
The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim(Author)
Harvard University Press
Published on 4. November 2025
Book
Hardback
752 pages
978-0-674-29089-1 (ISBN)
Description
Hrotsvit, a canoness at the convent of Gandersheim in Saxony during the tenth century, is the first Latin dramatist since late antiquity whose work survives. While her plays are still frequently performed, her other works are not readily available in English.
A desire to provide a morally superior, elegant alternative to Terence motivated Hrotsvit-instead of lascivious women, chaste virgins; instead of misbehaving young men defying their fathers, well-behaved young women obeying their mothers and defying male superiors; instead of erotic love, the love of Christ. Her plays are preeminently women's plays: written for an audience of women and principally about women. Her female characters have extensive speaking parts; they are active, assertive, and self-directed.
In addition to the plays, Hrotsvit composed poems centered on saints and holy persons such as the Virgin Mary, Saint Denis, and the early Christian martyr Agnes. She also wrote epics on Otto the Great and on the founding of Gandersheim Abbey. Her poems for Theophilus and for Saint Basil both present versions of the Faustus legend. The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim includes all of these texts, plus her introductory letters and several shorter poems, in this first complete translation of Hrotsvit into English.
A desire to provide a morally superior, elegant alternative to Terence motivated Hrotsvit-instead of lascivious women, chaste virgins; instead of misbehaving young men defying their fathers, well-behaved young women obeying their mothers and defying male superiors; instead of erotic love, the love of Christ. Her plays are preeminently women's plays: written for an audience of women and principally about women. Her female characters have extensive speaking parts; they are active, assertive, and self-directed.
In addition to the plays, Hrotsvit composed poems centered on saints and holy persons such as the Virgin Mary, Saint Denis, and the early Christian martyr Agnes. She also wrote epics on Otto the Great and on the founding of Gandersheim Abbey. Her poems for Theophilus and for Saint Basil both present versions of the Faustus legend. The Works of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim includes all of these texts, plus her introductory letters and several shorter poems, in this first complete translation of Hrotsvit into English.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
804 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-29089-1 (9780674290891)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Gary Babcock is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.