Text, Kontext, Klartext

The Festschrift presents the results of the conference "Vestis variata. Texts and Structures - Motifs and Intertexts", which took place at the University of Bamberg on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the important classical philologist Niklas Holzberg. The focus is on the 'text', whose structure and motifs both constitute its unity and point beyond it: 'text' and 'context' interact via structural and genre elements as well as via topoi and motifs. Renowned classical philologists explain the complicated relationship between 'text' and 'context' - always in search of 'plain text'.

In other words, it is about those aspects of literary studies that Niklas Holzberg has focussed on during his long life as a researcher. The lectures by his colleagues, friends and students, which were held at the Bamberg conference and discussed in a variety of ways, are now collected here. They cover the entire spectrum of ancient and modern genres and authors: from the sayings of the Seven Wise Men to Sappho, Aristophanes, Longos, Catullus, Ovid, Martial and Juvenal to neo-Latin poetry and specialised literature. The anthology provides insights into the research work and offers stimulating reflections on the research achievements of the exceptional philologist Niklas Holzberg.