Contexts of early modern period exempla: opportunities for further research

Abstract

The article defines the exemplum as an intertext in homiletic literature of various origins. The genre, modelled on the dichotomy of redemption (motives of virtue) and damnation (motives of sin), served the didactic function. Basic source texts for exempla were biblical and classical (or pseudo-classical) texts, patristic texts, religious and secular chronicles, various legends and other historiographic treatises, and books of emblems (the last of these have elicited least scholarly attention). However, other texts, less often associated with exempla, also served as their sources. These include such mediaeval and early modern period texts as the Golden Legend and the writings of Laurentius Surius (for exempla of the legend type) or (in postils) various partial legends (Vitae) – depending on which saint the sermon was devoted to. The study of exempla in early modern literature also encompasses such issues as geographical and temporal variation of the genre (period terminology), their literary value, secularisation (fairy tales, peddlers’ songs), and their permeation into other genres.

Keywords

• exemplum; current czech research of exemplum; definition of “exemplum”; sources of exemplum; geographical
• temporal
• and terminological issues pertaining to the exemplum; literary value; secularisation and revitalisation of exemplum; fairy tale; peddlers’ song
• world literature