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IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 309: Self and Identity in the Long 12th Century

Monday 12 July 2010, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:Jan Ziolkowski, Department of the Classics, Harvard University / Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC
Paper 309-aOrdinary Language and Intention in the Work of Peter Abelard
(Language: English)
Babette Hellemans, Universiteit Utrecht
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Philosophy, Rhetoric, Theology
Paper 309-bExploring Unknown Lands: Trials and Self-Discovery in the Roman d'Alexandre
(Language: English)
Paul Rogers, Université de Montpellier III - Paul Valéry
Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Mentalities
Abstract

Paper -a:
Western literary theorists and historians have long held the sense of personal individuality to be a unique marker of modern Western identity, originating in '12th-century renaissance'. While it is hardly the case that medieval and pre-modern notions of the Self match modern individualism, the study of pre-modern selfhood and its associated concepts problematizes modernity's claims of uniqueness. With these broad issues on the horizon, my paper has as its focus the detailed analyses of Abelard's notion intentio, which comes close to - but does not coincide with - modern theories on 'performativity' and ordinary language philosophy.

Paper -b:
As depicted in the twelfth-century Roman d'Alexandre, Alexander the Great's exploration of the unknown regions of the world is in essence a journey of self-discovery. The figure of Alexander in this work represents one of the earliest portrayals of an 'identifiably human' protagonist in Old French literature, and in this respect Alexandre de Paris's description of his hero is quite unique. Alexander's identity is split among several literary traditions at once. In many ways the Roman is a proto-saint's life, yet it also depicts the young king as a brash, pagan conqueror. Contradictory elements within this text combine to define a new type of heroic protagonist, a hybrid whose chief characteristic is self-awareness.