Voices on Birchbark
Author | : Jos Schaeken |
Publisher | : BRILL |
Total Pages | : 230 |
Release | : 2018-11-05 |
ISBN-10 | : 9789004389427 |
ISBN-13 | : 9004389423 |
Rating | : 4/5 (423 Downloads) |
Download or read book Voices on Birchbark written by Jos Schaeken and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-11-05 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Voices on Birchbark Jos Schaeken explores the major role that writing on birchbark – an ephemeral, even ‘throw-away’ form of correspondence and administration – played in the vibrant medieval merchant city of Novgorod and other cities in the Russian Northwest. Birchbark literacy was crucial to the organization of Novgorodian society; it was integrated into a huge variety of activities and had a broad social basis; it was used extensively by the laity, by women as well as men, by villagers as well as landlords. Voices on Birchbark is the first book-length study of this unique corpus in English. By examining a representative selection of birchbark texts, Jos Schaeken presents fascinating vignettes of daily medieval life and a holistic picture of the pragmatics of communication in pre-modern societies.