Praising through Intertext. On Jakob Liefer’s Literary Technique in the Neo-Latin Epic Bellum Sundense

2019

Praising through Intertext. On Jakob Liefer’s Literary Technique in the Neo‑Latin Epic Bellum SundenseThis paper examines Jakob Liefer’s (1571‑1655) method of composing a carmen novo modo, that is a combination of laus urbis, epic, and cento. It demonstrates how Liefer systematically employs allusions and citations to turn his account of the historic Margrave War (1308‑1317) into a praise of the city of Stralsund and its inhabitants. The analysis focuses on the work’s intertextual engagement with the characters and settings of Lucan’s Pharsalia and Vergil’s Aeneid. Liefer not only borrows from canonical texts to put Stralsund on the same exalted level as Massilia and Troy respectively, but …