IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1531: A New Look at Old Books: Chaucer's Classical Inheritance

Thursday 12 July 2012, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:	National University of Ireland, Galway
Organiser:	Cliodhna Carney, Department of English, National University of Ireland, Galway
Moderator/Chair:	Cliodhna Carney, Department of English, National University of Ireland, Galway
Paper 1531-a	'Wordes moot be Cosyn to the Dede': The Timaeus in Chaucer (Language: English) Cliodhna Carney, Department of English, National University of Ireland, Galway Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Philosophy
Paper 1531-b	'O bush unbrent': Chaucer and His Virgins (Language: English) Niamh Pattwell, Trinity College Dublin / School of English, Queen's University, Belfast Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Lay Piety, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Religious Life
Paper 1531-c	'Al the fame of helle': Chaucer and Claudian's Underworld (Language: English) Brendan O'Connell, School of English, Trinity College Dublin Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Learning (The Classical Inheritance)
Abstract	This session will reassess Chaucer's classical inheritance through a consideration of three key ways in which his poetry is indebted to classical works: mythology, ethics, and philosophy. The first paper will examine the influence of Claudian on Chaucer's representation of the Underworld; the second paper will consider how pagan ideas of virginity and martyrdom are reconfigured in the 'Physician's Tale' and the 'Second Nun's Tale', and the final paper will reverse-engineer and genealogize the over-determined Platonic epigram from the narrator's apology in the 'General Prologue'.