Sara Ehrling Moding
Senior Lecturer
Department of Languages andAbout Sara Ehrling Moding
Background
Most of my education at university level is from the University of Gothenburg, but I have also studied at Glasgow University and at Università degli Studi di Ferrara. I have also completed the teacher training programme at the University of Gothenburg and have worked as an upper secondary teacher in Latin and Swedish for many years. At the University, I have conducted research and taught to various extents since 2002.
Research
In the spring of 2011 I obtained my PhD from the University of Gothenburg after writing my doctoral thesis on Late Antique Latin wedding poems written in cento form. A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors. Cento poetry is still produced today. In my thesis I for example looked at what happens to a quotation when used in a new context, how the understanding of the new text is affected if we know the old, and how the old text is affected by the new. Questions related to genre, intertextuality and the relationship between cento and original text were of central importance.
I remain interested in Latin cento poetry but also in other Latin literature and the survival of the classical poets in latter-day writings.
Current research projects
Since January 2014, Britt-Marie Karlsson (French) and I are involved in a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council. The project is focused on the oldest available French prosaic translation of the first four books of the Aeneid. The translation was published in 1541 and appears to be the high point of French author Hélisenne de Crenne’s career. It was common at this time for female authors to use older influential works and make them their own, so to speak. In so doing the female authors could make space for their own creativity and at the same time gain access to the literary Parnassus. It is for example in this reception-historical context that de Crenne’s work will be explored. One thing that the three-year project is expected to result in is a modern critical edition of de Crenne’s version of Virgil’s Aeneid, including an introductory comment, a running commentary, an index of proper names and a glossary. We will also continuously relate the text to de Crenne’s earlier works, as well as to Virgil’s Aeneid and other works in the classical tradition.
Teaching
I have taught at all levels and in all courses in the first-cycle programme in Latin. What I like the most about teaching is being able to capture the interest of the students and see how they gradually begin to understand linguistic structures and views and thoughts conveyed in the texts. I am particularly engaged in cross-linguistic cooperation projects and the teacher training programme in Latin.