IMC 2022: Sessions

This round table discussion addresses the impact of new criticism, translations, film adaptations, and modern political readings of the medieval on interpretations of the works of the Pearl poet. As professionals in the field, it is crucial that we come to terms with the complexity of these new ideas, because their impact on how we approach and teach questions about the medieval world and canon from our non-medieval colleagues, and even more importantly our students, is at the heart of how the next generation of readers will approach the works of the Pearl poet. We want to discuss strategies for uncoupling the work of the Pearl poet (and medieval literature in general) from the political and ideological assumptions made about it by virtue of its historical, institutional embeddedness in a literary canon. The focus of our discussion will be how to preserve medieval course work in the face of calls to de-colonise the liberal arts, by re-thinking the importance of the work of the Pearl poet, and medieval studies in general, for all Humanities students.

Participants include Ashley Bartelt (Northern Illinois University), Catherine J. Batt (University of Leeds), Jane Beal (University of La Verne, California), and Katie Jo LaRiviere (Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon).