SOURCE: "Homage to Roswitha," The Humanities Association Review, Vol. 29, No. 2, Spring, 1978, pp. 117-34.

In the following essay, Zaenker traces the literary influence and reception of Hroswitha's dramas in the contemporary era.

One could think of two immediate reasons why it appears timely to pay homage to Roswitha von Gandersheim, that mysterious Saxon poetess of the tenth century, and concern ourselves with her work and the impact it has had on European literature over the past centuries. On the one hand we could commemorate the 1000th anniversary of Roswitha's death which might well be any of these years. It is very convenient that the uncertain dates of her life offer us some leeway here. In fact, German literary circles bestowed on her two commemorative years in this century: in 1926 her 1000th birthday was celebrated, rightly or rather wrongly, and in 1973 the 1000th year of her death was commemorated through...