Bausinger PDF
Bausinger PDF
Translator's preface
"'
coining of a new genre the "personal
experience narrative. Indeed, of all
Bausinger's work, "Structures of Everyday
Narration" is probably most frequently
quoted by American folklorists. The
translation of this seminal article,
therefore, is long overdue. With this
translation, we hope to provide American
folklorists with an English translation of
this important essay and to extend a belated
birthday wish to the author.
When my father was in the war, they all had horses at one time. Now
all the others had new horses, only my father had received an old one,
and the others ridiculed him. But he said: "Just laugh!" And then
during an attack all at once the other horses started in fear and
jumped into a waterhole, and many drowned. Only my father's horse
continued to run as if nothing had happened.[l51
"What do you d o , " Mr. K. was asked, "when you love a person?" "I make
a d r a f t o f him," s a i d Mr. K . "and s e e t o it t h a t he i s s i m i l a r t o i t . "
"Who? The d r a f t ? " "No," s a i d Mr. K . " t h e man."[lb]
that toward the end of the last century superstitious attitudes have
ventured forth more openly. They even defined the image of community,
before being contaminated by the suddenly expanded vision brought
about by technology and transportation.[321
There was also a man who played the lottery and he apparently gave the
wrong house number. Now the notice was sent to a butcher that he had
won I don't know how many thousands of marks. The man grabbed his
cleaver and destroyed the entire butcher shop, all the while shouting
"I don't have to work anymore!" Only later did he find out that his
neighbor, not he, had won.
as he drove on that she had thick and hairy hands. He stopped and told
her to get out and push because something was broken. And as she was
outside, he laid on the gas and drove directly to the police. There
the nun's two suitcases were opened; there were a pair of very long
knives still covered with fresh blood.
Notes
21. Hans Arnold, Das Ma~ischedes Films. Typed Diss. MUnchen, 1949.
Its subtitle reads "Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Wirksamkeit
magischer EinflUsse in der Gegenwart unter besonderer
BerUcksichtigung des Films." See in particular pp. 219-253.
23. Karl Bednarik, Der junge Arbeiter von heute - ein neuer TYE.
(Stuttgart: Kilpper, 1953), p. 37.
34. The expression "new view of the world" should be allowed here,
although it should certainly be examined, along with Heidegger,
whether "the time of the view of the world" did not actually begin
only with the changes to which this article refers. See the essay
of the same title in the collection: Martin Heidegger, Holzwege.
(Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1950).
42. Alone the schwank-fairy tale claims a special place. See here
and for the following Bausinger, "Schwank und Witz" in Studium
Generale.
51. Aside from the fairy tale, legend and schwank, Peuckert's
fundamental work names only the riddle in its title. See also
Bausinger, "Sage, Mtlrchen, Schwank," Der Deutschunterricht 8
(1956): 37-43.
52. The filler words such as "of course" which are repeated
extensively in Richard Dorson's account of stories of a Greek-
American family are one such example, for they also shape the
stories in this country. See Dorson, "Tales of a Greek-American
Family on Tape," Fabula 1 (1957): 114-43, esp. 124.