[gothic-l] Re: Ostrogoths in Italy, Britain or China (or on the moon?)

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., andreas.schwarcz at u... wrote:
> On 6 Feb 2001, at 10:51, dirk at s... wrote:
> 
> >
> > 
> > Hello Andreas,
> > 
> > It seems to be quite a step to completely discredit an author like
> > Prof. Goffart. The mathematician in me is always seeking logic and
> > plausibility, which Goffart's interpretation offers masterly and 
which
> > many others lack entirely. However, you may me right, and Goffart 
is
> > wrong, but could you point me to some alternative publications
> > (perferably your own ) on the subject, which are better than 
Goffart's
> > book?
> > 
> > cheers
> > Dirk
> > 
> Hello Dirk,
> it is not my intention to discredit Walter Goffart, just to throw in 
a 
> word of caution. His book makes good reading, it is an astonishing 
> experiment in applying the literary theories of Hayden White (who 
> analysed historians of the nineteenth century) and Northrop Frye 
> (who worked on the Bible and Shakespeare) on selected writers of 
> the early middle ages. But he sometimes oversteps the boundaries 
> of interpretation and he tends to discredit the evidence of his 
> sources, as in his treatment of Procopius criticised by Averil 
> Cameron. He certainly is right in treating all books of Jordanes as 
a 
> literary whole, but I do not share his doubt about Jordanes as a 
> historical person. As for alternatives, the sad thing is that there 
are 
> only older ones or partial ones.
> To name some of them:
> 
> Max Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des 
> Mittelalters (München 1931, old, but solid)
> 
> Pierre Courcelle, Histoire litteraire des grands invasions 
> germaniques (3rd ed. Paris 1964) 
>  
> Historiographie im frühen Mittelalter I, ed. Anton Scharer und Georg 
> Scheibelreiter (Wien 1994) 
> 
> Averil Cameron, Procopius and the sixth century (London 1985)
> 
> Berthold Rubin, Prokopios von Kaisareia. In: PW 23 (1957) 599-671
> 
> Pierre Riché, Education et culture dans l'Occident barbare, 6e-8e 
> siècles (Paris 1964) 
> 
> to sum up, read Walter Goffart and enjoy his language and style, 
> for which he is justly renowned, but check his conclusions against 
> the sources and against other authors (and of course sometimes 
> he is right and always original).
> Regards
>         Andreas
> > 


Hello Andreas,

many thanks for the information, that is extremely helpful, I am sure 
also for others on the list. I shall try to get some of the listed 
literature.

best regards
Dirk




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/3398/_/981463863/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html