Textual production and status contests in rising and unstable societies

The present collection of essays is based on a workshop entitled "Polysystem theory and beyond", which took place in Venice on 4-5 October 2010. The original idea was to discuss the application of the polysystem theory and more recent work done by members of the Unit for Culture Research at Tel Aviv University primarily, but not exclusively, on medieval textual production. Despite the huge impact that the polysystem theory has had since its first formulation in the late 1970s on translation studies around the world, it has received much less attention in medieval studies, even though translation has long been one of the major research topics for scholars dealing with the literary and linguistic heritage of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the workshop was conceived as a forum where the ideas and the theoretical tenets put forth by the polysystem theory and culture research, with their focus on the interrelatedness of all the components making up a culture, could be discussed with reference to a variety of case studies pertaining to various epochs and cultures. The papers presented at the workshop and the ensuing discussions were so thought-provoking that plans were soon made to edit a volume in which both the results of individual research activities and the outcome of the lively debate that took place during the course of the workshop could be collected. The presence of Itamar Even-Zohar, the founding father of the polysystem theory and the main inspirer of culture research at Tel Aviv University as well as at a growing number of other universities worldwide, made the discussion even more fruitful and productive.