IMC 2013: Sessions
Session 1314: In Memory of Ulrich Müller: Earthly Pleasures versus Spiritual Pleasures in Medieval Life, Literature, and Poetry
Wednesday 3 July 2013, 16.30-18.00
Sponsor: | Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft |
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Organiser: | Sieglinde Hartmann, Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main |
Moderator/Chair: | Sieglinde Hartmann, Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main |
Paper 1314-a | Earthly Pleasure versus Spiritual Pleasure in the 11th-Century Jodo-Styled Japanese Garden and in the Tale of Genji (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - General, Language and Literature - Other |
Paper 1314-b | A Clerical Scholar's Joy and Sorrow in the Love Lyrics of the Carmina Burana (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities |
Paper 1314-c | Spiritual Pleasures versus Earthly Pleasures in Mechthild of Magdeburg's Flowing Light of the Godhead (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Lay Piety |
Abstract | This session is dedicated to the late Ulrich Müller, founder of the Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft and the Society of Intercultural German Studies. In this session speakers aim to open up new perspectives for an intercultural dialogue about seemingly universal contradictions between earthly and spiritual pleasures. The first paper will demonstrate the Japanese way how to reconcile the opposition. The example of paper 2, in contrast, will present European clerics and their futile attempt to enjoy earthly love pleasures without pain. The 3rd paper will explore whether the reconciliation of sensual and spiritual pleasure in courtly epics should be reconsidered as a purely gendered compatibility. In the last paper, the analysis will focus on the problem in which way Mechthild's sensual metaphors of love are linked to her spiritual experineces of 'purely' divine love pleasures. |