Parody in the Codex Buranus

Abstract

As it is well known, Latin works of the Middle Ages are pervaded by references to other texts, pertaining to the subject matter, to linguistic expression or to both, and fulfilling different functions. In this essay, parody is understood in a broad sense as a form of intertextual reference, which marks a distance to the original text. The poems of the Codex Buranus offer rich material to explore strategies of parody: inversion of the original meaning, transposition to a divergent context or ironic quotation. Furthermore, parody can emerge between neighbouring texts as a co-textual occurrence. The essay surveys how the anthologist classified parodies, and whether he skilfully placed some poems in such a way so as to make parody emerge.