Sunday, August 25, 2013

Heinzle on the Functional Analysis of the Song of the Nibelungs (Fragment)

Reading Notes

Heinzle summarizes [p.204] Wolfgang Haubrich's theory of the heroic epic as memoria for the tribes (the gentile function) and exemplum for the leading families (the aristocratic function), by paraphrasing and quoting it as follows:
Im Einzelnen unterscheidet Haubrich drei "Konstruktions- und Konfliktschemata", in denen jeweils auf besonder Art die Funktion der Heldendichtung realisiert wird, Normenbewußtsein und handlungsleitende Ethik zu vermitteln: (1) "Begegnung mit Ungeheuern und Wesen der "anderen Welt", in denen der Held "bedrohliche Kräfte des Chaos, der Finsternis, der ungeordneten Welt" besiegt und "Rettung, Kraft und Macht für sein Volk oder für sich" erwirbt (Beispiel: Beowulfs Kampf gegen Grendel und Grendels Mutter); 

Colophon

From: Joachim Heinzle, Zur Funktionsanalyse heroischer Überlieferungen -- Das Beispiel Nibelungensage, p.201-222, in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.
Die grün gehaltene Übersetzungen vom Englischen ins Deutsche sind meine eigenen.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Paul Goetsch on the colonial discourse in Beowulf

Reading Notes

Much of what Paul Goetsch argues in the following is inspired by David Quint's Epic and Empire, Princeton 1993, as Goetsch notes upfront [p.185], as well as the work of Edward Said, Orientalism, from 1978, which provided the first analysis of colonial discourse.

Goetsch takes his departure from the idea that epics discuss state formation, or the foundation of political power. As a result, the conquered are depicted as the demonic wilderness, or a native population. The main categories of discourse, taken from Said, are dichotomies, which are used to differentiate the powerful from the oppressed: civilized versus wild; Christian versus heathen; educated versus uneducated; rational versus irrational [p.186].

With this infrastructure, Goetsch identifies several patterns or roles that structure the way the colonially defeated is interpreted:
... die Verkörperung des Feindbildes, das bei der eigenen Gruppe unerwünschte Merkmale aufweist ... [p.186]
... die Rolle des Gegenbildes, auf das negative Aspekte der eigenen Gruppe projiziert werden ... [p.187]
... the embodiment of the enemy, which shows the features that the group itself rejects ... [p.186] ... the role of the counter-image, onto which the group can project its own negative aspects [p.187]
... die Repräsentation früherer Entwicklungsstufen der eigenen Identität, die entweder nostalgisch in die Erinnerung zurückgerufen (Primitivismus) oder als veraltet abgelehnt (Fortschrittsgläubigkeit) werden ... [p.186]
... the representation of earlier stages of development of the own identity, which is either recalled nostalgically (Primitivism) or rejected as old-fashioned (progress worship) ... [p.186]
... die Funktion des Doppelgängers, der überraschend zu Einsichten in die eigene Identität verhilft ... [p.186]
... the function of the doppelganger, who surprisingly facilitates insights into the own identity ... [p.186]
 ... die Angabe der Entwicklungsrichtung der eignen Gruppe (z.B. Dekadenz, Rückentwicklung) ... [p.187]
... the identification of the development trajectory of the own group (e.g. decadence, regression) ... [p.187)  
 ... eine alternative Identität (im Sinne der Konkurrenz, des Multikulturalismus oder der Utopie) ... [p.187]
... an alternate identity (in the sense of competition, of multi-culturalism or utopia) ... [p.187] 
Goetsch argues that Beowulf represents the other as an encounter with the monstrous and approvingly cites Robert W. Hanning, Beowulf in Heroic History, in: Medienalia et Humanistica, N.S.5, 1974, p77-102:
Beowulf is an epic in which a Christian author attempts to embody for his Christian audience the attraction and limits of their pre-Christian heritage. The poet communicates his complex attitude by focusing on crucial moments in the life of a noble hero--moments in which the hero's virtue and destiny are both faithfully intertwined with and isolated from the destiny of a nation. In this world the Gospel is unknown: the intensely public yet intensely private figure of Beowulf can become, for a brief interval, the instrument of providence, but at the moment of his death the sadness and impotence which grips the heroic world testifies that this is history as yet unillumined by the promise of redemption. [p.88 citing p.86f in Hanning]
Beowulf ist ein Epos in welchem ein christlicher Autor seiner christlichen Zuhörerschaft die Licht- und Schattenseiten ihres vor-christlichen Kulturerbes versinnbildlichen will. Der Dichter kommuniziert diese komplexe Anlage indem er die massgeblichen Momente im Leben eines adeligen Helden--Momente in denen des Helden Tugend und Schicksal treu verbunden und getrennt ist von dem Schicksal einer Nation--anvisiert. In dieser Welt ist die Gute Nachricht unbekannt: die überaus öffentliche und zugleich private Figur des Beowulf kann für kurze Zeit zum Instrument der Vorhersehung werden, aber just im Moment des Todes bezeugt die Traurigkeit und Machtlosigkeit welche die heroische Welt im Griffe hält, daß dies eine Geschichte ist in welche das Versprechen von Erlösung noch kein Licht getragen hat. [p.88 citing p.86f in Hanning] 
Because of this complex structure, Goetsch is uncomfortable with seeing Grendel and his mother as mere monsters:
[Diese] ... Komplexität des Werkes, ... hat die Komplizierung des Verhältnisses von Identität und Alterität zur Folge und läßt die übliche Gleichsetzung von Grendel und seiner Mutter mit 'Ungeheuern' als einseitig erscheinen. [p.188]
[This] ... complexity of the work ... complicates the relationship between identity and alterity and makes the usual equating of Grendel and his mother as 'monsters' appear as one-sided. [p.188] 

Reading Notes

Goetsch sees himself in good company here, because the status of the monsters has always been bothersome for the critics.
Da die 'Ungeheuer' den Rank des Epos zu schmälern schienen, suchte die ältere Kritik nach mythischen Vorbildern, werte die Figuren zu Repräsentanten dämonischer Naturmächte auf und stilisierte die Auseinandersetzung zum "eternal struggle between chaos and order". [p.188]
Since the 'monsters' reduced the rank of the epic, the older critics searched for mythical models, upgraded the figures to representations of demonic natural powers and stylized the conflict as the "ewige Kampf zwischen Chaos und Ordnung". [p.188] 
This approach was revised by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien wies der Forschung einen anderen Weg, die 'Ungeheuer' zu rehabilitieren: Er erklärte sie zu wichtigen Gestalten in einer orthodoxen christlichen Dichtung. ... Mit anderen Worten: Tolkien und seine Nachfolger machen sich das Freund-Feind-Bild, [und] damit einen Aspekt des kolonialen Diskurses, der dem Epos zugrunde liegt, unkritisch zu eigen. [p.188]
Tolkien pointed researchers to a different approach for rehabilitating the 'monsters': He declared them to be important figures in an orthodox Christian composition. ... Put differently, Tolkien and his followers accepted the friend-enemy dichotomy, and thus an aspect of the colonial discourse, that forms a basis of the epic, uncritically. [p.188]  
Research since then has emphasized, via the notion of the descent from Cain, the humanity and human aspects of Grendel and his mother. Citing Walter Hanley, Grendel's Humanity again, in: Geardagum, 11, 1990, p.5-13:
Grendel's actions, names and ancestry all point to a 'man', not a 'monster'. [p.189, citing p.10 in Hanley] 
Grendels Handlungen, Namen und Herkunft weisen alle auf einen Mann, und nicht auf ein Monster, hin. [p.189, citing p.10 in Hanley]  
{Note: Although I am unfamiliar with this discourse on Grendel's humanity, I find this highly implausible and unconvincing. I find especially the ancestry unconvincing; see the descent of the giants as the children of angels and men in Genesis.}

For Goeltsch, the poet of Beowulf
... konstruierte einen Identitäts-/Alteritätsdiskurs, in dem die monströsen 'Anderen' unterschiedliche und zugleich widersprechende Funktionen für die Identität der Dänen und Gauten um Hrothgar beziehungsweise Beowulf übernehmen. [p.189]
... constructs a discourse of identity and alterity, in which the monstrous 'Others' take on different and at the same time contradictory functions for the identity of the Danes and Geates around Hrothgar or Beowulf. [p.189]  
Taking a leaf rom David Quint, Goeltsch argues that the epic of victors requires a tight connection between power and narrative
It [i.e. the epic of victors, RCK] tells of a power able to end the indeterminacy of war and to emerge victorious, showing that the struggle had all along been leading up to its victory and thus imposing upon it a narrative teleology -- the teleology that epic identifies with the very idea of narrative. Power, moreover, is defined by its capacity to maintain itself across time, and it therefore requires narrative in order to represent itself. [p.190, citing Quint (1993), Fn #1, p.645]
[Das Epos der Sieger, RCK] erzählt von einer Macht, die in der Lage ist, die Unentschiedenheit des Krieges zu beenden und siegreich daraus hervorzugehen, wodurch das Ringen als schon immer zum Sieg bestimmt erwiesen und eine narrative Teleologie erzeugt wird--eine Teleologie die das Epische mit der essentiellen Idee der Erzählung identifiziert. Darüber hinaus ist Macht bestimmt durch ihr Vermögen, sich über die Zeit hinweg zu erhalten, und braucht daher die Erzählung um sich selbst darstellen zu können. [p.190, citing Quint (1993), Fn #1, p.645]
This power is expressed in the initial conquest through the Danes and reaches its apex in Hrothgar's hall Heorot.
In der Regierungszeit Hrothgars findet diese [dänische Vormachtsstellung] in der grossen Halle Heorot, zu deren Bau mehrere besiegte Stämme herangezogen werden, ihren sichtbaren Ausdruck. [p.190]
During the reign of Hrothgar, the Danish supremacy finds its visual expression in the great Hall Heorot, for the construction of which several defeated tribes were impressed. [p.190] 
{Note RCK: Unfortunately, Goetsch does not say where in the epic it says that the defeated tribes contributed to the construction of Heorot.}

The last resistance to the Danish overlordship standing is Grendel and his mother:
Aufgrund dieser Geschichtsdeutung aus dänischer Perspektive erscheinen Grendel und seine Mutter als die einzigen übrig gebliebenen Feinde der nach vielen Kriegen hergestellten politisch-gesellschaftlichen Ordnung. Entsprechend heißt es, Grendel wolle weder Frieden mit irgendeinem Dänen schliessen noch vom Morden ablassen und weigere sich, Wergeld oder Bußgeld für begangene Morde zu entrichten (154b-158). Da Grendel und seine Mutter sich nicht in das politische und rechtliche System der Dänen einfügen, werden sie ausgegrenzt. Wie Grendels Wut auf den lauten Jubel in der Halle anzeigt, lebt er außerhalb der Gesellschaft als Einzelgänger. [p.190]
In light of this historical interpretation from a Danish perspective, Grendel and his mother become the last remaining enemies of the socio-political order established through many wars. Accordingly we read that Grendel wanted neither peace with any Dane, nor stop his murdering, and refused to pay any compensation or fines for committed murders (154b-158). Since Grendel and his mother will not integrate into the Danish political and judicial system, they are excluded. As Grendel's angry reaction to the loud celebrations in the hall indicates, he lives outside of society as an outcast. [p.190] 
Goeltsch points [p.191] to the antithetical descriptions well known from the colonial literature that the poet uses to characterize Grendel, who uses howling instead of language, cannibalism instead of table manners, and the monstrous black arts, such as the treasure, the magic sword that will kill Grendel's mother, and the bag of dragon skin for carrying off victims.

Equally [p.192], the amazing Hall of Heorot is counter-balanced by the lair of Grendel and its anti-hall pattern (nith-sele, the horrible hall), with demonic light, situated underwater, with hoarding of treasure instead giving and cannibalistic banquets.

Goeltsch claims that Beowulf allowing his comrade Hondscio to be killed somehow makes Grendel his double [p.195]; I find that claim unconvincing and a fundamental misunderstanding about the role of the guard (see the whipping of the sleeping guard in Lewis & Clarke) and the dramatic reason for differentiating Beowulf from his compatriots.

But Goeltsch is on to something when he emphasizes the precarious role of human society and the descent of Grendel from Cain.
[Grendel und seine Mutter] ... verkörpern die Blutrünstigkeit und die Racheverlangen der Krieger sowie ihre Neigung, gegen die Gesetze der Gefolgschaft und Zivilisation zu verstossen und sich so selbst zu einer Aussenseiterexistenz zu verurteilen. Vor allem aber repräsentieren sie, wie die mehrmals erwähnte Abstammung von dem Geschlecht Kain anzeigt, die Bereitschaft des Menschen zum Brudermord: "All fraternity, Beowulf seems to say, is potentially fratricidal, and brothers in the fallen world are brothers to dragons." [p.197, citing Allen H. Lee, The Guest Hall of Eden, New Haven-London (1972), Fn 24, p.194]
[Grendel and his mother] ... represent the blood-thirstiness and desire for revenge of the warriors as well as their tendency, to act against the laws of fellowship and civilization and thus make themselves outcasts. But even more so they represent, as their repeatedly mention descent from Cain indicates, the readiness of Man to kill brothers: "Alle Bruderschaft, suggeriert der Beowulf, ist potentiell zum Brudermord bereit, und in der gefallenen Welt sind die Brüder den Brüdern Drachen." [p.197, citing Allen H. Lee, The Guest Hall of Eden, New Haven-London (1972), Fn 24, p.194] 
Of course this claim only makes sense when one buys into the humanistic line of interpretation of Grendel and his mother, as Goeltsch does and as I do not yet. And the effect is seriously undermined by the problem that the poem nowhere knows of any brotherhood, suggested or implied, other than the biological one, between the various groups; clearly Grendel has no brother in the poem, and thus his slaughter of thanes of Hrothgar is no exemplar of fratricide.

The poet of Beowulf would agree with Goeltsch that
Der Kampf gegen das Böse -- das ist auch den Reden Beowulfs zu entnehmen -- hört nie auf, denn die menschliche Natur und der Tod stellen die menschlichen Bemühungen um Ordnung immer von neuem in Frage. [p.198]
The Fight against Evil -- that much is clear from the speeches in Beowulf -- never ends, because human nature and death continuously imperil the human efforts for order. [p.198] 
But neither the colonial interpretation in the style of Said or Quint, or the focus on the humanized Grendel, or the analysis of the identity and the alterity of the relationship between Beowulf and Grendel, nor the descent of Grendel from Cain, are necessary to reach the above conclusion of Goeltsch.

Colophon

From: Paul Goetsch, Der koloniale Diskurs in Beowulf, p.185-200, in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.
Die grün gehaltene Übersetzungen vom Englischen ins Deutsche sind meine eigenen.

Thomas Oberlies on the Nārada-associated ritualistic redactions of the Mahābhārata

Reading Notes


Thomas Oberlies postulates a final redaction of the Mahābhārata
welche eine am vedischen Ritual orientierte Gestaltung des Textes [veranlasste] [p.138]
which caused a shape of the text oriented on vedic rituals [p.138]
The extraction of the layers of that redaction is possible by focusing on the seer Nārada
Dies gelingt, wenn wir die Gestalt des Weisen Nārada, über den diese Ritualkomponente in das Mahābhārata eingefügt wurde, näher betrachten. Nārada ist eine zentrale Figur der epischen Nārāyana-Theologie. Es wird daher gewiß kein Zufall sein, daß ausgerechnet Nārāyana derjenige Gott ist, auf den hin die "religiösen" Aussagen der Rājasūya- und der Tīrtha yātra-Erzählung ausgerichtet sind. Die starke Betonung des Opfers kennzeichnet denn auch--und zwar in ganz auffälliger Weise--das Dokument der epischen Nārāyana-Theologie schlechthin, den Nārāyana-Abschnitt. [p.138]
This [interpretation] will succeed if we look closely at the figure of the Sage Nārada, via whom the ritual component was inserted into the Mahābhārata. Nārada is a central figure of the epic Nārāyana theology. It is hardly accidental that it is the God Nārāyana who is the focus of the "religious" statements of the Rājasūya and the Tīrtha yātra narratives. Such strong emphasis on sacrifices is also the noticeable sign the key document of the Nārāyana theology par excellence, the Nārāyana-section. [p.138]
Oberlies effectively argues that the final redactors cast the narrative structure of the Mahābhārata into a re-enactment of their ritualistic intentions.
Die epischen Protagonisten führen auf den Rat des Weisen Nārāda hin verschiedene Rituale durch, beginnend mit dem Rājāsūya, dem Ritual der Königsweihe. Das Mahābhārata gibt nun keine einfache Beschreibung des Ablaufs dieses Rituals, etwa in der Art der vedischen Leitfäden, die diese komplexe Komposition verschiedenster ritueller Element minutiös beschreiben, sondern die Ritualhandlung ist in episches Geschehen umgesetzt. [p.139]
The epic protagonists accept the suggestion of the Sage Nārāda and execute various rituals, beginning with the Rājāsūya, the ritual of kingship. Unlike the vedic guides, which give detailed descriptions of this complex composition of various ritual elements, the Mahābhārata does not offer a description of the course of this ritual, but transforms the ritual action into an epic narrative. [p.139]
Oberlies continues the working of the poets more closely
Dabei verfuhren die Dichter so, daß sie das zentrale Element dieses Rituals, die eigentliche Königsweihe, und die Sequenz seiner "Bausteine", seiner Riten, die dem Ritual seine Identität verleihen, beibehielten, die Riten selber aber in Handlungseinheiten transformierten. [p.139]
The poets did this by leaving the central element of this ritual, the actual royal consecration, and the sequence of its "building blocks", its rites, which give the ritual its identity, as is, but transformed the rites themselves into units of action. [p.139]
The spot of insertion is provided by the game of dice [p.140], which was also part of the royal ritual.
Die Vermutung liegt nahe, daß es zu diesem Vorgang [einer brahmanischen ritualistischen Bearbeitung, RCK] anläßlich der Verschriftung des Epos kam, die--dies ist mehr als wahrscheinlich--in den Händen der schriftkundigen Gelehrten, den Brahmanen, stand. [p.141]
The suspicions is that this process [of a Brahmanic ritualistic redaction, RCK] took place when the epic was written down, a process which--and this is more than just likely--was in the hands of literate scholars, the Brahmans. [p.141]

Colophon

From: Thomas Oberlies, Die Ratschläge des Sehers Nārada: Ritual an und unter der Oberfläche des Mahābhārata, p.125-142; in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.

Pádraig Ó Riain on the church-political function of Irish heroic epics

Reading Notes

Pádraig Ó Riain begins his exposition by noting that the historical analysis of heroic epics and hagiographical tracts cannot ignore their common ancestry as being produced (or put onto paper) in the same location, namely a monastic scriptorium [p.14?].
Prinzipiell sollte der Forscher davon ausgehen, daß der von ihm zu untersuchende Text nicht nur, wie seit langem bekannt, in einer klösterlichen Schreibstube geschrieben worden ist, sondern daß er auch in seiner Aussage das klösterliche Interessensfeld widerspiegelt. [p.146]
In principle, researchers should expect that the texts they are studying were not only, as has been known for a long time, produced in a monastic scriptorium, but also reflect the interests of the monastic context. [p.146] 
This reflects a fundamental shift in orientation.
Im krassen Gegen- [p.147] satz zu der Behauptung Robin Flowers, daß die Iren in ihren Handschriften "wrote themselves down as they were, without arrière pensée or evasion or concealment" [Fn.16], ist jeder Text auf einen möglichen kirchlichen Hintergedanken hin zu untersuchen. [p.146-147]
In sharp contrast to the assertion of Robin Flowers, that the Irish in their manuscripts "schrieben diese selbst auf, wie sie waren, ohne arrière pensée oder Ausweichung oder Vertuschung" [Fn.16], every text has to be checked for a alternate motivations of the Church. [p.146-147] 
Pádraig Ó Riain then proceeds to interpret the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cúailnge  should be interpreted as a coded church-political pamphlet that argues against the election of Nuadu (✝ 812) to become Abbot of Armagh [p.147], who had aggressively pursued legislation against cattle rustling.
Damit läßt sich die Handlung des Táin Bó Cúailnge folgendermaßen auslegen: Ein Rinderraubzug nach Ulster (Emain Macha) wird der Provinz Connacht (Cruachain) zugeschrieben, damit der aus Loch Vama bei Cruachain kommende Bewerber aus dem Westen um das höchste Kircheamt Ulsters in Armagh (in der Nähe von Emain Macha), der sich mit einem Gesetz gegen Rinderdiebstahl brüstet, zum Spott und Hohn wird. [p.147]
The action in Táin Bó Cúailnge can then be summarized as follows: A cattle rustling trip to Ulster (Emain Macha) is attributed to the Province of Connact (Cruachain), in order to bring disgrace on the applicant from Loch Vama near Cruchain for the highest church office of Ulster, in Armagh (near Emain Macha)--an applicant who had championed laws against cattle rustling.   
As history shows, the pamphlet failed in its task. But the interpretation receives some interesting support when Pádraig Ó Riain looks at the potential sources or benefactors of such a smear campaign. Specifically, Pádraig Ó Riain suspects the family of the predecessor abbot of Armagh, Torbach, had the best reasons to perpetrate such literature.
 Torbach ist nicht nur bekannt für seine Rolle als Initiators des Buchs von Armagh ... das im Grunde ein Propagandawerk zu Gunsten Armaghs darstellt. Er war auch der Gründer einer Schreiberfamilie ... [der wir verdanken, RCK] ... daß die Fassung des Táin im lebor na hUidre erhalten geblieben ist. [p.149]
Torbach is not only known for his part as initiator of the Book of Armagh ... which basically is a work of propaganda for Armagh. He was also the founder of a family of scribes ... [to whom we owe it, RCK] ... that the form of the Táin in the lebor na hUidre was handed down. [p.149]
Thus, Pádraig Ó Riain can note
... die Forschung sollte prinzipiell damit rechnen, daß die irischen Heldensagen genauso wie die Heiligensagen zeitgemäße politische Interessen unterworfen waren. [p.149]
... researchers should basically expect, that Irish heroic epics are mastered by then-existing political interests, just as the hagiographic writings were. [p.149]
This also means that the authors of the Táin must have left enough clues to direct the readers attention to the church-political context, even if the epic is then often interpreted as "historical".

Pádraig Ó Riain takes the insights of Frank O'Connor's The Backward Look, London (1967) to show that the temporal backward projection of the event served to create a case of precedence that was church-politically most suitable, because now the epic was
... ein Präzedenzfall, dem niemanden widersprechen konnte [p.150] 
... a case of precedence that no one could argue against [p.150] 
Overall, the best parallel remains the hagiographic writing process,
bei der die Aktualisierung der vom Hagiographen zumeist erfundenen Vergangenheit eine wichtige Rolle spielt. [p.150]
for which the updating of the invented past by thru the hagiographic writer remains constitutive [p.150] 

Discussion

Though Pádraig Ó Riain does not cast the issue in economical terms, he is suggesting to me that the limited resources of the monastic context will ensure that only texts that further the church interests of the monastery receive the resources to be authored and (re-)produced.

Colophon

From:  Pádraig Ó Riain, Der Schein der trügt: Die irische Heldensage als kirchenpolitische Aussage, p.143-152,  in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.

Renate Söhnen-Thieme on Vālmīki and the Rāmāyana

Reading Notes

Söhnen-Thieme points to the special place that the Epics continue to hold in the Indian consciousness:
... nirgendwo im westlichen und mitteleuropäischen Raum (nicht einmal im Iran) bilden Epen (soviel ich weiß) noch heute einen kontinuierlichen Bezugs- und Identitätsrahmen (wie das Mahābhārata) oder eine normative Autorität (wie das Rāmāyana oder die dem Mahābhārata eingefügte Bhagavadgītā), soviel Anregungen epische Stoffe der späteren Literatur und (seit dem Barock) dem Musktheater (z.B. Monteverdi, Wagner) auch gegeben haben. [p.107]
... nowhere in the western or middle-European countries (not even in Iran) do epics (to the best of my knowledge) form either a continuous frame of reference and identity (as the Rāmāyana does) or a normative authority (as the Rāmāyana or the Bhagavadgītā, embedded as it is into the Mahābhārata), however much epic narratives have influenced the later literature (since the Baroque) the music theatre (e.g. Monteverdi, Wagner). [p.107]
Söhnen-Thieme continues the theme of inspiration for the Western tradition in footnote #4 on the same page, noting that:
In den nationalistischen Bewegungen dieses [i.e. 20. Jhdt, RCK] Jahrhunderts sind zwar gelegentlich Figuren mittelalterlicher Epik als Exponenten der jeweiligen Ideologien wiederbelebt worden (z.B. Siegfried und Hagen im 3. Reich); dies ist aber (nach dem Bruch von Jahrhunderten) eher als Romantizismus anzusehen, der sich der veränderten historischen Bedingungen nicht bewußt ist oder sie nicht sehen will. [p.107]
The nationalist movements of this [i.e. the 20th, RCK] century occasionally revived figures of Medieval epics as exponents of the respective ideologies (e.g. Siegfried and Hagen in the Third Reich); however these cases are (after the interruption of centuries) more like Romanticism that is either ignorant of the changed historical conditions or purposefully ignoring it. [p.107]
Söhnen-Thieme then turns to some of the differences between India and the West with respect to the oral tradition; in footnote #7 she stresses that India persisted much longer in its oral traditions than the West did and employed the same metres for grammars, legal texts, ritualistic literature and even dictionaries [p109]. (See also footnote #11.)

After reviewing the inspirational structure of Indian epic poetry, Söhnen-Thieme provides a graphic that shows how the influences of authorship run in the Rāmāyana [p.111]: In three consecutive chapters, Nārada, Brahman and meditative introspection of the eventual author lead Vālmīki to write the epic poem, then teach it to the Kusīlavau, who either sing it at the meeting of the ascetics and the seers in the city (with Rāma accidentally walking by) or in the palace for Rāma and his brothers [p.111].

Söhnen-Thieme suspects that the Brahmin influence, via their control of the Kusīlavau, dominates the later recensions of the main text.
Es wäre sogar nicht einmal ausgeschlossen, daß ein solcher, für uns namensloser, nicht-brahmanischer Verfasser das Epos mit einem berühmten brahmanischen Namen versehen hat, um es für die Überlieferung zu retten. [p.112]
It is not even inconceivable that one such poet, for us a nameless, non-brahmanic author, provided their epic with the famous brahmanic Name to secure traditioning for it. [p.112] 
Söhnen-Thieme then focuses the discussion on the last book, the "Appendix-Part" Uttarakāṇḍa, which book
... ist eine seltsame Mischung von allerlei Nachträgen, das dann in der späteren indischen Tradition eine immer grössere Bedeutung erlangt hat. [p.115]
... is a strange mix of assorted after-thoughts, which in the latter Indian tradition gained evermore in importance. [p.115] 
Söhnen-Thieme notes that two extensions ("Ausgestaltungen") of the story before the basic Rāmāyana, also made their way into the Mahābhārata, specifically the enhancement of the threatening nature of the opponent Rāvaṇas, and of Rāma being a re-incarnation of Vishnu, which may mean that the Mahābhārata can function as a snapshot of the Rāmāyana development.
Man mag daher annehmen, daß die Rāma Erzählungen im Mahābhārata eine Art Zwischenstadium in der Überlieferung des Rāmāyana reflektieren, in der zwar schon Legenden und Episoden aus der Vorgeschichte der beiden Kontrahenten im Umlauf sind, aber noch nicht in das Textkorpus des Rāmāyana eingedrungen sind. [p.115]
We may thus assume that the Rāma stories in the Mahābhārata form a type of intermediate state in the tradition of the Rāmāyana, during which legends and episodes from the pre-history of the two opponents are circulating, but have not yet invaded the textual corpus of the Rāmāyana. [p.115]
Söhnen-Thieme notes how the person of Rāma himself changes as more traditions accrue; specifically in the new expulsion of Sita, Rāma has become more conservative in his outlook with respect to purity. And all such elaborations and additions are, with the trick of Vālmīki prophesying the future, continuously re-integrated under the authority of Vālmīki, even if he ends up vouching for himself.

Colophon

From: Renate Söhnen-Thieme, Rahmenstruktur in der altindischen Epik: Vālmīki und das Rāmāyana, p.105-124; in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.

Edzard Visser on Formal Typology of the Ship Catalog in the Illiad

Reading Notes

E. Visser begins by giving a general account of what distinguishes the epic from other forms of narration and pointing to the dual nature of superlative and simplification.
Motive und Wirkursachen für den Ablauf der Ereignisse werden in diesen Erzählungen oft genug übernatürlich gedeutet. Das Geschehen erhält dadurch Dimensionen, die menschliche Massstäbe bei weitem überschreiten; oral poetry hat generell eine Tendenz zum Superlativen, damit aber auch zur Simplifikation. [p.29]
In epic narratives, the motives and causes for the sequence of events are often enough interpreted in a supernatural way. Thus, the action acquires dimensions that transcend the human scales significantly; oral poetry has a general tendency toward the superlative, but therefore also toward simplification. [p.29]  
 The superlative is hardly the interesting aspect here, however.
Die Tendenz zur ÜbersteigerungFN10 ist in diesem Zusammenhang jedoch von geringerer Bedeutung; wichtiger ist die Frage nach der Simplifizierung von Handlungsstrukturen und Motiven. [p.29]
The tendency to exaggerateFN10 is in this context of lesser importance; the more important question is the one of simplification of structures of action and motivation. [p.29] 
which Visser expands upon in footnote #10
Es ist damit [i.e. der Tendenz zur Übersteigerung, RCK] ... die generelle Tendenz [gemeint, RCK], der gesamten Darstellung die Aura eines einmaligen, weltbewegenden Ereignisses zu geben ([e.g.] durch numerische Superlative, durch Zuschreibung fast übermenschlicher körperlicher Kräfte, nicht nur beim Haupthelden, sondern bei allen am Geschehen beteiligten)." [Fn 10, p.29] 
[The tendency toward exaggeration, RCK] means ... the general tendency to give the entire presentation an aura of the unique, world-moving events ([e.g.] through numeric superlatives, the attribution of almost superhuman bodily powers, not only with the main heroes, but with all involved in the action. [Fn 10, p.29]
The simplifications primarily benefit the audience and their identification with the narration.
Solche motivischen Simplifizierungen -- die für das Publikum den Vorteil bieten, ein festumrissenes Bild der Welt zu entwerfen und zugleich Identifikationsmöglichkeiten mit der Welt zu eröffnen - ...." [p.29]
Such motivational simplification -- which has the advantage of drawing a well structured conceptualization of the world that also opens possibilities of identification with that world -- .... [p.29] 
This is esp. interesting  in the context of the Illiad, which exhibits a generally rationalizing tendency, especially with respect to main motivations, "... allgemein rationalisierende ... Tendenz in der Darstellung der Handlungsmotive" [p.29].

Into this context, Visser then turns toward the question of how to deal with the catalog of ships in the Illiad. Poetically, the abundance of names eliminates any semblance of fiction [p.29]. There are not only personal names, but also geographical names and descriptions, that is, a plethora of geographical relations [p.30].
Man hat bei den Beschreibungen von Troia und seiner näheren Umgebung den Eindruck, der Illiasdichter wisse sehr genau, wo er sein Troia sieht. [p.30]
One gets the impression that, when describing Troy and its whereabouts, the poet of the Iliad knows exactly where they sees their Troy. [p.30]
By itself, the ship catalog--29 cohorts, 1186 ships, 178 geographical names in just 91 verses--gives all the impressions of coming out of administration or bureaucratic contexts
[Die Schiffsliste] wirkt wie ein Auszug aus einem von einer Verwaltungsbehörde entworfenen geographischen Kataster. [p.30]
[The catalog of ships] comes across as an excerpt of a land register drawn up by an administrative office. [p.30]
The effect of verisimilitude is according.
Diese Liste, seit der Antike als Schiffskatalog (neon katalogos) bezeichnet, erscheint auf Grund der Menge von Namen, hinter denen ausschliesslich real existierende Grössen stehen (Ortschaft, Landschaft oder Stamm) -- und so wurden sie von den Rezipienten mit Sicherheit auch aufgefasst -- als ein besonders veristisches Element in der Darstellung des Krieges um Troia. [p.30]
This list, called the catalog of ships (neon katalogos) since Antiquity, because of the mass of names, which refer exclusively to truly existing entities (villages, landscapes, tribes) -- and that is how the names were interpreted by the recipients for sure -- comes across as an especially trustworthy element in the depiction of the Troyan War. [p.30] 
The question of the authenticity of the homeric ship catalog cannot be adequately dealt with the theory that a Mycenian list slipped in accidentally; the Homeric verse structure is simply too complicated to make such an accident plausible [p.30f].
Erschwerend kommt noch hinzu, dass eine improvisierte Wiedergabe dieser enormen Namensmenge auf so engem Raum eigentlich unvorstellbar war .... [p.31]
As a complicating factor, it was impossible to imagine an improvised recital of this enormous mass of names in such a small space .... [p.31] 
Visser [p.31] proposes to contribute to the debate by looking at several philological problems
  • a comparison between the catalog and the remainder of the epic with an eye toward linguistic and stylistic clues
  • an inquiry into the poetic organizational principles of the poet
  • [p.32] an inquiry into the aspects of improvised recital
  • an inquiry into the poetic intention for including the catalog of ships
Visser points to the principle of typical formulation ("Typizität der Gestaltung", [p.32]) as underpinning oral poetry, which means that the same contents is transformed poetically either in very similar or even identical form. 

Stylistically, the catalog is not unique in the Iliad, there are many other catalogs revolving around warriors, either in terms of casualties, who participated or even troop inspection rosters [p.32], of which the enumeration of Troian warriors killed during Patroklos' rally against Troy (PI, 415-419) is an especially good example [p.34]. The use of such lists is in general well attested for the Mycenian palace literature, especially the administrative Linear B tables found at Knossos and Pylos [p.33].

After identifying two basic structural types--called A and B--within the ship catalog that have clear linguistic properties [p.3??], Visser points out that the structural type is too inflexible for poetic purposes to assume that the Poet of the Illiad had created the types themselves [p.39]. Furthermore, Visser proposes to interpret "ship" in this context as referring to a unit of combat transported.
... der Begriff "Schiff" im Schiffskatalog nicht als Terminus für ein maritimes Transportfahrzeug gebraucht wurde, sondern als Ausdruck für kampfbereite Truppenmengen. [p.39]
... the notion "ship" in the catalog of ship is not a term for a maritime transport vessel, but an expression for a battle-ready amount of troops. [p.39]
In terms of speculations about the origin of the catalog, Visser proposes a Mycenian-led alliance [p.42], pointing to the fact that the context of origin of the Illiad itself is Asia Minor, which was where the scattered remnants of the Mycenian culture took refuge after the Sea Peoples' destruction [p.40f]. The remembrance of that alliance and its participants is thus commemorated in this list.

Visser reminds us that in contrast the Greek mainland epics focused on justifying the conquest of the territory by the North West Greek and the Dorian tribes [p.42], especially in the traditions of Hercules and his descendants, the Heraklids (see Fn 36).

Colophon

From: Edzard Visser, Formale Typologie im Schiffskatalog der Illiad, p.25-55 in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Age Pyramids for exploring the Past

I found an interesting paper on how age pyramids can be used to explore the past. This is a problem that I have come around to over and over before, as it is so difficult to estimate even without modern census technology what the compositions of past populations might have been. How could the Angle-Saxons of Beowulf's time have sustained the rates of raiding and attack, given their birth rates and the lethalness of their battle wounds in the age before proper infection control? Clearly the age pyramids would provide clues ... but how to get them? Working backward from similar current age pyramids seems to be about the best way to do that.

Of similar interest is this post with more links to other age pyramids.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Literary Access

It was with significant pleasure that I noticed that the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is open on Sundays.

Furthermore, the book Language in Landscape (2011) is available at the Library for English and American Studies in Vienna's 9th district.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Introduction

Yeah, that title was a pretty blatant ripoff. But it is a book on my reading list, and I felt it was more important to get going with the mechanics of the research than get stumped by a clever title.

As I embark on my dissertation project once more, I am struck by the need of organizing and properly planning the individual parts and activities. Even when summarizing my thoughts for a good friend of just a recently completed small amount of time of reading and musing, it becomes immediately obvious that walking past the valleys and leaving the vistas aside is where the success or the failure come from.

The plurality of tools available is part of what is staggering to the embarking researcher. None of them are sufficiently integrated with each other (though some of that may be conceptual), and there are advantages to Google docs over Google Blogger over free Wikis over source forge projects. Indeed, whatever happened to LiveJournal? Surely the mere fact that the majority of my friends have migrated elsewhere cannot explain the lack of appeal it has for finding my stuff again? Is search so all-important, the fear of loss so dominant, than anything not powered by PageRank wont do?

Research is journaling, this much seems inescapable. Thus some journal is needed. A journal that would allow any and all things to be reported and recorded, some of them live, some of the fixed snapshots in time (thank you, Internet archive). In the spirit of writing as rewriting, where progress is made as the continuous development of new conceptualizations in terms of the refinement of existing knowledge structures.

That architecture still needs creating, and is dependent on semantic technologies still incompletely implemented and conceptualizations still incompletely understood. Maybe every generation of scientists embarks on trying to find the perfect tool for their question and only ends up generating the preconditions and proto-foundations for their followers. Instead of using what I want to use, maybe I can contribute to the construction of the tools that would have helped me.

The translational effort at the system boundaries occupies the most significant part of the time; maybe the fragmented nature of our own existence, coupled with the heterogeneities in our own understanding, ensures that the unifying tool remains elusive.

Still, the situation could bear improving.