This dissertation reassesses the function of the Greek models mentioned or implied by the Roman playwright Plautus (c.255-184 BC) in some of his comedies. The research presented in this work... Show moreThis dissertation reassesses the function of the Greek models mentioned or implied by the Roman playwright Plautus (c.255-184 BC) in some of his comedies. The research presented in this work questions traditional approaches to Plautus’ plays as extant Latin (un)faithful translations of some lost Greek originals. New light is shed instead on the discursive function of the mentions of or allusions to Greek models in Plautus’ oeuvre. This reassessment shows that the claimed or implied presence of Greek models in Plautine comedy works better as a persuasive means aiming to meet the expectations of an audience concerned with the Greekness of literary genres. Plautus’ fabulae palliatae feature a strong Italic indigenous taste, thus they could sound as extremely innovative, or, as Plautus himself ironically admits, ‘barbarian’, to a philhellenic spectator. Greek literary genres formed an established canonical system whose generic features applied also to Roman literature. Therefore, in order to promote his ‘barbarian’ plays and make them look more Greek, Plautus needed to dress them in a Greek ‘cloak’ (this is what fabula palliata means) by anchoring them in the established Greek tradition. Claiming or implying the presence of Greek models proves to be the strategy chosen by Plautus. Show less
Focusing on emigration discourse in Chinese contemporary literature, the present study proposes reflection on mechanisms that connect literary writing with what is usually perceived as extra... Show moreFocusing on emigration discourse in Chinese contemporary literature, the present study proposes reflection on mechanisms that connect literary writing with what is usually perceived as extra-textual reality, that is the sphere of individual and collective lived experience. Through the prism of the evolution of (our approach to) literary genres, with a special focus on the essay and related phenomena in both Chinese and Western literary traditions, I try to observe “paradigm slippages” in literature, i.e. moments when a certain way of understanding and describing literature and its interactions with “the world” proves insufficient, and a new way to do so emerges. Instead of adopting a literary-historical perspective marked by breakthroughs in collective consciousness, like those between the ancient, the modern, and the postmodern, I concentrate on shifts that run through single literary works and are more effectively captured in the language of natural sciences. I argue that at different levels and in different circumstances, texts may be understandable and describable within different physics of literature: from genre-based “Newtonian” physics, to universalizing “Einsteinian” physics whose conceptual structures are reflected in the essay, to “quantum” physics whose microdynamic I observe when scrutinizing processes of essayization. Show less
This is the first study that connects Septuagint research, mainly the domain of theologians, to insights from Translation Studies. Of the different approaches in TS I consider especially historical... Show moreThis is the first study that connects Septuagint research, mainly the domain of theologians, to insights from Translation Studies. Of the different approaches in TS I consider especially historical TS and the linguistic (or early) TS relevant for the study of the Septuagint. From a survey of views of language and translation in Antiquity it appears that the same differences of opinion existed among Greeks, Romans, Jews and Egyptians. The 'frontlines' between views of language and translation by no means coincided with religious borders. That there would exist 'a Jewish view of translation' prescribing literalness, as is commonly believed, is evidently mistaken. This myth in fact harks back to the anti-Jewish propaganda by the church father Jerome (Hieronymus). Many 'modern' insights in language and translation were common knowledge in Antiquity, albeit less systematic and in a different terminological garb. The chapters 4-6 consist of an analysis of the transformations (or 'shifts', changes in form or content that necessarily or intentionally occur in the process of translation). I analyzed the LXX translations of Genesis 2, Isaiah 1 and Proverbs 6. Before ascribing 'deviations' to the translator's ideology or to a different Hebrew Vorlage, one should of course first exclude the possibility that the deviation arose from translational factors. Every transformation has a cause, and by categorizing the rationales behind the transformations we can trace the translational hierarchy that guided the translator(s), consciously or unconsciously. The conclusions show that both Septuagint Studies and Translation Studies greatly profit from this cross-fertilization. Show less
