Das Fabelbuch als Rahmenerzählung: Intertextualität und Intratextualität als Wege zur Interpretation des Buchs der Beispiele der alten Weisen Antons von Pforr. Von Sabine Obermaier. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2004. Pp. XIII + 436. EUR 54.

Although little known even among medievalists, the late fifteenth century witnessed an amazing translation process involving ancient Indian, medieval Hebrew, Latin, and finally German literature. In 1480/81 Anton von Pforr (d. 1483) published a German version of John of Capua's (1263–78) Latin Directorium vitae humanae, which in turn was based on Rabbi Jo‘l's Hebrew translation (beginning of the twelfth century) of the Arabic Kal jl wa-Dimna by Abdallbh Ibn al-Muqaffa (ca. 730), which in turn was based on Borznf's Middle Persian (Pahlavi) translation (ca. 550/60) of the Old Sanscrit Pañacatantra, or Panschatantra (third to fifth century). Anton von Pforr's publication spurred numerous translations into other European languages, such as Dutch, Danish, and Icelandic. This large collection consists of fables that teach basic wisdom about human vices and virtues, hence the enormous popularity of this Old Indian source text far into the early-modern times both in the Orient and in the Occident. Surprisingly, very few scholars have truly paid attention to Anton von Pforr's translation, but Sabine Obermaier, in her ambitious habilitation thesis submitted to the University of Mainz in 2001, finally subjects it to a thorough investigation regarding its structural design, the function of the various narrative voices, the interrelationship of internal and external narrative, and the multilayered meaning of these old stories full of wisdom and simple truths.

Albrecht Classen
University of Arizona