IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 719: Medieval Travels: Destinations Real and Imagined

Tuesday 13 July 2010, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Taiwan Association of Classical, Medieval & Renaissance Studies
Organiser:	Francis K. H. So, Center for Languages and Culture, Kaohsiung Medical University / Department of Foreign Languages & Literature, National Sun Yat-Sen University / Wenzao Ursuline College, Taiwan
Moderator/Chair:	Derek Pearsall, Harvard University / University of York
Paper 719-a	Learning to be a Christian or Learning to Interpret the Temptations of the World Like a Christian: A Journey of Confusing Signs in Book I of The Faerie Queene (Language: English) Chih-hsin Lin, English Department, National Chengchi University Index terms: Biblical Studies, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Rhetoric, Teaching the Middle Ages
Paper 719-b	The City of Light by Jacob d' Ancona: Fact or Fantasy? (Language: English) Nicholas Andrew Koss, Department of Chinese, Peking University Index terms: Economics - Trade, Geography and Settlement Studies, Language and Literature - Italian, Maritime and Naval Studies
Paper 719-c	Journey to the Centre of the Person: Pilgrim and Poet in the Inferno (Language: English) Brian Reynolds, Department of Italian, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan Index terms: Language and Literature - Italian, Philosophy, Theology
Abstract	Medieval travellers - real or fictional - might or might not have envisioned their destinations before they set out. Some took imaginary journeys through allegorical landscapes for instruction. Others described customs of the cities they visited. Still others might imagine specific destinations where they could enhance their financial or political status, test their talents, satisfy their curiosity, or even encounter the divine. For this session, we welcome papers from all disciplines on medieval travellers' conceptions of real or imagined destinations. We especially invite papers that explore how the travellers' imaginations about these destinations motivate them.