bavarikon4ULudwig Laistner
Ludwig Laistner (1845-1896), born in Esslingen am Neckar, read theology in Tübingen from 1863 to 1867. In 1870, he took a leave of absence from the vicariate due to a heart condition and became a tutor and private scholar in Munich. There he joined the circle of poets around Emanuel Geibel (1815-1884) and became a member of the "crocodiles" in 1872. Laistner emerged there as translator of the "Novellenschatz des Auslandes" by Paul Heyse (1830-1914), wrote articles for his "Neues Münchener Dichterbuch" (1882) and became co-editor of the 24-volume "Neuer Deutscher Novellenschatz" (1884-87). Under the influence of his friend and colleague Wilhelm Hertz (1835-1902), Laistner turned more and more to research in legends and sagas.
Particularly noteworthy are his translations of Mediaeval Latin goliardic poetry under the title of "Golias" (1879) as well as his research in the poetry of sagas: ascending fog, for example, is interpreted by him as the cooking of dwarves ("Nebelsagen", 1879). Among his own creations are his epic poem "Barbarossa's Brautwerber. Eine Wirtemberger Sage" (1875) and the "Novellen aus alter Zeit" (1882).
In 1889, Ludwig Laistner became the first literary advisor to the Cotta publishing house in Stuttgart, where he curated the 36-volume edition of the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and the six-volume edition of the works of Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866). In addition, he published reviews for the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.