Thursday, June 30, 2016

Kalamazoo 2017 Advance Notice

Please check out our blog, Medieval Studies on Screen, for details on our call for papers for next year's International Congress on Medieval Studies. The session is devoted to animated representations of the medieval and is offered in memory of the late Michael N. Salda, author of Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television.

Details at http://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/2016/06/cfp-animating-medieval-proposals-by.html.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

CFP Conference on Medievalism in Contemporary Popular Culture (7/31/2016; France 11/25-26/2016)

Came across this on the Medieval Academy News blog:

Call for Papers – “Getting Medieval”: Medievalism in Contemporary Popular Culture
Posted on June 13, 2016 by Chris
http://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/call-for-papers-getting-medieval-medievalism-in-contemporary-popular-culture/

This conference, organized at the Jean-François Champollion National University Institute (“Champollion University”) in the historic episcopal city of Albi, France – site of the thirteenth-century Albigensian Crusades – will take place on 25-26 November 2016.  Please send proposals of 100-250 words for 20-minute papers (in English or French) to john.ford@univ-jfc.fr along with a brief CV before 31 July 2016 for full consideration.

Cette journée d’étude aura lieu les 25 et 26 novembre 2016 à l’Institut National Universitaire Jean-François Champollion dans la ville épiscopale d’Albi dans le Tarn.  Les propositions de communications (250-500 mots, en anglais ou français) sont à envoyer accompagné d’un court CV à john.ford@univ-jfc.fr avant le 31 juillet 2016.

PRESENTATION:

Today’s “pop” culture is rich with allusions to the Middle Ages, not only in literature and visual arts – as it always has been in past centuries (e.g., the pre-Raphaelites or Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, etc.) – but also in graphic novels and comics, on the big screen and the little one, not to mention the computer screens of electronic gamers as well as amusement parks, festivals and fairs.

But how much of what is presented in a medieval context – either as actual “remakes” of old accounts or simply loosely employing a medieval setting or theme – accurately reflects the Middle Ages, and to what extent do these medieval constructs change or distort the reality of the age? When changed, to what extent is the epoch romanticised as, for example, an idealized Camelot where “the rain may never fall till after sundown?” To what extent is it vilified, making the expression “to get medieval on [somebody]” suggest a horrific vengeance? How do these constructs inform our understanding of the Middle Ages, and how important is it (if at all) to be entirely accurate? Finally, to what extent do such alterations update the texts or tales, keeping them alive and evolving, and why is it a perennial favourite, replayed year after year, decade after decade, indeed, century after century?

This conference hopes to respond to some of these questions by opening a dialogue between various disciplines: literature, history, historical linguistics, visual arts, cinema, theatre, television, etc., in order to study the enduring popularity of medieval themes and the ways in which medieval tales and texts are transmitted, preserved, distorted, renewed and built upon in the creation of new, decidedly modern popular culture in Europe, North America and the world of the 21st century.

This conference hopes to explore ways in which medieval texts, tales and traditions are used (or abused!) and used to fashion entirely new works that ultimately form part of contemporary pop culture in its own right, not only in the modern age, but in ages past. It might also address ways in which authors from the Renaissance until now (e.g., Spenser, Shakespeare, Yeats, etc.) have contributed to our modern conception of the Middle Ages, both myth and reality.

Some aspects to consider might include the importance of accuracy in portrayals purportedly based on actual texts (such as the Vikings series, or various remakes of Beowulf), and to what extent is liberal treatment acceptable, even to be encouraged?  To what extent is received wisdom, often quite dubious, employed in original works with a medieval feeling or theme, though not necessarily a medieval setting like Game of Thrones or Harry Potter?

In addition to the works listed above, the conference is open to any proposition addressing the use of medieval works or themes in any aspect of popular culture in any subsequent age, leading to its entrenched place in the pop culture of today – not only in fiction and art, but in any form of entertainment or representation.  Finally, the value of both medieval literature and culture, as well as popular culture, and the interdependence of both, is to be explored.

PRESENTATION:

La culture populaire d’aujourd’hui est riche en allusions au Moyen Age, non seulement dans la littérature et les arts visuels – comme elle l’a toujours été dans les siècles passés (par exemple, les préraphaélites ou Connecticut Yankee dans la cour du roi Arthur de Twain, Idylles du roi de Tennyson, ou le Hobbit et le Seigneur des Anneaux de Tolkien, etc.) – mais aussi dans les romans graphiques et dans les bandes dessinées, sur le petit comme sur le grand écran, ainsi que sur les écrans d’ordinateur des amateurs de jeux vidéos, les parcs d’attractions, les festivals et les foires.

Mais combien de ces références dont le contexte est médiéval – présentées comme de nouvelles versions de vieux récits ou tout simplement utilisant de manière plus libre un cadre ou un thème médiéval – reflètent fidèlement le Moyen Age ? Et de quelle manière et dans quelle mesure ces références médiévales modifient-elle ou déforment-elle la réalité de cette époque ? A quel point cette époque est-elle romancée comme, par exemple, dans un Camelot idéalisé où «la pluie ne peut  tomber qu’après le coucher du soleil »? Dans quelle mesure est-elle, comme l’atteste l’expression « Jouer à la flamme bien moyenâgeuse » qui implique la menace d’une vengeance féroce, diabolisée, vilipendée? Dans quelle mesure et à quel point ces constructions, ces références, influencent-elles sur notre compréhension du Moyen Age? Est-il donc important d’être exact ? Enfin, dans quelle mesure ces modifications mettent-elles à jour les textes et les récits en leur permettant de rester en vie et en constante évolution ? Et pourquoi le Moyen Age est-il l’éternel sujet favori, exploité année après année, décennie après décennie, siècle après siècle?

Cette journée d’étude va tenter de répondre à ces questions en ouvrant le dialogue par le biais de différentes disciplines : histoire, littérature, linguistique diachronique, arts visuels, cinéma, théâtre, télévision, mais aussi via les jeux vidéos et les parcs d’attraction, etc. Il s’agira d’étudier la popularité durable des thèmes médiévaux et la manière dont les récits et les textes médiévaux sont transmis, conservés, déformés, renouvelés et utilisés pour construire la nouvelle culture populaire résolument moderne, de l’Europe, de l’Amérique du Nord et du monde du 21ème siècle.

Il est important de considérer l’importance de la précision dans les représentations prétendument basées sur des textes réels, comme par exemple la série Vikings, ou les divers remakes de Beowulf. Et, dans quelle mesure ce libre traitement est-il acceptable, ou même à encourager? Dans quelle mesure les idées reçues, souvent douteuses, sont-elles employées dans des œuvres originales au contexte médiéval, mais pas forcément dans un cadre véritablement médiéval comme Game of Thrones ou Harry Potter?

Outre les ouvrages mentionnés ci-dessus, la conférence est ouverte à toute proposition portant sur l’utilisation des œuvres ou des thèmes médiévaux dans tous les aspects de la culture populaire actuelle ou antérieure, les conduisant à une place ancrée dans la culture populaire moderne – non seulement dans la fiction et l’art, mais dans toute forme de divertissement ou de représentation. Enfin, la valeur de la littérature et de la culture médiévales, de la culture populaire, ainsi que leur interdépendance, sera étudiée.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Announcing the The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

I am pleased to announce that effective 1 March 2016, the Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages is now the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture under the direction of founder Michael A. Torregrossa. I believe that the new name better reflects our purpose as an organization as it has evolved since 2004.

Changes to the sites will begin today and should be completed this spring. Some links may no longer work in the interim. I apologize for any issues as we reconfigure our presence on the web.

Michael A. Torregrossa
Founder and Blog-Editor, The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Kalamazoo 2016

The program for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies is now available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress. Details on our sponsored session can be found on the Medieval Studies on Screen site at http://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/2016/02/kalamazoo-2016-round-table.html.

SMART Fall 2015

The latest number of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching arrived recently in the mail. The focus of Vol. 22, No. 2 is on teaching Old English. Full contents from SMART's website (http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=smart) follow:

Fall 2015 (Volume 22, Issue 2)
OLD ENGLISH ACROSS THE CURRICULUM—CONTEXTS AND PEDAGOGIES (featured collection guest edited by Haruko Momma and Heide Estes)

Introduction

HARUKO MOMMA and HEIDE ESTES  Old English across the Curriculum—Contexts and Pedagogies
Part 1:  Historical Old English

FRED C. ROBINSON  Why Study Old English?
CARLA MARÍA THOMAS  Blurring the Lines: Early Middle English in the Old English Classroom
HEIDE ESTES  Teaching Old English in History of the English Language
Part 2:  Old English through Different Media

PETER S. BAKER  On Writing Old English
ERIC WEISKOTT  A Plea for Pronunciation
MARTIN CHASE  Teaching Old English Codicology and Palaeography from the Beginning
Part 3:  Interactive Old English

ERICA WEAVER  Attending to Poems: Learning from Latin Pedagogy
BOB HASENFRATZ  Paradigm Bashing Challenges to Teaching and Learning Old English in the Twenty-First Century
NIENKE C. VENDERBOSCH  The Language Bank as a Tool for Active Learning
MARTIN FOYS  Hwæt sprycst þu?: Performing Ælfric’s Colloquy
Part 4:  Old English in/and Translation

STACY S. KLEIN  Anglo-Saxon Pedagogy and the “Circle of Shame”
MICHAEL MATTO  Remainders: Reading an Old English Poem through Multiple Translations
MO PARELES  Teaching Graduate Students to Teach Old English
Afterword

HARUKO MOMMA  By All Means
Appendices

PETER S. BAKER  Hærrig Wand Bygeþ [Harry Buys a Wand]
BOB HASENFRATZ  A Frequency List of Old English Vocabulary in a “Canonical” Corpus
JAY PAUL GATES  Reading Pronouns: An Entry to Medieval Textual Culture

TOM SHIPPEY  Book Reviews: Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes and Icelandic Sagas, by Jesse L. Byock; and Viking Language 2: The Reader, by L. Jesse Byock

STEPHEN F. EVANS  Book Review: Queer Renaissance Historiography: Backward Gaze, edited by Vin Nardizzi, Stephen Guy-Bray, and Will Stockton

WILLIAM F. HODAPP  Book Review: The Cambridge Companion to Boethius, edited by John Marenbon