In this course we will look at the cultural practice of gift giving in the context of literature in the widest sense. We will begin by looking at the theoretical concept of gift giving (Marcel Mauss, et al.) as well as specific models from literary theory relating to the practice of gifting texts(Genette). We will then look at the different forms of giving literature in detail in roughly chronological order, from presentation copies of medieval manuscripts to dedicatory texts of various genres and with various purposes up to the 18th century.
Literature:
Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Transl. by W. D. Halls, with a foreword by Mary Douglas. London and New York: Routledge, 2002.
Genette, Gérard. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Transl. By Janer E. Lewin, Foreword by Richard Macksey. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997.
Davis, Natalie Zemon. “Beyond the Market: Books as Gifts in Sixteenth-Century France (The Prothero Lecture).” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 33 (1983): 69–88.
Müller-Oberhäuser, Gabriele (Ed.). Book Gifts and Cultural Networks from the 14th to the 16th Century. Münster: Rhema, 2019.
- Lehrende/r: Janika Bischof