Sara Ehrling Moding
Senior Lecturer
Department of Languages and LiteraturesAbout Sara Ehrling Moding
Background
Most of my education at university level is from the University of Gothenburg, but I have also studied at Glasgow University and at Università degli Studi di Ferrara. I have also completed the teacher training programme at the University of Gothenburg and have worked as an upper secondary teacher in Latin and Swedish for many years. At the University, I have conducted research and taught to various extents since 2002.
Research
In the spring of 2011 I obtained my PhD from the University of Gothenburg after writing my doctoral thesis on Late Antique Latin wedding poems written in cento form. A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors. Cento poetry is still produced today. In my thesis I for example looked at what happens to a quotation when used in a new context, how the understanding of the new text is affected if we know the old, and how the old text is affected by the new. Questions related to genre, intertextuality and the relationship between cento and original text were of central importance.
Research projects
After my dissertation, I worked with Britt-Marie Karlsson (French) on a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council. The project focused on the oldest available French prosaic translation of the first four books of the Aeneid. The translation was published in 1541 and appears to be the high point of French author Hélisenne de Crenne’s career.
Within the project, several articles were written, and in 2024, together with Prof. Em. Gunhild Vidén, we published a modern critical edition of Crenne's version of Vergil's Aeneid.
In future projects, I think it would be interesting to continue working with Latin literature, the survival of classical poets in later authorship, and with translation.
Teaching
I have taught at all levels and in all courses in the first-cycle programme in Latin. I have also developed and further refined courses, including courses within the teacher training program in Latin.
What I like the most about teaching is being able to capture the interest of the students and see how they gradually begin to understand linguistic structures and views and thoughts conveyed in the texts.