Kristi Viiding participates as an expert for a research project on the publication of the works of Paul Fleming
The research group (project DFG 468346613, 2022–2030) financed by the German Research Council invited research professor Kristi Viiding of the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre of the Estonian Academy of Sciences to provide advice on questions related to the literary culture of the Baltics in the early modern period. The goal of the project is a hybrid publication of the works in Latin and German by the early baroque poet and neo-Stoic philosopher Paul Fleming (1609-1640). In addition to the original texts, the edition would include translations of the poet`s Latin poetry, thorough commentary and indexes. The publication consists of a book and a digital edition based on the principle of Single Source Publishing, and will replace the 1865 paper edition, which has been in use till the present.
Fleming was one of the central lyric authors in Europe in the 17th century, who combined the ancient, learned Latin poetic tradition in the spirit of Martin Opitz with German-language poetic culture. Fleming`s lyrical poetry reflects literary, scholarly and confessional polemics in the years from 1620 to the 1630s. In view of the diversity of Fleming`s places of study and work as well as the multiplicity of fields in which he worked, from medicine and geography to the art of poetry, and spanning his travels through Estonia and Livonia, his lengthy sojourn in Tallinn and his influence on local literati, the edition being compiled will raise broader awareness and further accessibility of research results on the literary culture of the early modern period in the Baltics. Such accessibility will clearly benefit both the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre and other Estonian scholars.