IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 810: Women and the Natural World in Medieval Literature, IV: Boundaries
Tuesday 2 July 2019, 16.30-18.00
Organiser: | Olivia Colquitt, Department of English, University of Liverpool |
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Moderator/Chair: | Danielle Howarth, School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures, University of Edinburgh |
Paper 810-a | Of Worms and Women: Contextualising the Silkworm in Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Latin, Sexuality, Theology |
Paper 810-b | Witches, Female Weather Makers, and Poisoners in the Carolingian Empire (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Latin, Law |
Paper 810-c | The Lady and Her Destructive Unicorn (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Celtic, Women's Studies |
Abstract | The final session of the series sheds light on how boundaries are demarcated, destabilised, and transgressed by women in medieval literature. Drawing upon allegorical links between clothwork and femininity, Gervase of Tilbury depicts silk as a product of women's sexual insatiability to expose the corruptive effects of female agency in nature. Working to suppress the threat of remnant pagan practices, Carolingian churches targeted unruly women with supposed supernatural powers over the wilds and the weather. In the Welsh Perceval, the destructive effects of the maiden's unicorn upon the forest subvert expectations of romance, blurring the margins between numerous thematic binarisms. |