Im Himmel donnern helfen. Stationen einer Wanderanekdote bei Pfeffel, Büchner und anderen

Following renowned literary critic Kurt Krolop’s two publications in 1960 and 1963, this analysis investigates the dissemination and variations of the topos “Helping Thundering in Heaven”. Concurrently, attention is given to the “Wanderanekdote,” that publicized the topos throughout German literary as well as cultural history from the 18th century to the present. A common element in most of them – and that is true for a prominent number of variations researched for the first time – is the change of a perspective of hope for a better beyond from “below” by disillusionment and the attention on the misery of our everyday life. The historicizing and systematizing investigation reconstructs the environment, in which highlights of representations of the topos emerge, such as Konrad Pfeffel’s poem “Jost” (1789) and Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck”-fragments (1836).