Footnote:
Enthält: Introduction by Christoph F. E. Holzhey (11:00); Talk by Carlos Spoerhase (47:57); Discussion (42:04)
D 2024
In englischer Sprache
Description:
The issue of scaling and rescaling texts has gained new relevance today due to profound technological transformations. Artificial intelligence tools can now summarize long texts at the push of a button. Yet the desire for shorter versions of complex works is ancient: literary summaries were already being produced and valued in antiquity, especially in education. This practice has always been controversial, however, with critics accusing summaries of distorting, simplifying, and robbing works of their essence. This talk will try to shed light on the genre of the summary, examining its diverse forms and using current examples to show why it has a right to exist despite all the criticism. Furthermore, engaging with summaries can also help to address more general problems of cultural practices of scaling and rescaling.