IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 101: Anglo-Saxon Riddles, I: Moods and Meanings

Monday 2 July 2018, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	The Riddle Ages: An Anglo-Saxon Riddle Blog
Organisers:	Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:	Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
Paper 101-a	Memories of Fear and the Fear of Memories in the Exeter Book Riddles (Language: English) Rafał Borysławski, Institute of English Cultures & Literatures, University of Silesia, Katowice Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Social History
Paper 101-b	Humor and the Exeter Book Riddles (Language: English) Jonathan Wilcox, Department of English, University of Iowa Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Social History
Paper 101-c	Gendered 'Pride' and Noble 'Courage' in the Double Entendre Riddles of the Exeter Book (Language: English) Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Social History
Abstract	The papers in Session I address the way in which mental states and emotions are presented in the Exeter Book riddles. Thus Borysławski will examine how the unsettling and mutable nature of the riddles and depictions of past memories are caught up with fear, anxiety and terror in the riddles; Wilcox will discuss incongruity, and consider whether the riddles can provide a key to understanding Anglo-Saxon humor; and Neville will unpack how the familiar, heroic feelings of pride and courage become indicators of rather different feelings in the double entendre riddles.