scholarly journals Globalism in Medieval Literature? Pre-Modern Perspectives in Poetic Projections: Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, Konrad Fleck’s Flore und Blancheflor, and Reinfried von Braunschweig

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-44
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Literary Imagination ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
Flore Und Blanscheflur

This paper examines globalism in the pre-modern world as reflected in literary texts. In contrast to globalization, globalism indicates an opening of perspectives toward distant parts of the world and embracing to some extent the foreign people and their cultures as, relatively speaking, equals, more or less approaching the concept of transculturality. Whereas the European Middle Ages have commonly been identified as xenophobic, determined by fear, and parochial, many literary documents reflect a rather open-minded perspective and undermine such stereotypical judgments. Undoubtedly, of course, the paradigm of Christianity ruled strongly, but within the field of literary imagination, we can discover numerous examples of European protagonists openly, fairly, respectfully, and even lovingly interacting with people in the East and elsewhere. We might face here nothing but fictional projections, but those were obviously widely enjoyed by the contemporary audiences and so must have had a considerable impact on the readers/listeners. The examples chosen for this analysis are Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, Konrad Fleck’s Flore und Blanscheflur, and the anonymous Reinfried von Braunschweig.

scholarly journals Global Middle Ages: Eastern Wisdom (Buddhistic) Teachings in Medieval European Literature. With a Focus on Barlaam and Josaphat

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p10
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Global Literature ◽  
European Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Histories

In contrast to many recent attempts to establish concepts and platforms to study global literature, and this also in the pre-modern world, this article claims to present much more concrete examples to confirm that a certain degree of globalism existed already in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. While numerous scholars/editors have simply invited many more voices from all over the world to the same ‘table,’ i.e., literary histories, which has not really provided more substance to the notion of ‘global,’ the study of translated texts, such as those dealing with Barlaam and Josaphat, clearly confirms that some core Indian ideas and values, as originally developed by Buddha, had migrated through many stages of translations, to high medieval literature in Europe.

Text Prophetism

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Elvira Lumi ◽  
Lediona Lumi
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Divine Inspiration ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
The World ◽  
Poetic Text ◽  
Poetic Diction ◽  
Life On Earth

"Utterance universalism" as a phrase is unclear, but it is enough to include the term "prophetism". As a metaphysical concept, it refers to a text written with inspiration which confirms visions of a "divine inspiration", "poetic" - "legal", that contains trace, revelation or interpretation of the origin of the creation of the world and life on earth but it warns and prospects their future in the form of a projection, literary paradigm, religious doctrine and law. Prophetic texts reformulate "toll-telling" with messages, ideas, which put forth (lat. "Utters Forth" gr. "Forthteller") hidden facts from fiction and imagination. Prometheus, gr. Prometheus (/ prəmiθprə-mee-mo means "forethought") is a Titan in Greek mythology, best known as the deity in Greek mythology who was the creator of humanity and charity of its largest, who stole fire from the mount Olympus and gave it to the mankind. Prophetic texts derive from a range of artifacts and prophetic elements, as the creative magic or the miracle of literary texts, symbolism, musicality, rhythm, images, poetic rhetoric, valence of meaning of the text, code of poetic diction that refers to either a singer in a trance or a person inspired in delirium, who believes he is sent by his God with a message to tell about events and figures that have existed, or the imaginary ancient and modern world. Text Prophetism is a combination of artifacts and platonic idealism. Key words: text Prophetism, holy text, poetic text, law text, vision, image, figure

Allegra Iafrate, The Long Life of Magical Objects: A Study in the Solomonic Tradition. The Magic in History Series. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019, xi, 235 pp., 19 b/w images, 2 tables.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 252-254
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
State University ◽  
Eastern Culture ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Objects ◽  
The Middle Ages

Throughout times, magic and magicians have exerted a tremendous influence, and this even in our (post)modern world (see now the contributions to Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time, ed. Albrecht Classen, 2017; here not mentioned). Allegra Iafrate here presents a fourth monograph dedicated to magical objects, primarily those associated with the biblical King Solomon, especially the ring, the bottle which holds a demon, knots, and the flying carpet. She is especially interested in the reception history of those symbolic objects, both in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, both in western and in eastern culture, that is, above all, in the Arabic world, and also pursues the afterlife of those objects in the early modern age. Iafrate pursues not only the actual history of King Solomon and those religious objects associated with him, but the metaphorical objects as they made their presence felt throughout time, and this especially in literary texts and in art-historical objects.

Mikael Males, ed., Etymology and Wordplay in Medieval Literature. Disputatio, 30. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers n.v., 2018, 272 pp., 10 ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 320-322
Author(s):  
Robert E. Bjork
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
The World

During the logocentric Middle Ages, etymology and wordplay helped exegetes, philosophers, theologians, and poets understand the world and the world’s relationship to the divine. The case studies presented in this useful and fascinating collection of essays demonstrate how.

scholarly journals GAME PHENOMENON IN MEDIEVAL CULTURE

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
World Outlook ◽  
The World ◽  
Poetic Text ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Performing Art ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages added their own ludological culture traditions to those which they had inherited from the Ancient Ages. First of all, such notions were connected with the form of existence and perceiving the Christianity which was a basis for the whole civilization. Epistemological notions of those times were also built in accordance to those norms of world outlook. A cognitive act of an individual was understood as entrance of the subject to the world of general tragic game where he is risen up from sensual forms of being to being of over-sensual beauty, which is defined only through forms of mental cognition and through beauty to over-essential being of its Creator. Philosophical thought of the Middle Ages inherited the Platonic ludological tradition. According to these notions, personal creativity of an individual (artistic, scientific etc.) was understood as being identical with cognition and perceived only as reproduction, retrieval of what had already been programmed by the Creator, that is, as a game and through the game. The brightest page of the Middle Ages is connected with chivalry and its comprehension because the phenomenon of chivalry is the top of medieval culture, its ethical and esthetical ideal, which was over-thought by its self-consciousness as a form of game. Distribution of roles covered all main manifestations of individual’s life. Therefore even usual outside manifestation of any personal emotions by an individual in his public life (happiness, satisfaction, anger, despair, sadness and so on) was subject to this “role dictate”. So, a sphere of public emotions display by an individual was also predetermined by imperativeness of his own social role he was playing. We can speak about consciousness of those times perceiving a poetic text as a played game and author art as predominantly performing art. Then constancy of plots and anonymity of works, which is a feature of medieval literature, becomes more understandable; as every author perceived it as a script and tried to play his role as best as possible; his role was written down as a corresponding    text. Moreover, we should add that a similar game was predetermined also by some other peculiarities of medieval mentality. The reason is that medieval people tried to identify themselves with a certain sample which had already had a certain approbation, to achieve full self-expression and make this self-expression understandable for the society. A role was determined and a model of behavior was built according to the admitted interpretation of this sample and its allegoric meanings (most often, there were widely known Biblical images). These established forms of self-expression made processes of understanding and interpersonal dialogue easier.

scholarly journals Global Middle Ages ou as virtudes do anacronismo. A lição do texto medieval

2019 ◽  
Vol 02 ◽  
pp. 117-149
Author(s):  
Carlos Carreto
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Literature Mapping ◽  
History Of Literature

Has the Middle Ages invented globalization or revealed a clear consciousness of globality? On the other hand, may this anachronistic notion prove to be an appropriate and productive operative and analytical concept for rethinking medieval literature beyond its territorial and linguistic boundaries and the epistemological view of the world imposed by a (neo)positivist conception of the history of literature? Mapping the medieval literature in a global perspective implies a methodological repositioning and a process of deterritorialization of the concepts themselves that leads us to reinvest motives, forms, structuring notions (from the chivalric queste to the concept of romance as translatio, passing through the status of the marvelous) with new meanings and, consequently, new cultural and poetic implications.

Russia-West: Civilizational War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Багдасарян ◽  
Vardan Bagdasaryan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Practical Interest ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Western World ◽  
The West ◽  
Valuable Alternative ◽  
The World ◽  
Deep Sources ◽  
World Development

Relevance of the presented book determined by escalation of international tension in the modern world, strain of relations of Russia on the block of the western states. To Identify the reasons and deep sources of this conflict – a task which is put and solved in the monograph "Russia – the West: civilization war". The author shows the historical reproducibility of the Russian-western opposition which is standing out through the entire periods of history from the Middle Ages till our time. The conflict relations with the Western world reveal in the book through the category of "civilization war". In the monograph it is shown the fundamental differences in the civilizational values of the West and Russia why the agenda of world development offered by them led objectively to the conflict differed. The content of the western global historical project and the Russian valuable alternative are considered. The book can have practical interest for the state managers, and also for all who think of the due strategy of Russia, of its positioning in the world.

scholarly journals Defining and Defending the Middle Ages with C. S. Lewis

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Murdoch
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Courtly Love ◽  
The Self ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Love Song ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Love Lyric ◽  
The Middle Ages

The scholarly writings of C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) have both inspired the study of the Middle Ages and confirmed the relevance to the humanities that medieval literary texts can have for the present. He was aware that the straitjacket implied by periodisation can blind us to the universal values presented in medieval literature. Qualitative assumptions made about the (usually undefined) Middle Ages include an alienating remoteness, and also a general ignorance, especially of science and technology. Lewis drew attention to the knowledge of astronomy, for example, and pointed out that medieval technical skills in architecture, agriculture and medicine are important for us to be aware about. Three medieval works illustrate this universality with respect to technical skills (the Völundarkviða); identity and the self (the Hildebrandslied); and the popular love-song (the courtly love-lyric). Lewis cautioned against pejorative terms like ‘Dark Ages’, noted problems of perspective in assessing all pre-modern literature, and showed that earlier works have a continuing value and relevance.

The Silencing of the World: Early Medieval Soundscapes and a New Aural Culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-450
Author(s):  
Nira Pancer
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The World ◽  
World Point ◽  
Ancient Texts

While ancient texts contain many descriptions of soundscapes, early medieval literature remains largely silent. How can we explain the dwindling references to sound following the passage from antiquity to the early Middle Ages? Does this “silencing of the world” point to an alteration of the “objective” soundscape induced by changes in the material and physical environment, or does it indicate a deeper shift in the aural culture of the period? If there is reason to suppose that the decline in noise can be partly explained by an overall change in infrastructures, this transformation cannot account for the growing scarcity of sound references in the literature of the time. In order to understand this phenomenon, one must focus on the didactic character of hagiographic literature and on the theological motivations of its authors, whose goal was to sensitize their flock to a “sacred sonography.”

scholarly journals MODERN GEORGIAN COMPARATIVE STUDIES: DIRECTIONS OF RESEARCH, MAIN ISSUES

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Hrytsyk ◽  
Ivane Mchedeladze
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
National Literature ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Material Research ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of Literature

Taking into account the factual material, research methods, and tasks, the authors trace the evolution/changes in Georgian comparative studies. It is notable that typological approaches, along with contact-genetic ones, are now actively used. These changes become firmly established due to the studies of iconic figures and periods, which attract the special attention of the scholars. Eurocentric concepts give place to other ones that have their basis in the study of the national literature and include philosophical, anthropological, psychological, and religious factors in the field of research. A lot of attention has been given to the principles of selecting literary texts for translation. The field of Georgian comparative studies has been remarkably changed/updated in the late 20th — early 21st centuries. Along with historians of literature, the theorists, critics, translators, and specialists in European and Oriental languages have been involved, which affected the level of comparative studies. Among the raised issues are reception, imagology, typology of anti-colonial narratives, genre transformations, postmodern discourse, etc. The character of Georgian-Ukrainian comparative studies changed drastically: it is obvious in the approaches/assessments of literary translation and in all connecting issues in general. Comparative studies came as close as possible to the theory of literature, which let the researchers (R. Khvedelidze, N. Naskidashvili, S. Chkhatarashvili, I. Mchedeladze) update the methodology and intensify their work on the diff erent levels of research, regardless of the presence/absence of contexts. The present surge in Georgian comparative studies started in the 2010s. It is connected to the organization of effective specialized research centers. Of great interest are the comparative studies aiming to show the history of Georgian literature as an individual version of the world literature (I. Ratiani), to identify the features of the Georgian literary canon based on the three main literary models (Middle Ages, Romanticism, post-Soviet), with a focus on the combination of ‘canonical’ and ‘non-canonical’ in innovative writing.

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