IMC 2004: Sessions
Session 1622: Is a Pagan always 'a Pagan'?
Thursday 15 July 2004, 11.15-12.45
| Organiser: | Andrea E. Oliver, School of Literature & Creative Writing, University of East Anglia |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Frances J. Foster, School of Literature & Creative Writing, University of East Anglia |
| Paper 1622-a | Saracens, The Sege of Melayne and 1390s England (Language: English) Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Middle English |
| Paper 1622-b | Iceland and the Sagas (Language: English) Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Scandinavian |
| Paper 1622-c | Saints and Pagans (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Middle English |
| Abstract | This session gives consideration to the idea that 'pagan' is not always as Other as it may seem through an exploration of a variety of historical and literary sources. Oliver studies The Sege of Melayne against the background of 1390s Ricardian England, to argue that anxieties about Saracens are used to discuss contemporary concerns about Christendom. Salih reads Osbern Bokenham's Legends of Holy Women to determine how far the 'pagan' operates as a hagiographic role model. Archer uses the perspective of the Icelandic Sagas to reconstruct daily life in an (apparently) Christianised country. |