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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 701: Riddles, Rituals, and Things: Theoretical Approaches to Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture

Tuesday 8 July 2014, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Paper 701-aDegolfulne dom and dyran cræftes: Knowledge, Control, and the Relationship between Man and Nature in the Exeter Book Riddles
(Language: English)
Corinne Dale, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities, Theology
Paper 701-bRitual in Anglo-Saxon Hagiography
(Language: English)
Tom Lynch, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Anthropology, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 701-cFah ond fyrheard ferhwearde heold: Materiality and Old English Poetry
(Language: English)
Pirkko Koppinen, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities
Abstract

This session aims to explore the benefits of some recent theoretical conversations for the understanding of Anglo-Saxon literature and culture. C. Dale approaches the Exeter Book Riddles through the growing field of eco-criticism, focussing on the idea of the natural world's resistance to Wisdom Literature's project of control and confinement. Focussing on Felix's Life of St Guthlac, T. Lynch explores the insights granted by the study of ritual for the understanding of hagiography in specific, Anglo-Saxon contexts. P. Koppinen considers the 'material turn' from post-structuralism to examine materiality and the relationship between words and things in Old English poems.