IMC 2006: Sessions
Session 1114: Medieval Fools: Gestures and Emotions
Wednesday 12 July 2006, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Université de Lausanne / Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Alexander Schwarz, Section d'Allemand, Université de Lausanne |
| Moderator/Chair: | Cora Dietl, Onderzoekinstituut voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur, Universiteit Utrecht |
| Paper 1114-a | Tristan and his Foolishness in Courtly Epics (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Language and Literature - German |
| Paper 1114-b | Tristan and the Effects of the Love Potion (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Literacy and Orality |
| Paper 1114-c | 'Don't Make Me Laugh!': The Narrative Function of Laughter and its Forms in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other Old and Middle English Texts (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English, Literacy and Orality |
| Paper 1114-d | An Anglo-Norman Fool in Constantinople: Der Pfaffe Amis (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Mentalities |
| Abstract | Medieval fools are recognised either by their nakedness or by their colourful costumes with ass’s ears and cock’s comb, jangling with bells. In both cases they swing their marotte, whether it be a weapon of attack or defence, threateningly. Their body language and their gestures both express and provoke emotions. Their attacks are both physical and psychological. Psychological because the marotte is a perverted sceptre and the fool’s body language transgresses all rules of good behaviour, deriding our mores. The evolution from medieval to early modern fools and from ‘natural’ to artificial fools merits special interest. These papers consider both the representation of fools and their performances in texts and images and responses to ‘foolish’ gestures and behaviour |