IMC 2013: Sessions
Session 1027: Reading Practice and Practising Reading in the 15th Century: Pedagogy, Policy, and Play
Wednesday 3 July 2013, 09.00-10.30
| Organiser: | Megan Leitch, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Cory James Rushton, Department of English, St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia |
| Paper 1027-a | 'What shalt thou do when thou hast an english to make into latin?': Proverbs as Translation Sentences in 15th-Century Grammatical Miscellanies (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
| Paper 1027-b | 'Thenne toke Reynaude þe ches borde, & smote Berthelot vpon his hede': Romance, Play, and the Politics of Chess in Caxton's Foure Sonnes of Aymon (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Printing History |
| Abstract | This session explores the links between textual culture and cultural concerns in 15th-century England. The three papers offer case studies addressing the mediation and/or immediacy of ethical, political, and educational concerns in manuscripts and incunabula. Joanna Bellis's paper will analyse the English proverb collections of two 15th-century schoolbooks (Cambridge, St John's, MS F.26 and Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2830), focusing on what they tell us about vernacularity and latinity, textuality and authority, pedagogy and humour. Aisling Byrne's paper will consider a group of neglected lyrics from British Library, Additional, MS 31042 (the London Thornton MS), suggesting that their very particular ethical and moral concerns provide a window onto the nature of Robert Thornton's interest in several of the other texts in this eclectic and very distinctive volume. And, finally, Megan Leitch's paper will read a chess-related murder in a 1480s romance alongside the conduct literature and startling woodcuts in Caxton's 1483 Game and Playe of Chesse in order to assess its implications for contemporary discourses on play and politics, ritual, and rupture. |