Review article
A comparison of the character of Judith in the old english and Marulić’s biblical epic
Kristina Grgić
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The biblical Book of Judith has been the subject of numerous literary and artistic interpretations in Western culture. Its popularity is to a certain extent attributable to the ambivalence of the protagonist, who has been viewed both as an exemplary religious figure overpowering the enemy chieftain by faith in God, as well as a dangerous seductress and murderess. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the fragmentary Old English epic poem Judith (the late 9th or 10th c.) and Judita by Marko Marulić (the 16th c.), which follow along the lines of affirmative representations of Judith, inspired by her patristic interpretations, albeit with occasional hints at her potentially dangerous aspects. Although they are separated by time and space, and show no traces of direct contact, these texts can be analysed as two analogous examples of re-inscription of Christian heritage within the generic framework of biblical epic, with its specific modifications in the Anglo-Saxon on the one hand, and the Virgilian and Humanist-Renaissance tradition on the other. Particular attention is paid to the issue of their interpretations, both religious, as well as political-typological, focused on potential references to their immediate historical contexts. Mutual comparison allows for further contextualisation of these texts within the history of (Western)European reception of the Book of Judith and its ample network of direct and indirect intertextual relations and transformations.
Keywords
The Book of Judith; biblical epic; Old English poem Judith; Judita; Marko Marulić; interpretation
Hrčak ID:
289397
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2022.
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