Volume 36 of ‘Studies in Manuscript Cultures’Manuscripts and Performances in Religions, Arts, and Sciences

5 December 2023

Photo: De Gruyter

Throughout history, manuscripts have been made and used for religious, artistic, and scientific performances. By focusing on the role manuscripts have in different kinds of performances, the new volume of SMC contributes to the evolving field of investigating written artefacts and their functions.

Manuscripts play an important role in many kinds of performance. Situated at the juncture between manuscript studies and performance studies, which is still a widely uncharted area, the new volume of the series Studies in Manuscript Cultures shows the various functions manuscripts can have in performances in a religious, artistic, and scientific context. Following different approaches, ranging from codicological, philological, and art-history methodologies to more ethnographical ones based on direct observation, the case studies presented in this volume unravel, explore, and study the complex processes in which performances are shaped by manuscripts and manuscripts are shaped by performances.  

Edited by Antonella Brita, Janina Karolewski, Matthieu Husson, Laure Miolo, and Hanna Wimmer, Manuscripts and Performances in Religions, Arts, and Sciences is structured in three parts. The first part focuses on manuscripts for performance, discussing manuscripts that are used backstage to prepare a performance or to record it once it is finished. The second part deals with manuscripts in performances, highlighting the ways in which manuscripts themselves can be essential parts of religious rituals, musical or theatrical performances, and scholarly research or teaching. Finally, the third part looks at manuscripts as performers: here, the focus is on situations in which the reading, handling, display, or even production of manuscripts makes them direct protagonists of a performance, rather than a mere medium used during the performance.

The research presented in this volume is the result of a collaboration between the CSMC and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL). Like all previous volumes of Studies in Manuscript Cultures, it is available open access and can be downloaded from our website.