Leichenpredigt als Textkomplex

The article attempts to answer three questions: 1. about the components of the overall print funeral sermon, 2. about the status of the individual subtexts of the funeral sermon, and 3. about the status of the funeral sermon as a communicative whole, whereby the answer to the third question represents the culmination of the considerations. Based on a discussion in the relevant literature on the topic of complex textual wholes and her own findings, which were gained on the basis of Gdansk funeral sermons from the years 1586–1746, the author of the article decides on the designation „text complex funeral sermon“, which allows the following characteristics of this unit to be captured: 1. formal, functional and content-related connections between subtexts, which include main text (the actual sermon), paratexts (title page, dedication, epilogue) and potentially autonomous text (curriculum vitae); 2. affiliation of the individual subtexts to different text types, whereby text type status is not obligatory; 3. no temporal and spatial distance of the individual subtexts; 4. placement on a single carrier.