Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing:

Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe

Volume 7

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Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe examines so far mostly unstudied ‘non-occidental’ pre-modern hagiographic texts across disciplines with both philological and narratological approaches. Texts that recount the life of a saint have been labelled ‘hagiography’ and such works have been employed as sources for historical or literary research. However, a text-based definition of the term, not to mention a confirmation of its use on the basis of wider examinations across cultures is still wanting. Furthermore, the analysis with the methodological devices offered by narratology is only in its beginnings. This volume aims to be a step on this way: eleven contributors examine texts from Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism in the respective source lan-guages. Works studied include the Christian hagiography of Anthony or St. Brigit of Ireland, narrative texts about Tibetan Buddhist masters such as Milarepa or the Eighth Karmapa-hierarch, Sino-Tibetan Communist ‘hagiographies’, Persian Sufi monographs, Turco-Persian hagiographies and Hasidic legends. A comprehensive introduction outlines hagiographic life writing; an outlook develops some definitions and suggests a scheme of analysis for future research.

Jim Rheingans has studied Tibetology (as a major), along with Classical Indology and Ethnology, and received his Magister Artium 2004 in Tibetan Studies at Hamburg University. Jim completed his doctorate on “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life and his Interpretation of the Great Seal” in 2008. After a year of postdoctoral research at Hamburg, he was a post-doctorate for teaching and research in Tibetan Studies at the University of Bonn. Since 2011 he has worked for his DFG-project on the origin and transmission of a Tibetan textual corpus at Hamburg University. Among his research interests are Tibetan literary genres, history, and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Recent publications include “Narratives of Reincarnation” (in Lives Lived ed. L. Covill, U. Rösler and S. Shaw, Wisdom: 2010) and “Communicating the Innate” (IABU: 2012). Stephan Conermann was born 1964 in Kiel/Germany. Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn/Germany since 2003, he has served as Vice Dean of Research and International Relations of the Faculty of Humanities at Bonn University (2008–2010), and Speaker of the Bonn Asia Center (since 2008), the Bonn Center for Transcultural Narratology (BZTN, since 2009), and the Bonn International Graduate School of Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS, since 2010). He studied Ancient, Early Modern, Modern and Asian History, as well as Slavic and Oriental Philology, at the University of Kiel, and took multiple language courses and study visits in Beirut/Lebanon, Damas-cus/Syria, Moscow/Russia, and Poznan/Poland. He did his doctoral studies at the Department of Oriental Studies at Kiel University from 1992 till 1996, and was afterwards a Research Assistant and Assistant Professor until 2003.

Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing:

Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe

EB-Verlag

NARRATIO ALIENA?Published by Stephan Conermann

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THE EDITORS

Stephan Conermann, Jim Rheingans (Eds.)

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STUDIEN DES BONNER ZENTRUMS FÜR TRANSKULTURELLE NARRATOLOGIE

Stephan Conermann, Jim Rheingans (Eds.)

Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing:

Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe

BERLIN

EBVERLAG

Editor Stephan Conermann(Dept of Islamic Studies)

Narratio Aliena?

Volume 7

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Maria Susanna Cipolletti (Dept of Ancient American Studies) AmrEl Hawary (DeptofEgyptology) MarionGymnich (DeptofModernEnglishLiteraturealsCulturalStudies) KonradKlaus (DeptofIndology) LudwigMorenz (DeptofEgyptology) HaraldMeyer (DeptofJapanologyandKoreanStudies) Eva Orthmann (Dept of Islamic Studies) PeterSchwieger (DeptofMongolianStudiesandTibetanStudies)

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5Contents

Contents

Introduction

Stephan Conermann & Jim Rheingans Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: An Introduction ..................................................................................... 7

Christianity

Peter Gemeinhardt ChristianHagiographyandNarratology:A Fresh Approach to Late Antique Live of Saints .................................. 21

Leyla Telli NarrativeAnalysisofBethuBrigte ........................................................ 43

Michael Roth Religiousness and the Language of Religion inTheologicalPerspective ..................................................................... 59

Buddhism

Jim Rheingans NarratologyinBuddhistStudies:DialoguesaboutMeditationinaTibetanHagiography .................................................... 69

Ulrike Roesler Operas,Novels,andReligiousInstructions:Life-storiesofTibetanBuddhistMastersbetweenGenreClassifications ................................... 113

6 Contents

Marta Sernesi APrayertotheCompleteLiberationofMilaraspa ............................. 141

Peter Schwieger HybridTibetan“Hagiographies”ofthePeople’sRepublicofChina ...... 187

Islam

Jürgen Paul ConstructingtheFriendsofGod:Sadidal-DinGhaznavi’sMaqāmāt-iŽinda-pīl(withsomeremarksonIbnMunawwar’sAsrāral-tawḥīd) ..................................................................................... 205

Anna Kollatz TheCreationofaSaintEmperor:RetracingNarrativeStrategiesofMughalLegitimationandRepresentationinMajālis-iJahāngīrībyʿAbdal-Sattārb.QāsimLāhōrī(ca.1608–11) .................................. 227

Şevket Küçükhüseyin On Normative and Formative Aspects of Turko-PersianMuslimHagiographyandtheprospectsof Narratological Approaches ................................................................ 267

Judaism

Susanne Talabardon Cross-Reading Hasidic Legends ............................................................. 281

Outlook

Stephan Conermann, Jim Rheingans Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: AnOutlook ............................................................................................ 305

Authors .................................................................................................. 311

7Narrative patterns and genre in hagiographic life writing

Introduction

Narrative patterns and genre in hagiographiclifewriting:anintroduction

byStephan Conermann & Jim Rheingans

Influenced by the study of Christianmedieval saints, researchers have la-belledtextsthatnarratethelifeofasaint“hagiography”;andweassumethatthesetextsgenerallyformanarrativetexttypeinwhichcertainelementsofthelifeofasaintareincluded.Asamatterofcourse,theterm“hagiography”hasthusbeenusedfrequentlyforpre-moderntextsalsointhewiderfieldofOrientalandAsianstudiesandsuchworkshavebeenemployedassourcesforhistorical researchorstudiesof literarycorpora.However,wearestillinneedofaclosertext-baseddefinitionoftheterm,nottomentionacon-firmationofitsuseonthebasisofexaminingawiderrangeoftextsacrosscultures.Furthermore,thethoroughanalysiswiththevariousmethodologicaldevicesofferedbynarratologyisonlyinitsbeginnings.Thisvolumeaimstobeasteponthewaytoexamininghagiographyanditsuseasacross-culturalcategory.Thefocusisonuncoveringnarrativepatternsandgenreacrosstextsandcultures;thisentailsacharacterisationoffunctionsofhagiographiesandhighlightinghowcertainfunctionsarerealisedthroughnarrativestrategies.Theelevencontributorscomefromvariousdisciplinesandstudyhagiogra-phies(orlifewriting)fromChristianity,Buddhism,IslamandJudaism.ThebasisforthisbookwasaconferenceattheUniversityofHamburg,organisedbytheeditorsandhostedbytheUniversityofHamburg,CenterforBuddhistStudies and theUniversity of Bonn, Center for TransculturalNarratology.Thisintroductionwilloutlinetheconceptofthehagiographyasanarrativegenreandbrieflypresenttheindividualpapers.Anoutlookattheendofthisvolumewillfurthersummarisetheoutcomeofthisexaminationanddevelopaschemeofatransculturalanalysisforhagiographies,alongwithdiscussingpossibleavenuesforfutureresearch.

8 Stephan Conermann & Jim Rheingans 9Narrative patterns and genre in hagiographic life writing

SomeRemarksonHagiographyandCulture

As Birgit Neumann andAnsgarNünning have pointed out, narratives areomnipresentinthatthey“areatworkinorderingexperiences,negotiatingcollective values, constructing versions of the past, generating knowledgeandstabilisingidentities.”1Narrativetexts–suchashagiographies–arein-variablyanexpressionofculturalself-perceptionandself-thematisation. IfonedefinescultureaccordingtoNünning/Sommer(2004)(basedonPosner1991)as thecorrelationofmaterial, socialandmentalphenomenawithinaparticularsociety, theanalysisof themesand literary formsthatmarkaspecificgenreorperiodmayshedsome lightonthementaldispositionoftherespectivesociety.Toexplorethismentaldimensionbymeansofliterarycriticismhenceattemptstoreconstructtheoverallsystemofvalues,norms,worldviewsandcollectivevisionsshapedbycultureandexpressed(mani-fested)inacondensedforme.g.innarrativetexts.2 Inthecontextofsuchanexploration,thekeyquestionswouldinclude:Howcansuchatextbedefinedinrelationtothediscoursesandtheknowledgeofasociety?Howdotextsofaspecificmediumorgenrereflectthesocio-culturalknowledgeofitstime,andwhichpurposedidtheyserveinsociety?Inthisview,hagiographiesareasuccinctexpressionofculturethatal-

lows for observing societies and drawing conclusions about specificmen-talities.3Thestudyofliterarymodesthroughtransculturalnarratologythusprovides insight into the mental processes of appropriating and constructing reality.We,however,agreewithErll/Roggendorf(2002)thathagiographiesdonotmimicsocialrealitywithrespecttotheliteraryproductionofnarrativetextsnorwithregardtoculturalperception(howculturewasperceived);4 a directcause-and-effectrelationshipcannotbeassumed.Hagiographiesratherarticulate individual and collective empirical realities and reconstruct these bywayofexampleandsignificantlyaffectthesymbolicworldofmeaninginasociety.Inthiswayhagiographieslargelycaptureelementsoriginatingfromtheimagination,experienceandknowledgeofasociety–althoughtheseele-mentsoftheculturalarchivearetakenfromitsinitialcontextandaretherebyfundamentallyalteredduringtheprocessofnarrativepresentation.Aratherhybridgenrelikehagiographieswoulddowelltoberesearchedbymeansof

1 Neumann/Nünning2011:8.2 Cf.Nünning2000.3 SeeChatman1990aswellasBaßler1995and2005.4 InthiscontextoneshouldmentionErnst2000andErll/Roggendorf2002.

comparativestudiesandanalysedwithregardtothehistoricalfunctionofitsspecificgenrememoryandcritique.Havingsaidthat,analysingnon-occiden-tal5hagiographieswithregardtotheirnarrativepatternsandtextualgenresaswell as their capability of creatingmeaning seems to be aworthwhileundertaking.Hagiographieshavetwofacets:(a)theyrepresentapartofthematerialcultureinwhichthoughtpatterns,imaginationandtheconstructionofrealitycondense.Wecanthusdrawinferencesabouttheknowledgesys-temsfromthetexts.(b)Hagiographiesalsogeneratespecificliterary“waysofworldmaking”(Goodman1978)andparticipateactivelyintheprocessesofthesocialformationofmeanings.Theconsiderationofnarrativemodesofrepresentationinrelationtothehistoricalcontextcanthusprovideaccesstowell-foundedhypothesesaboutthefunctionofhagiographies.Onasuperor-dinatelevelapossiblereconstructionofhistoricalgenealogiesandtypologiesofhagiographiesisatstake.Inthisvolume,wewouldliketostartfromthebasiclevelup,i.e.reflectaboutgenreandtextualtype,thefunctionofhagiog-raphiesandhowtheyaremanifestinnarrativeandself-reflectivestrategies.

AnalysingHagiographyasaTransculturalCategoryandNarrativeText

Whatthenarenarratives,whatisnarratology,andwhatisahagiography?There aremanifold definitions of narrative and narrativity: when talkingabout“narrativetexts”wefollowWeber(1998).Accordingtothebasicno-tionofnarrative,anarrativetextis:(1.)Aserialcommunicationoftemporar-ilyspecificstatesoffacts,(2.)alwaysaboutsomethingthatisnotactual,(3.)hastwopointsofreference–thenarratorandhis/herworldandthosethatarenarratedabout,(4.)isaddressed,(5.)is“expoundedreporting”(“entfal-tendesErzählen”),(6.)doesusuallynotonlyconsistofnarrating(coreele-mentsofanarrativearenarrative-recounteddiscourseandoptionallydirectandindirectspeech;sideelementsarefurtherdiscourseaboutthenarratedtopicsorbecauseofthenarratedtopicsaswellasdiscourseaboutdiscourseandthediscursivesituation).WealsoagreewithWeberinthatthesecrite-riaapplytoanynarrativeinanyliterature.6Inadditiontothedefinitionby

5 Withtheterm“nonoccidental”wedonotwishtocategoricallyex-orincludeacertaingroupoftexts–withthistermweonlywishtoemphasisethatourtextsdonotfitthe“occidental”canonoftexts,whichhaveusuallybeenemployedinnarratology.

6 SeeWeber1998:8,10.

10 Stephan Conermann & Jim Rheingans 11Narrative patterns and genre in hagiographic life writing

Weber,narrationandnarrativetextreferstoasequenceofsigns(a“text”),whichrepresentsasuccessionofevents(a“story”).Narratologyisthusthetheoryofnarrative.7Ithasdevelopeditselaboratesetoftoolsonthebasisofanalysingliteraryfiction,butduetotheselectivenatureofanynarrativeithasbeenexpandedtoanynarrative,amongothersbiographies.8Thetheoryofnarrativeandthesystematicallydevelopedparametersfortheanalysisofnarrativesconjoininone“scienceofstorytelling”.Wellbeyondliterarystud-ies,narratologycanbeappliedwherevercommunicationandculturalmani-festationtakeplaceintheformofstories.Thusnarrativescanbedefinedasanthropologicallypredetermined,culturallydevelopedanddiversifiedbasicpatternstogenerateorientationandmeaningintheworld.Atafirstglance,the abovementioned criteria fornarrativitymay indeedapply towhatweintuitively consider a hagiography – and narrativity can also be found invariousdefinitionsofhagiographictexts.Althoughitisprimarilyanaimofthisbooktoelaborateonthesedefinitionsinthefollowingpapersandintheoutlook,letusbeginwithaworking-definitionofhagiography.Kleine,whohasexaminedwhatwewouldcallnon-occidentaltexts,distinguishes:

i. Content:awrittenaccountofthelifeandworksofasaint.ii. Aim(primary):thereligiousedificationandthepropagationofthecult

of the saint.iii. Form:descriptivenarrativetextwithachronological-successiveplot.9

DuringarecentcourseonBuddhisthagiographies,oneoftheeditors–to-getherwiththestudents–examinedsomeBuddhisthagiographiesfromIn-dia,China,Korea,andTibetandexpandedthedefinitiontoincludeBuddhistlifewriting:

i. Content:personofreligiousachievementsportrayedafterBuddhistidealsintherespectiveculturalcontext.

ii. Aim:legitimationof(theunbroken)transmissionandreligiousedifica-tion.

iii. Form: a narrative-descriptive text with amaturing plot and predeter-minedsuccessionalmotivesthatthetraditionregardsasbeingfactual.

7 UsefulintroductionsareBal1997,Nünning2002,Nünning/Nünning2002,Kindt/Müller2003,Fludernik2006,Schönert2006andMartinez/Scheffel2007.

8 Klein 2009.9 Kleine 2010: 13.

Obviously,thetextswefindinthevariousliteraturesarediverse,andwhetherandhowallofusconsiderhagiographytobenarrativesisleftforthepapershereandfutureresearchtodetermine.Beitasitmay,whileinthemoderntextualtraditionsasharpdistinctionbetweenautobiographies,biographiesandhagiographiesispredominant,thisdivideisincreasinglyputtoquestioninpostmodernism.Theepistemologicalchallengehagiographiespresentbe-came even more pronounced through the poststructuralist and postmodern critiqueoflanguage,selfhoodandhistoricalnarratives.Nomatterwhetherahagiographyiscomposedbytheprotagonist,aghost-writer,chronicler,amanofletters,saint,scholarorjournalist,italwaysconsistsofaperson’slifeputintowords–thusonealsospeaksof“lifewriting”(andwehavedecidedtouse “hagiographic lifewriting” in the title to thisbook).10 More recent approachesinmemoryresearch11havequestionedeventheauthenticityofone’sownhagiographyastheoneclosesttothesubjectandmostintrinsic(aswasstilltobefoundinthephenomelogicaltraditionbasedonDilthey1883). Evenone’sownstory,construedthroughtheactofmemory,istoldthroughthemediumoflanguageandisthereforelimitedbyit.Recollectionsinthesense of a coherent (and meaningful) narrative correspond to the trade of a biographer,historianorhagiographer.Thedifferencebetweenthemisonlygradualinnature,i.e.dependssolelyonthedegreeofreferentialitythetextestablishestorealityratherthanontheproximitytotheintrinsic.Inherentinourtextsaretheinterpretationsofthosepiecesofinformationandknowl-edgethatwereavailabletotherespective‘editor’duringhisorhertime.Theabovementionedreferentialitybringsustoafurtherdistinctionthatisworthconsideringforhagiographies:GérardGenette(1990)hasdistinguishedbe-tween factualandfictionalnarratives.12 It remains tobeexamined in thisvolume towhichextenthagiographies canbe considered factual texts:Bytheirclaimtorealityand“referentiality”,factualnarrativesdepictaneventthatthereaderbasicallyissupposedtoassumeistrue.Ontheotherhand,the unlimited representation of internal processes as often seen in hagiogra-phiesisconsideredasignpostoffictionality(wemayfurtherfindoutthatthedivideoffactandfictionitselfmaybefairlyrelativeculturally).13 Although factualtextsdonotrelatetofictionalcharacters,objectsandevents,theymay–andthisiscrucial–beliteraryandhencepossesstheirownpoeticity.They

10 For“LifeWriting”,seeJolly2001andEakin2004.11 Cf.Erll2005aandb,Erll/Gymnich/Nünning2003andErll/Nünning2004.12 Foranelaboratediscussionoffactualandfictionalnarratives,seeFludernik2001.13 SeeNeumann/Nünning2011:24.

12 Stephan Conermann & Jim Rheingans

maybeunderstoodasnarrativemodelsofreality,aslinguisticallyacquired,constructiveblueprintsofunderstanding.Ontheonehand,realityprovestobetoolittleforliteraryprocessing:interpretativeconnectionsandthecrea-tionofcoherencesmoothesthedeficiencyoftheactual.Ontheotherhand,realityalsoturnsouttobetoomuch:todescribethetotalityofevenasinglemomentisimpossible.Hencethereistheneedtochoosesothat,giventheprincipleofselection,aconfusingandmeaninglessentropycanbeconveyedintoasensiblewhole.Wecanthenexaminepreciselythosechoicesinordertoidentifyanddescribeaninventoryofnarrativestrategiesandtechniquesinhagiographies.14Inordertoavoidanoverlytheoreticdiscussion,weconsideritmostimportanttostartoutwiththeexaminationofconcreteinstancesofnon-occidental pre-modern texts, and are therefore very pleasedwith thepapers contained in this volume.

AboutthisBook

Theindividualstudiesofhagiographiesaresubsumedunderthevariedre-ligions that are usually also connected to a certain geographical location:Christianity,Buddhism,Islam,andJudaism.Althoughanothercategorisationwouldbeequallyapplicable,thecategoryofreligiouscultureseemedtobethemostaccessiblefortheinterestedreader.Astheterm“hagiography”wasfirstcoinedforthestudyofChristiansaints’

lives,thefirstpartisaboutChristianity:InChristian Hagiography and Narratol-ogy, Peter GemeinharddemonstratestheoutcomeofapplyingnarratologicalmethodstoChristianhagiographicaltexts,focusingonlateAntiquehagiogra-phies such as The Life of Anthony and The Life of St. Elizabeth. After pointing outthemanywaysasaintcanbeveneratedapartfromhagiographies(suchasliturgicaltextsandwallpaintings,someofwhichcanpotentiallybeana-lysedwithnarratology)hesuggestsemployingthenotionof“hagiographicaldiscourse”(insteadof“genre”)inordertoconsiderthe(partlynon-narrative)literary,socialandespeciallyreligiouscontexts.Usingthestructuralistmod-

14 Klein (2009:204)pointsout thatwithnarratologicalanalysisofbiographies, “...wirdalsoausschließlichdieFunktionalisierungderMotiveimKontextderErzäh-lungrekonstruiert.GegenstandderAnalyseistalleindienarrativeVertextungdesLebensundnichtetwadasLebenselbst–manerfährtalsonichtsdarüber,inwieweiteinerbestimmtenHandlung tatsächlicheBedeutung imLebendesBiographiertenzukommt,sondernnur,onderBiographsieihrzuschreibt.”

311Authors

Authors

Stephan Conermannwasborn1964inKiel/Germany.ProfessorofIslamicStudiesattheUniversityofBonn/Germanysince2003,hehasservedasViceDeanofResearchandInternationalRelationsoftheFacultyofHumanitiesatBonnUniversity(2008–2010),andSpeakeroftheBonnAsiaCenter(since2008), theBonnCenter forTransculturalNarratology(BZTN,since2009),and the Bonn International Graduate School of Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS, since 2010). He studied Ancient, Early Modern, Modern andAsianHistory,aswellasSlavicandOrientalPhilology,attheUniversityofKiel,andtookmultiplelanguagecoursesandstudyvisitsinBeirut/Lebanon,Damascus/Syria,Moscow/Russia, andPoznan/Poland.HedidhisdoctoralstudiesattheDepartmentofOrientalStudiesatKielUniversityfrom1992till1996,andwasafterwardsaResearchAssistantandAssistantProfessoruntil 2003.

ŞevketKüçükhüseyin studied Political Science, Islamic Studies and Com-parativeReligiousStudiesat theUniversityofBonn.HisPhDdissertation,entitled“Selbst-undFremdwahrnehmungimProzesskulturellerTransforma-tion(PerceptionsofSelfandtheOtherintheProcessofCulturalTransforma-tion”wasdevotedtotheparadigmsofperceptionandinterpretationusedinAnatolian Islamic narrative sources of the 13th–15thcenturies.Presentlyheis a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Islamic Religious Stud-ies at theUniversity of Erlangen-Nürnberg and amember of the researchnetwork“TransculturalEntanglementintheMedievalEuro-Mediterranean,500–1500”.ŞevketKüçükhüseyinspecializesintheregionalhistoryofMus-lim Anatolia, Turco-Persian historiography and hagiography, and Muslimconceptsofsanctity.

Anna KollatzstudiedIslamicHistory,ArabicStudiesandPoliticalScienceat theMartin-Luther-UniversitätHalle-Wittenberg from2003 to2011.Shethen started her PhD project at the BIGS-OAS (Bonn International Gradu-ate Schools-Oriental andAsian Studies), specializing in Iranian/Persianatestudies.Since2013,shehascontinuedthisworkasaresearchassociateattheRheinischische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, as part of the re-searchproject“InspirationundTradition–SynkretismusamMogulhofunter

312 Authors 313Authors

Ǧahāngīr und seineDarstellung inMaǧālis-iǦahāngīrī (ca. 1608–11) vonʿAbdal-Sattārb.QāsimLāhōrī”,fundedbytheDFG.

JürgenPaulisProfessorofIslamicStudiesatHalleUniversity(since1995).HehasstudiedPersianhagiographyofCentralAsiasincehisDie politische und soziale Bedeutung der Naqšbandiyya in Zentralasien im 15. Jahrhundert (Berlin: deGruyter,1991)andhaspublishedontheCentralAsianKhwājagān/Naqsh-bandiyyasincethen.HisrecentpublicationsincludeDoctrine and Organiza-tion: The Khwājagān-Naqshbandiyya in the First Generation After Bahāᵓuddīn (Berlin1998)and “TheKhwājagānatHeratduringShāhrukh’s reign”, inİlkerEvrimBinbaş,NurtenKılıç-Schubel(eds.):Horizons of the World: Fest-schrift for İsenbike Togan.İstanbul2011,217–250.

Jim Rheinganshas studiedTibetology (as amajor), alongwithClassicalIndologyandEthnology,andreceivedhisMagisterArtium2004inTibetanStudiesatHamburgUniversity.Jimcompletedhisdoctorateon“TheEighthKarmapa’sLifeandhisInterpretationoftheGreatSeal”(UWEBristol,fundedbyBathSpaUniversity)in2008.AfterayearofpostdoctoralresearchatHam-burg,hewasapost-doctorateforteachingandresearchinTibetanStudiesattheUniversityofBonn.Since2011hehasworkedforhisDFG-projectontheoriginandtransmissionofaTibetantextualcorpusatHamburgUniversity.AmonghisresearchinterestsareTibetanliterarygenres,history,andIndo-TibetanBuddhism.Recentpublicationsinclude“NarrativesofReincarnation”(in Lives Lived ed.L.Covill,U.RöslerandS.Shaw, Wisdom:2010)and“Com-municatingtheInnate”(IABU:2012).

UlrikeRösler isAssociateProfessor inTibetanandHimalayanStudiesattheUniversityofOxford.SheobtainedherPhDinIndianStudiesfromtheUniversityofMuensterandherHabilitationinTibetanStudiesfromtheUni-versityofMunich.HerresearchinterestsincludeIndo-TibetanBuddhism,theKadampa tradition of TibetanBuddhism, narrative literature, andTibetanlife-writing.Hermostrecentbookpublicationsare“LivesLived,LivesImag-ined:BiographyintheBuddhistTraditions”,ed.byL.Covill,U.RöslerandS.Shaw,Boston:WisdomPublications2010,and“FrüheQuellenzumbud-dhistischenStufenweginTibet.IndischeundtibetischeElementeimdPechosdesPo-to-baRin-chen-gsal”.Wiesbaden:ReichertVerlag2011.

Michael Roth(born1968)isaLutherantheologianandanAdjunctProfessorofSystematicTheologyattheUniversityofBonn(since2006).HeattendedtheUniversityofTübingen,aswellastheUniversityofBonn,wherehealsoreceivedhisdoctorate (1997). In2006Roth completedhishabilitation insystematictheologyfromtheUniversityofBonn.Hismajorareasofresearchand teaching are philosophical and theological anthropology, apologetics,hermeneutics,systematictheologyinthe19thand20thcentury,andtheoriesof ethics.

Peter SchwiegerisProfessorofTibetanStudiesatBonnUniversityinGer-many.HispublicationscovertheliteratureoftheTibetanNyingmaSchool,Tibetandiplomatics,LadakhiandEastTibetanhistory,Tibetanoral litera-ture,andthegrammarofTibetanlanguage.CurrentlyhedoesresearchonthepoliticalandsocialhistoryofTibetansocieties.

Marta SernesireceivedheracademictraininginTibetanandBuddhistStud-iesinItalyandFrance,andsince2009isaresearchassociateatLMUMunich.HerworkfocusesonTibetanandHimalayanreligion,history,andliterature.Hermainfieldsofinterestincludetantriclineagesandpractices,historicalandbiographicalwriting,thehistoryofthebookinTibet,andthereceptionofBuddhismintheWest.ShehasworkedinparticularonthereligioushistoryandthetextualproductionofthebKa’brgyudpas,andiscurrentlycarryingouttheproject“HistoryandXylographyinSouth-WesternTibet”sponsoredbytheGermanResearchCouncil.

Susanne Talabardon,borninBerlin(EastGermany),studiedProtestantthe-ologyatHumboldt-University/Berlin.ShereceivedherPhD.(Theology/OldTestament)in1996,withadoctoraldissertationentitled‘MosheasaProphet:HistoryandDevelopmentofanIdeafromBibletotheMidrashha-Gadol’.ShecompletedherHabilitationinReligiousStudiesandJewishStudiesin2002,withastudyonEasternEuropeanJewishhagiography.From1997to2008shewasaLectureratPotsdamUniversity,teachingthehistoryofJewishandChristianreligion(s).SincethenshehasservedasProfessorofJewishStud-iesattheOtto-Friedrich-UniversityinBamberg.HermainresearchinterestsincludethehistoryofEastEuropeanHasidism(especiallythemodernera),comparativehagiography(namelyJewishandChristian),comparativeexege-sis, andJewishexegesisandhermeneutics.

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LeylaTellicompletedherMastersdegreeinCelticStudiesatBonnUniver-sity,whereherminorfieldswereIslamicStudiesandEnglishLiterature.HerMastersthesiswasacomparativeanalysisofthevariousvitaeofSt Brigit.Inthiswork,shecomparedthesetextstothemainliteraryandstylisticfeaturesofcontinentalvitaeoftheearlyMiddleAges,suggestingwaysinwhichtheyadheredtoordifferedfromtheidealsofcontemporaryChristiantexts.

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Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe examines so far mostly unstudied ‘non-occidental’ pre-modern hagiographic texts across disciplines with both philological and narratological approaches. Texts that recount the life of a saint have been labelled ‘hagiography’ and such works have been employed as sources for historical or literary research. However, a text-based definition of the term, not to mention a confirmation of its use on the basis of wider examinations across cultures is still wanting. Furthermore, the analysis with the methodological devices offered by narratology is only in its beginnings. This volume aims to be a step on this way: eleven contributors examine texts from Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism in the respective source lan-guages. Works studied include the Christian hagiography of Anthony or St. Brigit of Ireland, narrative texts about Tibetan Buddhist masters such as Milarepa or the Eighth Karmapa-hierarch, Sino-Tibetan Communist ‘hagiographies’, Persian Sufi monographs, Turco-Persian hagiographies and Hasidic legends. A comprehensive introduction outlines hagiographic life writing; an outlook develops some definitions and suggests a scheme of analysis for future research.

Jim Rheingans has studied Tibetology (as a major), along with Classical Indology and Ethnology, and received his Magister Artium 2004 in Tibetan Studies at Hamburg University. Jim completed his doctorate on “The Eighth Karmapa’s Life and his Interpretation of the Great Seal” in 2008. After a year of postdoctoral research at Hamburg, he was a post-doctorate for teaching and research in Tibetan Studies at the University of Bonn. Since 2011 he has worked for his DFG-project on the origin and transmission of a Tibetan textual corpus at Hamburg University. Among his research interests are Tibetan literary genres, history, and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Recent publications include “Narratives of Reincarnation” (in Lives Lived ed. L. Covill, U. Rösler and S. Shaw, Wisdom: 2010) and “Communicating the Innate” (IABU: 2012). Stephan Conermann was born 1964 in Kiel/Germany. Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn/Germany since 2003, he has served as Vice Dean of Research and International Relations of the Faculty of Humanities at Bonn University (2008–2010), and Speaker of the Bonn Asia Center (since 2008), the Bonn Center for Transcultural Narratology (BZTN, since 2009), and the Bonn International Graduate School of Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS, since 2010). He studied Ancient, Early Modern, Modern and Asian History, as well as Slavic and Oriental Philology, at the University of Kiel, and took multiple language courses and study visits in Beirut/Lebanon, Damas-cus/Syria, Moscow/Russia, and Poznan/Poland. He did his doctoral studies at the Department of Oriental Studies at Kiel University from 1992 till 1996, and was afterwards a Research Assistant and Assistant Professor until 2003.

Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing:

Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe

EB-Verlag

NARRATIO ALIENA?Published by Stephan Conermann

BERLIN

THE EDITORS

Stephan Conermann, Jim Rheingans (Eds.)

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STUDIEN DES BONNER ZENTRUMS FÜR TRANSKULTURELLE NARRATOLOGIE