Introduction

Abstract

The question of the author will probably be seen one day as a minor digression in the broader quarrel of the subject, which occupied many scholars during the second half of the twentieth century A. D.¹ Now that the quarrel of the subject seems to be over (or at least not to gather the polemical energy it used to attract), the question of the author may seem doomed to vanish in the purgatory of yesterday fashions. But the fact that the author is not in question or not a question any more may also reveal that we have gone beyond the stage of questioning and entered the stage of answering. Like other literary scholars, medievalists went through a phase of scepticism and submitted their authors (including the anonymous ones) to ontological doubt: “Did you even exist?” It never hurts to question one’s concepts, but few scholars can maintain an attitude of radical questioning for long. Today the question “What is an author?” and the sub-question “What is a medieval author?” do not keep many people awake at night and busy during day time. But the question “What does an author do?” and the sub-question “What did a medieval author do?” are regularly addressed in publications and talks, and given answers.