Quoting as a narrative strategy. A digital hermeneutic analysis of intertextual phenomena using the example of the letters of Church Father Jerome.

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Barbara Feichtinger-Zimmermann; Dr. Marie Revellio
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 382880410

The objective of the (ongoing) project is to develop and establish a differentiated classification system for the analysis of quotations and allusions, which more closely examines quoting as a discursive-narrative strategy und enables a deeper understanding of cultural hybridization processes of Christian late antiquity. Beyond a comprehensive account of Church Father Jerome’s intertextual strategy, the project aims to formulate generalizing methodical statements about quoting techniques in (late) antiquity.The project rests on two pillars of equal importance: a primarily computer-based as well as a historico-cultural hermeneutic path of analysis. Specifically, as a first goal, the mixed-methods approach of computer-based detection of intertextual phenomena shall be expanded into a universally applicable digital hermeneutic analysis model for text references. The second goal is to develop a holistic picture of Jerome’s referencing technique based on a comprehensive structurally- as well as semantically-oriented analysis of his usage of antique and biblical pre-texts.In order to be able to compare the computer-aided results to the findings of the highly fruitful pilot project on the intertextual usage of Virgil’s Aeneid and interpret them, additional text comparisons are drawn to Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgica, Cicero’s oeuvre as well as authors and works, from which no quotations have been found in Jerome’s epistolary corpus yet. For this, the digital filter specifications must be improved through additional semantic parameters. For an even further-reaching historical contextualization of Jerome’s intertextual strategy, the analyses are extended to Augustine’s and Ambrose’s epistolary corpora. With regard to its intrinsic value for the cultural sciences, the narratological investigation of Jerome’s quoting technique is continued as well, first, by systematically examining Jerome’s quotations from the Bible and the classics by means of a comprehensive classification grid. Second, the semantic reference analysis is supposed to contribute to a deeper understanding of the contents of the letters and to innovative (individual) interpretations of the letters of friendship in Jerome’s early communication network. For a subsequent classification and evaluation of the quoting techniques employed in the early letters, the analyzed corpus will be expanded and include letters from Jerome’s later period and letters with different main topics, as well as other types of texts (e.g. Biblical praefationes) of Jerome’s oeuvre. The new corpus is then subjected to an analog systematic examination.Because a large number of findings is to be expected, methodical research shall help to find adequate forms of presentation of intertextual phenomena ensuring a recipient-friendly way to communicate the results which transcend traditional extensive appendices.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants