idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The British Arts and Humanities Research Council and the German Research Foundation (DFG) have approved funding for a joint project between Freie Universität Berlin and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The project will investigate the story cycle the Seven Sages of Rome, which, while once very well-known, has now been largely forgotten, even among experts in the field. Professor Jutta Eming from the Institute of German and Dutch Languages and Literatures (Medieval German Literature and Language) at Freie Universität and Professor Bettina Bildhauer from the University of St. Andrews submitted the successful project proposal.
The central focus of the project, “The Seven Sages of Rome: Editing and Reappraising a Forgotten Premodern Classic from Global and Gendered Perspectives,” will trace a transcultural literary history that also encompasses aspects of gender studies. The DFG and the British Arts and Humanities Research Council will provide the researchers with approximately one million euros over a period of three years as part of a joint funding line aimed at promoting cooperative research within the humanities. The researchers will begin work on the project in early 2023.
The Seven Sages of Rome, also known as the Seven Wise Masters, represents one of the most important text traditions of the premodern period. However, since the nineteenth century, it has largely faded from cultural memory. This is something professors Jutta Eming and Bettina Bildhauer want to change. Due to its division into framing narratives and stories within stories, the text is frequently referred to as a story cycle. For over five centuries the cycle was told in at least thirty languages from Central Asia to Iceland. It recounts a medieval #metoo story of a false rape accusation between a mute prince and his young stepmother at a royal court, and the impossibility of verbally establishing the truth. In many versions of the text, the story ends with the stepmother being sentenced to death.
“One of the main goals of the project is to reappraise the text’s gender politics from the perspective of recent gender studies,” says Eming. The project members will also create a repertory of all known versions of the text, potentially identifying versions that have yet to be formally recognized. Additionally, the early Dutch version of the story cycle will be edited and translated into English in collaboration with Dutch studies specialist Dr. Rita Schlusemann. “We want to analyze the different versions of Seven Sages as examples of a global, premodern text tradition, specifically taking literary and genre-specific aspects of their history into account.” The project members also want to generate new ideas for decentralized, international research on the Seven Sages and promote collaboration.
Prof. Dr. Jutta Eming, Director, Institute of German and Dutch Languages and Literatures,Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 (0) 30/838-54213, Email: j.eming@fu-berlin.de
Prof. Dr. Bettina Bildhauer, Director of Research, School of Modern Languages, University of St. Andrews, Email: bmeb@st-andrews.ac.uk
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Language / literature
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