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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 508: Focus on Charlemagne

Tuesday 10 July 2012, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:Phillipa M. Hardman, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Reading
Moderator/Chair:Elizabeth Archibald, Department of English, University of Bristol
Paper 508-aForegrounding Charlemagne in the Insular Matter of France
(Language: English)
Marianne J. Ailes, Department of French, University of Bristol
Phillipa M. Hardman, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Reading
Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - French or Occitan
Paper 508-bThe Portrayal of Charlemagne in Text and Image in BL Royal MS 15.E.VI
(Language: English)
Jade Anoushka Bailey, Department of French, University of Bristol
Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 508-cCharlemagne the Anti-Capitalist Warrior: Re-Imagining a Medieval King in 21st-Century Children's Texts
(Language: English)
Suzanne Leedham, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Reading
Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract

As Matthew Gabriele has recently observed (An Empire of Memory, OUP, 2011), modern critical analyses of literary texts dealing with the Matter of France pay little attention to the figure of Charlemagne: 'The study of Charlemagne himself has been marginalized' (p. 3). The session will attempt to redress this perceived lack with a focus on the representation of the person and role of Charlemagne himself in a variety of literary texts in French and English. It features the work of the four participants in the AHRC-funded research project 'Charlemagne in England: The Matter of France in Middle English and Anglo-Norman Literature'.