This essay examines the challenges and opportunities provided by transdisciplinarity from the point of view of medieval literature. This approach is situated within the universal framework of General ...Education or Liberal Arts, which in turn derives its essential inspiration from medieval and ancient learning. On the one hand, the various recent efforts to work transdisciplinarily are outlined and discussed; on the other, a selection of medieval narratives and one modern German novel plus one eighteenth-century ode are examined to illustrate how a transdisciplinary approach could work productively in order to innovate the principles of the modern university or all academic learning, putting the necessary tools of twenty-first century epistemology into the hands of the new generation. The specific angle pursued here consists of drawing from the world of medieval philosophy and literature as a new launching pad for future endeavors.
This article accepts the challenge to reflect on the cultural history of music as a transcultural and universally human phenomenon, particularly in the medieval context. To what extent has music ...played the same or at least similar function in endless cultural contexts all over the world from the past to the present? We know for sure that music has always been present at all age groups, in all ethnic groups, among all genders, and throughout time. There have always been local, ethnic types of music (folklore), and universally accepted manifestations of music (esp. classical music). The emphasis here rests, after an extensive study of music in global cultural-historical terms, on comments about music in medieval philosophy, mysticism, and literature because here we discover fundamental notions about music being the medium to connect the individual with the cosmic harmony, hence with the divine. In literary texts, above all, music was identified as the critical expression of identity, love, and religion. Keywords: Transcultural music; classic music; music in cultural-historical terms; The Beatles; Martianus Capella; Boethius; Gottfried von Strassburg; Jörg Wickram; Hermann Hesse
There are available by now many arguments concerning the intrinsic and endemic value of the humanities, and both from a medievalist and a modernist perspective. Similarly, there continue to be many ...critics who would not mind the elimination of the humanities and argue vociferously for this goal. Every critical investigation of how to defend our field thus proves to be highly valuable, but we in the humanities must also develop specific points concerning the importance of our research that will convince both students, parents, administrators, and politicians in concrete, pragmatic terms regarding the supreme relevance of college education. Fortunately, the current COVID-19 crisis has also profiled in a dramatic fashion what proves to be of fundamental importance for human life, both past and present, reminding us of the critical importance of the humanities. An existence without virtues, a completely narcissistic or egoistical concept of life, or a society entirely predicated on materialistic interests would cut us off from our own future. This article discusses several literary works and also a modern movie in which the constant quest for meaning and relevance in our lives comes to the fore and gives us direction and understanding.
Even though the phenomenon of ‘sarcasm’ seems not yet to have existed in the pre-modern world, a careful selection of relevant texts from medieval and early modern German, Anglo-Norman, Middle ...English, and Latin texts amply proves the opposite. Sarcasm is possibly the worst form of comedy or humor, being biting, angry, and reflecting a sense of desperation. While previous scholarship has extensively worked on irony, satire, and parody, the existence of sarcasm at that early time also deserves to be taken into account, since it often appears to undermine harshly the idyllic impressions of courtly life and threatens to destroy the last shreds of social harmony and to remove any hope for the reconstruction of a happier form of cohabitation and collaboration.
This contribution (re-)examines the description and multiple functions of selected antagonists in courtly romance around 1200. Excepting romance of antiquity, one rarely encounters equal opponents ...who represent a contrary system of values and continue to take consequent action against
the hero until the end. The texts are centered on their protagonists, lacking an equal narrative counterpart. Hence, the applicability of the concept 'antagonist' might be called into question for Arthurian, grail, and Tristan romance.
Will Hasty embeds his ambitious, important study of medieval Arthurian literature into an expansive interpretation of European cultural history based in game theory. Chapter One, ‘The Cultural ...Action’ lays out the book’s theoretical underpinnings in game theory and in the work of the German political philosopher Jürgen Habermas, which are illustrated with a readable, parable-like section, ‘The Race of Four Cities: Troy, Jericho, Rome, and Jerusalem.’ Chapter Two, ‘The Medieval Self as Bankroll,’ uses Augustine’s City of God to frame the new medieval move, offering as illustration lucid, compelling analyses of two of the most difficult episodes in medieval German literature: from Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the immediate, full efficacy of Parzival’s half-brother Feirefiz’s baptism, which he undertakes for the sole purpose of winning a desirable woman; and Isolde’s ordeal as narrated in Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan and Isolde.
This contribution (re-)examines the description and multiple functions of selected antagonists in courtly romance around 1200. Excepting romance of antiquity, one rarely encounters equal opponents ...who represent a contrary system of values and continue to take consequent action against the hero until the end. The texts are centered on their protagonists, lacking an equal narrative counterpart. Hence, the applicability of the concept 'antagonist' might be called into question for Arthurian, grail, and Tristan romance.
Im Rahmen seines Kulturprogrammes und der Europäisierung des norwegischen Königshofes ließ König Hákon Hákonarson (geb.1204) kontinentale, insbesondere französische Literatur ins Norwegische ...übersetzen, darunter die Geschichte von Tristan und Isolde des Thomas de Bretagne. Die norwegische Tristram saga ist von zweifacher Bedeutung: Dokument des Kulturimportes vom Kontinent in den Norden und einzige Quelle für die Rekonstruktion von Thomas` Werk, das bis auf einige Zeilen verloren ist. Von den Lais der Marie de France ist ein Text ebenfalls im 13. Jahrhundert ins Norwegische übersetzt worden. Aus dem 15. Jahrhundert ist eine selbständige isländische Tristrams saga überliefert, die als Reaktion, vielleicht sogar Parodie auf die norwegische Saga verstanden werden muss. Von der Beliebtheit des Stoffes zeugen weiterhin die isländischen, dänischen und färöischen Volksballaden, die ihn in teilweise eigenwilligen Fassungen gestalten. Alle diese Texte werden hier zum größten Teil erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung im Zusammenhang präsentiert.
PDF
