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IMC 2005: Sessions

Session 723: Medieval Drama Studies in Honour of Alexandra Johnston, II: The Cycles Then and Now

Tuesday 12 July 2005, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society
Organiser:Peter Greenfield, Department of English, University of Puget Sound, Washington
Moderator/Chair:Peter Greenfield, Department of English, University of Puget Sound, Washington
Paper 723-aThe Towneley Cycle without the Wakefield Master
(Language: English)
Peter Happé, Department of English, University of Southampton
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Performance Art - Drama
Paper 723-bThe Cycle of History: The York Plays and the Speculum Historiale
(Language: English)
Elza C. Tiner, Department of English / Department of Latin, Lynchburg College, Virginia
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Performance Art - Drama
Paper 723-cLife/Cycle: Modern (Re-)Production of Medieval Drama
(Language: English)
Garrett P. J. Epp, Department of English & Film Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Performance Art - Drama
Abstract

The session honors Alexandra Johnston on her retirement by bringing together two of her former graduate students and a scholar-colleague to explore new perspectives on the mystery cycles, inspired by Johnston’s work on the York cycle and records. Happe considers the Towneley Cycle in the light of recent documentary discoveries about its provenance. Tiner proposes a new source for the structure of the York Cycle, the Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais. Epp asks what modern performance can tell us about the cycles that medieval records cannot.