Till Eulenspiegel  

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Till Eulenspiegel is the protagonist of a German chapbook published in 1515 (a first edition of c. 1510/12 is preserved fragmentarily) with a possible background in earlier German folklore.

Eulenspiegel is a native of Brunswick whose picaresque career takes him to many places throughout the Holy Roman Empire. He plays practical jokes on his contemporaries, especially scatological in nature, exposing vices at every turn. His life is set in the first half of the 14th century, and the final chapters of the chapbook describe his death from the plague of 1350. His name translates to "owl mirror", and the frontispiece of the 1515 chapbook, as well as his alleged tombstone in Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein, display the name in rebus writing, by an owl and a hand mirror. There is a suggestion that the name is in fact a veiled pun on a Low German phrase translating to "wipe-arse". (From a Middle Low German verb ulen "to wipe" and spegel "mirror", a term used in the sense of "buttocks, behind" (used in hunting jargon of the bright tail area of fallow deer); ul'n spegel would then amount to an imperative "wipe the arse!". Paul Oppenheimer, "Introduction" in: Till Eulenspiegel. His Adventures. Routledge, 1991, p. LXIII. See also Swabian salute.)

Retellings of the Eulenspiegel tradition have been published in modern literature, since the later 19th century. Notably, The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak by Charles De Coster (1867) transfers the character to the context of the Protestant Reformation and the Dutch Revolt. The Ulenspiegel (modern Dutch: Tijl Uilenspiegel) from this novel became a symbol of Flemish independence.

Modern reception

Literature

In the eighteenth century, German satirists adopted episodes for social satire, and in the nineteenth and early twentieth century versions of the tales were bowdlerized to render them fit for children, who had come to be considered their chief natural audience, by expurgating their many scatological references.

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, an 1867 novel by Belgian author Charles De Coster, has been translated, often in mutilated versions, into many languages. It was De Coster who first transferred Ulenspiegel from his original late medieval surroundings to the Protestant Reformation. In this version, Ulenspiegel was born in Damme, West Flanders and became a Protestant hero of the Dutch Revolt. The author gives him a father, Claes, and mother, Soetkin, as well as a girlfriend, Nele, and a best friend, Lamme Goedzak. In the course of the story Claes is taken prisoner by the Spanish oppressors and burned at the stake, while Soetkin goes insane as a result. This tempts Thyl to start resistance against the Spanish oppressors. Thanks to the 1867 novel, Ulenspiegel has become a symbol of Flemish nationalism, with a statue dedicated to him in Damme.

Alfred Jarry, author of Gestes et opinions du Docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien (1911), mentions Ulenspiegel's unruly behaviour in the Appendix chapter entitled Les poteaux de la morale: « Till Ulenspiegel, on s’en souvient, ne coordonnait point autrement ses opérations mentales : se dirigeant vers un faîte, il se réjouissait du dévalement futur. »

A French edition, Les Aventures de Til Ulespiègle, was published by Constantin Castéra in 1910. In 1927 Gerhart Hauptmann wrote the verse Till Eulenspiegel.

Ulenspiegel was mentioned in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita as a possible prototype for the black cat character Behemoth.

Michael Rosen adapted the story into a 1989 children's novel, illustrated by Fritz Wegner: The Wicked Tricks of Till Owlyglass, Template:ISBN.

Daniel Kehlmann in his novel Tyll (2017) places Tyll Ulenspiegel in the context of the Thirty Years' War.

The Italian civil law professor Francesco Gazzoni uses the name Till Eulenspiegel as a pseudonym for himself in his book "Favole quasi giuridiche" (in English, "Semi-juridical Fables").

Comics

Ray Goossens had a 1945 comic strip based on Tijl Uilenspiegel, where Tijl and Lamme Goedzak were portrayed as a comedic duo. The series was sometimes called Tijl en Lamme too.

Willy Vandersteen drew two comic book albums about Uilenspiegel, "De Opstand der Geuzen" ("The Rebellion of the Geuzen") and "Fort Oranje" ("Fort Orange"), both drawn in a realistic, serious style and pre-published in the Belgian comics magazine Tintin between 1952 and 1954. They were published in comic book album format in 1954 and 1955. The stories were drawn in a realistic style and in some instances followed the original novel very closely, but sometimes followed his own imagination more.

Dutch comics artist George van Raemdonck adapted the novel into a comic strip in 1964.

Between 1985 and 1990 Willy Vandersteen drew a comics series named De Geuzen of whom the three main characters are Hannes, his girlfriend Veerle and Tamme, Hannes' best friend. All are obviously inspired by Tijl Uilenspiegel, Nele and Lamme Goedzak.

Theatre

Kibbutz theatre director and producer Shulamit Bat-Dori created an open-air production of Till Eulenspiegel at Mishmar HaEmek, Israel, in 1955 that drew 10,000 viewers.

Clive Barker incorporated elements of the Till Eulenspiegel story in his play Crazyface.Template:Year needed

Music

In 1894-1895 Richard Strauss composed the tone poem, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28.

In 1902 Emil von Reznicek adapted the story as an opera, Till Eulenspiegel.

In 1913 Walter Braunfels adapted the story as an opera, Ulenspiegel.

In 1916 the Ballets Russes adapted the story as a ballet, later re-adapted by George Balanchine for Jerome Robbins at the New York City Ballet.

In the late 1930s or early 1940s, the Russian composer Wladimir Vogel wrote a drama-oratorio, Thyl Claes, derived from De Coster's book.

The Soviet composer Nikolai Karetnikov and his librettist, filmmaker Pavel Lungin, adapted De Coster's novel as a samizdat opera, Till Eulenspiegel (1983), which had to be recorded piecemeal in secret and received its premiere (1993) only after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Polish poet Jacek Kaczmarski wrote a epitaph to Eulenspiegel in 1981 "Epitafium dla Sowizdrzała".

Magazines

Between 1945 and 1950 a German satirical magazine was called Ulenspiegel. The satirical magazine Eulenspiegel was published from 1954 in Berlin, East Germany.

Films

In 1956 the film Les Aventures de Till L'Espiègle was made by Gérard Philipe and Joris Ivens, which adapted De Coster's novel. (English title: "Bold Adventure"). The film was a French-East German co-production.

In 1973 Walter van der Kamp directed Uilenspiegel, a Dutch film.

Rainer Simon directed Till Eulenspiegel in 1975, which was an East-German production. Due to Nudity, it was not suitable for children as State Television banned airing the film before 7pm (this version is an adult version).

Ulenspiegel (Legenda o Tile), was a 1976 Soviet film, based on De Coster's novel, and directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov, "The Legend of Till Ullenspiegel" (1976).

In 2003 Eberhard Junkersdorf adapted the story into a feature-length animated film.

In 2014 Christian Theede directed the film Till Eulenspiegel.

Television

In 1961 the BRT (nowadays the VRT) made a children's TV series, Tijl Uilenspiegel.

Museums

There are three museums in Germany featuring Till Eulenspiegel. One is located in the town of Schöppenstedt in Lower Saxony, which is nearby his assumed birthplace Kneitlingen. The second is located in the supposed place of his death, the city of Mölln in Schleswig-Holstein, and the third in Bernburg (Saale), Sachsen-Anhalt. In the town of Damme, Belgium, there is also a museum honoring him, and there is a fountain and statue featuring Till Eulenspiegel in the Marktplatz of Magdeburg, capital city of Sachsen-Anhalt.

Other

TES, the first BDSM organization founded in the United States, formerly known as The Eulenspiegel Society, took its original name from Till Eulenspiegel. TES was founded in 1971 and had the name "The Eulenspiegel Society" until it formally changed its name to "TES" in 2002. The original name was inspired by a passage from Austrian psychoanalyst Theodor Reik's Masochism in Modern Man (1941), in which he argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of "victory through defeat". Reik describes Till Eulenspiegel's "peculiar" behavior—he enjoys walking uphill, and feels "dejected" walking downhill—and compares it to a "paradox reminiscent of masochism", because Till Eulenspiegel "gladly submits to discomfort, enjoys it, even transforms it into pleasure".

Pages linking in as of 2021

Abu Abed, Anton Pann, Arkady Gornfeld, Bakor Patel, Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh, Barbu Lăzăreanu, Birbal, Braunschweig, Brunswick Land, Calbe, Canon of Dutch Literature, Carl Offterdinger, Carlos Grangel, Catherine Schell, Charles De Coster, Clarinet, Clown, Cultural depictions of Philip II of Spain, Dal Bahadur Gurung, De Geuzen, Dino Battaglia, Early New High German literature, Eberhard Esche, Edward Schröder, Élisabeth Platel, Enrique Breccia, Erich Kästner, Eulenspiegel, Fix and Foxi, Friar Rush, Genoveva, George Van Raemdonck, Gérard Philipe, German folklore, Gloria-Theater (Cologne), Gonu Jha, Gopal Bhar, Grigori Gorin, Hermann Bote, Hershel of Ostropol, Hippolytus Guarinonius, Hitar Petar, İncili Çavuş, Ioan Barac, Ion Creangă, Itinerant poet, Ivan Turbincă, Jan van Gilse, Jane Frank, Jest book, Jester, Joke, Joseph Octave Delepierre, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, King John and the Bishop, Kneitlingen, Krämerbrücke, Lamme Goedzak, Lange Wapper, Lazarillo de Tormes, Leonid Solovyov (writer), Les Aventures de Till L'Espiègle, Lisbeth Zwerger, List of cultural icons of Germany, List of Fables characters, List of fictional badgers, List of fictional tricksters, List of folk heroes, List of jesters, List of stock characters, List of works influenced by Don Quixote, Malicious compliance, Max and Moritz, Maximilian Steinberg, Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten, Minnesota folklore, Mircea Florian (musician), Miroslav Krleža, Miya Fuski, Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein, Mulla Do-Piyaza, Nasreddin, New Town Hall (Bremen), Nikolai Karachentsov, Novel, Oin-Oin, Onufry Zagłoba, Ootmarsum, Oskar Herrfurth, Păcală, Patrick Dupond, Paul Lauters, Pedro Urdemales, Petr Coufal, Petrica Kerempuh, Philipp Frankfurter, Piet Verhaert, Program music, Rainer Simon, Ray Goossens, Reginald Barclay, Robert Copland, Robert Hart Baker, Robert Schumann, Rüdiger Kuhlbrodt, Runaway Horses, Samantha Youssef, Satire, Scatology, Schildbürger, Schöppenstedt, Schoten, Shulamit Bat-Dori, Slovene fiction, Sri Thanonchai, Tenali Rama, TES (BDSM organization), The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, The Story Museum, Theodor Reik, Till Eulenspiegel (Karetnikov), Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Tom Keogh, Translation, Trickster, Tunnel über der Spree, Tyll (novel), Ulenspiegel (magazine), Unsere Besten, Walter Trier, William Radde, Willy Vandersteen, Winfried Glatzeder, Wise fool, Wonderful Fool

See also

• Schildbürger
• Baron Munchausen
• Historia von D. Johann Fausten (chapbook)
• Hershele Ostropoler
• Nasreddin
• Sly Peter

English translation of some Till Eulenspiegel stories [1]