BOOK REVIEW: Alessia Bauer, Elise Kleivane and Terje Spurkland ed., Epigraphy in an Intermedial Context (Portland: Four Courts Press, 2018)

Estelle Ingrand-Varenne (1)

1 CESCM [Poitiers] - Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale [UMR 7302]

Epigraphy in an Intermedial Context is a collection of nine essays with an introduction, proceedings of the international conference held in Oslo in November 2016, focusing on Viking Age and medieval epigraphy from Northern Europe. The originality of this study is on the concept of intermediality’ as the prism through which inscriptions can be studied. As Terje Spurkland notes in the introduction, an inscribed artifact is a multifaceted object of investigation, and calls for a multi- or interdisciplinary approach, but how far one should stretch this multi- or interdisciplinarity is an open question. This reflection re-joins a broader movement in medieval epigraphy launched thirty years ago, which considered the social practices of writing and, more generally, literacy. Epigraphy, formerly considered as an auxiliary science of history, has become one of the fundamental sciences of the written word, at the crossroads of disciplines (history, art history, archaeology, linguistics, literature, palaeography, liturgy, etc.). An inscription is now understood as both a verb and matter, placing the text in context, whose spatial, visual and plastic, iconic, as well as symbolic dimensions are important. Intermediality, which can be defined as an interaction between two or more media—a crossing of borders between media, a fusion more than a juxtaposition (a medium is understood as an intervening agency, means or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished)—was developed in the fields of literary studies and interarts studies, in Germany and in Canada (above all the Université de Montréal, with the Centre de recherche sur l’intermédialité founded twenty years ago). The bibliography at the end of the book presents a good list of the recent publications on these topics, including O Rajewsky, L. Elleström, B. Herzogenrath, R.H. Jones, M.E. Nelson, and G. Rippl. The authors of each article discuss the definition of media and modes, the difference between multi- and intermediality, and adapt it following the invitation of O Rajewsky.

Mots clés: medium; intermediality; inscriptions; epigraphy; medium; medium

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Estelle Ingrand-Varenne. BOOK REVIEW: Alessia Bauer, Elise Kleivane and Terje Spurkland ed., Epigraphy in an Intermedial Context (Portland: Four Courts Press, 2018). Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 2019, 7 (1), pp.148-154. ⟨halshs-03070818⟩