CALL FOR PAPERS: "The Making of Monsters in the Middle Ages."
37th International Conference on Medieval Studies
Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2-5, 2002
This interdisciplinary open panel seeks papers that question the appearance
of monsters in medieval art and literature.
Recently, questions of monstrosity in medieval texts have become implicated
in critical debate; in short, what makes a monster and why does it appear in
the text? Scholarly attention has begun to focus on monsters who crop up in
strange and interesting places, from Beowulf to fairyland in romances and in
Chaucer. Monstrosity, of course, can exist on both literal and figurative
levels. Conquest, vengeance, or fratricide as depicted in Alexander to
Aristotle or Beowulf, for example, can be monstrous acts without marked
physical difference in the performer; conversely, dog-headed men as depicted
in the Life of St. Christopher and in Marie de France perform benevolent
deeds, belying their monstrous physical appearances. Given such a wide range
of examples, it is worthwhile to consider the construction of interesting
and marginal creatures and their function in medieval literature. Papers
might address monstrosity as it intersects such genres as allegory, exempla,
travel narrative, and romance, or such thematic issues as gender, class,
race, translation, millennialism, or witchcraft.
Abstracts of 200-500 words can be send either by e-mail or snail mail to the
following addresses:
Dana Oswald
1345 W. 7th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43212
The deadline for abstract submission is 9/10/01. Final papers should be no
more than 20 minutes in length
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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