IMC 2021: Sessions
Session 1506: Illness as Metaphor in the Middle Ages, I
Thursday 8 July 2021, 09.00-10.30
Sponsor: | Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków |
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Organiser: | Krzysztof Nowak, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków |
Moderator/Chair: | Krzysztof Nowak, Institute of Polish Language, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków |
Paper 1506-a | Le vocabulaire des maux et de la maladie dans la littérature ascétique latine d'origine orientale (Language: Français) Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities |
Paper 1506-b | From the Disease of Hunger to Heretical Plague: Metaphorical Illness and Its Treatment in the Corpus of Polish Medieval Latin (Language: English) Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities |
Paper 1506-c | 'Amor non est medicabilis herbis': The 'Love is a Disease' Metaphor from Early to Medieval Latin (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Mentalities |
Abstract | Contrary to what Susan Sonntag hoped, we will not be liberated from metaphors of illness anytime soon. Long before the pandemic, the imagery of disease had been employed to express uninhibited nature of emotions or to explain social processes. All too often, though, it has been used to exclude, to stigmatize the Other and to justify violence. A critical analysis of medieval metaphors may help us in understanding how our language is shaped by its remote past. This interdisciplinary session will provide a broad overview of the functions and dynamics of the metaphorical and symbolic use of illness in medieval Latin writing. |