In this lecture Regina Toepfer will present her concept of translational anthropology and show how philological comparisons can reveal patterns of thought, systems of knowledge, and values held by historical individuals and societies. She considers literary translations to be key anthropological texts and sees shifts in meaning between the source and target text not as aesthetic shortcomings, but as cultural gains.
This model will be presented through an analysis of the first translation of Homer into German in 1537/8. Simon Schaidenreisser’s Odyssee offers numerous insights into social norms, ideals, and difficult issues in the early modern period. For example, core ideas about poetry, politics, and religion, about morality, masculinity, and family, and about guilt, misfortune, and death are addressed in the invocation of the muse and the assembly of the gods at the beginning of Homer’s epic.
Regina Toepfer is the Chair of German Philology at the University of Würzburg, the Spokesperson of the German Research Foundation Priority Programme 2130 ‘Early Modern Translation Cultures’, and the President of the Medievalists’s Society (Mediävestenverband). Her research interests include translated literature, narratology, and gender studies. She recently published a study on Infertility in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Premodern Views on Childlessness (2022).
5.30pmThis lecture will take place as a hybrid event at the GHIL and online via Zoom. In order to attend this event, please register via Eventbrite to take part either in person or online.