The present course aims to explore, by means of reading, translating, and commenting select fragments from three 'hagiographic' texts, the way in which the structural and ideological conventions of a textual 'genre' (i.e., hagiography) could be expanded / repurposed to cover contents that were sometimes at odds with both the programatic claims of authors and the expectations of audiences of texts produced within that 'genre.' By reading fragments from Jerome's Vita Malchi [BHL 5190], composed in the early 380s CE, from the anonymous Vita Symeonis Achivi [BHL 7950], produced at Reichenau in the 940s, and from the anonymous Historia sancti Neminis (datable to the thirteenth century), we will also explore the way in which varieties of postclassical Latin could function as vehicles for disseminating a specific ideology (Jerome's extreme pro-ascetic agenda), provide narrative context for the cult of a particular relic (as in the Vita Symeonis Achivi), or compose a parody that subverts generic conventions (as in the Life of Holy Nobody). At the same time, we will also discuss the use of Latin as a linguistic means for composing and circulating entertainment literature (Unterhaltungsliteratur) for audiences capable of understanding and appreciating it in Late Antiquity and the Central and Later Middle Ages.
- Instructor: Cristian-Nicolae Gaspar