IMC 2006: Sessions

Abstract paper -a: 'Dreaming Imperial Desire in Medieval Wales' will explore tropes of colonial desire as manifested in provincial and metropolitan dreaming in the Middle Welsh tale The Dream of Macsen Wiedig. I shall argue that this tale marks medieval Wales not so much as a site of contemporary resistance to English or Anglo-Norman colonial aggression but as an appendage of a larger, imagined imperial unit. Some attention would be paid to gendered depictions of provincial and metropolitan spaces within an imperial matrix, with emphasis on Wales as manifesting attributes of both. A limited number of citations in this paper would be in Middle Welsh.

Abstract paper -b: Medieval medical and theological theorists often equated an individual’s loss of reason with a deficiency in moral character. Even in pre-Christian antiquity disease and morality were linked. Yet, the literary tradition of the Wild Man illustrates that madness had redeeming qualities, namely in the development of prophetic capabilities. This paper will first compare the ethical and emotional instigations of madness among the wild men of the Celtic tradition. Grief over the death of his brothers sends Merlin, suffering from melancholia into the woods, while Suibhne Geilt flies to the trees from a battle after being cursed by St. Ronan. An examination will follow of the authors’ use of prophecy as an
agent to prove the existence of madness, but also to demonstrate the moral redemption of the madman.

Abstract paper -c: Scholars have been unwilling to consider the medieval Welsh versions of Historia septem sapientum outside of the context of translation, despite their popularity in the medieval and early-modern periods. In this paper I will look at Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein without reference to any other text on which it may be dependent, focussing instead on the relationship between the frame text and the stories contained within it. It is my contention that the individual chwedleu work against the frame story rather than reinforce it, providing anti-exempla which serve to entertain much more than to educate.