Kleine Spuren der Geschichte

Starting from two concepts of the hermeneutic tradition, the use of parallels and the Lebenshorizont, their possible connection in the context of philology is outlined. In particular, problematizations of the use of parallels method in the context of literary texts are taken up. However, parallels can be used to formulate or evaluate hypotheses about text passages. It can also be used to generate or test hypotheses about the distribution of themes within an corpus and thus be a tool in the reconstruction of Lebenshorizonte. Finally, this hermeneutic method and this hermeneutic concept are applied in the context of a rhetorical analysis of some passages from two letter bundles of the Koblenz Liebesbriefarchiv. The possibilities and limits of explaining letters with parallels within and outside of the respective bundle will be shown. Overlaps can thus indicate thematic concentrations and scatterings of a certain period. It should also be shown that even different rhetorical procedures in everyday communication can give clues to thematic fields addressed in several parts of the corpus, to which the writers think they have to relate.