CROSS-CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS AND REVISIONARY LITERARY HISTORY
Sif Rikhardsdottir University of Iceland
Detailed programme can be downloaded here.
Poster available here
University of Verona
14th November 2018 (Polo Zanotto, floor 3, room Daneloni)
15th November 2018 (Polo Zanotto, floor -1, room MAC1)
The field of comparative and cross-border studies in the field of literature is growing rapidly with an ever increasing focus on cultural engagements, cultural fusion and translation as a site for identity formation and cultural resistance.
This seminar will focus on the methodological approaches of cross-cultural studies, considering their implications for a new mode of understanding and formulating literary history, thereby contesting the frequently rigid national or linguistic borders of the field. We will consider concepts such as translatio studii et imperii and their implications for medieval practices of translation and transmission.
Such an approach is particularly adept for the Apennine Peninsula; the nexus for cultural mediation between East and West in the Middle Ages and the site of unparalleled cultural fusion. Yet, it is also critical when considering the development of Nordic literary history and its place in a European literary-historical context. We will consider examples of such cultural engagements and transmission, utilising evidence from Scandinavia and beyond to showcase the impact of cultural fusion on national and international literary histories.
