Spruchzitate: Funktionen und Gattungsstatus des Zitats in der neueren Aphorismendichtung von Elazar Benyoetz

Abstract

Abstract: The paper tries to determine the aesthetic functions and the generic status of the author's gnomic quotations as a part of his aphoristic poetry. This differs from traditional aphorism collections in that it consists of groups of aphoristic sayings preceded by a title and presented, like certain modern poems, in centered short lines, instead of in prose. Modified in the same way, the quotations approach, albeit not in a generic sense, the poetic character of these aphorisms. Quoting does not reduce the author's discretionary power, because not only does he choose the passages, but he also gives them a Jewish religious interpretation established by the surrounding aphorisms. The main function of the quoted sayings within these mixed poems can be, for instance, that of leading the reader from the initial aphorism to the final one or that of confirming statements expressed in the aphorisms.