DFG-Graduiertenkolleg/Research Training Group 2792"Autonomie heteronomer Texte in Antike und Mittelalter" - International Summer School 2023

International Summer School 2023 - "Forms of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and Byzantium and Methods of Research"

The research on heteronomous texts from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, which take up essentially and consciously a dependency from their pretexts (Vorlagen), faces special challenges. This holds true for commentaries, continuations, paraphrases, and re-narrations as well as for the wide range of collective and compendious literature. The analysis should not lose sight of the manuscripts as material foundations of the transmitted texts, the author’s use of the sources, the influence of his/her personal preferences upon the reworking and presentation of the pretexts, and - last but not least - the author’s objectives and their influence upon the text. These tasks become even more challenging due to the great diversity of heteronomous texts and the extremely varied treatment and presentation of the pretexts.

Given this complex background, a profound introduction into questions of methodology and of transmission, which concern these special textual products, is of particular importance. We will address this goal during the summer school and kindly invite doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to apply.

Constantly changing between close readings and presentations, an international team, directed by Rosa Maria Piccione (Torino) and Matthias Perkams (Jena), will present their interdisciplinary and long-standing experience in their work with heteronomous texts. Further members of the team are Sabrina Inowlocki (Leuven) and Matilde Malaspina (Copenhagen). We will work by reading and analyzing original texts, for example collections (e.g. Aulus Gellius, Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica, Stobaeus, collections of fables, psalms etc.), commentaries (on the bible, on Aristotle etc.), and renarrations (e.g. of historical or biblical texts). This common reading will be supplemented by presentations of the summer school team. Participants will also have the opportunity to present their projects. The summer school team will be especially happy to look closely at heteronomous texts proposed by the participants, which may be in Greek as well as in other ancient languages.

The general language of the summer school will be English. Single workshops can be conducted in English or German, depending on the language skills of the participants.

To open the poster for the event, please click here:

Poster International Summer Schoolpdf, 1 mb

Programme

The summer school takes place at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena/Germany from 24 September 2023 to 28 September 2023.

In the course of the summer school we will attempt to shed light on typical traits of heteronomous texts by common lectures and presentations of typical examples of heteromous texts. The following questions will be particularly addressed:

1) What are typical traits of books (codices, papyrus rolls etc.) containing heteronomous texts? How do I check editions by comparing them to the original books written by hand?

2) What are general strategies of the authors of heteronomous text? By which methods do they constitute a new, coherent text by quoting or explaining certain models?

3) How do heteronomous texts, e.g. collections and commentaries, treat their pretexts? How do they embed their quotations, and which peculiarities do their quotations of collected texts, of excerpts, lemmata etc. have?

4) How far does the (philosophical, theological etc.) content of heteronomous texts (e.g. commentaries) depend on their pretexts, and to which degree does it mirror contemporary discourses?

Participants are encouraged to suggest further questions of interest during.

Fees and Funding

No participation fees will be charged.

For 10 international participants we can provide accommodation and reimbursement of travel costs (max. 1000 EUR).

In addition we can provide travel cost reimbursement for 5 participants coming from locations within Germany (max. 200 EUR).

All travel costs will be reimbursed according to the Thüringer Reisekostengesetz (Thuringian Travel Expenses Act).

Application requirements

1) Applicants should be enrolled in a doctoral program or they should pursue post-doctoral research in a discipline concerned with Antiquity and the Middle Ages, e.g. Old Testament Studies, New Testament Studies, Church History, Medieval-Latin and Neo-Latin Philologies, History of the Middle Ages, Roman Law, Medieval German Literature, Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Ancient History, Classical Philology (Greek and Latin)

2) Applicants should have sufficient language skills in Greek and other relevant languages (e.g. Latin, Syriac, Middle High German)

Application Documents and Procedure

To apply for the summer school, please send the following documents in one PDF-file to heteronome.texte@uni-jena.de:

1) letter of motivation (at least 2 pages) which outlines your motivation to apply for the summer school, your research experience with heteronomous texts (all sorts of paraphrases, commentaries, collections, renarrations) as well as information on your knowledge of Greek and other languages relevant for your project

2) Academic CV

3) Short letter of recommendation by your supervisor or another researcher familiar with your work

4) Short abstract of your current research project

The deadline for application is 30 June 2023.

Please note that the applicants for the summer school will be selected based on the quality of their application and their research experience. The total number of participants is restricted to 30.

If you are an international applicant, please indicate in your letter of motivation if you want to apply for funded accommodation and travel reimbursement (see 3. Fees and Funding).

If you plan to bring your child/ren to Jena and need child care, please contact us in advance to discuss if we can provide support.

Contacts

For questions related to the application procedure or other organizational matters, please contact Oliver Schmerbauch: oliver.schmerbauch@uni-jena.de

For academic questions, please contact Prof. Dr. Matthias Perkams: matthias.perkams@uni-jena.de