Advance literature path

The Vorau novella was probably written in the Alemannic region around 1200 - it is no longer clear who wrote it. What is certain is that the copy in the Vorau Abbey Library from the 13th century is the only one that has survived the ages, but even this record remains incomplete: it breaks off in the middle of the text and leaves the ending to our imagination. Clues to the end of the story are provided by the Latin version of the same material, which has also only survived in Styria, namely as the so-called Reuner Relationen in Rein Abbey. The theme of the so-called Vorau novella - namely the uninhibited search for happiness of two escaped monastery boys - seems like a forerunner of the Faust material: We hear of a magical book, a kind of devil's pact, of lust and grave sins with subsequent torments of conscience. The poem's masterful language also matches its extraordinarily high standard of content. Gripping images and lively dialog still captivate us today. It quickly becomes clear that it is not distant times and unknown places to which the plot of the Vorau novella symbolically refers. Rather, it also refers to us!