Elkerlyc on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
''Elckerlijc'' (also known as ''Elckerlyc'') is a 
The play won the first prize in a theater contest in Brabant; it is uncertain whether it won at the Antwerp Landjuweel in 1496. As a morality play, it stresses the didactic message. It uses allegory of the hero as an "everyman" (a typical human person) and is written in moderately elevated Rederijker style.
Dutch and English historians argued for decades over whether the English play ''Everyman'' was based on ''Elckerlijc'' (or vice versa). The most convincing evidence that ''Elckerlijc'' was the original was provided by the English historian E.R. Tigg, who showed how many rhymes and literal translations were copied from the Dutch language play into the English ''Everyman''. On the other hand, an English translator should have added a rhyming tag to each of a pair of words that rhyme in Dutch but not in English. The prevalent view is that the Dutch-language version was the original.
Online version of ''Elkerlijc''
15th-century plays 1495 plays Everyman Middle Dutch literature {{15thC-play-stub
morality play
The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...
from the Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
which was written in Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
somewhere around the year 1470. It was first printed in 1495. The play was extremely successful and may have been the original source for the English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
play ''Everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
'', as well as many other translations for other countries. The authorship of ''Elckerlijc'' is attributed to Peter van Diest, a medieval
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 ...
writer from the Low Countries.
The play won the first prize in a theater contest in Brabant; it is uncertain whether it won at the Antwerp Landjuweel in 1496. As a morality play, it stresses the didactic message. It uses allegory of the hero as an "everyman" (a typical human person) and is written in moderately elevated Rederijker style.
Dutch and English historians argued for decades over whether the English play ''Everyman'' was based on ''Elckerlijc'' (or vice versa). The most convincing evidence that ''Elckerlijc'' was the original was provided by the English historian E.R. Tigg, who showed how many rhymes and literal translations were copied from the Dutch language play into the English ''Everyman''. On the other hand, an English translator should have added a rhyming tag to each of a pair of words that rhyme in Dutch but not in English. The prevalent view is that the Dutch-language version was the original.
Translations and adaptations
* ''Everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
'', in English (16th century)
* ''Homulus'', translation in Latin (1536) by Christianus Ischyrius
* ''Hecastus'', adaptation in Latin (1536) by Macropedius
Georgius Macropedius (born Joris van Lanckvelt; April 1487 – July 1558) was a Dutch humanist, schoolmaster and "the greatest Latin playwright of the 16th century."
Biography
Macropedius was born as Joris van Lanckvelt in Gemert (Northern Braba ...
* '' Jedermann'' (1911), Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-cl ...
's German adaptation of ''Everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
''
* '' Elckerlyc'', 1975 film directed by Jos Stelling
Jos Stelling (born 16 July 1945) is a Dutch film director and screenwriter.
Career
He made his debut as a film director in 1974 with ''Mariken van Nieumegen'', which was selected for the official Cannes competition in 1975.
In 1981 he founded ...
Notes
Sources
*Further reading
* "Is ''Elckerlyc'' prior to ''Everyman''?" ''Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy'' 1939, pp. 568–96.External links
Online version of ''Elkerlijc''
15th-century plays 1495 plays Everyman Middle Dutch literature {{15thC-play-stub