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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 643: Paratext and Image: The Manuscript Contexts of Arthurian Literature

Tuesday 7 July 2015, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:International Arthurian Society (IAS)
Organiser:Rebecca Lyons, Department of English, University of Bristol
Moderator/Chair:Raluca Radulescu, Institute for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, Bangor University
Paper 643-aPublishing the Grail in Medieval France, c. 1200-1530: 'Blurbing' Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval
(Language: English)
Leah Tether, Department of English & Media, Anglia Ruskin University
Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Printing History
Paper 643-bNorth-French Illuminated Manuscripts of the Estoire del saint Graal, c. 1275-1330: Concepts of Pictorial Narration
(Language: English)
Miha Zor, Department of Art History, University of Ljubljana
Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 643-cGlosses, Inscriptions, and the Cultural Lives of Manuscripts: The Paratexts of Arthurian Literature Owned by 15th-Century Women
(Language: English)
Rebecca Lyons, Department of English, University of Bristol
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

This session focuses on manuscripts containing Arthurian literature, putting a range of codices and texts into conversation to consider the ways in which paratexts work in and on texts, and what they suggest about reader reception and interaction. The first paper considers 'blurbs' in Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval between c. 1200-1530, whilst the next focuses on pictorial narration in manuscripts of the Estoire del saint Graal between c. 1275-1330. The final paper moves beyond the scope of the original text and image of the manuscript to assess later additions by readers in the form of glosses and inscriptions, and the cultural information relayed within the physical object of the codex itself.