Project A 2: ‘Emotions in Medieval Literature' (Kasten)
It was in the 12th century that Western and central European poetry was first written down in the vernacular on a large scale. Although this initiated the rise of a new literary culture, for centuries poetry — along with many other communicative aspects of society — remained dominated by orality and face-to-face-communication. In this respect, medieval culture can be understood as being genuinely performative. "Performance" has in fact been established as a paradigm in the field of medieval research: examining, for instance, the methods by which respective genres — especially poems and religious plays — were performed (Aufführungssituation).
In this project somewhat different aspects of medieval performativity are examined: descriptions of emotions in texts from the 12th to the 15th centuries, including not only verbal, but also a remarkably broad spectrum of non-verbal expressions, such as gestures and various kinds of body language (Körperinszenierungen). We believe that the characteristics of these descriptions can best be analyzed through the application of concepts of performativity.
The terms "performative" and "performativity" are generally understood to refer to actions or interactions which could further be categorized as being either an execution, a representation, or a production. On the one hand, our main interest lies with those emotions which motivate or accompany these actions and interactions, or directly result from them. On the other hand, it also lies with emotions which are constituted, established, or even reformulated by these actions. The approach to "emotion" we use is not a universalist one; we contend that human emotions are shaped and codified by historical practices and discourses, including gender-specific ones. The subject of our project is literature, in this context understood as a medium for the codification of emotions (as described above). Emotional cultures are methodically established in literary texts through structural contrivances (Appellstrukturen) and acts of repetition. By examining these, one may, in turn, derive a view of historical change.
This is also the basis for another hypothesis in our work. During the transformation processes begun by writing in the vernacular as well as the invention of book-printing, not only did the relation between performativity and textuality shift successively, but the ways of representing emotions in literature changed significantly as well. We will examine if the representation of face-to-face-communication in literary texts diminishes as the actual production and acceptance of literature itself increases, or if, on the contrary, it is actually described more often in literature, thereby serving a compensatory function.
Within the framework of research on performativity as outlined above, various sub-projects will analyze the staging (Inszenierung) of emotions in space and time, the ritualizing of emotions, as well as verbal and nonverbal ways of expressing emotions. The literary material examined will include single works as well as entire genres.
Sub-project 1: The Performativity and Functionality of Anger.
(Evamaria Freienhofer [formerly Heisler])
The focus of this study is the representation of ruler's anger in literary and historical texts from the twelfth century. The twelfth century represents a precise turning point in the meaning and function of ruler's anger (see Althoff, Ira Regis). Previously a king's anger was primarily considered a destructive sinful action that had to be controlled and regulated. Under Friedrich Barbarossa, however, anger emerged as a form of public demonstration in an attempt to claim the right to leadership. This tendency is most prevalent in the historical writings of Gesta Frederici Otto's of Freising and Rahewin's.
Historians and literary scholars often take into account that anger signifies something. Thus it emerges from certain situations and has an explicit meaning, which is relatively easy to decipher (anger during a fight reveals strength and heroism; anger against heathens reflects the righteous rage of God; anger regarding disobedience displays authority). Although these interpretations take into account that the signification of anger can vary from situation to situation, they see the emotion mainly as a static sign. This project builds on theoretical foundations and categories that have already been developed (ritual, performance and embodiment) in order to understand also the dynamic role of anger. Anger in texts symbolizes not only power similar to other signs of power (sceptre, cloak, crown, etc.), but it shows the balance of power in play. Of central interest is the way in which anger is codified as a (communicative) act in public situations of conflict, and the role that literary depictions of emotion play in solving conflicts or suppressing them. It is important not only to examine the sensual perception and recognition of anger and its physical manifestation, but also the way in which the emotion functions in the community in which it is enacted. Figures often respond with anger when their honor or status is placed in question, when there is tension in the prevailing power dynamics, or when they are confronted with behaviour that falls outside of sanctioned conventions. Anger can thus help to stabilize fragile social relationships, but it can also mark a break in or destabilize what appears to be an intact social situation.
This ambivalence in the function of anger might go back to the fundamental ambivalence inherent to the discourse on anger in the Middle Ages. It was characterized by a heterogeneous complex of notions that served to structure and evaluate outbreaks of anger as well as to provide a normative context for its expression. These notions derived from the medieval theory of humours, the concept of sin or the righteous rage of God, political theory, and philosophical-theological debates. Yet this examination should not set out to simply retrieve the different discourse traditions in the texts, but ask whether this ambivalence is revealed in the representations of rulers. Thus Karl's anger in the Rolandslied is not fully explained by claiming it is a reflection of the righteous rage of God, as is often suggested. Alexander's anger cannot simply be reduced to underscoring his ability to rule. There are different functions and also interpretations of anger in play in many texts. In order to work this out more precisely, there are synonyms for the emotion zorn (anger) such as ant, haz, nîd, grim and gram as well as other emotional archetypes such as shame and sorrow, which should be included by exploring their connections, transitions and demarcations to anger. One goal of this project is to apply the various manifestations of ruler's anger in the twelfth century to the aforementioned development theory. It has to be discussed the question whether these aspects constitute for the twelfth century a rupture (a transition from a negative to a positive assessment of a ruler's display of anger) or whether they prove to be basic characteristics of medieval representations of ruler's anger in general. In order to comprehend a sufficiently wide spectrum, not only secular, but also spiritual representations of rulers will be analysed (Rolandslied des Pfaffen Konrad, Kaiserchronik, Lamprechts Alexander, Sente Servas).
Sub-project 2: "Emotions in Minnesang" (Hendrikje Lehmann)
Academic discussions about the German Minnesang (between 1170 and 1240) have been dominated for some time by questions about concrete conditions of staging and performing and about possible modes of receiving the songs (Minnelieder). In this context, the main interest, in addition to the fictionality status of the genre, are the contours and possible referentialisations of the 'I' of the text, which today can only be attested to in handwritten records or manuscripts.
This project takes up this current debate and critically examines the research paradigms of 'performance', the nature of the role of Minnesang, and the so-called 'fictionality debate'.
It is the main intention of the project to break away from traditional postulates, which are recurrent in the academic research, e.g. that Minnesang is to be understood as an ethical-didactic model of a secular culture. The focus of the investigation here is rather aimed at the forms of the depiction of emotions in this genre. Using the concepts of performativity and encoding, the project aims at demonstrating the specific ways in which 'emotion worlds' are shaped in this genre, which is deeply rooted in an aural communication situation.
In this context I will take up ideas of emotion theory, which emphasize that the creation of emotions and the encoding of emotions depend on social and cultural influences and need to be placed at the intersection of different discourses. From this results a historical variability, which will be demonstrated. When analysing Middle High German love poetry (which I will also compare to Old Provençal and Old French songs in order to highlight cultural differences) the emergence of a "language of love" (Roland Barthes) is the main focal point, which is indeed not universal. On the one hand it follows the genre and discourse conventions of its time, and on the other hand it is at the same time open to inconsistencies, surprises and idiosyncrasies. The question is which emotions are characteristic of the genre Minnesang (categorisation, semantics), how are they conceptualised (body, voice) and above all which poetic techniques and strategies were used to form them (metaphors, rhythm, metre). Especially the (seemingly) constant repetition of given patterns, which is inherent in the texts, can be interpreted as the establishing of emotional norms, as making them present, as well as their execution. The similarity to forms of ritualisation and habitualisation that follow from this will also be an important area of investigation in this project.
As the research into Minnesang has only hesitantly opened itself up to questions connected to gender, this project will address this area. Here, a connection will be established between the depiction of emotions and gender identities. At the centre of my examination and analysis is the question of how emotions in medieval poetry are functionalised when creating gender identities. The 'characters' that appear in the texts as speakers and singers articulate and reflect 'emotional states' and report bodily symptoms as well as acts that create emotions or are controlled by emotions. The utterances and acts of emotions, which are sometimes analogues but can still be distinguished with regard to gender identities, will be examined in connection with the different genres of Minnesang. The aim of this research is to show how the depictions of emotions and the modes of representation are functionalised in the creation of gender identities. Here, the main point will be to demonstrate how 'gender' is 'performed' in a historically and culturally variable way.
Sub-project 3: "On the relationship between emotion and mediality in medieval texts" (Dr. des. Andrea Sieber)
The representation of feelings in medieval texts is strongly connected to the 'staging' of emotions in pictures, artefacts and representations in other media. This seemingly modern trans-disciplinary interconnectedness cannot only be described as an interaction between single media or within constellations of media but also expresses itself as a reaction to the coexistence of media and synergies in the historical texts.
Accordingly, in this research project there will be two strands to the analysis: on the one hand, on a representational level of texts, text-picture combinations and in multimedia constellations, I will investigate how, through the use of media, feelings are produced performatively and how they are stylised aesthetically. On the other hand, there is the question of whether and how prototypical emotion scenarios themselves function as "media" in historical communication and perception processes.
On the level of methodology and theory, this project takes up the previous categorizations regarding the aspects of 'staging', 'ritualisation' and 'embodiment' of emotions. In addition, the interaction between mediality and performativity is brought into focus by analysing the concrete effects of emotions. This can be seen as a thread running through the historical material and can also be understood due to the inclusion of historical artefacts in modern practices and performances.
Sub-project 4: Emotionality and Knowledge (Dr. des. Martin Baisch)
This project focuses on the concept of curiosity (curiositas). Individual feelings and forms of knowledge do not only have their own specific history, but intersect historically in a variety of ways. Curiousity, astonishment, and shock are transgressive emotions, since these 'cognitive passions' mark the breakdown or crossing of boundaries and therefore denote damage to particular organizing structures. Acts which are portrayed in literary texts as conflicting with specific cultural norms are regulated by the context in which they occur—a context of shared knowledge and emotion. The structure and content of feelings of curiousity, astonishment and shock also depend on the emotional context in which they occur, the object to which they respond, and the normative taxonomies in which they may be categorized. These feelings thus change their meaning according to their context, which is historically variable.
The project argues that fictional texts represent historically distinct forms of knowledge as complex experiences in which emotion and cognition intersect to give rise to a variety of possible epistemological structures. Twelfth and thirteenth century vernacular romances contain diverse examples of this literary production of knowledge, since they, among other reasons, use a differentiated technique of narration to undermine or override the plot when there is tension between processes of rationalization and emotion.
The structure and function of the correlation of knowledge and emotion in these texts are reminiscent of the categories of indexicality and iteration, developed by Foucault, which have acquired new significance through the development and differentiation of the concept of performativity. The methodological frame that has been developed through this work on performativity focuses on the mediality and materiality of expressions in texts and thus seeks to detect both explicit and implicit 'indications' of contextual preconditions. Analyses of such practices of generating knowledge take into account a cultural history of knowledge by examining the interplay in texts between emotion and cognition to trace the processes that create knowledge.
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