IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 1513: Shifting Definitions of Medieval Epistolarity in Theory and Practice, I: Defining the Letter in the Early Middle Ages
Thursday 9 July 2015, 09.00-10.30
| Sponsor: | Prato Consortium for Medieval & Renaissance Studies |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Diana Marie Jeske, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
| Moderator/Chair: | Kathleen Neal, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Monash University, Victoria |
| Paper 1513-a | Securing Status: Early Medieval Letters in Context (Language: English) Index terms: Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Mentalities |
| Paper 1513-b | Categorization & the Carolingians: Issues of Genre and Epistolarity in the Early Medieval World (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Literacy and Orality |
| Paper 1513-c | 'Vox clamantis in eremo':12th- and 13th-Century Carthusian Development of Epistolary Networks (Language: English) Index terms: Monasticism, Religious Life |
| Abstract | These three sessions investigate the parameters and problems of medieval letters as a genre, specifically the porous definition of letters throughout the medieval period (i.e. their varying application as legal contracts, sermons, etc.). Speakers will comment on methodological approaches and challenges scholars encounter when using letters as source material. Papers also will address how this permeability challenges our interpretation of these documents as well as the medieval understanding of the letter itself and its potential use. The first of these sessions will explore the potential rigidity of the epistolary genre in the post-classical west, specifically questions of structure, vocabulary, as well as letters' continuing role in literate social and political networks. |