IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 1502: Material Concerns?: Kingship, Succession, and History in Beowulf
Thursday 4 July 2019, 09.00-10.30
Sponsor: | Flinders University, Adelaide |
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Organiser: | Erin Sebo, Department of English, Creative Writing & Australian Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide |
Moderator/Chair: | Roderick McDonald, Independent Scholar, Sheffield |
Paper 1502-a | How to Make a Good Decision in the Late Iron Age: Beowulf, Advice, and Histories (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Literacy and Orality, Mentalities, Politics and Diplomacy |
Paper 1502-b | Reading Beowulf as an Anglo-Saxon Book of Kings (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History |
Paper 1502-c | Histories as Metaphors of Succession in Beowulf (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Literacy and Orality, Politics and Diplomacy |
Abstract | This session considers Beowulf in its political context, in particular how ideas surrounding kingship, succession, and dynasties interact with the construction of histories. One of the underpinning assumptions of Beowulf scholarship is that the poem is concerned with fulfilling, failing, or conflicting ideals expressed, not only through the actors of the poem itself but also in the depictions of past kings and heroes to whom present protagonists are implicitly compared. This is seen especially vividly in the construction of dynasties and histories. This session interrogates the natures of these ideals and explores the relationship between idealism and and more material concerns. |