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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 1329: Renewing Literary Traditions, II

Wednesday 8 July 2015, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:Margriet Hoogvliet, Vakgroep Mediaevistiek, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Paper 1329-aConversion and Reform of Empire in Cynewulf’s Elene in the Context of Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
(Language: English)
Jacek Olesiejko, Wyzsza Szkola Jezykow Obcych, Swiecie
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Political Thought
Paper 1329-bRe-Forming the Story: Marie de France's Lais, Performance, and the Poetics of Voice
(Language: English)
Simonetta Cochis, Department of French, Transylvania University, Kentucky
Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Literacy and Orality, Performance Arts - Drama, Women's Studies
Paper 1329-cNovelty and Tradition on Writing Culture in Medieval Coimbra
(Language: English)
Leonor Zozaya-Montes, Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura (CHSC), Universidade de Coimbra / Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tenología (FCT), Lisboa
Index terms: Archives and Sources, Literacy and Orality, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

Paper -a:
The paper proposed intends to read Cynewulf’s Elene (composed around the 8th or 9th century in Mercia) in the context of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (written in 731). The poem not only rewrites representations of community that are found in Old English poetry, but it is also to be understood as belonging to a body of literary and cultural formations that promoted conversion and Latin literary culture as well as a reformed vision of political and ecclesiastical authority that result from the conversion of disparate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into Christianity.

Paper -b:
Marie de France says in the prologue of her Lais that she had heard stories which she did not want to forget. Her transformation of these oral stories into a new literary, written form reveals the dynamic whereby the human voice is inscribed in her poetic narrative. This paper investigates how Marie's written lais were received by her courtly audiences, through oral performance. Performing Marie's Lais today, and reinstating their oral dimension by applying theatrical elements (voice, tone, action, gesture, movement, staging, costumes, props), uncovers Marie's poetics of voice and leads to new interpretations of several of her works (Bisclavret, Fresne, Chaitivel, and Chevrefoil).

Paper -c:
Diverse writing practices in Medieval Coimbra (14th-15th centuries) are studied, analyzing which of them can be consider novelties and why. To study it, a number of disperse documents of the Municipal Historical Archive of Coimbra have been researched. Although these sources are limited, there is information about that subject, since it was relatively common to give notice of some act related with literacy, when some change or innovation concerning the tradition occurred. In that context, some aspects will be deduced, as find out what the changes mean, to what part of the society they concerned, who was supporting or rejected them, and why.