Political Anthropology of Beast Epic

野兽史诗的政治人类学

• 批准号: 228277670
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Michael Waltenberger
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Deutsche Philologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Units
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-31 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/228277670?language=en
• 关键词: Political; Anthropology; Beast; Epic

The project focuses on medieval and early-modern beast epic, both in Latin and in the vernacular. The distinct discursive potential of the beast epic derives from the variable, not systematically determinable, interplay between specifically human features (intentionality, institutionality) on the one hand and animal instinct on the other. This enables beast epic to raise questions about widely accepted foundations of the political order in human nature. Thus, culturally central paradoxes in the foundation of social groupings, power structures, claims to power and the validity of legal rights appeared more clearly in the literary genre of beast epic than in medieval political theory. In the proposed second phase of the project the historical focus of our studies will be shifted from medieval to early-modern texts. Our attention will now be more closely directed at (1) the diachronic changes of the literary form in the context of a newly differentiated literary system and (2) the development of the specific beast epic discourses under the changed epistemic foundations in political theory. In addition, historicity as an intratextual dimension will also move more sharply into our focus. The ¿naturalizing¿ elements of the fictional arrangements, whereby the political order in the kingdom of animals remains unchanged, are sometimes modified by a reflection on the origins of political order, or by examining scenarios of its change and decay. The earlymodern texts we will study seem to put a greater emphasis on the historicity of political order. Another main research interest will be the narrative motif of the court hearing, a central feature of the early-modern fox-novel. Furthermore we will reconstruct in detail the presentation of social differences in beast epics, taking into consideration how arguments based on bodily features, genealogy, kinship or gender are adapted and transformed under the specific fictional and narrative conditions of these animal stories.

该项目侧重于中世纪和早期现代野兽史诗，包括拉丁语和方言。野兽史诗独特的话语潜力来自于人类特征（意向性、制度性）与动物本能之间的可变而非系统可确定的相互作用。这使得野兽史诗能够提出关于人性中被广泛接受的政治秩序基础的问题。因此，在社会群体、权力结构、对权力的要求和法律权利的有效性的基础上，文化中心的悖论在野兽史诗的文学类型中比在中世纪的政治理论中表现得更为明显。在计划的第二阶段，我们研究的历史焦点将从中世纪转移到早期现代文本。现在，我们的注意力将更密切地集中在：(1)在新分化的文学体系背景下，文学形式的历时变化；(2)在政治理论的认识论基础发生变化的情况下，特定的野兽史诗话语的发展。此外，作为文本内维度的历史性也将更加尖锐地进入我们的关注焦点。虚构安排中的“自然化”元素，即动物王国的政治秩序保持不变，有时会通过对政治秩序起源的反思或对其变化和衰败的考察来修改。我们将要学习的早期现代文本似乎更加强调政治秩序的历史性。另一个主要的研究兴趣将是法庭听证会的叙事主题，这是早期现代狐狸小说的中心特征。此外，我们将详细重建野兽史诗中社会差异的表现，考虑到基于身体特征、家谱、亲属关系或性别的论点是如何在这些动物故事的特定虚构和叙事条件下被改编和转化的。