Dantologies

This book comprises a searching philosophical meditation on the evolution of the humanities in recent decades, taking Dante studies as an exemplary specimen. The contemporary currents of theory have decisively impacted this field, but Dante also has a strong relationship with theology. The idea that theology, teleology, and logocentric rationalities are simply overcome and swept away by new theoretical approaches proves much more complex as the theory revolution is exposed in its crypto-theological motives and origins. The revolutionary agendas and methodologies of theoretical currents have ushered in all manner of minorities and postcolonial and gender studies. But the exciting adventure they inaugurate shows up in quite a surprising light when brought to focus through the scholarly discipline of Dante studies as a terrain of dispute between traditional philology and postmodern theory. On this terrain, negative theology can play a peculiarly destabilizing, but also a conciliatory, role: it is equally critical of all languages for a theological transcendence to which it nevertheless remains infinitely open.

A vivid reimagining of the Vita nuova as a revolution in poetry and a revelation of divine destiny through love.

A new critical method for the Divine Comedy which focuses not only on language-as-writing but also and equally on other discursive modes that the Divine Comedy authorizes. Multimodality was already present in Dante’s time, and the reception of the Divine Comedy took place multimodally. Thus, a theoretical study of multimodality carried out under the semiotic lens sheds light on how and why a mode is more effective than another and/or how they may combine in producing signification and new ontologies warranted by Dante’s text. Also, we do not yet have a critical theory that allows us to understand the function of multimodality for the creation of new forms of signification and of clarifying the ontological boundaries set forth by different modalities. It is a new and original study which contributes to the advancement of Dante Studies, Literary Criticism (with a focus on literary semiotics), Multimedia/Multiliteracy, philosophy of language, communication, and education.

The twenty-six essays in this volume examine the process of creating the Middle Ages. In doing so, they honour Leslie Workman, who has led the revival of the study of medievalism in the past two generations, and leads this sub-discipline towards the comprehensiveness that Lord Acton as early as 1859 had promised: 'Two great principles divide the world, and contend for the mastery: antiquity and the Middle Ages. These are the two civilizations that have preceded us, the two elements of which ours is composed. All political as well as religious questions reduce themselves practically to this. This is the great dualism that runs through our society.` While using differnt approaches and discussing topics in a variety of specialised fields, the contributions clearly centre on negotiating the reception of medieval culture in the Early Modern, Modern and Contemporary periods, thus presenting a broad and representative picture of current research in medievalism. Contributors include: Tabula Gratulatoria (Leslie Workman); Richard Utz and Tom Shippey, 'Medievalism in the Modern World: Introductory Perspectives'; Theresa Ann Sears, 'The Anxiety of Authority and Medievalizing the New World'; Richard Osberg, 'Humanist Allusions and Medieval Themes: The Receyving of Queen Anne, London, 1533'; John Simons, 'Christopher Middleton and Elizabethan Medievalism'; Bernard Rosenthal, 'Medievalism and the Salem Witch Trials'; Clare Simmons, 'Absent Presence: The Romantic-Era Magna Charta and the English Constitution'; R.J. Smith, 'The Swanscombe Legend and the Historiography of Kentish Gavelkind'; David Barclay, 'Representing the Middle Ages: Court Festivals in Nineteenth-Century Prussia'; Ulrich Muller, 'Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles? Walther von der Vogelweide, Hoffman von Fallersleben and the Song of the Germans: Medievalism, Nationalism and/or Racism'; Roger Simpson, 'St. George and the Pendragon'; Tom Shippey, 'The Death-Song of Ragnar Lodbrok: A Study in Sensibilities'; Alice Chandler, 'Carlyle and the Medievalism of the North'; Werner Wunderlich, 'Medieval Images: Joseph Viktor von Scheffel's Ekkehard and St. Gall'; Felicia Bonaparte, 'The (Fai)Lure of the Aesthetic Ideal and the (Re)Formation of Art: The Medieval Paradigm that Frames The Picture of Dorian Gray'; William Calin, 'Dante on the Edwardian Stage: Stephen Phillips' Paolo and Francesca; Kathleen Verduin, 'Medievalism, Classicism, and the Fiction of E.M. Forster; William D. Paden, 'Reconstructing the Middle Ages: The Monk's Sermon in The Seventh Seal; Rosemary Welsh, 'Theorizing Medievalism: The Case of Gone with the Wind; Gwendolyn Morgan, 'Gnosticism, the Middle Ages, and the Search for Responsibility: Im

Vols. 1-5 include a separately paged section "Phonetische Studien. Beiblatt."

This book focuses on the performance of oral epics and explores the significance of performance features for the interpretation of epic poetry. The leading question of the book is how the socio-cultural context of performance and the various performance elements contribute to the meaning of oral epics. This is a question which not only concerns epics collected from living oral tradition, but which is also of importance for the understanding of the epics of antiquity and the Middle Ages which originated and flourished in an oral milieu. The book is based on fieldwork in the still vibrant oral traditions of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Siberia. The discussion combines fieldwork with theory; it is not limited to Turkic epics but branches out into other oral traditions.