IMC 2022: Sessions
Session 1633: A New(ish) World: Medieval Influences in American Literature
Thursday 7 July 2022, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Royal Holloway, University of London |
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| Organiser: | Heather Moss, Department of English Studies, Durham University |
| Moderator/Chair: | Heather Moss, Department of English Studies, Durham University |
| Paper 1633-a | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the Spanish Ballads (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1633-b | Trial by Ordeal in Albion Tourgée's Hot Plowshares (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1633-c | Sterile Lands, Unholy Grails: Corrupting Medieval Romances in Works of the Lost Generation (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Abstract | For a nation that was founded on the notion of 'newness', intent on separation, innovation, and 'modernity', it can be somewhat surprising how often medieval influences have permeated American literature. From Twain, who traversed the boundaries between the medieval and the modern with his Connecticut Yankee in Camelot; to Fitzgerald, who superimposed the romance tradition onto the 1920s Jazz Age; and Steinbeck, who experimented with Arthurian legend - American narratives have often proved that the intangible border between the present and the past can be crossed, recrossed, and broken. The vast Atlantic Ocean provides an ideal platform for the nation to craft an individual identity away from European influence. Borders separate, conceal, keep in, keep out - they are crafted with the intent to preserve. Why, then, does so much of America's literature rely on and build upon medieval tropes and conventions? The session will aim to answer that question by exploring medieval tropes in American literature. |