The Challenge of Wit - Multilingual Philology and the Meaning of Classifications

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The Challenge of Wit – Multilingual Philology and the Meaning of Classifications

Lecture by Till Dembeck (ULuxembourg)

Wit, as described in poetic theory at around 1800, is the operation of connecting words and concepts in unexpected ways. It is of particular importance when it comes to creative language use, as for example in puns. This presentation demonstrates how witty writing regularly overcomes the limits of ‘monolingualism’ even within the boundaries of apparent single languages. This result is then used to outline the programme of a ‘multilingual philology’ – a mode of working with literary texts that presupposes their inherent linguistic multiplicity and is sceptical of attempts to classify phenomena of literary multilingualism in any kind of typology.