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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 2115: Ecology Soundscapes

Friday 9 July 2021, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Liam Lewis, Department of French Studies, University of Warwick
Moderator/Chair:Emma Campbell, Department of French Studies, University of Warwick
Paper 2115-aFrancis of Assisi and His Birds: The Soundscape of a New Form-of-Life
(Language: English)
Liam Lewis, Department of French Studies, University of Warwick
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Philosophy
Paper 2115-b'Thorgh me men gon': Nature's Speaking Gates in The Parliament of Fowls
(Language: English)
Charlotte Rudman, Department of English, King's College London
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Learning (The Classical Inheritance), Rhetoric, Science
Paper 2115-cSilence and 'Unfastness' in the Landscape of Grendel's Mother in the Beowulf Poem
(Language: English)
Teresa Pilgrim, School of Literature & Languages University of Surrey
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Philosophy, Women's Studies
Abstract

Living systems, including animals and birds, feature prominently in medieval literary soundscapes. Their sounds invite audiences of literary texts to focus on the relation between human and nonhuman, and between articulate language and inarticulate sound. The sonic phenomena of literary texts are also pitched in relation to sound's opposite, silence. 'Ecology Soundscapes' explores how the soundscapes of medieval texts adapt to new circumstances, or evolve over time. The panel brings together discussion on philosophy, materialism, and ecofeminism to bring sound and silence to the fore as understudied aspects of critical discourse.