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IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 210: Roll Up, Roll Up!: Laugh Until You Cry at the Medieval Fun Fair

Monday 3 July 2017, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Organiser:Sara I. James, Independent Scholar, Oxford
Moderator/Chair:Sara I. James, Independent Scholar, Oxford
Paper 210-aSuperhuman Strength and Exceptional Secrecy in the Anglo-Norman Versions of the Legend of Samson
(Language: English)
Catherine E. Léglu, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading
Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Music
Paper 210-bPrivies, Privates, and Domestic Animals: Monstrous Sexuality in the Burgundian Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles
(Language: English)
Catherine Emerson, Department of French, National University of Ireland, Galway
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Mentalities, Sexuality
Paper 210-c'That Joke Isn't Funny Any More' (The Smiths): On Charlot le juif and the End(s) of Comedy
(Language: English)
James R. Simpson, School of Modern Languages & Cultures (French), University of Glasgow
Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - French or Occitan
Abstract

In this session, four brief, lively papers will run the gamut from horrific to hilarious. Diverse, distinct medieval texts foreground the era's ability to draw out the unsettling implications latent in the comic and creepy, the serious and the silly. Exploring the cultural tensions betrayed by incongruity, impropriety, and exaggeration, contributions to the session will cast light on the reflective and expressive possibilities revealed in literary figurations of difference and alterity.