Schwank (comedy)

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In German-speaking cultures, Schwank (pronounced [ʃvaŋk] ⓘ) is a genre of short funny tale, verse, song, play, opera, etc.[1][2] In German, common meanings for the word "Schwank" are "prank", "funny tale", told for entertainment.[3]

The Kleines Literarisches Lexikon (1966) offers a distinction of Schwank from other forms of comedy: Schwank delivers light, harmless, carefree humor, which distinguishes it from comedy, which ridicules something; from Lustspiel [de], which offers much hilarity; and from farce (de:Posse), with its crude boisterousness.[4]

In relation to the narrative tradition, the term presents a difficulty in translation, beinng inadequately translated as "joke" or "anecdote". Elliott Oring explains the difference between the German terms "Schwank" and "Witz. [5][6]

Other German types of literary and scenic art involving comedy include the Posse mit Gesang, Klamotte [de], Lustspiel [de], Volksstück [de], and Festspiel [de].

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Elfriede Moser-Rath, Predigtmärlein der Barockzeit. Exempel, Sage, Schwank und Fabel in geistlichen Quellen des oberdeutschen Raumes, 1964
  2. ^ "Die Situationskomik in Schwank und Posse", 1926
  3. ^ Schwank, Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online
  4. ^ Horst Rüdiger; Erwin Koppen (Hrsg.) (1966). Kleines Literarisches Lexikon (in German). Vol. 3 (4th ed.). Bern/München. p. 370.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Oring, Elliot 1989, Between jokes and tales: on the nature of punch lines. Humor, vol. 2-4, pp. 349–364.
  6. ^ Arvo Krikmann, "ATU jokes": old and abandoned (retrieved November 11, 2025), ISHS 20th Annual Conference hosted by the University of Alcalá (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain) July 7–11, 2008

Further reading

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  • Neumann, Norbert 1986. Vom Schwank zum Witz: Zum Wandel der Pointe seit dem 16. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
  • Oring, Elliott 1992. Jokes and Their Relations. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
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