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Humanities and Social Sciences Colloquium - Immo Warntjes

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Arno Borst (†2007) & Hermann of Reichenau (†1054): the challenges of writing medieval biographies & the problems of editing medieval texts
When Jun 26, 2017
from 11:15 AM to 12:45 PM
Where FRIAS, Albertstr. 19, Seminar Room
Contact Name
Contact Phone +49 (0)761 203-97362
Attendees universitätsöffentlich / open to university members
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At the age of 50, Arno Borst, winner of the Balzan Prize and arguably the most influential German medievalist of the 20th century, laid out a plan of research for the following three decades. His initial idea was to write a biography of Hermann of Reichenau, one of the most original thinkers of the 11th century. For this he needed to edit Hermann’s writings. This undertaking stalled in 1990, when Borst turned to an investigation of the centuries-long traditions that informed Hermann’s thought. He finished this part of the project in 2006, but died a year later. The 1990 manuscript of Borst’s edition of Hermann’s writings was found among Borst’s papers. I am currently finalizing this project. This talk will introduce the project by principally focusing on the following five aspects:1) how to organize a life’s work; 2) how to deal with the Nachlaß of a scholar, and how to continue someone else’s work; 3) how to write medieval biography; 4) in which language to publish; 5) the problems of editing medieval texts.