SyFy Listings for January 2011

Here are the relevant listings for SyFy for January 2011. Note that the third season of BBC1's Merlin premieres this month.

SAT. 1 JAN
11:00 AM
The Twilight Zone -- A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain


WEDNES., 5 JAN
10:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International -- Witches Castle
09:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International, Season 2.9 -- Hamlet's Castle: Denmark
11:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International, Season 2.9 -- Hamlet's Castle: Denmark


THURS., 6 JAN
12:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International -- The Spirit Of Robin Hood


FRI., 7 JAN
08:30 AM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  Beauty And The Beast - Part 1
09:30 AM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  Beauty And The Beast - Part 2
10:30 AM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Witchfinder
11:30 AM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Sins Of The Father
12:30 PM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Lady Of The Lake
01:30 PM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  Sweet Dreams
02:30 PM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Witch's Quickening
03:30 PM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Fires Of Idirsholas
04:30 PM
Merlin, Season 2(series)  The Last Dragonlord
10:00 PM
Merlin, Season 3 --  The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 1


SAT., 8 JAN
12:00 AM
Merlin, Season 3 -- The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 1
03:00 AM
Movie  -- Merlin And The War Of The Dragons


FRI., 14 JAN
10:00 PM
Merlin, Season 3 -- The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 2
11:00 PM
Stargate SG-1 -- Arthur's Mantle


SAT., 15 JAN
12:00 AM
Merlin, Season 3 -- The Tears Of Uther Pendragon - Part 2
01:00 AM
Stargate SG-1 -- Crusade


SUN., 16 JAN
07:00 PM
Movie -- Underworld
09:30 PM
Movie -- Underworld: Evolution


MON., 17 JAN
4:30 PM
Movie -- Underworld
07:00 PM
Movie -- Underworld: Evolution


WEDNES., 19 JAN
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie -- Book Of Beasts, The


FRI., 21 JAN
10:00 PM
Merlin, Season 3 -- Goblin's Gold


SAT., 22 JAN
12:00 AM
Merlin, Season 3 -- Goblin's Gold
01:00 AM
Stargate SG-1 -- Camelot


SUN., 23 JAN
11:30 AM
Movie -- In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
02:00 PM
Movie -- Eragon


MON., 24 JAN
12:00 AM
Movie -- Highlander: The Source
10:00 AM
Movie -- Eragon


FRI., 28 JAN
10:00 PM
Merlin, Season 3 -- Gwaine


SAT., 29 JAN
12:00 AM
Merlin, Season 3 -- Gwaine
03:00 AM
Movie -- Rise Of The Gargoyles




Also airing this month: Highlander.

Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern Imagination -- New from Boydell & Brewer

Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern Imagination 
Edited by David Clark and Nicholas Perkins

Details
First Published: 21 Oct 2010
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843842514
Pages: 302
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: D.S.Brewer
Series: Medievalism
Subject: Medieval Literature
BIC Class: DSBB

Britain's pre-Conquest past and its culture continues to fascinate modern writers and artists. From Henry Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader to Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, and from high modernism to the musclebound heroes of comic book and Hollywood, Anglo-Saxon England has been a powerful and often unexpected source of inspiration, antagonism, and reflection. The essays here engage with the ways in which the Anglo-Saxons and their literature have been received, confronted, and re-envisioned in the modern imagination. They offer fresh insights on established figures, such as W.H. Auden, J.R.R. Tolkien, and David Jones, and on contemporary writers such as Geoffrey Hill, Peter Reading, P.D. James, and Heaney. They explore the interaction between text, image and landscape in medieval and modern books, the recasting of mythic figures such as Wayland Smith, and the metamorphosis of Beowulf into Grendel - as a novel and as grand opera. The early medieval emerges not simply as a site of nostalgia or anxiety in modern revisions, but instead provides a vital arena for creativity, pleasure, and artistic experiment.


Contents (from WorldCAT):

Introduction / Nicholas Perkins and David Clark --
From Heorot to Hollywood : Beowulf in its third millennium / Chris Jones --
Priming the poets : the making of Henry Sweet's Anglo-Saxon reader / Mark Atherton --
Owed to both sides : W.H. Auden's double debt to the literature of the North / Heather O'Donoghue --
Writing for an Anglo-Saxon audience in the twentieth century : J.R.R. Tolkien's Old English chronicles / Maria Artamonova --
Wounded men and wounded trees : David Jones and the Anglo-Saxon culture tangle / Anna Johnson --
Basil Bunting, Briggflatts, Lindisfarne, and Anglo-Saxon interlace / Clare A. Lees --
Boom : seeing Beowulf in pictures and print / Siân Echard --
Window in the wall : looking for grand opera in John Gardner's Grendel / Allen J. Frantzen --
Re-placing masculinity : the DC Comics Beowulf series and its context, 1975-6 / Catherine A.M. Clarke --
P.D. James reads Beowulf / John Halbrooks --
Ban Welondes : Wayland Smith in popular culture / Maria Sachiko Cecire --
Overlord of the M5 : the superlative structure of sovereignty in Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns / Hannah J. Crawforth --
The absent Anglo-Saxon past in Ted Hughes's Elmet / Joshua Davies --
Resurrecting Saxon things : Peter Reading, "species decline", and Old English poetry / Rebecca Anne Barr.

Thor Movie Trailer

Marvel has recently released the trailer for the upcoming Thor film. It can be viewed at The Medieval Comics Project Blog.

Coming Soon from McFarland: Harty's Vikings on Film

The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages 
Edited by Kevin J. Harty
ISBN 978-0-7864-6044-1
illustrations, filmography, bibliography, index
softcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $38.00

Not Yet Published, Available Spring/Summer 2011

Description
Factual and fanciful tales of the Nordic warriors known as Vikings have proven irresistible to filmmakers for nearly a century. Diverse, prominent actors from Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier to Tim Robbins and John Cleese, and noted directors, including Richard Fleischer, Clive Donner and Terry Jones, have all lent their talents to Viking-related films. These fourteen essays on films dealing with the Viking era discuss American, British and European productions. Analyzed in detail are such films as The Vikings (1958), The Long Ships (1964), Alfred the Great (1969), Erik the Viking (1989) and Outlander (2008), as well as a pair of comic-strip adaptations, the live-action Prince Valiant (1997) and the animated Asterix and the Vikings (2006). A comprehensive filmography is also included.

About the Author
Kevin J. Harty is professor and chair of English at La Salle University in Philadelphia and associate editor of Arthuriana, the official journal of the North American Branch of the International Arthurian Society, of which he is the vice president. He is the author or editor of eleven books on film and medieval studies.

Getting Medieval with the Doctor

The following appear in a new book from Kitsune Books:

Burdge, Anthony S. “The Professor’s Lessons for the Doctor: The Doctor’s Sub-Creative Journey Toward Middle-earth.” In The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who. Eds. Anthony S. Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen. Crawfordville, FL: Kitsune Books, 2010. Pp. 65-84.

Burke, Jessica. “Doctor Who and the Valkyrie Tradition, Part 2: Goddesses, Battle-demons, Witches, & Wives.” In The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who. Eds. Anthony S. Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen. Crawfordville, FL: Kitsune Books, 2010. Pp. 140-83.

Larsen, Kristine. “Doctor Who and the Valkyrie Tradition Part 1: The Valiant Child and the Bad Wolf.” In The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who. Eds. Anthony S. Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen. Crawfordville, FL: Kitsune Books, 2010. Pp. 120-39.

Syfy December 2010 Listings

Here are this month's medieval-themed listings for Syfy:


MON, 6 DEC
09:00 PM
Movie
National Treasure


THURS., 9 DEC
02:00 AM
Stargate SG-1
Avalon - Pt 1


FRI, 10 DEC
02:00 AM
Stargate SG-1
Avalon - Pt 2

09:00 AM
Movie
Merlin - Part One
11:00 AM
Movie
Merlin - Part Two


SUN, 12 DEC
06:00 PM
Movie
Eragon
08:00 PM
Movie
Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian
11:00 PM
Movie
In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale


MON, 13 DEC
03:30 AM
Syfy Original Movie
Grendel

08:00 AM
Merlin
The Dragon's Call
09:00 AM
Merlin
Valiant
10:00 AM
Merlin
The Mark Of Nimueh
11:00 AM
Merlin
The Poison Chalice
12:00 PM
Merlin
Lancelot
01:00 PM
Merlin
A Remedy To Cure All Ills
02:00 PM
Merlin
The Gates Of Avalon
03:00 PM
Merlin
The Beginning Of The End


TUES, 14 DEC
08:30 AM
Joan Of Arcadia
Do The Math
09:30 AM
Joan Of Arcadia
Anonymous
10:30 AM
Joan Of Arcadia
Vanity, Thy Name Is Human
11:30 AM
Joan Of Arcadia
The Gift
12:30 PM
Joan Of Arcadia
Silence
01:30 PM
Joan Of Arcadia
Only Connect
02:30 PM
Joan Of Arcadia
Out Of Sight
03:30 PM
Joan Of Arcadia
Back To The Garden


THURS, 16 DEC
11:30 PM
Movie
Highlander: The Source


FRI, 17 DEC
03:00 AM
Syfy Original Movie
Dragon Storm


WEDNES, 22 DEC
11:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International
The Spirit Of Robin Hood


THURS, 23 DEC
08:00 PM
Movie Marathon
Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian


FRI, 24 DEC
01:30 AM
Movie Marathon
Chronicles Of Narnia, The: Prince Caspian


SUN, 26DEC
08:00 PM
Movie
National Treasure


MON, 27 DEC
05:00 PM
Movie
National Treasure


Also airing: Highlander and Warehouse 13.

Chiller December 2010 Listings

Here are this month's medieval-themed offerings from Chiller:


THURS., 2 DEC
09:00 AM
Forever Knight Beyond The Law
10:00 AM
Forever Knight The Fix
11:00 AM
Forever Knight Be My Valentine
12:00 PM
Forever Knight The Fire Inside
01:00 PM
Forever Knight Blood Money
02:00 PM
Forever Knight Partners Of The Month


TUES, 14 DEC
11:00 AM
Dark Realm Castle Keep
10:00 PM
Movie The Forsaken [A vampire film featuring vampires that originate during the First Crusade. More details at Wikipedia.]


WEDNES, 15 DEC
02:00 AM
Movie The Forsaken


FRI, 17 DEC
06:00 AM
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot [Based on the short story be Roger Zelazny.]
03:00 PM
The Twilight Zone The Last Defender Of Camelot


SUN, 19 DEC
09:00 AM
Special Illuminating Angels And Demons
12:00 PM
Special Illuminating Angels And Demons


MON, 27 DEC
10:00 PM
Movie The Forsaken


TUES, 27 DEC
02:00 AM
Movie The Forsaken

CFP: Medieval Film/TV/Electronic Games (12/31/10; Plymouth State Medieval and Renaissance Forum 4/14-16/11)

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages invites paper proposals to round out a panel devoted to the topic of medievalism in film, TV, and/or electronic games for the 2011 Plymouth State Medieval and Renaissance Forum to be held at Plymouth State University, Plymouth, New Hampshire, from 15-16 April 2011. Please submit paper proposals to the Conference Committee at Popular.Culture.and.the.Middle.Ages@gmail.com by 31 December 2010.

Michael A. Torregrossa

Co-Founder

Blog Moderator

Listserv Moderator

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Remaking the Middle Ages--New from McFarland

Here's another recent book from McFarland. My apologies for not posting on it sooner. (I'm usually the most current when it comes to movie medievalism, and I'm not sure when it first appeared in their online catalog, as it is not linked to their "Medieval Studies" list.) Its author, Andrew Elliott, was a presenter at our medieval TV panels in 2007 and does interesting work on filmic and televisual medievalisms, and, besides the book, he also has an essay on medieval themes in the Monk television series in the collection Monk and Philosophy (Open Court, 2010) and reviewed Martha Driver and Sid Ray's collection Shakespeare and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Performance and Adaptation of the Plays with Medieval Sources or Settings for the next number of Arthuriana. In addition, Elliott has an essay on Asterix and the Vikings in Kevin J. Harty's forthcoming collection  Reel Vikings: Cinematic Depictions of Medieval Scandinavia.

Michael



Remaking the Middle Ages: The Methods of Cinema and History in Portraying the Medieval World
Andrew B.R. Elliott

ISBN 978-0-7864-4624-7
glossary, notes, bibliography, filmography, index
286pp. softcover 2011
Price: $38.00

Description

Proposing a fresh theoretical approach to the study of cinematic portrayals of the Middle Ages, this book uses both semiotics and historiography to demonstrate how contemporary filmmakers have attempted to recreate the past in a way that, while largely imagined, is also logical, meaningful, and as truthful as possible. Carrying out this critical approach, the author analyzes a wide range of films depicting the Middle Ages, arguing that most of these films either reflect the past through a series of visual signs (a concept he has called "iconic recreation") or by comparing the past to a modern equivalent (called "paradigmatic representation").


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix
Preface      1

PART I : PROBLEMS
1. History, Historiography and Film      9
2. “One Big Medieval Mess”: Accessing the Middle Ages      35

PART II : PEOPLE
3. When Knights Were Bold: Those Who Fight      53
4. The Power and the Glory: Those Who Rule      83
5. Clergy and Saints: Those Who Pray      113
6. …Everybody Not Sitting on a Cushion: Those Who Work      146

PART III : WORLDS
7. Constructing Medieval Worlds: Conventions, Inventions and Images      177
8. Guides to the Medieval Worlds      192
9. Authenticity and Accuracy in Medieval Worlds      206

Glossary      223
Notes      229
Bibliography      257
Filmography      269
Index      273

About the Author
Andrew B.R. Elliott is a senior lecturer in media and cultural studies at the University of Lincoln in the UK. He has published articles and essays on a wide range of topics and is a contributor to a television documentary on the "real" King Arthur.

More from McFarland: The Westford Knight and Henry Sinclair

The Westford Knight and Henry Sinclair: Evidence of a 14th Century Scottish Voyage to North America 
David Goudsward
Foreword by Robert E. Stone

ISBN 978-0-7864-4649-0
29 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
260pp. softcover 2010
Price: $35.00

Description
The Westford Knight is a mysterious, controversial stone carving in Massachusetts. Some believe it is an effigy of a 14th century knight, evidence of an early European visit to the New World by Henry Sinclair, the Earl of Orkney and Lord of Roslin. In 1954, an archaeologist encountered the carving, long known to locals and ascribed a variety of origin stories, and proposed it to be a remnant of the Sinclair expedition. The story of the Westford Knight is a mix of history, archaeology, sociology, and Knights Templar lore. This work unravels the threads of the Knight’s history, separating fact from fantasy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      vi
Foreword by Robert E. Stone      1
Preface      3

1. The Indian on the Ledge      7
2. The Sword and the Cross      14
3. A Knight Is Found      24
4. A Knight in Armor      33
5. Jarl Henry and the Sinclairs      43
6. A Knight Gunn      52
7. The Zeno Narrative      59
8. A Knight Under Siege      75
9. The Sinclair Expedition      86
10. Glooscap      95
11. The Knight Tower      101
12. The Boat Stone      108
13. The Knights Templar      117
14. Rosslyn Chapel      128
15. A Knight Mythologized      143

Epilogue      157
Appendix 1: Pohl’s Similarities between Glooscap and Henry Sinclair      165
Appendix 2: The Zeno Narrative, R. H. Major Translation (1873)      167
Appendix 3: The Zeno Narrative, Fred W. Lucas Translation (1898)      180
Appendix 4: James P. Whittall’s Twenty Tenets on the Newport Tower      195
Chapter Notes      199
Bibliography      231
Index      249

About the Author
David Goudsward is the author of numerous articles and publications on genealogy and New England megalithic sites. He is a frequent lecturer on genealogical and historical topics. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida.

Elizabeth I in Film and Television--Coming Soon from McFarland

Elizabeth I in Film and Television: A Study of the Major Portrayals 
Bethany Latham

ISBN 978-0-7864-3718-4
photos, notes, filmography, bibliography, index
softcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $45.00
Not Yet Published, Available Spring/Summer 2011

Description
This analysis of how filmmakers have portrayed England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), and the audience’s perception of Elizabeth based upon these portrayals, examines key representations of the Tudor monarch in various motion pictures and television miniseries. It appraises of the productions themselves and the actresses who have portrayed Elizabeth, among them Bette Davis, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Judy Dench, Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren, as well as Quentin Crisp’s cross-dressing appearance as the Queen in Orlando (1992). The text focuses on the historical context of the period in which each film or miniseries was made; the extent of the portrayals of Elizabeth; and how these representations have influenced the characterization of Elizabeth on film, as well as popular understanding of the historical Queen.

About the Author
Bethany Latham is an associate professor and electronic resources/documents librarian at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Her articles have appeared in such publications as Reference Reviews and Library Journal. She is managing editor of The Historical Novels Review.

New/Recent from Palgrave Macmillan

Medieval and Early Modern Film and Media (NOW IN PAPERBACK) 
Richard Burt

Palgrave Macmillan, 12/21/2010
ISBN: 978-0-230-10560-7, ISBN10: 0-230-10560-2
6 x 9 1/4 inches, 294 pages,
Trade Paperback $28.00
Hardcover $79.00

Medieval and Early Modern Film and Media contextualizes historical films in an innovative way--not only relating them to the history of cinema, but also to premodern and early modern media. This philological approach to the (pre)history of cinema engages both old media such as scrolls, illuminated manuscripts, the Bayeux Tapestry, and new digital media such as DVDs, HD DVDs, and computers. Burt examines the uncanny repetitions that now fragment films into successively released alternate cuts and extras (footnote tracks, audiocommentaries, and documentaries) that (re)structure and reframe historical films, thereby presenting new challenges to historicist criticism and film theory. With a double focus on recursive narrative frames and the cinematic paratexts of medieval and early modern film, this book calls our attention to strange, sometimes opaque phenomena in film and literary theory that have previously gone unrecognized.

Contents:

Introduction: Film Before and After New Media, Anec-notology, and the Philological Uncanny
The Medieval and Early Modern Cinematographosphere: De-composing Paratexts, Media Analogues, and the Living Dead Hands of Surrealism, Psychoanalysis, and New Historicism
The Passion of El Cid and the Circumfixion of Cinematic History: Stereotypology/Phantomimesis/Cryptomorphoses
Cutting and (Re)Running from the (Medieval) Middle East: The Return of the Film Epic and the Uncanny Mise-hors-scènes of Kingdom of Heaven’s Double DVDs
Le détour de Martin Guerre: “Anec-notes” of Historical Film Advisors, Archival Aberrations, and the Uncanny Subject of the Academic Paratext
Epilegomenon: Anec-Post-It-Note to Self: Freud, Greenblatt, and the New Historicist Uncanny

The Author:

Richard Burt is Professor of English and Film and Media Studies at the University of Florida. He is the author of Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares: Queer Theory and American Kiddie Culture; Licensed by Authority: Ben Jonson and the Discourses of Censorship; and the editor of Shakespeare After Shakespeare; Shakespeare After Mass Media; and The Administration of Aesthetics. Burt also co-edited a special issue of Exemplaria on “Movie Medievalism” and held a Fulbright scholarship in Berlin, Germany from 1995–96.

Women Writers and Nineteenth-Century Medievalism: Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters 
Clare Broome Saunders

Palgrave Macmillan, January 2009
ISBN: 978-0-230-60793-4, ISBN10: 0-230-60793-4,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 244 pages,
 Hardcover $85.00

In a thoughtful and detailed study, Women Writers and Nineteenth-Century Medievalism considers the ways in which women poets, biographers, and historians used medieval motifs and settings to enable them to comment on controversial contemporary issues. Broome Saunders’ illuminating discussion focuses on women working during the socio-political and religious upheaval of the nineteenth century and mines the poetry of Felicia Hemans, Letitia Landon, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; portrayals of Joan of Arc and Guinevere in art and literature; and non-fiction sources such as women’s letters and diaries during the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars.

Contents:

Recasting the Courtly: Translations of Medieval Language and Form in the Nineteenth Century
“Though Females are Forbidden to Interfere in Politics”: War, Medievalism, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Writer
“It’s Strictly the Woman’s Part and Men Understand it So”: Romance, Gender and the Spectacle of the Crimean
The End of Chivalry?: Joan of Arc and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Writer
Queenship, Chivalry and “Queenly” Women in the Age of Victoria
Guinevere: The Medieval Queen in the Nineteenth Century
Re-reading Guinevere: Women Illustrators, Tennyson and Morris


The Author:

Clare Broome Saunders is Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She has written on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Louisa Stuart Costello, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and her work has appeared in Victorian Poetry.



Popular Medievalism in Romantic-Era Britain: Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters
Clare A. Simmons

Palgrave Macmillan, 2/1/2011
ISBN: 978-0-230-10374-0, ISBN10: 0-230-10374-X,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 256 pages, Includes: 5 pgs figs,
Hardcover $80.00

Popular Medievalism in Romantic-Era Britain examines ways in which British writers and readers used the idea of the Middle Ages to challenge contemporary political structures and to claim historical national rights at a time when fears that Britain would follow the example of the French Revolution caused the British government to undermine individual and collective rights.  Through the consideration of canonical authors such as Blake, Scott, and Wordsworth and of lesser-studied works such as radical press writings and popular drama, this study suggests that the imaginative appeal to the social structures and literary forms of the Middle Ages served as a powerful means of raising awareness of Britain’s past and the tradition of freedom.

Contents:

Rites and Rights: The Topography of Ancient British Law
The National Melody
Medievalism Onstage in the French Revolutionary Era
The Radical Bestiary
Buried Alive: Gothic Reading and Medievalist Subjectivity
Scottish Lawyers, Feudal Law

The Author:

Clare A. Simmons is a Professor of English at The Ohio State University.  She is the author of Reversing the Conquest: History and Myth in Nineteenth-Century British Literature; Eyes Across the Channel: French Revolutions, Party History, and British Writing 1830-1882; and numerous essays on nineteenth-century British literature. She is the co-editor of Prose Studies and has edited the essay collection Medievalism and the Quest for the “Real” Middle Ages and Charlotte Mary Yonge’s novel The Clever Woman of the Family.

Medievalism, Multilingualism, and Chaucer   
The New Middle Ages
Mary Catherine Davidson

Palgrave Macmillan, December 2009
ISBN: 978-0-230-60297-7, ISBN10: 0-230-60297-5,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 224 pages,
Hardcover $90.00  

Medievalism, Multilingualism, and Chaucer examines multilingual identity in the writing of Gower, Langland, and Chaucer. Mary Catherine Davidson traces monolingual habits of inquiry to nineteenth-century attitudes toward French, which had first influenced popular constructions of medieval English in such historical novels as Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. In re-reading medieval traditions in the origins of English from Geoffrey of Monmouth, this book describes how multilingual practices reflected attitudes toward English in the age of Chaucer.  

Contents:

Introduction:  Monolingualism and Middle English Traditions of Contact and Conflict in the History of English Medievalism and Monolingualism
Hengist’s Tongue: A Medieval History of Middle English
"And in Latyn . . . a wordes fewe”: Contact and Medieval Conformity
Multilingual Writing and William Langland  Chaucer’s “Diversite”
Afterword: Postcolonialism and Chaucer’s English  

The Author:

Mary Catherine Davidson is Assistant Professor of English at Glendon College, York University.

Finding Saint Francis in Literature and Art
The New Middle Ages
Edited by Cynthia Ho, Beth A. Mulvaney, and John K. Downey

Palgrave Macmillan, July 2009
ISBN: 978-0-230-60286-1, ISBN10: 0-230-60286-X,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 240 pages,
Hardcover $89.95

Finding Saint Francis in Literature and Art demonstrates that remembering Saint Francis of Assisi should take place on many levels. The authors in this collection of essays use the tools of various intellectual disciplines to examine what we now know about Saint Francis in his own era and how the story of Il Poverello has been appropriated in our own times. This critical re-discovery of the artistic and textual narratives of Francis of Assisi contributes to our cultural memory by reflecting on the continuities and changes in the way Francis is understood.  

Contents:

PART I: Francis in Medieval Text and Painting
Franciscan Spirituality and Narrative at Assisi: The Legend of St. Francis in Text and Painting--Beth Mulvaney
The Miraculous Moment: Expressing the Spiritual Experience in Thirteenth-Century Frescos at Assisi--Janet Snyder
Francis Preaching to the Sultan: Art in the Hagiography of a Saint--Mahmood Ibrahim  

PART II: Franciscan Devotion
The Wolf in the Forest: St. Francis and the Italian Eremitical Tradition--Rodger Payne
What Has Paris to Do with Assisi? The Theological Creation of a Saint--John V. Apczynski  
Franciscans in the World--Felix Heap and Jesus Gonzales
The Visual Piety of the Sacro Monte di Orta--Cynthia Ho  

PART III: Francis Remembered in New Contexts
A Christian Modernist and the Awe of Nature as Presented in Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise--John McClain
Constructing Saint Francis for the Twenty-first Century--Janet McCann
Capturing the Gravity and Grace of St. Francis of Assisi on Stage: A Study of Divine Reciprocity--John Bowers
St. Francis in the Twenty-first Century--John Hart
Canticle of Memory: Political Theology and Francis of Assisi--John Downey  

The Authors:

Cynthia Ho is Professor of Literature and Language and Director of the Humanities Program at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Previously, she served as Chair of the Literature and Language Department and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair for the Humanities. She recently edited Crossing the Bridge: Comparative Essays on Heian Japanese and Medieval European Women.

Beth A. Mulvaney is Professor of Art at Meredith College where she is Director of the Honors Program. She has written on the frescoes of St. Francis at San Francesco, Assisi and the artists Duccio and Giotto.

John K. Downey is Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University and a former Director of the Coolidge Research Colloquium. He is co-editor of Missing God? Cultural Amnesia and Political Theology.

The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games--New from McFarland

The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games 

Michael J. Tresca 

ISBN 978-0-7864-5895-0 

10 photos, glossary, bibliography, index

238pp. softcover 2011

Buy Now!

Price: $35.00

Book Launch March 2011

Description

Tracing the evolution of fantasy gaming from its origins in tabletop war and collectible card games to contemporary web-based live action and massive multi-player games, this book examines the archetypes and concepts within the fantasy gaming genre alongside the roles and functions of the game players themselves. Other topics include: how The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings helped shape fantasy gaming through Tolkien’s obsessive attention to detail and virtual world building; the community-based fellowship embraced by players of both play-by-post and persistent browser-based games, despite the fact that these games are fundamentally solo experiences; the origins of gamebooks and interactive fiction; and the evolution of online gaming in terms of technological capabilities, media richness, narrative structure, coding authority, and participant roles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix

Preface      1

Introduction      5

1. The Lord of the Rings      23

2. Collectible Card Games and Miniature Wargames      47

3. Tabletop Role-Playing Games      59

4. Play-By-Post and Browser-Based Games      92

5. Gamebooks and Interactive Fiction      100

6. Multi-User Dungeons      111

7. Computer Role-Playing Games      134

8. Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games      162

9. Live Action Role-Playing Games      181

Conclusion      200

Glossary      203

Sources      207

Index      217

About the Author

Game designer, author, and artist Michael J. Tresca has authored numerous supplements and adventures for publishers of fantasy role-playing games. An administrator at RetroMUD, he lives in Connecticut.

Help identifying a still

I am trying to identify another still and welcome your help. I know the image is from a version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame but not WHICH one. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Michael Torregrossa

New/Recent Arthurian Films

A reminder that updates on Arthurian films, including this week's telefilm Avalon High, can be found on the Are You From Camelot? Blog.

SyFy November 2010

The following represent this month's medieval-themed listings from SyFy. As always, the complete schedule for the month can be found at http://www.syfy.com/schedule/index.php.



TUES, NOV 9

06:00 PM
Stargate SG-1
Thor's Chariot


WEDNES, NOV 17

01:00 AM
Movie
Merlin's Apprentice - Part One
03:00 AM
Movie
Merlin's Apprentice - Part Two


FRI, NOV 26

08:00 AM
Movie Marathon
Highlander: The Source


SUN, NOV 28

09:00 PM
Movie Marathon
Eragon


MON, NOV 29

01:00 AM
Movie Marathon: Syfy Original Movie
Fire And Ice
03:00 AM
Movie Marathon: Syfy Original Movie
Dragon Storm


Also airing Highlander.

Chiller November 2010

The following represent this month's medieval-themed listings for Chiller. My apologies for the delay in posting, there was a bug on the schedule page.

Complete month's schedule at http://www.chillertv.com/schedule/.

SUN, NOV 14

08:00 AM
Supernatural Sciences King Arthur
09:00 AM
Special Cracking The Da Vinci Code
11:00 AM
Supernatural Sciences King Arthur
12:00 PM
Special Cracking The Da Vinci Code


MON, NOV 22

09:00 AM
Forever Knight Father's Day
10:00 AM
Forever Knight Undue Process
11:00 AM
Forever Knight Bad Blood
12:00 PM
Forever Knight Can't Run, Can't Hide
01:00 PM
Forever Knight Capital Offense
02:00 PM
Forever Knight Amateur Night


WEDNES, NOV 24

10:00 PM
Vampire Week Dracula's Curse (2006)



THURS, NOV 25

02:30 AM
Vampire Week Dracula's Curse (2006)



Also airing this month: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Poltergeist: The Legacy.

Further Calls for Papers

Additional calls for papers have been posted to the SF, Fantasy, & Legend Area Blog including:

CFP: The Return of the Ring (11/11/11; Loughborough University 8/16-20/12)

CFP: "European Traditions of the Fantastic" for Fastitocalon volume II (2011) (No. 2 11/15/10)

CFP: Mythcon 42 (n.d.; Albuquerque, NM 7/15-18/11)

I just posted a call for Mythcon 42 on the SF, Fantasy, & Legend Area Blog. The conference theme, "Monsters, Marvels, and Minstrels: The Rise of Modern Medievalism," is of interest to medievalists as well.

Chiller October 2010

Here are the relevant listings for Chiller. The complete month's schedule can be accessed at http://www.chillertv.com/schedule/.



SUN, 10 OCT
09:00 AM
Sanctuary Fata Morgana
[Arthurian]


WEDNES, 13 OCT
09:00 AM
Forever Knight Killer Instinct
10:00 AM
Forever Knight A Fate Worse Than Death
11:00 AM
Forever Knight Stranger Than Fiction
12:00 PM
Forever Knight Forward Into The Past
01:00 PM
Forever Knight Hunted
02:00 PM
Forever Knight Faithful Followers


THURS, 14 OCT
03:30 PM
Monsters Sleeping Dragon
[relevance unknown]

SyFy October 2010 Listings

Here are the this month's relevant listings for SyFy. The complete month can be accessed at http://www.syfy.com/schedule/index.php?__source=Syfy_Global_Nav.

FRI, 1 OCT

09:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Dark Prince: The True Story Of Dracula


SAT, 9 OCT
05:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Thor: Hammer Of The Gods


SUN, 10 OCT
03:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Rock Monster


MON, 11 OCT
03:30 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Beowulf (1999)


FRI, 15 OCT
08:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Dark Relic
10:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Grendel
12:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Beowulf (1999)


TUES, 19 OCT
11:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Dracula 3000: Infinite Darkness


WEDNES, 20 OCT
01:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Rise Of The Gargoyles
03:00 PM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Reign Of The Gargoyles


TUES., 26 OCT
01:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween: Syfy Original Movie
Reign Of The Gargoyles


WEDNES, 27 OCT
8:00 AM
Ghost Hunters International
The Spirit Of Robin Hood
01:00 PM
Ghost Hunters
New Hampshire Gothic


FRI, 29 OCT
03:00 AM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 3: Legacy


SAT, 30 OCT
06:30 PM
31 Days Of Halloween Movie
Underworld

CFP: 23rd International Arthurian Congress (10/1/10; Bristol, UK 7/25-30/11)

Arthurian Congress 2011
XXIIIrd Triennial Congress of the International Arthurian Society - Bristol, 25-30 July 2011
(complete details at http://www.bris.ac.uk/medievalcentre/arthur/english/index_html)

Conference Location

We are pleased to announce that the 23rd International Congress of the International Arthurian Society will be hosted by the University of Bristol, 25 - 30 July 2011.

Bristol is a thriving city in the South-West of England with a rich medieval history. It has many attractions, medieval and modern, and is ideally located for excursions to places associated with the Arthurian legend, and also to major tourist attractions such as the cities of Bath, Wells and Hereford.

All congress lectures and papers will take place in the University’s imposing Wills Memorial Building, right in the middle of Bristol’s bustling city centre. In addition to a wide range of nearby hotels and a YHA Youth Hostel, cheap single-room accommodation (not en-suite) is available in Clifton Hill House, an attractive student hall of residence in the picturesque area of Clifton, within easy walking distance of the university’s Wills Memorial Building.

Conference Themes and Call for Papers

The conference themes are as follows:

Arthurian ideals and identities.
Late Arthurian romance.
Narrative techniques and styles.
Arthurian manuscripts and early printed editions.
Arthurian images and iconography.
The supernatural and spirituality in the Arthurian world.

If you would like to present a paper on one of the conference themes, please send a brief title and a summary not exceeding 250 words to reach the organisers by 1 October 2010 at the latest; indicate which of the conference themes you wish to address by assigning it the number of the corresponding theme (nos. 1-6). Papers should if possible fit one (or more) of the themes, but if your proposal does not, please assign it the number 7. We also ask you to provide the following personal information: name; affiliation; postal address; e-mail address; number of people accompanying you; where you are thinking of staying (hotel/ youth hostel or University student accommodation).

We also invite proposals for organised sessions and Round Tables linked to the conference themes, both restricted to 90 minutes in length. To propose a Round Table, please send us a brief description of the topic you wish to explore, along with the names and personal details (as above) of at least two members of the society who have already agreed to offer short introductory contributions, and the number of the relevant conference theme.

To propose a session, please send us a brief rationale for the session, the number of the relevant conference theme, and the names and personal details (as above) of those members of the society who have agreed to contribute a paper to the session, and summaries of each of the papers. Sessions should consist of either two or three papers. Proposals for both Round Tables and organised sessions should be submitted to the organisers by 1 September 2010 at the latest.

Please send all proposals for papers, Round Tables, and organised sessions by e-mail to Arthur-2011@bristol.ac.uk

If you do not use e-mail, please send your proposal by post either to Professor Elizabeth Archibald or to Professor Ad Putter, English Department, University of Bristol, 5 Woodland Road, Bristol, England, BS8 1TB, marking your envelope with the phrase ‘Arthur2011’.


Sessions and Excursions

The conference will feature five plenary lectures, given by a truly international range of leading Arthurian scholars:

Bart Besamusca (University of Utrecht)
Siân Echard (University of British Columbia)
Christine Ferlampin-Acher (University of Rennes)
Helen Fulton (University of York)
Andrew Lynch (University of Western Australia)

There will be excursions to sites of Arthurian and medieval interest including Caerleon, Glastonbury, and Hereford.

In addition, we will be holding several masterclasses for postgraduate students, including one on publishing, and one on Arthurian texts in need of further study.

Help with Hellboy

I am seeking the assistance of someone who would be willing to read and provide a summary of 2 essays in Spanish devoted to the Hellboy comic. The summaries will be included the bibliographic guide to medieval comics scholarship designed to accompany The Medieval Comics Project/The Arthur of the Comics Project. 

The two articles can be accessed at the following links:

Hernández, Santiago Cortés. "de Roberto el Diablo narrativa de un héroe de la Edad Media al cómic"

http://rlp.culturaspopulares.org/textos/16/07-Cortes.pdf

López, Jose Luis Cardero. "Hellboy y las Presencias de Otros Mundos.(El Chico del Infierno frente a los Dioses Primordiales)"

http://serbal.pntic.mec.es/AParteRei/cardero61.pdf

Upcoming Movies

Here are the trailers for two upcoming films the fantasy film Sucker Punch and Tangled, Disney's take on Rapunzel.

Kalamazoo 2010

The following represents the details for our sponsored session for next year's International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. Many thanks to everyone for their interest.

 Twenty-first Century Medievalisms: Re-envisioning the Medieval in the Contemporary World (Roundtable)

Sponsor: The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages)

Presider: Carl James Grindley (Eugenio María de Hostos Community College)

Paper 1: “Siegfried the Volk-Song: Examining the Interpretations of Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer and the Making of a National History”

Peter H. Johnsson (San Francisco State University)

Paper 2: “Analysis of Arthurian Film Reviews”

Laurie Rizzo (University of Delaware)

Paper 3: “Beowulf in the Twenty-First Century”

Suanna H. Davis (Houston Community College: Central)

Paper 4: “I Want to Believe: Finding the Medieval in The X-Files”

Rebecca Johnson (Princeton University)

Kalamazoo Roundtable

I am pleased to report that the Society has managed a viable session for the topic "Twenty-first Century Medievalisms: Re-envisioning the Medieval in the Contemporary World (Roundtable)" for next year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. Session details will be posted later this week.

Society eJournal?

Dear readers and followers,

I am still investigating the possibilities of an ejournal for the society and would appreciate any advice and offers to serve on the editorial board. My feeling is that most scholarship on popular medievalism is neither accessible to nor able to be accessed by the majority of enthusiasts (both academic and nonacademic) and would envision the ejournal as a step towards rectifying these issues.

Comments can be made to the blog or sent to me directly.

Michael Torregrossa, Listserv Moderator/ Blog Editor
Co-Founder, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

SyFy September 2010 Listings

Here are this month's listings for SyFy (not Syfy, as I've been posting). As always, the complete listing can be found at SyFy's website.


SUN, 5 SEPT
12:00 PM  Movie Marathon: Eragon
02:00 PM  Movie Marathon: Highlander: The Source
09:00 PM  Movie Marathon: League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The (includes a medieval League)


MON, 6 SEPT
02:00 AM  Movie Marathon: Eragon
06:00 PM  Movie Marathon: League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The
08:30 PM  Movie Marathon: Underworld


SAT, 11 SEPT
09:00 PM  Syfy Original Movie: Mandrake [PREMIERE]


SUN, 12 SEPT
01:00 AM  Syfy Original Movie: Mandrake
03:00 AM  Syfy Original Movie: Book Of Beasts, The


MON, 13 SEPT
12:00 PM  Early Edition: Gun (interesting allusion to Merlin)


WEDNES, 15 SEPT
Merlin Season Two mini-marathon
08:00 AM  Merlin: Beauty And The Beast - Part 1 (two-part episde with a unique twist on the Loathly Lady motif)
09:00 AM  Merlin: Beauty And The Beast - Part 2
10:00 AM  Merlin: The Witchfinder
11:00 AM  Merlin: The Sins Of The Father


THURS, 16 SEPT
10:00 PM  Beast Legends: Fire Dragon (this seems to be a new show--the episode airs many times this month)

FRI, 17 SEPT
01:00 AM  Beast Legends: Fire Dragon


SAT, 18 SEPT
02:00 AM  Beast Legends: Fire Dragon


SUN, 19 SEPT
10:00 AM  Beast Legends: Fire Dragon


TUES, 21 SEPT
03:00 AM  Sanctuary: Fata Morgana (Arthurian-themed)


THURS, 23 SEPT
07:00 PM  Beast Legends: Fire Dragon


SUN, 26 SEPT
11:00 AM  Movie: Beowulf (1999)
01:00 PM  Syfy Original Movie: Rock Monster (featuring a sword in a stone and a medieval-era wizard)
09:00 PM  Syfy Original Movie: Mandrake


THURS, 30 SEPT
01:30 PM  Movie: League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The
10:00 PM  Beast Legends: Winged Lion


FRI, 1 OCT
01:00 AM  Beast Legends: Winged Lion



Also airing this month: Highlander, Invasion, Jeremiah, and Warehouse 13.

Chiller September 2010 Listings

Here are Chiller's offerings for the month. My apologies for the delay. As always, the complete schedule can be found online.


WEDNES, 1 SEPT
Forever Night Marathon (series info. at Wikipedia)
09:00 AM
    Forever Knight     Dying For Fame
10:00 AM
    Forever Knight     Only The Lonely
11:00 AM
    Forever Knight     Unreality Tv
12:00 PM
    Forever Knight     Feeding The Beast
01:00 PM
    Forever Knight     If Looks Could Kill
02:00 PM
    Forever Knight     Fatal Mistake
03:00 PM
    Forever Knight     1966
04:00 PM
    Forever Knight     Love You To Death


SUN, 12 SEPT
09:00 AM
    True Horror     Dracula
12:00 PM
    True Horror     Dracula


MON, 20 SEPT
07:00 AM
    Poltergeist: The Legacy     The Last Good Knight (the Holy Grail episode: details at LegacyWeb.com)

WEDNES, 22 SEPT
04:00 AM
    Poltergeist: The Legacy     The Last Good Knight


SUN, 26 SEPT
09:00 AM
    Special     Cracking The Da Vinci Code
12:00 PM
    Special     Cracking The Da Vinci Code


TUES, 28 SEPT
01:30 PM
    The Twilight Zone     The Last Defender Of Camelot (based on the short story by Roger Zelazny: Merlin enlists Lancelot in his centuries-long struggle against Morgan le Fay)



Also airing this month: Poltergeist: The Legacy and Twin Peaks.

New: Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog: Medieval Studies and New Media

Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog: Medieval Studies and New Media

The New Middle Ages
Brantley L. Bryant

Palgrave Macmillan, April 2010
ISBN: 978-0-230-10507-2, ISBN10: 0-230-10507-6,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 212 pages

Trade Paperback $25.00
Hardcover $85.00


Medieval Studies and New Mediapresents all of the most memorable posts of the medievalist internet phenomenon "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog," newly revised and updated, along with essays on the genesis of the blog itself, the role of internet blogs in medieval scholarship, and the unique pleasures of studying a time period full of plagues, schisms, and assizes. “Le Vostre GC” and medievalists Bonnie Wheeler, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, and Robert W. Hanning draw new conclusions about the ways medieval studies are perceived, the connection between the past and the present, and the historical roots of popular culture.


Table of Contents

PART I: Medievalism, Blogging, and Popular Culture * Why Ye Sholde Nat Rede this Book--John Gower * Introduction--Bonnie Wheeler * Playing Chaucer--Geoffrey “LeVostreGC” Chaucer * Blogging the Middle Ages--Jeffrey  Jerome Cohen * PART II: Medieval Recreations * Chaucerians Do It With Pronounced E’s and Other Risible Relics of  a Career in the Medieval Trenches--Robert W. Hanning * Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog 2006-2009--Geoffrey “LeVostreGC” Chaucer et al.


Authors:
Brantley L. Bryant: Geoffrey “LeVostreGC” Chaucer blogs at houseoffame.blogspot.com and is working on a forthcoming poem collecting the “tales” of a group of pilgrims on the way to Canterbury.

Bonnie Wheeler is Professor of English at Southern Methodist University where she directs the Medieval Studies Program. She has edited and co-edited fourteen books, among them The Letters of Heloise and Abelard and Heloise and the Paraclete (with Mary Martin McLaughlin).

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen is Associate Professor of English at George Washington University. He blogs at “In the Middle” (http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com) and is the author of The Postcolonial Middle Ages; Hybridity, Identity, Monstrosity and Cultural Diversity in the British Middle Ages.

Robert W. Hanning is Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of The Vision of History in Early Britain and The Individual in Twelfth-Century Romance.

New from McFarland

The Heroic Ideal: Western Archetypes from the Greeks to the Present

M. Gregory Kendrick
ISBN 978-0-7864-3786-3
notes, bibliography, index
236pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2010
Price: $29.95

Description
The word "hero" seems in its present usage, an all-purpose moniker applied to everyone from Medal of Honor recipients to celebrities to comic book characters. This book explores the Western idea of the hero, from its initial use in ancient Greece, where it identified demigods or aristocratic, mortal warriors, through today. Sections examine the concept of the hero as presented in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds. Special attention is paid to particular heroic types, such as warriors, martyrs, athletes, knights, saints, scientists, rebels, secret servicemen, and even anti-heroes. This book also reconstructs how definitions of heroism have been inextricably linked to shifts in Western thinking about religion, social relations, political authority, and ethical conduct.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      vi
Introduction      1

PART ONE. MYRMIDONS, MARTYRS, AND MUSCLE MEN: HEROISM IN THE ANCIENT WORLD      5
1. Neither Human nor Divine: The Hemitheoi and Their Cults      9
2. “Of arms and the man I sing”: The Hero as Myrmidon      13
3. “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise”: The Hero as Martyr      24
4. “Creatures of a Day”: The Hero as Athlete      50

PART TWO. SOLDIERS AND SERVANTS OF CHRIST: HEROISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES      65
5. Miles Christi: The Hero as Warrior of Christ      69
6. Imitatio Christi: The Hero as Saint      88

PART THREE. REBELS, ROGUES, AND REPROBATES: HEROISM IN THE MODERN WORLD      105
7. “To boldly go where no one has gone before”: The Hero as Explorer      107
8. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”: The Hero as Romantic Rebel      130
9. Black Angels and New Men: Heroism in a Totalitarian Context      146
10. Rogues, Reprobates, Outcasts, and Oddballs: The Anti-Hero      184

Epilogue      201
Chapter Notes      205
Bibliography      219
Index      227

About the Author
M. Gregory Kendrick is a professor of modern European history and director of the UCLA Freshman Cluster Program at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Middle-earth Minstrel: Essays on Music in Tolkien

Edited by Bradford Lee Eden 

ISBN 978-0-7864-4814-2 

notes, bibliographies, index

215pp. softcover 2010

Price: $35.00

Description

The twentieth century witnessed a dramatic rise in fantasy writing and few works became as popular or have endured as long as the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. Surprisingly, little critical attention has been paid to the presence of music in his novels. This collection of essays explores the multitude of musical-literary allusions and themes intertwined throughout Tolkien’s body of work. Of particular interest is Tolkien’s scholarly work with medieval music and its presentation and performance practice, as well as the musical influences of his Victorian and Edwardian background. Discographies of Tolkien-influenced music of the 20th and 21st 

centuries are included.

Table of Contents

Introduction

BRADFORD LEE EDEN      1

Horns of Dawn: The Tradition of Alliterative Verse in Rohan

JASON FISHER      7

“Inside a Song”: Tolkien’s Phonaesthetics

JOHN R. HOLMES      26

Æ´ fre me strongode longas: Songs of Exile in the Mortal Realms

PETER WILKIN      47

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Fortunate Rhythm

DARIELLE RICHARDS      61

Tolkien’s Unfinished “Lay of Lúthien” and the Middle English Sir Orfeo

DEANNA DELMAR EVANS      75

Strains of Elvish Song and Voices: Victorian Medievalism, Music, and Tolkien

BRADFORD LEE EDEN      85

Dissonance in the Divine Theme: The Issue of Free Will in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

KEITH W. JENSEN      102

“Worthy of a Song”: Memory, Mortality and Music

AMY M. AMENDT-RADUEGE      114

“Tolkien is the Wind and the Way”: The Educational Value of Tolkien-Inspired World Music

AMY H. STURGIS      126

Liquid Tolkien: Music, Tolkien, Middle-earth, and More Music

DAVID BRATMAN      140

Performance Art in a Tunnel: A Musical Sub-Creator in the Tradition of Tolkien

ANTHONY S. BURDGE      171

Contributors      201

Index      205

About the Author

Bradford Lee Eden is Associate University Librarian for Technical Services and Scholarly Communication at 

the University of California, Santa Barbara. He lives in Lompoc, California.

The Literary Angel: Essays on Influences and Traditions Reflected in the Joss Whedon Series

Edited by AmiJo Comeford and Tamy Burnett 

ISBN 978-0-7864-4661-2 

notes, bibliography, index

264pp. softcover 2010

Price: $35.00

Description

The fictionalized Los Angeles of television’s Angel is a world filled with literature--from the all-important Shansu prophecy that predicts Angel’s return to a state of humanity to the ever-present books dominating the characters’ research sessions. This collection brings together essays that engage Angel as a text to be addressed within the wider fields of narrative and literature. It is divided into four distinct parts, each with its own internal governing themes and focus: archetypes, narrative and identity, theory and philosophy, and genre. Each provides opportunities for readers to examine a wide variety of characters, tropes, and literary nuances and influences throughout all five televised seasons of the series and in the current continuation of the series in comic book form.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      ix

Introduction: Los Angeles, City of Story

AMIJO COMEFORD and TAMY BURNETT      1

One : Archetypes

Biting Humor: Harmony, Parody, and the Female Vampire

LORNA JOWETT      17

Doyle as “The Passing Figure” and Nella Larsen’s Passing

ANGEL ANDERSON      30

Pylean Idol: L.A.’s De(con)struction of a Postmodern Bard

JENNIFER HAMILTON      41

Lilah Morgan: Whedon’s Legal Femme Fatale

SHARON SUTHERLAND and SARAH SWAN      54

Two : Narrative & Identity

Fred’s Captivity Narrative: American Contexts for (Re)Writing Community Identity from Mary Rowlandson to Angel

TAMY BURNETT      69

Feminist Abuse Survivor Narratives in Angel and Sarah Daniels’s Beside Herself

ANIKA STAFFORD      85

Numero Cinco, Border Narratives, and Mexican Cultural Performance in Angel

VICTORIA PETTERSEN LANTZ      98

Three : Theory & Philosophy

(Re)Negotiating the Dystopian Dilemma: Huxley, Orwell, and Angel

MARY ELLEN IATROPOULOS      115

Angel vs. the Grand Inquisitor: Joss Whedon Re- imagines Dostoevsky

KATIA MCCLAIN      130

Charles Gunn, Wolfram & Hart, and Baudrillard’s Theory of the Simulacrum

K. SHANNON HOWARD      147

“It’s a play on perspective”: A Reading of Whedon’s Illyria through Sartre’s Nausea

CYNTHEA MASSON      159

Four : Genre

Helping the Helpless: Medieval Romance in Angel

AMIJO COMEFORD      175

Whedon Meets Sophocles: Prophecy and Angel

LAUREL BOWMAN      191

Detective Fiction/Fictionality from Asmodeus to Angel

ALISON JAQUET      206

It (Re-)Started with a Girl: The Creative Interplay Between TV and Comics in Angel: After the Fall

STACEY ABBOTT      221

About the Contributors      233

Bibliography      237

Index      249

About the Author

AmiJo Comeford is an assistant professor of English at Dixie State College of Utah, teaching courses in women’s literature, early British and nineteenth-century American literature, and literary theory. Tamy Burnett is a lecturer in English and women’s and gender studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, teaching courses in American literature, women’s literature, and popular culture.

New/Recent Scholarship: Olifant Vol. 25

Journal Olifant
Volume 25, Number 1 - 2 / 2006
Publisher Société Rencesvals
ISSN 0381-9132
Pages 19-484
Online Date Tuesday, January 13, 2009

All articles are available for purchase from MetaPress for $8.00/each.



Epopée et cinéma (pp. 83-96)
Norris J. Lacy (Penn State University)

Abstract

This article discusses the crucial difficulty of defining epic in cinema and examines the divergence between the "grammar" of film and that of oral or written epics. A central section analyzes technical and other elements of Frank Cassenti's film La chanson de Roland (1978) and of Dani Kouyaté's film Këita: l'héritage du griot (1995, from Burkina Faso), while offering also a few remarks concerning El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961). Noting that there have been surprisingly few cinematic adaptations of romance epics, the article reflects briefly on some of the reasons for this neglect.

[The article is in French]



Back to the Future: Star Trek and the Old French Epic (pp. 161-74)
Kimberlee Campbell (Harvard University)

Abstract

Recent critics have commented that the science fiction serial Star Trek has evolved into a cyclical corpus of stories resembling traditional epic or saga. This study explores the parameters of that cyclicity in comparison with the chanson de geste. Although Star Trek borrows little content from the Middle Ages, poetic and narrative structures are markedly similar to the Old French epic. The author theorizes a generalized Western storytelling filiation, elaborated in response to similar collective need, through which past and future function equally to validate the present.

La "fuite du monde" dans la chanson de geste et le western (pp. 243-254)
Catherine M. Jones (University of Georgia)

Abstract

The aging heroes of Old French epic often turn to the monastic life to atone for the slaughter of countless Christian and Saracen knights. In these moniage narratives, the initial withdrawal from chivalric pursuits is temporary, for the hero is soon called out of retirement for a final confrontation with the forces of evil. A similar fate befalls numerous cowboys of the silver screen as they grow older, wiser, and weary of battle. Although the Westerner does not embrace the religious life, he is often domesticated by a pious woman. He renounces violence to lead a life for which he is ill suited. Coming out of (real or virtual) retirement for a final showdown, he fulfills his final destiny.



Renaissance Carolingian: Tullia d'Aragona's Il Meschino, altramente detto il Guerrino (pp. 313-320)
John C. McLucas (Towson University)

Abstract

Tullia d'Aragona's epic poem, Il Meschino, altramente detto il Guarino, is a poetic adaptation of Andrea da Barberino's prose Meschino. Tullia's word choices are similar, and even misreadings allow the modern reader to follow Andrea in Tullia's text. Differences other than verse for prose lie in its structure and tone: these follow conventions of her time, a century and one half after Andrea. Questions of her attitude toward women and male beauty contrast with Andrea's and derive from historical changes as well.

Kalamazoo Session Cancelled

I am sorry to report that our co-sponsored session "Arthurian Villains on Film: Studies in Commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of John Boorman’s Excalibur" has been cancelled due to under-whelming interest in the topic. This it the second year in a row that we have had to cancel a session. 

Imminent Deadline for Kalamazoo Proposals

A gentle reminder that the deadline for proposals to our sessions is 1 September 2010. We are in desperate need of submissions to the following panels, both of which are in danger of cancellation:

• 2010: 09-01-10: Twenty-first Century Medievalisms: Re-envisioning the Medieval in the Contemporary World (Roundtable) (9/1/10; Kalamazoo, MI 5/12-15/11)
• 2010: 09-01-10: Arthurian Villains on Film: Studies in Commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR (9/1/10; Kalamazoo, MI 5/12-15/11)

More Upcoming DVDs

Out Now:

Slings & Arrows: The Complete Collection 

Due out 7 September:

Doctor Who: The King's Demons

Due out 14 September 2010:

The Black Cauldron: 25th Anniversary Special Edition 

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Robin Hood: The Complete Series (BBC)

Due out 21 September 2010:

Joseph Campbell on Power of Myth With Bill Moyers

Robin Hood (starring Russell Crowe)

Due out 28 September 2010:

The Legend of the Seeker: The Complete Second Season

Wagner: Rienzi 

Due out 5 October 2010:

The Secret of Kells

Due out 12 October 2010:

Arn: The Knight Templar



Due out 15 October 2010:

How to Train Your Dragon

Due out 19 October 2010:

Apocalypse Now (Three-Disc Full Disclosure Edition)

Due out 26 October 2010:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two

Tudors Season 4 Coming Soon to DVD

The final season, season four, of Showtime's The Tudors will be released on DVD on 12 October 2010 for the retail price of $42.99.

The Pillars of the Earth on Starz

Cable network Starz has begun airing The Pillars of the Earth, an eight-part mininseries based on the best-selling novel by Ken Follet. The complete series (totaling 480 minutes) will be released on DVD later this year (pre-orders are now being taken but no release date is listed) at the retail cost of $69.95 (which seems an exorbitant amount for eight sixty-minute episodes).

I append the official trailer below:

Updated CFP: Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting 2011 (10/15/10; Tempe, AZ 4/16-18/11)

http://acmrs.org/conferences/MAA_2011/MAAconference.html

Medieval Academy of America
and the
Medieval Association of the Pacific

Annual Meeting 2011

14 – 16 April 2011

2011 Tempe Meeting Addendum:

As you probably know, the fate of the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America for 2011, scheduled to be held in Arizona, was in question because of Arizona's recently passed immigration law, SB1070, which many across the country found to be morally and legally deeply flawed.  On August 3, the Executive Committee of the Academy voted to hold the meeting as planned for reasons that the Committee explained in the statement posted on the Academy's website.  Because of this decision, we are extending the deadline for submissions of papers to October 15.  The Executive Committee and the local Program Committee are working to ensure that the program of the meeting reflects and relates to similar issues at stake in Arizona and in medieval society, including such topics as race, ethnicity, immigration, tolerance, treatment of minority groups, protest against governmental policies judged unjust, and standards of judicial and legislative morality.  We are particularly interested now in receiving proposals on those topics, although we will still consider proposals on any topic. Please consult the Academy's website (or visit http://acmrs.org//conferences.html) for an updated call for papers and instructions on how to submit your proposals. If you have further questions about the Annual Meeting or the Call for Papers, please contact Audrey Walters acmrs@asu.edu. 

The Executive Committee

The 2011 Program Committee

Online Submission deadline extended to 15 October 2010:
http://cf.itergateway.org/medacad/conference/

Download Call for Papers

------------

Annual Meeting, Tempe, 2011: Call for Papers. 

Extended deadline for submission is 15 October 2010.

The annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will be held jointly with that of MAP (the Medieval Association of the Pacific) at the Chaparral Suites Hotel (http://www.chaparralsuites.com/) in Scottsdale, Arizona, 14-16 April 2011.  It will be hosted by ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe.

The Program Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies.  Given the Academy’s tradition of suggesting possible areas of investigation, the Committee also offers the following for your consideration:

1.                   Race and ethnicity

2.                  Immigration

3.                  Tolerance and treatment of minority groups

4.                  Protest against governmental policies judged unjust

5.                  Standards of judicial and legislative morality

6.                  Fiefs, feudal institutions, and property holding

7.                  Testaments and testamentary acts, lay and clerical

8.                  Liturgical reform and innovation

9.                  The crafting and creation of liturgical lives and offices

10.               Reliquaries and their fates

11.                Color and color theory in art and architecture

12.               Translation of scriptural and devotional works: patrons and audiences

13.               Universities and their involvement in secular politics

14.               Representative assemblies, lay and clerical

15.               Periodization and the Middle Ages: beginnings and endings

16.               The study of the Middle Ages from the 17th through the 20th century

17.               The Medieval Mediterranean

18.               Ballads and balladry

19.               The Pope and the Church in Literary and Artistic Representations

20.              Holy Women: Power and Influence in Medieval Europe

21.               Musica as Mediatrix between the Mortal and the Immortal

22.              Medical Texts: Authors, Readership, Uses

23.              The Professionalization of Medicine in the Medieval Period

24.              Chronicles and Chroniclers in Medieval Europe

25.              The Exile in Medieval Literature and Art

26.              Time, Remembrance, and Its Representations

27.              Innovations in Scientific Thought and Inquiry

28.              Animals and the Animalistic

29.              The Garden, Gardening, and Plants

30.              Conduct and Behavior in the Middle Ages: Pro Forma and Explicit Guides

Any member of the Medieval Academy, except those who presented papers at the annual meetings of the Medieval Academy in 2009 and 2010, and any member of MAP may submit a proposal.  Please do not submit more than one proposal.

Sessions usually consist of three papers of thirty minutes each, and proposals should be geared to this length. The Committee may choose a different format for some sessions after the proposals have been reviewed.  We shall try to develop sessions that (1) address subjects of interest to a wide range of medievalists and (2) invite scholars from different disciplines and periods into dialogue with one another. We seek proposals for innovative papers and sessions and hope to see, wherever possible, cross-disciplinary participation in a broad range of topics and of periods.

Selection procedure. Proposals will be evaluated for promise of quality and significance of topic.  The Committee will make final decisions by 5 November 2010. Notification of acceptance or regrets will be sent shortly thereafter.

Submissions. Submit proposals online athttp://cf.itergateway.org/medacad/conference/ which will be available from 15 January 2010 to 15 October 2010.  Note that your statement of Academy or MAP membership (or statement that your  specialty would not normally involve membership in either organization) must be made at the end of your abstract,

If you wish to submit a hard-copy proposal instead, please send two copies to the Committee Chair, Robert E. Bjork, Director, ACMRS, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4402.  The proposal must consist of two parts: (1) a cover sheet containing the proposer’s name, professional status and affiliation, postal address, home and office telephone numbers, fax number (if available), e-mail address (if available), and paper title; (2) a second sheet containing the proposer’s name, paper title, 250-word abstract, statement of Academy or MAP membership (or statement that your specialty would not normally involve membership in either organization), and audio-visual equipment needs. If the proposer will be at a different address when decisions are announced in November 2010, that address should be included. Please DO NOT send proposals to the Academy office.

Session proposals. The Committee will consider proposals for entire sessions. Please consult with the Committee Chair before preparing a proposal. Session proposals require the same information as individual paper proposals; abstracts for the papers in proposed sessions will be evaluated by the Committee.

Audio-visual equipment. Requests for audio-visual equipment must be made with proposals.

Graduate Student Prizes. The Medieval Academy will award up to seven prizes of $300 each to graduate students for papers judged meritorious by the local Committee. To be eligible for an award graduate students must, of course, be members of the Medieval Academy and, once their proposed papers have been accepted for inclusion in the program, must submit complete papers to the Committee by 10 January 2011.

Program Committee. Robert E. Bjork, ACMRS (Chair); William F. Gentrup, ACMRS; Carl Berkhout, English, University of Arizona, UA; Albrecht Classen, German Studies, UA; Roger Dahood, English, UA (MAP representative); Georgiana Donavin, Westminster College (MAP representative); Scott Kleinman, California State University, Northridge (MAP Representative); Cynthia White, Classics, UA; Alyce Jordan, Art History, Northern Arizona University; Karen Bollermann, English, ASU; Catherine Saucier, Music, ASU; Corine Schleif, Art History, ASU; Juliann Vitullo, Italian, ASU; Chauncey Wood, Adjunct Professor, ACMRS.

Local Arrangements Committee.  Audrey Walters, ACMRS (Chair); Robert E. Bjork, ACMRS; William F. Gentrup, ACMRS; Karen Lackey, ACMRS.