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IMC 2004: Sessions

Session 1520: The Clash between Man and Nature: Writing the Natural Disaster

Thursday 15 July 2004, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Universität Salzburg: SAMS.on (Salzburger Mittelalterstudien online) / Medieval Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Organiser:Christian Rohr, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Salzburg
Moderator/Chair:Maria Elisabeth Dorninger, Institut für Germanistik, Universität Salzburg
Paper 1520-aNicolò Speciale and the Eruption of Etna in 1329
(Language: English)
John B. Dillon, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1520-bMethods and Motifs of Making a Flood in Late Medieval Latin Literature
(Language: English)
Christian Rohr, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Salzburg
Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1520-cThe Rhetorics of Disaster in Renaissance Humanism
(Language: English)
Franz Mauelshagen, Historisches Seminar, Universität Zürich
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities, Rhetoric, Social History
Abstract

Natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions, do not become catastrophes automatically. Only the perception and interpretation by the people make them natural disasters. The papers of this session will, therefore, examine the methods of 'writing a disaster' in Late Medieval and Humanist Latin literature. Which topoi and motifs have been used to describe this clash between people and wild nature? Which technical terms have been introduced? As the papers focus on different natural disasters and different types of sources, comparative aspects can be highlighted as well.