Falsifications and authority in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

About this book

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the shifting idea of authority of a text, its transmission and reception in a variety of genres, settings and contexts, this collective volume envisages to enlarge and deepen this understanding in tangling literary forgery and emulation. Authority and authoritative literary productions provoke all kinds of interest and emulation. Hermeneutical techniques, detailed exegesis and historical critique are invoked to put authority, and yes also possible falsifications, to the test. Scholars from various disciplines working on texts, either authoritative or forged, stemming from different periods of time reflect on a methodological basis and a hermeneutical entrance. In addition, a threefold axis of questioning the phenomenon of forgery is presented, viz. the motif of falsification, the mechanism or technique applied and, third, the direct or indirect effect of this fraud.