Allotria

Wilhelm Busch's drawings are enhanced in their effect by the precise verses. Characteristic of the picture story are humorous surprises and linguistic boldness, such as rhymes that exploit syllable separation in unexpected ways, like the well-known 'Everyone knows what kind of bird such a May-/bug is.' Additionally, there are ironic twists, mockeries of romantic stylistic elements, exaggerations, and ambiguities. Allotria means as much as fun or amusing nonsense. In contrast to pranks, however, no tricks are played on other people. In the Greek philosophy of the Cynics and Stoics, allotria refers to everything that distracts a person from their own, true self, the idion, and essentially does not concern them, such as possessions, fame, power, suffering, illness, passions, etc. Illustrated with 52 black-and-white images. Reprint of the original edition from 1920.