Transforming Topoi

The Exigencies and Impositions of Tradition. Edited by Andrew James Johnston, Margitta Rouse and Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann.

Traditions thrive on the dialectic of repetition. Drawing their topoi from the well of memory, they are situated on the very border between the deliberate and the habitual. Yet how is it possible to influence traditions? The present collection of essays studies the ways in which traditions are employed in the service of symbolic politics. What are the burdens and impositions of traditions, when their topoi are consciously exploited in the service of ideological purposes? Are there certain limits to manipulation that lie in the very nature of the traditions in question, a nature which therefore defines them? With contributions by Peter-André Alt, Phillip H. Stump, Margitta Rouse et al. 233 Seiten mit vier Abb., gebunden (Berliner Mittelalter- und Frühneuzeitforschung; Band 23/V&R unipress 2018) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear