Jan Ziolkowski (born November 17, 1956; A.B. summa cum laude Princeton University, 1977; Ph.D. University of Cambridge, 1982) has concentrated his research and teaching on the European literature and culture of the Latin Middle Ages. A faculty member at Harvard since 1981, Within medieval literature his special interests have included such areas as the classical tradition, the grammatical and rhetorical tradition (“Literary Theory and Criticism in the Middle Ages”), the appropriation of folktales into Latin, Germanic epic in Latin language, and the postmedieval reception of the Middle Ages.
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Nostalgia and the German(ic) Past: The Medieval Poem of Walthare
February 2024
Has nostalgia existed forever or only since a given date? The word is first attested in 1688, but the experience of homesickness for a specific place, time, or both may be universal among human beings. Today nostalgia recei- ves extensive scrutiny, in mass media as well as in scholarship. Longing for the Middle Ages has been regarded as sometimes dangerous for political reasons. Suspicion has grown about nostalgia for and in the medieval pe- riod: consider the furor over the term Anglo- Saxon. The Medieval Latin Poem of Walthare, better known as the Waltharius, cries out for a share of attention.
