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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1302: Early Medieval Riddles

Wednesday 3 July 2019, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:The Riddle Ages: An Anglo-Saxon Riddle Blog
Organiser:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
Paper 1302-aDark Looks at the Sword: 'Wæpnum Awyrged' (Exeter Book Riddle 20)
(Language: English)
Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Daily Life, Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities
Paper 1302-b'Riddles inside an enigma': The Authorship and Audience of the Bern Riddles - A Reassessment
(Language: English)
Neville Mogford, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Mentalities, Rhetoric
Paper 1302-cExeter Book Riddle 95 (the 'Sun')
(Language: English)
Dieter Bitterli, Englisches Seminar, Universität Zürich
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Science
Abstract

As in previous years, in this session we seek to represent the varied subject matter of the Riddle Ages and a range of approaches to it, in particular bringing together riddles from both the Latin and Old English sides of the tradition. Jennifer Neville addresses the surprisingly critical questions that arise from the presentation of the sword in Exeter Book Riddle 20. Neville Mogford examines the authorship and audience of the Bern Riddles. Dieter Bitterli offers a new solution, 'Sun', to the concluding text of the Exeter collection, Riddle 95. Together these papers explore how the demand to 'say what I am called' in the Early Medieval Riddle tradition leads not only to a continuing production of solutions but also a continuing interrogation of values and identities.