Abstract
In recent years, scholarship has turned its attention to the historical setting, the Sitz im Leben, of Byzantine poetry. In this context, the most prolific poet of the early 14th century, Manuel Philes, was taken into account. However, due to the vast number of texts transmitted under his name (more than 30,000 verses in more than 150 manuscripts!) no attempt has been made to look at the full picture of how his poetry was read. Without aiming at a complete evaluation, I shall offer an overview of the ways of reception. Philes’ poems were read in a variety of different contexts: from private readings of verse letters over performed enkomia to epigrams inscribed on public buildings. The form of reception also altered the way of how Philes was perceived as an author: from self-conscious reflections of an authorial ‘I’ in letters to the total absence of the author in inscriptions. The example of Manuel Philes shows the wide presence of poetry (and literature in general) in Late Byzantine society.
About the speaker
Krystina Kubina is a doctoral candidate at the University of Vienna working on encomiastic poetry of the early Palaiologan period and visiting scholar at the Ghent Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams project.
Practical information
Date & time: Monday 5 December 2016, 2:30 pm
Location: Blandijn, room 100.043 (Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent)