Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Anecdote
(850 words)

1. Definition of terms

The anecdote relates a small, graphic, not always historically verifiable event in compressed form, pointedly sharpened as an existentially meaningful incident of special significance. It is categorized with the simple form of the memorabile (Denkwürdigen), on the historical borderline between facticity and fiction (Fictionality), orality and literacy. Various attempts at internal differentiation have been made, for example between a characteristic (simpl…

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Spicker, Friedemann, “Anecdote”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_016845>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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