The article examines the pejorative uses of the term ‘bunt’, initially on the basis of relevant dictionary finds from the decades around 1800, where the term is used primarily as an accusation to signal the arbitrari­ness of the content, a lack of order and to discredit the serious­ness of the author. Focusing the debate between Friedrich Schiller and Gottfried August Bürger, the article also sheds light on the extent to which colourful­ness can be an undesirable populari­sation strategy aimed at reaching the widest possible audience with the diversity of a work. Finally, the text also examines the striking obser­vation that colourful­ness in connection with a popular form of literature – the so-called ‘Buntschrift­stellerei’ – was viewed much more positively in the early modern period before 1800 and that the diversity and hetero­geneity of these works was even emphasised as an advantage.

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Ehrmann, Viktoria (2024): „Zu bunt! Literaturhistorische Beobachtungen zum Vorwurf der Buntheit um 1700 und 1800“, in: Joseph Imorde, Michael Multhammer und Hans Rudolf Velten (Hg.): Das Populäre der Anderen – Vulgarität im Ausgang der Vormoderne. Paderborn (Poesis, 10), S. 193–209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30965/9783846769096_011.