Stijn Praet
Stijn Praet (°1986) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leuven and a visiting lecturer in classical reception studies at the University of Amsterdam. He is currently doing research on early modern Latin homoerotic poetry and is also envolved in a project on translation scholar, translatore, poet and gay activist James Holmes.
Praet holds a BA in Latin and English (Ghent University, 2007), an MA in Comparative Modern Literature (Ghent University, 2008), an advanced MA in Literary Studies (University of Leuven, 2009), and a PhD in Literary Studies (Ghent University, 2014). His doctoral dissertation 'Fairy Tales and the Latin Tradition: A Literary-Contextualising Approach' considers some of the parallels and intersections between premodern Latin literature and the vernacular fairy tale tradition as it developed from Early Modernity onward.
After obtaining his doctorate, Praet was employed at Stockholm University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin literature (2016-2018), and at Harvard University as a Visiting Scholar with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies (2017), where he pursued research on the multi-narrative organisation of high medieval Latin tale compilations. He then returned to Ghent University as a Doctor-Assistant (2018-2020) and Visiting Professor (2021-2022) in the Department of Literary Studies. As of 2023, he is active as a postdoc at the University of Leuven and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (see above), while also teaching high school students.
Praet is the author of various articles and book chapters on Latin homoerotic poetry, translation and reception studies, and Latin and vernacular fairy tales, as well as co-editor of essay collections in Latin and fairy tale studies. Over the years, he has taught a variety of topics, including courses pertaining to the Latin tradition in Europe (late antiquity to modernity), classical reception history, medieval Latin literature, the writings of Cicero and Caesar, the medieval and early modern reception of Vergil and Ovid, Latin homoerotic poetry, Latin reading and research skills, fairy tales, and the theory and practice of literary translation (from Latin and Greek into Dutch, see https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631020000392 and https://www.cliv.be/nl/o...).
He sits on the editorial board of JOLCEL (Journal of Latin Cosmopolitanism and European Literatures, https://jolcel.ugent.be/) and previously served as research coordinator of the international platform RELICS (Researchers of European Literary Identity, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools, https://relicsresearch.com/). He is also active as a literary translator of Latin poetry and prose. (update 23/3/2023)
Praet holds a BA in Latin and English (Ghent University, 2007), an MA in Comparative Modern Literature (Ghent University, 2008), an advanced MA in Literary Studies (University of Leuven, 2009), and a PhD in Literary Studies (Ghent University, 2014). His doctoral dissertation 'Fairy Tales and the Latin Tradition: A Literary-Contextualising Approach' considers some of the parallels and intersections between premodern Latin literature and the vernacular fairy tale tradition as it developed from Early Modernity onward.
After obtaining his doctorate, Praet was employed at Stockholm University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin literature (2016-2018), and at Harvard University as a Visiting Scholar with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies (2017), where he pursued research on the multi-narrative organisation of high medieval Latin tale compilations. He then returned to Ghent University as a Doctor-Assistant (2018-2020) and Visiting Professor (2021-2022) in the Department of Literary Studies. As of 2023, he is active as a postdoc at the University of Leuven and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (see above), while also teaching high school students.
Praet is the author of various articles and book chapters on Latin homoerotic poetry, translation and reception studies, and Latin and vernacular fairy tales, as well as co-editor of essay collections in Latin and fairy tale studies. Over the years, he has taught a variety of topics, including courses pertaining to the Latin tradition in Europe (late antiquity to modernity), classical reception history, medieval Latin literature, the writings of Cicero and Caesar, the medieval and early modern reception of Vergil and Ovid, Latin homoerotic poetry, Latin reading and research skills, fairy tales, and the theory and practice of literary translation (from Latin and Greek into Dutch, see https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631020000392 and https://www.cliv.be/nl/o...).
He sits on the editorial board of JOLCEL (Journal of Latin Cosmopolitanism and European Literatures, https://jolcel.ugent.be/) and previously served as research coordinator of the international platform RELICS (Researchers of European Literary Identity, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools, https://relicsresearch.com/). He is also active as a literary translator of Latin poetry and prose. (update 23/3/2023)
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Articles and book chapters by Stijn Praet
Keynote speakers: Jack Zipes (University of Minnesota), Cristina Bacchilega (University of Hawai'i), Ute Heidmann (University of Lausanne, European Institute of the University of Geneva)
Abstract: Ever since its early beginnings, psychoanalysis has let itself be inspired by the knowledge that was supposedly to be found in (pre)literary genres like the myth and the fairy tale. However, in time the tables were turned and its theories were systematically and rigorously applied to every story at hand, no different with the fairy tale. After Freud had first set the example in 1913 in two of his articles, Freudians and Jungians alike became convinced they could use psychoanalytic theory to penetrate the true heart of the tale. For a long time, the elaborate interpretations made by Bruno Bettelheim and Marie-Louize Von Franz were quite influential. But although their orthodox methods have indeed made a considerable contribution to our understanding of the fairy tale, they are nonetheless flawed on various levels. Therefore, it may be time to search for new ways to approach the fairy tale from a psychoanalytic perspective, for instance in corroboration with socio-historicism or by a well-aimed exploration of Lacanian theory.
Books by Stijn Praet
Reviews by Stijn Praet
Keynote speakers: Jack Zipes (University of Minnesota), Cristina Bacchilega (University of Hawai'i), Ute Heidmann (University of Lausanne, European Institute of the University of Geneva)
Abstract: Ever since its early beginnings, psychoanalysis has let itself be inspired by the knowledge that was supposedly to be found in (pre)literary genres like the myth and the fairy tale. However, in time the tables were turned and its theories were systematically and rigorously applied to every story at hand, no different with the fairy tale. After Freud had first set the example in 1913 in two of his articles, Freudians and Jungians alike became convinced they could use psychoanalytic theory to penetrate the true heart of the tale. For a long time, the elaborate interpretations made by Bruno Bettelheim and Marie-Louize Von Franz were quite influential. But although their orthodox methods have indeed made a considerable contribution to our understanding of the fairy tale, they are nonetheless flawed on various levels. Therefore, it may be time to search for new ways to approach the fairy tale from a psychoanalytic perspective, for instance in corroboration with socio-historicism or by a well-aimed exploration of Lacanian theory.
This talk problematizes popular understandings of the fairy tale as an “Einfache Form” and monolithic genre by laying bare the complex intergeneric play in the marvellous writings of Giambattista Basile and Charles Perrault as they position themselves, each in their own specific way, vis à vis their classical Latin heritage and some of its typifying literary genres.
Men hoort wel eens beweren dat sprookjes tijdloos zouden zijn, en dat zij al bestaan sinds de mens is begonnen met verhalen vertellen. Maar is dat wel zo? Hebben de Romeinen bijvoorbeeld sprookjes gekend? Om een antwoord te kunnen bieden op deze vraag werpen we eerst een kijkje op de verhaalcollectie die mee aan de grondslag lig van zowel het populaire beeld als de wetenschappelijke benaderingen die de voorbije twee eeuwen rond het sprookje zijn opgetrokken: Jacob en Wilhelm Grimms "Kinder- und Hausmärchen" ("Vertelling voor kind en huisgezin", 1812-1857). Daaruit zal meteen ook blijken in welke mate we dat beeld nog mogen hanteren als maatstaf voor verder onderzoek. Gewapend met deze kennis richten we ons vervolgens op het al dan niet bestaan van Latijnse sprookjes in de Oudheid. In een tweede beweging gaan we ook na welke rol de Latijnse traditie heeft gespeeld in de literaire sprookjestraditie zoals die zich begint te ontwikkelen vanaf de Vroegmoderne Tijd. Daarbij zal Apuleius’ verhaal van “Amor en Psyche” (2de eeuw n.C.) centraal staan.
Precies tweehonderd jaar geleden publiceerden Jacob en Wilhelm Grimm de eerste editie van hun 'Kinder- und Hausmärchen', de beroemde collectie sprookjes en andere verhalen die volgens hen afkomstig waren van ‘het gewone volk’ en van generatie op generatie mondeling waren overgeleverd. Maar hoeveel blijft er van dit Romantische idee nog over na twee eeuwen sprookjesonderzoek? In dit college werpen we een kijkje in het sprookjesatelier van de gebroeders Grimm: hoe gingen zij te werk bij het herschrijven van oudere literaire teksten om hen te doen passen in hun visie op het ‘authentieke’ volkssprookje? Daarbij wordt bijzondere aandacht besteed aan ‘Das Eselein’ (‘Het ezeltje’), over een lierspelende ezel die moet trouwen om een knappe prins te worden. De Grimms bewerkten hiervoor een verhalend Latijns gedicht uit de Middeleeuwen, ‘Asinarius’ (‘Het verhaal van de ezel’). Vervolgens kijken we ook naar dit oorspronkelijke gedicht: gaat het hier eigenlijk wel om een sprookje? En hadden de gebroeders Grimm het bij het rechte eind toen zij dachten dat zij onder het vernis van deze literaire tekst een volksverhaal hadden aangetroffen?
Sinds haar prille begin heeft de psychoanalyse zich laten inspireren door de kennis die zij meende terug te vinden in (pre)literaire genres als de mythe en het sprookje. Na verloop van tijd draaide zij de rollen echter om en paste haar theorieën systematisch toe op alle verhalen die zij onder handen nam, en dat was niet anders met het sprookje. Nadat Freud de teneur daarvoor had gezet in twee artikels uit 1913 volgden zowel de freudianen als de jungianen in de overtuiging dat zij met de psychoanalyse konden doordringen tot de ware kern van het sprookje. Toonaangevend waren lange tijd de uitgebreide sprookjesinterpretaties van Bruno Bettelheim en Marie-Louize Von Franz.Maar hoewel hun orthodoxe aanpak wel degelijk een bijdrage heeft geleverd aan ons begrip van het sprookje, schieten zij op een aantal vlakken toch tekort. Daarom is het tijd om op zoek te gaan naar nieuwe manieren om vanuit de psychoanalyse het sprookje te benaderen, bijvoorbeeld in samenwerking met het socio-historisch onderzoek of door een doelgerichte ontginning van de theorieën van Lacan.
- SAMPLE DOWNLOAD OF DISSERTATION AVAILABLE
This doctoral dissertation aims to transcend certain traditional assumptions that Latin fairy tale-like texts from the premodern period are the mere transcriptions or adaptations of pre-existing folktales. To this purpose, it situates these texts more firmly within their contemporary literary contexts, laying bare their strongly intertextual character. While some Latin “fairy tales” appear to have originated primarily from a creative dialogue with texts from the Latin tradition (as well as vernacular literatures), others actively partake in metaliterary discussions on the nature and desirable functioning of fiction and the marvellous in literature. Meanwhile, several of these texts and others from the Latin tradition have exercised a notable influence on the fairy-tale genre as it developed from Early Modernity onwards. These three topics of intertextual composition, metaliterary significance, and fairy-tale reconfigurations are explored extensively here through a number of case studies, pertaining to Apuleius’ tale of “Cupid and Psyche” (2nd c. AD), the anonymous “Asinarius”-poem (ca. 1200), John of Alta Silva’s “Cygni” 1184-(1212) and “De filio forestarii” from the "Gesta Romanorum" (13th-14th c.).