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Dedicating Neo-Latin Epic Poetry around 1500

Fri, March 27, 4:45 to 6:15pm, Hauptgebäude, Unter den Linden 6, Floor: First Floor, 2095B

Abstract

This paper compares strategies employed by various writers to dedicate their poems. Taking into account the sheer mass of epic poems produced in the Renaissance, the presentation takes a statistical approach. As a basis it uses a collection of 25 Neo-Latin epic poems, written between 1490 and 1510 in Italy, France, Switzerland and in the Habsburg Empire. Within this corpus it will be possible to demonstrate a number of differences and similarities in the dedication mode, e.g., the differences of dedications for clerical or secular authorities or even scientific communities. The paper also discusses if the dedication forms an integral part of the epic text itself or appears rather as a paratext to the poem. In addition, it compares how poets employ different ways of self-fashioning in their dedications in the face of their (requested) patrons.

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