Volksbuch (People's Book)

Japanese: 民衆本 - みんしゅうぼん（英語表記）Volksbuch

A genre in German literature from the 15th to 16th centuries, the era of the Reformation and humanism, it is a type of entertainment novel in prose that is a revision or new writing of old domestic and foreign legends and stories for the common people. The name comes from a book written by the later romantic Gerres (Die teutschen Volksbücher, 1807). Although it is a popular book, with the exception of some anonymous works, the authors, revisers, and translators were not common people but well-known people. They did not necessarily think of it as a book for the common people, but with the invention of printing at the time and the possibility of mass production, in the second half of the 16th century it literally became a book for the common people.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

宗教改革と人文主義の時代である15～16世紀のドイツ文学史上の一ジャンルで，内外の古い伝説や物語を民衆向きに改訂したり新たに書き下ろされた，散文の娯楽小説である。名称は後世のロマン派のゲレスの著書(《Die teutschen Volksbücher》1807)に由来する。民衆本とはいっても作者不詳を除き，著者，改訂者，翻訳者は民衆でなく高名な人々であった。彼らは必ずしも民衆のための本とは考えなかったようだが，おりからの印刷術の発明による大量生産のため，16世紀後半には文字どおり民衆のための本となった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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