Germanic Texts and Latin Models Medieval Reconstructions: Germania Latina IV: 2 (Mediaevalia Groningana New Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9042909854 ISBN 13: 9789042909854

Publisher: Peeters Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Medieval writers who 'translated' Latin texts into Germanic vernaculars not only transmitted their originals, but, driven by individualistic impulses and cultural conventions, also transformed them. This process of domesticating texts was fundamentally creative and might more accurately be described as 'reconstruction'. The essays in Germanic Texts and Latin Models: Medieval Reconstructions explore the ways in which Latin texts and traditions were reconstructed in Old English, Old Icelandic and Old High German and cover a range of genres: legal texts, genealogies, histories, and poetry. They examine how medieval Germanic authors negotiated the need to transmit their models while at the same time fulfilling their own political, artistic and didactic objectives in the creation of vernacular texts. These new studies demonstrate the variety of ways in which medieval Germanic texts were indebted to their Latin exemplars, while reflecting their new culturally specific circumstances in the complex nexus of Latin learning and Germanic lore.

About this title

Synopsis

Germanic Text and Latin Models: Medieval Reconstruction is part of a new series, Germania Latina. A series dedicated to exploring the interaction between Christian Latin learning and the traditional Germanic cultures of Anglo-Saxon England, Iceland and northern continental Europe. The essays, from contributors both established and new, based in Europe, North America and Australia, employ diverse interpretative methodologies. Nevertheless all treat the textual or generic adaptation of Latin models in various vernacular contexts. Spanning legal texts and genealogies to history and prose narrative, and heroic and visionary poetry, the articles address specific reinterpretations of these models in Old English, Old Icelandic and Old High German literature. The studies, each of which is an original contribution to the field, not only provide insights into particular instances of reshaping but also as a group document the various and flexible ways in which medieval Germanic texts are indebted to their Latin exemplars. Employing linguistic, literary and wider cultural comparisons, the essays explore different points of contact between Latin and vernacular literary traditions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peeters Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9042909854
• ISBN 13: 9789042909854
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Olsen K.E., Harbus A., Hofstra T.