CRITICISM

Bäuml, Franz H. “Transformations of the Heroine: From Epic Heard to Epic Read.” The Role of Woman in the Middle Ages, edited by Rosmarie Thee Morewedge, pp. 23-40. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975.

Historical study that considers three different types of transmission for the Nibelungenlied.

———, and Eva-Marie Fallone. A Concordance to the “Nibelungenlied” (Bartsch-De Borr Text). Leeds: W. S. Maney and Son Ltd, 1976, 901p.

Includes index to structural patterns, a frequency ranking list, and a reverse index.

Bostock, J. K. “The Message of the Nibelungenlied.” Modern Language Review LV, No. 2 (April 1960): 200-12.

Proposal for what the contemporary audience may have understood as the author's purpose in writing the Nibelungenlied.

Capek, Michael J. “A Note on Oral Formulism in the Nibelungenlied.” Modern Language Notes 80, No. 4 (October 1965): 487-89.

Lines from the Nibelungenliedthat suggest an oral tradition in its composition.

Ellis, Hilda R. “The Hoard of the Nibelungs.” Modern Language Review XXXVII, No. 4 (October 1942): 466-79.

Discusses form in the traditional tale of the dragon and the treasure.

Fenik, Bernard. Homer and the “Nibelungenlied:” Comparative Studies in Epic Style. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986, 211p.

Study of the Nibelungenlied's use of symmetry and parallelism.

Gillespie, G. T. “Die Klage as a Commentary on Das Nibelungenlied.” Probleme Mittelhochdeutscher Erzählformen: Marburger Colloquium 1969, pp. 153-177. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1972.

Examination of how the sequel to the Nibelungenlied interprets the tale in a Christian vein.

Haymes, Edward R. “Hagen the Hero.” Southern Folklore Quarterly 43, No. 1-2 (1979): 149-55.

Analysis of how Hagen's heroism in the second half of the Nibelungenlied supports the idea that the story was in the process of development.

King, K. C. “The Message of the Nibelungenlied—A Reply.” Modern Language Review LVII, No. 4 (October 1962): 541-50.

Poses objections to Bostock's article (see above.)

McConnell, Winder. “Marriage in the Nibelungenlied and Kudrun.” Spectrum Medii Aevi: Essays in Early German Literature in Honor of George Fenwick Jones, edited by William C. McDonald, pp. 299-320. Göppingen: Kümmerle Verlag, 1983.

Contrasts the weddings depicted in the Nibelungenlied and the Kudrun.

Mowatt, D. G. and Hugh Sacker. The “Nibelungenlied:” An Interpretive Commentary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967, 144p.

Study intended to advance understanding and stimulate discussion about the Nibelungenlied.

Renoir, Alain. “Levels of Meaning in the Nibelungenlied: Sifrit's Courtship.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen LXI, No. 4 (1960): 353-61.

Describes two distinct levels of interpretation of Sifrit and Kriemhilt's love relationship.

Sacker, Hugh. “The Message of the Nibelungenlied, and the Business of the Literary Critic.” Modern Language Review LVIII, No. 2 (April (1963): 225-27.

Responds to Bostock and King (see above) and defends a textual analysis approach.

Salmon, P. B. “Why Does Hagen Die?” German Life & Letters XVII, No. 1 (October 1963): 3-13.

Analyzes the events that lead to the final scenes of the Nibelungenlied.

———. “The German-ness of the Nibelungenlied.” New German Studies 4, No. 1 (Spring 1976): 1-26.

Argues that the C-Text is the most refined text of the Nibelungenlied.

Thorp, Mary. The Study of the “Nibelungenlied:” Being the History of the Study of the Epic and Legend from 1755 to 1937. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940, 196p.

Study of the change in public and critical opinion of the Nibelungenlied since the thirteenth century.

Wailes, Stephen L. “Bedroom Comedy in the Nibelungenlied.” Modern Language Quarterly 32, No. 4 (December 1971): p. 365-76.

Analyzes the Nibelungenlied's bedroom scenes and contends that the poet intended them to be comical.

Wakefield, Ray M. Nibelungen Prosody. The Hague: Mouton, 1976, 116p.

Study of different readings of the Nibelungenlied, focusing on rhythm patterns.

Additional coverage of the Nibelungenlied is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Vol. 1, and Epics for Students.