Boundaries of Holiness, Frontiers of Sainthood
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Book Series
Fabulae, vol. 2
Constructing Saints in Greek and Latin Hagiography
Heroes and Heroines in Late Antique and Medieval Narrative
Koen De Temmerman, Julie Van Pelt, Klazina Staat (eds)
- Pages: 182 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:1 b/w
- Language(s):English, French
- Publication Year:2023
- € 70,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-60282-0
- Hardback
- Available
- ISBN: 978-2-503-60283-7
- E-book
- Available
Explores narrative constructions of saints as hero(in)es in Greek and Latin hagiography.
Subject(s)
Review(s)
"Scholars working on hagiography and its heroes and heroines know they can be fun, much like present-day narratives of (super)heroes and heroines. This book establishes some firm points to better understand how and why they also could be fun to those enjoying them in the Middle Ages." (Francesco Veronese in The Medieval Review 24.10.09)
"This overview of the reception of heroes and heroines who were perceived as holy, with all their human flaws, will inject new vigour into the study of representations of model human beings from western and eastern Roman Christian communities, from the second to fourteenth centuries. Each chapter has a detailed bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The volume makes an extremely important contribution to the field and will give students and scholars the theoretical tools to take the discipline forward into its next manifestation." (Neil Bronwen, in Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 137/3, 2024, p. 344)
"Die Qualität der Studien macht den Band als Ganzes interessant und bringt nicht nur neue Erkenntnisse, sondern führt auch zu vielen Ideen für weitere Forschungen. Glücklicherweise haben alle Autoren versucht, ihre Einzeluntersuchungen in einen größeren Zusammenhang zu stellen und weitreichende Perspektiven aufzuzeigen, so dass das Buch tatsächlich eine gewisse Einheit hat und nicht in pure Fallstudien zerfällt." (Klaus Krönert, in Francia-Recensio, 2025/1)
BIO
Koen De Temmerman is a Professor of Classics at Ghent University, Belgium.
Julie Van Pelt is a postdoctoral researcher of the FWO Flanders at Ghent University. She specializes in late antique and early medieval Greek hagiography.
Klazina Staat is Assistant Professor in Latin Language and Literature and Roman Cultural History at VU University Amsterdam.
Summary
This book explores representations of saints in a variety of Latin and Greek late antique hagiographical narratives, such as saints’ Lives, martyr acts, miracle collections, and edifying tales. The book examines techniques through which the saints featured in such texts are depicted as heroes and heroines, i.e., as extraordinary characters exhibiting both exemplary behaviour and a set of specific qualities that distinguish them from others. The book inscribes itself in a growing body of relatively recent scholarship that approaches hagiographical accounts not just as historical sources but also as narrative constructions. As such, it contributes to the development of a scholarly rationale which increasingly values imaginative and fictional aspects of hagiography in their own right, with the aim of answering broader questions about narrative creativity and ideology. For instance, individual chapters examine how hagiographical accounts mobilize and capitalize on earlier literary and rhetorical traditions or narrative models. These questions are specifically addressed to explore the narrative construction of characters. The chapters thereby encourage us to acknowledge that many hagiographers were more skilful than is often accepted.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Saints, Narratives, and Hero(in)es: Scholarship, Definitions, and Concepts — KOEN DE TEMMERMAN
Saints and Secondary Heroes in Byzantine Hagiography — STEPHANOS EFTHYMIADIS
Rhétorique de l’éloge et construction des modèles de sainteté dans l’hagiographie africaine (IIe-VIe siècles) — SABINE FIALON
Listen to Her: Rewriting Virgin Martyrs as Orators in the Byzantine Passions of St. Tatiana and St. Ia — ANNE ALWIS
Fail Again. Fail Better. Notker Balbulus cum suis on the Impossibility of Writing the Life of St. Gallus — PIET GERBRANDY
Character Types and Characterization in Byzantine Edifying Stories — MARKÉTA KULHÁNKOVÁ
Money and Sainthood: Doctor Saints as Christian Heroes — CHRISTIAN HØGEL
An Unstable Heroine: The Life and Lives of Constantina — VIRGINIA BURRUS
Index
