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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 603: Early Medieval Riddles, II

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:The Riddle Ages
Organisers:Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Paper 603-aTorture and Metamorphosis in Exeter Book Riddle 26
(Language: English)
Jasmine Bria, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università di Calabria
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 603-bAldhelm versus Predators
(Language: English)
Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 603-cControlling the Uncontrollable: Estrangement and Appropriation in the Nature Riddles of the Exeter Book
(Language: English)
Karin E. Olsen, Afdeling Engelse Taal en Cultuur, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Philosophy
Abstract

These sessions explore the Latin and Old English riddles of early medieval England and Europe, through a variety of perspectives and methodologies. Bria explores Riddle 26's shift from recognition of the animal to anthropocentricity in a process that justifies the violence of book-making. Cavell discusses the politics of abstracting animal bodies in Aldhelm's Latin riddle collection, with a special focus on weapons. And Olsen illustrates the process of conceptual estrangement and appropriation of the natural world in a selection of Exeter Book riddles.