. The mock-heroic poem by Joseph Franz Ratschky, Melchior Striegel (1793-95), owes considerable debt to Samuel Butler's Hudibras (1663). While Butler satirizes Puritans, Ratschky satirizes Jacobins, whose `conspiracy' was uncovered in 1794. Both authors wish to dissociate themselves from their satirical targets: one may therefore suspect some opportunism. But both also write with great comic invention and linguistic virtuosity, giving free play to their imagination in a way that sometimes runs counter to their polemical intentions.

German
Englische Satiren aus dem 17. und 18. Jahrhundert fanden große Resonanz im Österreich der Aufklärung. Besonders Joseph Franz Ratschkys komisches Epos Melchior Striegel (1793-95) verrät den Einfluss von Samuel Butlers Hudibras (1663). Während Butlers Satire den Puritanern gilt, zielt Ratschky auf die Jakobiner, deren angebliche Verschwörung 1794 aufgedeckt wurde. Da beide Autoren sich von den Gegenständen ihrer Satire distanzieren wollten, darf man einen gewissen Opportunismus vermuten. Dennoch legen beide einen komischen Erfindungsgeist und eine sprachliche Virtuosität an den Tag, die manchmal ihren polemischen Intentionen zuwiderlaufen.

Keywords: English satirical writing; Austria; Enlightenment; Joseph Franz Ratschky; Melchior Striegel; Samuel Butler; Hudibras; opportunism; comic invention; linguistic virtuosity; Englische Satiren; Österreich; Aufklärung; Joseph Franz Ratschkys; Melchior Striegel; Samuel Butler; Hudibras; Opportunismus; komischen Erfindungsgeist; sprachliche Virtuosität

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: St John's College, Oxford

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