Germanic Texts and Latin Models: Medieval Reconstructions (Mediaevalia Groningana) - Softcover

Olsen, KE

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peeters Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 9042909854
• ISBN 13: 9789042909854
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240