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This is one of the first anthologies devoted to the writings of women in the Middle Ages. The fifteen women whose works are represented span seven centuries, eight languages, and ten regions or nationalities. Many are recognized, taught, and anthologized in their own countries but have been inaccessible to students in English. Others are little read today because their literary fortunes have paralleled fluctuations in literary taste and literary patronage.
Katharina M. Wilson's introduction to the volume places these writers in historical context and explores the question of the female imagination and who these women were who were writing at a time when very few women were literate and most literature, sacred and secular, was penned by men. Each of the fifteen chapters has been written by a different scholar and includes a biographical and critical introduction to the writer, a representative selection of her works in translation, and a bibliography.
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Copyright 8. Joseph von Aschbach, “ Rosvitha und Conrad Celtis,” Sitzungsberichte der Kaiser lichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 5 6 (18 6 7 ): 3 - 6 z, suggests that Celtis and his humanist friends actually forged the manuscript. More recently, Zoltán Haraszti, “ The Works of Hrotsvitha,” More Books 10 (19 45): 3 7 - 1 1 9 , 1 3 9 - 1 7 3 , subscribes to a similar theory. Haraszti’s article was countered by Zevdel, “ Authenticity of Hrotsvithas Works.” 59. Nagel, Hrotsvit, p. 34. Also, in 1903 Karl Strecker found that several manuscripts of the Austrian legendary contained Hrotsvits Gallic anus. 60. Goswin Frenken, “ Eine neue Hrotsvithhandschrift,” Gesellschaft für Altere Deutsche Geschichtskunde 44 (192z): 1 0 1 - 1 1 4 , and Hermann Menhardt, “ Eine unbekannte Hrorsvitha-handschrift,” 7.eitschrift für Deutsches Altertum und Deutsche Literatur 62 ii9 2> l: 2 3 3 - 2 3 6 . 6 1. Gerhard Eis, Die Quellen des Märterhuches, p. 109. 62. Nagel, Hrotsvit, p. 5. 63. See Zeydel, “ Knowledge of Hrotsvithas Works prior to 1 300.” 64. George R. Coffman, “ A New Approach to Medieval Drama,” Modern Philology 22 (19 2?): 2 3 9 - 2 - 1 , and Charles Jones, The St. Nicholas Liturgy. 6>. Heinrich Böhmer, Leipziger Studien aus dem Gebiet der Geschichte 1 (1895): 200. 66. Boris Jarcho, “ Zu Hrotsvithas Wirkungskreis,” Speculum 2 (1 927): 3 4 3 -3 4 4 . 6 7 . Bruce Hozeski, “ The Parallel Patterns in Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, a Tenth Cen tury German Playwright, and in Hildegard of Bingen, a Twelfth Century German Play wright," Annuale Mediaevale 18 (19 77): 4 2 - 5 3 . 68. See Homeyer, ed., pp. 20, 29, and Nagel, Hrotsvit, p. 66. 69. Leonine hexameters are internally rhymed or assonanced hexameters, named for Pope Leo the Great (4 4 0 -4 6 1), who used them with great facility and frequency. See Karl Langosch, Lateinisches Mittelalter Linleitung in Sprache und Literatur, p. 64. -o. See, for example, Homeyer, ed., pp. 1 2 -2 6 . On Hrotsvits stylistic and linguistic individuality, see Sister Mary Gonsalva Wiegand, “ The Non-Dramatic Works of Hrotsvi tha,” pp. xi\ ft. - 1 . On rhymed prose, see Karl Polheim, Die Lateinische Reimprosa. The first chapter is devoted to Hrotsvit. -2 . Edwin Zeydel, “ A Note on Hrotsvithas Aversion to Synalepha,” Philological Quar terly 23 (1944): i 7 9 _ ^8 1. - 3 . On Hrotsvits vocabulary, see Eva May Newnan, “ The I.atinity of the Works of Hrotsvit ot Gandersheim.” -4 . For a possible performance of the canoness’ plays, Larissa Bonfante’s recent trans lation of the dramas, The Plays of Roswitha, should be recommended. Bonfante has pro vided a tine adaptati