Project management: Prof. Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation; duration: 3 years; start: January 1, 2019).

The project Muse - Musse - Musseraum examines, on the basis of three historically as well as literarily significant authors, how a 'rupture' is reflected differently in each of their literary works. With Ausonius, Sidonius Apollinaris and Enea Silvio Piccolomini, three authors - of late antiquity and humanism - are selected who signal a biographical 'break' for political and religious motives, respectively, and (re)formulate their literary work accordingly. For the work analysis of the authors in question, Muse - Musse - Musseraum argues for a procedure that considers the aforementioned authors under the working term 'author profile' in both a specific literary and socio-historical setting. In doing so, the guidelines of a biographically arguing research will be questioned. It will be examined how programmatic statements - preferred locations are paratexts - are acted out in the work or in parts of the work, but also how they are subverted. The literary œuvre, which is defined as Musseraum, was, according to the premise, shaped by the three selected authors themselves and purposefully.

In the project Muse - Musse - Musseraum, instances of literary production and the literary framework of action of the three authors are considered, whereby the latter, the Musseraum, is understood as a poetic space. The climax suggested in the title is significant insofar as a 'rupture' inscribed in the work is to be made visible via this Musseraum, understood in its varieties, and thus examined for symptoms of a work politics.

The choice of the authors in question is central to the research project. All three are Christians, though being Christian implies different things for each of them because of their lifetimes, circumstances, cultural contexts, and positioning vis-à-vis the (pagan) literary tradition. The research project sheds light on the period from the late fourth century (Ausonius) to the later fifth century (Sidonius Apollinaris), a period of institutional and cultural consolidation of Christianity. For the 15th century, the choice fell on Enea Silvio Piccolomini, poeta laureatus in a courtly culture, secretary of the Council, and finally pope. The decision for these three exemplary authors wants to lead to fundamental statements about the authors, but also about the epochs in question. The aim is to gain a differentiated picture of writing strategies and work configurations of authors of late antiquity and humanism, who undoubtedly knew revisionist literary practices of a Cicero, an Ovid, later an Augustine or also a Petrarch - to name only the most important model authors - and pursued them in different ways for their own claims.With the specific focus of late antiquity - humanism chosen here, which has received less attention in research than the focus of 'classical' antiquity - humanism, the project intends to generate substantial added value. The connection to research topics on current questions in literary studies and history is given in the best possible way. No less profit is expected for research in the social and cultural sciences, especially since the study is structured across epochs and will also take comparative aspects into account.

Image credit:
Musenmosaik aus der Neustrasse, Trier, RLM, Inv. 1941,1520 (detail, edited)
© GDKE/Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Photo: Th. Zühmer http://www.landesmuseum-trier.de