Stefka Georgieva Eriksen: Writing and Reading in Medieval Manuscript Culture. The Translation and Transmission of the Story of Elye in Old French and Old Norse Literary Contexts

Sammendrag

In a deftly conducted study, Stefka G. Eriksen shows in practice how a carefully controlled multidisciplinary approach can enrich the study of medieval literature. Informed by recent and less recent findings by scholars on the status of reading and writing in medieval culture, and combining translation studies, polysystem theory and a materialist ex­ami­nation of manuscripts in the spirit of new philology, Eriksen's book demonstrates convincingly how new thinking can cast fresh light on old problems but also allow new questions to be posed. Quite a lot has been done, in recent decades, to further our understanding of the translation, transmission and reception of Old French literature in Scandinavia from the early 13th century onwards, thanks to the pioneering work of scholars such as Marianne E. Kalinke, Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen, Geraldine Barnes and many others. Eriksen is one of several newcomers to the field—among them one should mention Sif Ríkharðsdóttir and her 2012 book Medieval Translations and Cultural Discourse. The Movement of Texts in England, France and Scandinavia—who are proposing new ways of approaching this literary phenomenon, by thinking of them in terms of adaptation and exchange between linguistic areas and cultural milieus.