Fail Again. Fail Better Notker Balbulus cum suis on the Impossibility of Writing the Life of St Gallus

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2023
Host editors
  • K. De Temmerman
  • J. Van Pelt
  • K. Staat
Book title Constructing Saints in Greek and Latin Hagiography
Book subtitle Heroes and Heroines in Late Antique and Medieval Narrative
ISBN
  • 9782503602820
ISBN (electronic)
  • 9782503602837
Series Fabulae
Event HOLY HERO(IN)ES
Pages (from-to) 105-122
Number of pages 18
Publisher Turnhout: Brepols
Organisations
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH)
Abstract In the 880s, Notker Balbulus (c. 840–912), a monk in the monastery of Sankt Gallen on the southern shore of the Bodensee, was challenged by his friend Tuotilo to write a new Life of the cloister’s eponymous saint.1 Although several Lives were already available, Notker decided to take up the gauntlet. The piece of hagiography he wrote in collaboration with a few younger monks is one of the strangest texts in the history of Latin literature. In trying to analyse and interpret the work it may be helpful to use concepts taken from twentieth-century literary theory, as I hope to demonstrate.
Document type Conference contribution
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1484/M.FABULAE-EB.5.132450
Downloads
Gerbrandy, Fail Again 2023 (Final published version)
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