Johannes Andreas Jolles, known as André Jolles (August 7, 1874 in Den Helder, Netherlands – February 22, 1946 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Germany) was a Dutch-German art historian,

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

critic and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

who was affiliated with the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. He is best known for his work ''Simple Forms''.

Life

Jolles was born on August 7, 1874, in Den Helder. His father, Hendrik Jolle Jolles, died on February 25, 1888, in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Jolles grew up as an only child with his mother Jacoba Cornelia Singles (1847-1901) in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. In the 1890s, he worked on magazines such as ''

Van Nu en Straks ''Van Nu en Straks'' (; ''Of Now and Later'' or ''Today and Tomorrow'') was a Flemish literary and cultural magazine that was founded in 1893 by August Vermeylen. With a cover designed by Henry van de Velde, this magazine served as a vehicle for a ...

'' and ''De Kroniek'' in 1893 and 1895 respectively, and was the editor for art and science at '' De Telegraaf'' from 1897 to 1898. He studied

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

and

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and

from 1893 to 1894 and again in 1899 at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. In 1896, Jolles met

Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two y ...

in Groningen, who became a long-time friend. On a trip to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

with Huizinga in 1899, he met his future wife Mathilde Tilli Mönckeberg (1879–1958). They married in September 1900. Their first son, Hendrik, was born in June 1901 but died a year later. After that, they had five children: Jeltje, Jacoba, Jan Andries, Matthijs and Ruth. Jolles, who became wealthy after his mother's death in 1901, began studying at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, where he received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

on August 3, 1905, with a thesis on Vitruvian

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

with

Otto Puchstein Otto Puchstein (6 July 1856, Labes – 9 March 1911, Berlin) was a German classical archaeologist. From 1875 to 1879 he studied philology, classical archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Strasbourg, where his instructors include ...

. He gave his habilitation lecture, "On the

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...

and the descriptive element in the

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

s in antiquity and the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

" in Freiburg (January 1907), and his habilitation thesis, ''The

- Mycenaean Ceremonial Vessels,'' appeared in 1908. Additionally, he co-wrote the pieces ''Vielliebchen'' and ''Alkestis'' with Carl Mönckeberg, both of which were staged in Hamburg. His family moved to Berlin in 1908, where he taught from 1909 as a private lecturer on ancient art history at Friedrich-Wilhelm University. When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

began, he registered as a 40-year-old and became a Dutch volunteer. An artillery regiment accepted him after several rejections. Jolles was naturalised and initially participated in the First World War as a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and finally as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the

Landwehr ''Landwehr'', or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortificatio ...

. In 1916, as an officer in the occupying forces, he accepted a

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in classical archaeology and art history at the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

. In 1920, he was sentenced ''in absentia'' to 15 years of forced labour in Ghent. While in Ghent, he lived with Margarethe Grittli Boecklen (1895-1967). After he divorced Mönckeberg, he married Boecklen in August 1918, shortly after the birth of their first child Barbara. Jolles became a professor in Flemish and Dutch language and literature at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. In 1923 he also became the professor of comparative

history of literature The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...

. In 1930, he published his main work ''Simple Forms'' (''Einfache Formen''), in which he set out a typology of oral narrative forms (myth, legend, fairy tale, memorable, case, riddle, saying, joke). As stated in the preface, the book originated from Jolles' lectures, which Drs. Elisabeth Kutzer and Otto Görner wrote down and edited. Jolles' further considerations about the art forms were not substantial enough to be published. ''Simple Forms'' place Jolles in the company of

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. A ...

Vladimir Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irredu ...

, and other precursors of Structuralism. Using

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and literary theory, they investigated the origins of

. The book was translated into English only in 2017, "too late", in the words of

Fredric Jameson Fredric Jameson (born April 14, 1934) is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. Jam ...

.Marta Figlerowicz
How to Do Things with Genres
Los Angeles Review of Books, 30 March 2017 On May 1, 1933, he joined the

, estranging several friends and his children from his first marriage: Jeltje was married to a Jewish engineer, and Jan Andries was forced to go into exile as a communist. In 193, Jolles joined the

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the '' Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

(SD) – the intelligence agency of the Nazi Party and the SS. He retired in 1941, and from 1942 worked on a study on behalf of the SD on

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. On his 70th birthday, he received the Goethe Medal for Art and Science from Hitler in 1944. On a questionnaire he filled out in May 1945 about his

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

past, it is noted in handwriting: "is still a Nazi – too old (71 years) to be arrested". André Jolles committed suicide on February 22, 1946.

Publications (selection)

* ''Vitruvian aesthetics.'' Diss. Freiburg i. Br., 1906
full text
). * ''The Egyptian-Mycenaean ceremonial vessels.'' Habilitation thesis (Freiburg i. Br.). In: ''Yearbook of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute.'' Volume 23, 1908, pp. 209–250. * ''From Schiller to the community stage.'' Leipzig 1919. * ''Bezieling en Vorm.'' Essays about letterkunde. Tjeenk Willink, Haarlem 1923. (Dutch) * ''Simple shapes.'' Legend, legend, myth, riddle, saying, case, memorabilia, fairy tale, joke. Halle (Saale) 1930 (Research Institute for Modern Philology Leipzig: New German Department; 2
Online
Reprint Darmstadt 1958. * ''Freemasonry.'' Essence and customs. First book: The emergence of Freemasonry. Nordland-Verlag, Berlin. (not published) - Sources and representations on the Masonic question; 5.

Literature

* Hermann Bausinger: ''Jolles, André.'' In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales Vol. 7, 1993, pp. 623–625. * Hellmut Rosenfeld: ''Jolles, André.'' In: ''New German Biography'' (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, , p. 586 f.

. * Walter Thys (ed.): ''André Jolles (1874-1946), "Educated Vagant".'' Amsterdam / Leipzig 2000, . (Partly German, partly Dutch.) * Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg: ''Letters they didn't get. Letters from a mother to her distant children between 1940 and 1946.'' Hoffmann et al. Campe, Hamburg 1980, . (First published as the English translation: ''On the Other Side. To My Children: From Germany 1940-1945.'' Owen, London 1979, .) * Literature by and about Johannes Andreas Jolles in the catalog of the German National Library * Johannes Andreas Jolles in the professor catalog of the University of Leipzig. * Brigitte Emmrich: ''Jolles, André (a.k.a. Johannes Andreas, pseudonym: Karl Andres)''. In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): ''Saxon Biography''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jolles, Andre 1874 births 1946 deaths Dutch art historians Suicides in Germany People from Den Helder Nazi Party members Leipzig University faculty German Army personnel of World War I 1946 suicides Naturalized citizens of Germany