Metaphérein – Theories and Methods of Stemmatology

Metaphérein – Theories and Methods of Stemmatology

Organizer
Congressi Stefano Franscini (ETH Zürich) (Prof. Dr. Michael Stolz (Universität Bern))
Host
Prof. Dr. Michael Stolz (Universität Bern)
Venue
Monte Verità, Ascona, Ticino, Switzerland
Funded by
Congressi Stefano Franscini (ETH Zürich)
ZIP
CH-6612
Location
Ascona
Country
Switzerland
Takes place
In Attendance
From - Until
12.05.2024 - 15.05.2024
Deadline
17.03.2023
By
Michael Stolz, Institut für Germanistik, Universität Bern

Metaphérein – Theories and Methods of Stemmatology

Stemmatology in textual criticism and beyond: interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary aspects.

Call for papers: Tagung "Metaphérein – Theories and Methods of Stemmatology"

Stemmatologie (nicht nur) als Instrument der Textkritik: inter- und transdizciplinäre Aspekte.

Metaphérein – Theories and Methods of Stemmatology

Stemmatology is a part of textual criticism dealing with the genealogical dependencies between witnesses of text in handwritten or/and printed traditions. It is closely linked with the name of the 19th century German philologist Karl Lachmann (1793–1851), whose practice of editing was expanded by followers who established the stemmatological method of ‘Lachmannism’, i.e. the almost ‘mechanical’ reconstruction of an ‘archetype’, representing the starting point of textual transmission, by identifying ‘copying errors’ in the preserved manuscripts.

In recent time, the Lachmannian method gained new interest and further development under the influence of digital editing. In this context, the collaboration of textual critics with scientists, especially in molecular biology, became essential, as cladistic computer programs designed for phylogenetic analysis turned out to be useful also for philological purposes. However, a more thorough theoretical and methodological reflection with regard of the mutual epistemic interchange of both fields is still a desideratum. For this reason, the concept of metaphérein in the original (broader) sense of ‘transferring’ and ‘transmitting’ will form the base of the conference.

Programm

4 Sessions:

1 Lachmann, Lachmannism, and the evolutionary ideas of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The interrelations of nonlinear and linear concepts of genealogy in science and linguistics (J.B. de Lamarck, Ch. Darwin, A. Schleicher) – environmental impact and ‘local texts’ (B.H. Streeter) – the ideas of a ‘living text’ and ‘narrative textual criticism’ (D.C. Parker).

2. Stemmatology beyond conventional textual criticism: interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary aspects.
Stemmatology in musicology, art history, folklore, library studies (reading frequencies) – stemmatology transcending homogeneous texts (e.g., Virgil’s Aeneid) by including translations in other languages, or adaptations in art and music.

3. Stemmatology and digital editing.
The impacts of the use of cladistic software on phylogenetical and stemmatological concepts – technical challenges and limitations – terminological biases and constraints – the construction of (un)rooted trees as a base of digital editions.

4. ‘Familiy’ – ‘tree’ – ‘corruption’: a critique of stemmatological metaphors.
Diverse metaphorical fields (family relationship and descent; classification: ‘species’, ‘tribes’, ‘races’; deterioration: ‘contamination’, ‘corruption’; communication: ‘transcription’, ‘translation’) – ‘stemma’ as metaphor – potentials, limits, and risks of using metaphors for knowledge purposes.

Contact (announcement)

michael.stolz@unibe.ch

https://www.parzival.unibe.ch/metapherein2024/
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